European cities wrongly (unjustly) overlooked by tourists

I would add Torino, Italy. Fabulous city, seldom visited by North Americans.

It's a matter of available vacation time, marketing, and other places that are competing for one's attention and discretionary resources. If a city doesn't market itself to international tourists, then they'll only find out about it by word of mouth, which is quite limited. Also, many people literally only visit places listed in American guidebooks which are obviously self-selected (like those in Rick Steves' books and other tourist books). If you don't know about a place and someone doesn't convince you that it's worthwhile, then obviously you won't find out. I remember a time when Croatia was fairly unknown and now it's overrun with tourists....a lot of it has to do with marketing, glossy photos, and cruise ships (and even Game of Thrones). It doesn't even seem to matter that it's not on the common Euro currency, that doesn't dissuade people.

Since you are from Poland, just for fun, can you name some cities in the United States which you think are underrated?

I agree with Laurel about Torino. I don't understand why Torino doesn't get more attention from guide book writers. Then again, the absence of massive crowds of tourists adds to the charm.

Since you are from Poland, just for fun, can you name some cities in the United States which you think are underrated?

Great question! United States has some BEAUTIFUL areas. We try and take at least one domestic trip per year.

Thanks! I agree with you, Agnes, Laurel, traylaparks and Pilgrim. Torino is very interesting city. I don't know American tourism well, but think that Minneapolis, Seattle, Augusta (Georgia) and even all Alaska are good examples of underrated destinations, especially among international turists. I have some books about many countries in the world, for instance the old school textbook on American geography, but now we can use hipertext in Wikipedia or many other sources of information as this forum :)

Does St. Louis belong to this group? It is a sister city of Szczecin, my city
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis#Sister_cities

In the topic we skip villages and natural areas but they are also worth attention.

We loved Torino, and yes, partly because it wasn't overrun like Florence.

I pick one location in our yearly itineraries that purposely isn't in the travel guidebooks to get a better balanced view and really have enjoyed them. But to directly answer your question, when people only have limited days of vacation, they're going to go with locations that are marketed and predictable from photos and others' reviews.

Michal, i agree there are many, many smallish cities/towns that are not visited by Americans for various reasons. For us, it is beacuse of limited vacation time. We would love to drive around the Czech Republic for a few weeks to see Plzen, Cesky Budejovice and Brno (my husband was there on a family vacation during the Russian invasion) but we had limited time there so we chose Prague, Terezin, cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora. Same in Germany, we had two weeks so we did Berlin (friends visit), Weinheim (friends), Rothenburg OdT, Fussen, Garmish, Munich. We want to visit but not speed through a place just to say we were there. We (4 adults) are finally going to visit to Poland next summer for 2 weeks and are going to Krakow, Czestochowa(on the way to...) Wroclaw, Gdansk, and Warsaw. After researching and reading about each place, we felt this itinerary had a good mix of places and a easy flow with transportation. We will travel by train. I actually looked into visiting Poznan, Lodz, Torun, Bialystok and even your city of Szczecin, but for various reasons, cannot fit them in. We are in our 60's and like to stay (need to stay) at least 3 nights in any given place. Could i have included Poznan to break up the travel between Wroclaw and Gdansk, sure, but it would take time away from Karkow which I don't want to do. The same problems occur when we travel around the US. We hit the main cities but don't have time to see every small town. We wish we had the time to visit everywhere, my list is very long, but it will have to wait till we retire.

I'm not sure that the adjectives in the title are appropriately used. Unjustly and wrongly seem to imply that there is deliberate intent to disregard them as a choice. I would agree with the others that it's more a matter of lack of awareness. It's unlikely that many people would plan to visit a place they've never heard of, at least within the context of tourism.

One factor, as far as popular U.S. cities with tourists from abroad, is the ability to get around without a car. For instance, I live in the Minneapolis/St Paul metro area and it's extremely difficult/time-consuming to get around to various attractions without wheels, We do have light rail but it's limited, and the bus system is set up for commuters and not tourists so is largely convoluted and inefficient for sightseeing. Our attractions are also very spread out, with the Minnesota Zoo and Valley Fair amusement park clear down in outer-ring suburbs, the Children's and Science Museums in St Paul, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Children's Theater not walkable from downtown, etc.

Other than attending a sporting event, there is pretty much zero for families with children to do in central downtown Minneapolis, and I think that's pretty sad. Cities with most attractions clustered in a central area and/or good public transit are more attractive to visitors.

can you name some cities in the United States which you think are underrated?

No, but I can name many that are overrated ; )

On the other hand the US has some of the most spectacular natural scenery in the world and the national parks are an absolute treasure.

I think it has anyway to do with having not too much free days to spend, the for most considerable costs and to avoid dissapointments guess for many the reason to play it safe. And also apparently having some fear or not the motivation thinking out of the box and experimenting a bit with exploring “new teritory” , so the focus remains on well known names and so creating the beaten path. As a result many places stay under the radar.

Please stop feeding the troll.

I must agree with Michael (OP) that in Czech Republic it's Brno. My impression is that to get to category underrated the city has to be somewhat attractive and not to make it into Rick Steves book. For a while it was (in C.R.) Karlovy Vary and nearby Loket but recently they made it into the book. My prediction is that in not that distant future Brno will make it too. But some countries like Italy have so many attractive cities and towns that they would never be able to make it into his book no matter how thick it is. And even it was not the question I will add another one: Which country in Europe in your opinion is the most underrated? I mean easy to travel to and around, relatively cheap and very beautiful. IMHO it's Slovakia. Why? It does not have R.S. book and not much is about it in Eastern Europe book.

In Czechia I agree on Brno...overlooked, well wotth one's time. , also Pilsen,

There are lots of cities in Germany and France overlooked by international and American tourists...Weimar, Halle an der Saale,

Marburg, Eutin/Holstein, Münster/Westfalen, Soest/Westf., Kleve, Erfurt, Meissen, Bremen, Leipzig, Cuxhaven, Ulm, Celle, Lüneburg, Rheinsberg/Brandenburg, etc etc.

In France...Amiens, Soissons, Strasbourg, Arras, Toulouse, Troyes,

Thank you for many voices in this discussion. I hope you can perceive good places near famous destinations. Each country in Europe has them. I think it is a good idea to go out from big cities for at least few hours and visit the are, if you have enough time. You can do that staying for example in Hamburg to visit Lübeck or have time for Sopot and Gdynia being in Gdańsk (Tricity). Similarly with nature, e.g. have a trip from Prague or Wrocław to Sudetes.

I can recommend you many underrated areas. In Poland the list can start with
^ Bydgoszcz (when you visit Toruń, Gdańsk, Poznań or Szczecin) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bydgoszcz and http://www.visitbydgoszcz.pl/en/
^ Gniezno - the former capital of Poland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gniezno
^ Olsztyn and Szczytno https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olsztyn and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczytno
^ Elbląg and Elbląg Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal
^ Kołobrzeg - spa town with the connection to Bornholm (Danish island) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%82obrzeg and https://www.kzp.kolobrzeg.pl/en
^ Bochnia, near Cracow and Wieliczka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bochnia and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bochnia_Salt_Mine
^ Zamość, Lublin and Puławy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lublin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%C5%82awy and http://town.pulawy.eu/informacje/tourist-attractions-of-pulawy,707
^ Zielona Góra and Głogów https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zielona_G%C3%B3ra and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C5%82og%C3%B3w

Fred, thanks for interesting comment. I know many from German towns that you have mentioned and would like to recommend you them. France I know to a lesser extent, because it is farther from my city than Germany.

Kassel? Really? That's one of Germanys ugliest postwar cities?! A very good reason not to visit Kassel. The only intersting sites are the hillside park and the Documenta, if you are into strange modern art.
And Szczecin? Maybe if you are interested in urbanism and want to know what happens to a city if you first destroy almost everything, and exchange the entire population afterwards.
There are much better, overlooked cities in Germany and Poland. Lodz or Poznan in Poland for example are rarely mentioned, or Bautzen, Landshut or Lübeck in Germany.

Hi Ilja! I agree that Slovakia is worth the interest. I like this country, its culture and nature. You can start from Wikipedia, seeking good places to visit. I can suggest Bratislava, Trnava, Banská Bystrica, Martin, the area of Poprad (Tatra Mountains), Kežmarok, Levoča, Spišská Nová Ves, Bardejov and Prešov, but the list of places is very long.
Do you like traditional music?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7lkCICmyhw
This is Polish song 'Góralu, czy ci nie żal?' sang by Slovakians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfavmsc7y1A

Hi Martin! I think that beauty of Kassel is hidden in the history of this town. Your opinion of both these cities - Kassel and Szczecin - is abusive and unjust (as in the title of the thread). That was a reason to start this discussion to show at least two points of view on that problem. Szczecin has a diverse profile of attractions from culture to nature, but its history is a lesson of local and universal history.

Michal, I mean this kindly but I don't think anyone here needs a long list of youtube or wikipedia links. And just because a traveler doesn't care for cities you do doesn't mean their opinions are "abusive" or "unjust". Differing viewpoints are part of healthy conversations.

Dear Kathy. Words as 'one of Germanys ugliest postwar cities' are not only unjust, but also insulting. I will write it again: 'That was a reason to start this discussion to show at least two points of view on that problem'. The conversation becomes a comparison of tastes and preferences.

Michal - your posts are odd and pushy. Your agenda to advertise your hometown is so obvious.

Michal, I have to agree with Martin about Kassel. My first thought when I opened the link was "wow it's ugly". It got me thinking that wrongly or rightly one of the things that makes a place a nice place to visit for me is the "attractiveness" of a town / city. That may be shallow of me, but it's true. I am interested in history, museums etc, but I really appreciate beauty in nature and architecture. One of the things that makes places like the Cotswolds, or Rothenburg so popular is their "attractiveness". Another example of this is when we visited Gorlitz Germany and walked across to the polish side we definitely found the German side much more appealing. That may not be fair, but it is what we felt.

Off the top of my head:
Nuremberg
Strasbourg
Olomouc

The entire country of Portugal is under-visited relative to its merits, so you could add Lisbon to this list on that basis. Many times more Americans visit Prague for every one than visit Budapest, and then they complain that Prague is crowded. I have been to Budapest twice in the month of May and notice few if any American tourists. Compared to Prague, Budapest is overlooked.

Cities (and countries) that are hard to get to economically or logistically are less traveled. Krakow is not that convenient to many other places, and the flights into or out of that city tend to be very pricey. Dubrovnik is not on the way anywhere else that I would like to visit at this stage, we visited on a stop on a cruise in 2011. The train does not go there and I don't like the idea of driving in Croatia. Some of the local airlines make this more manageable though, so I am reconsidering my rule about no flights within Europe as part of an itinerary.

I always thought Karlovy Vary looked like a worthy place to visit, but it's not on the way anywhere as far as I can tell. Glad it made it into Rick's book!

A common approach in planning itineraries is the string together the marquee name cities in multiple countries, but then you end up missing a lot of great places within countries. A lot of people only ever go to Paris in France when that country has so much more to offer. I have tagged on cities in other countries on occasion, but not so much recently. For example on our 2000 England trip I added three nights in Paris, the downside being it was 2013 before did more that a day trip stop in Bath. On our 2002 Ireland trip I could not resist a cheap Aer Lingus flight to Edinburgh, but it was 2016 before we did Ireland the right way as a result. The "tagging on" approach ends up meaning you don't visit some places that you otherwise might.

Sometimes I wonder why I have been to Paris four times but never to Lyon (have seen most of the regions of France but never the city of Lyon). I have been to Rome and Florence fours times each but never to lots of other great places in Italy (finally made it to Orvieto last fall and loved it). It takes discipline to not just go to the places of overwhelming touristic magnificence over and over again.

Poland is also a country that is often overlooked. I have taken 16 Europe trips and never made it there yet. It might be our next itinerary, along some stops in northeastern Germany. I have been meaning to post my Krakow to Berlin itinerary, because as usual I need an extra day or two to make it work and need help on the trade offs.

Dear Emily!
Thank you that you decided to take part in this discussion, even this was called 'the troll' by you.
I do not think that Americans have to stick to strict guidelines where to travel in Europe as they are free people and Europe is a continent of free citizens. The idea is they can know that Europe has more to offer than capitals and a narrow range of other top destinations. I have been in many European capitals, including Vienna, your city, where I was not once, and I feel empowered to share the news that there are also provinces in Europe and their local centers, as Szczecin, Gdańsk and Greifswald in Pomerania. Looking through this forum I give help in planning travels to main cities but do not think that they need to be popularized more. It would be a waste of time. Referring to smaller cities is not punishable. Moreover I do not provide agenda to advertise my city. All I can do is prove by my example whether the information about my city is true. I can also add mentions where it is within the subject. I can also write more about Vienna and will do it if it will be needed in the future. You probably know that a certain percentage of turists in Vienna is from Poland. We Poles are interested in the city which was a capital of Southern Poland during the period of partitions of Poland, that was lasting for 123 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland, and also close in earlier and present times.
Greetings from Szczecin
Michal

VS, thanks for your point of view. Your comment gives an idea for many turists that are bored with cities that they know, but travel only there. Visiting 'underrated' places is possible only when we have time for it. Airports are usually in big cities, but this thread is to show that it is not a rule, for example Olsztyn-Mazury Airport is far away from Warsaw and Gdańsk but closed to Masurian Lake District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olsztyn-Mazury_Airport /^/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masurian_Lake_District
This fact could be interesting for many persons reading this discussion and moreover it does not exclude Warsaw from their travels as they can take train from Olsztyn and be in Warsaw or Gdańsk in about 2-3 hours.
The scope of choice depends on our knowledge, so we can learn a lot from each other from this conversation.
I can recommend you some places in northeastern part of Germany: Greifswald, Stralsund, Ueckermünde and Lower Oder Valley National Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greifswald /^/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stralsund
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ueckerm%C3%BCnde
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Oder_Valley_National_Park
but pay attention to the dimensions of these towns; they are towns, not cities.

I have been to Kassel, (Nordhessen) not once but twice, 20 years apart, 1987 and 2007. I would not call it "ugly" but there are better places to go in the general area...Göttingen, Braunschweig, Goslar, or over to Minden an der Weser and Hameln. If you go Kassel to see the historic Schloß Wilhelmshöhe, that's one good reason or Dokumenta, that's another good reason.

As mentioned above, it is up to you to decide which places to track down in Germany, or in any other country in Europe for that matter, or you can simply follow what tourists see, or a bit of both.

In Germany more places are well worth your time, regardless if it's a tourist place or not...Tübingen, Augsburg, Sigmaringen an der Donau, Greifswald, Schwerin, the area of the lower Elbe, or Schleswig-Holstein.

If one is looking for "ugly" cities in Germany, or rather bland, unattractive cities/towns to go to, I would suggest Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, Hamm, Essen, especially Duisburg.

Over ten years ago, I was recommended to go to Greifswald, still hav not made it yet.

Hi Jill! Your comment is about another issue. Neither Zgorzelec nor Görlitz is top turists' attraction. In the past it was one town similarly as Słubice and Frankfurt (Oder). Słubice was not a center of this town before the Second World War and you can also say that Frankfurt is better to visit. I will agree with you. Słubice was a peripheral district on the other side of the Oder River. Now they are two separated towns but Frankfurt is bigger and have main monuments. In Słubice you can find Collegium Polonicum, a common part of Viadrina European University in Frankfurt and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viadrina_European_University
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Mickiewicz_University_in_Pozna%C5%84
You can compare Słubice with Frankfurt (Oder) and find an analogy to Zgorzelec and Görlitz.

Hi Fred! Central European cities and towns are more beautiful in the period from spring to autumn rather than in winter when they are not only cold but also grey, without greenery. In Greifswald you can focus on the Old Town, ruins of Eldena Abbey and the River Ryck bank with marina, small beach, hotels and restaurants. This is university town with botanical garden.

Michal, really, enough with the links. We all know how to find BASIC information, and if you google any of the places you mention, wikipedia is the first thing that pops up. I doubt anyone at all is going to click on them, and especially not as MANY of them as you're posting.

I notice in your history that you haven't asked a single question about any place you haven't been but plan to go to?

Interesting discussion. Emily, I agree with you, Michal is maybe advertising his hometown but what's wrong with it? We all realize that it could be little subjective. By the way James is advertising his adopted hometown BP and nobody minds.
Kathy, I agree with you, too, Michal is putting quite many links but if I don't want I don't have to click on them. Room which it takes is negligible. What about double or triple posting - it seems nobody minds that. And his youtube - I liked it.
Michal, thank you for your links to you tube. The first one is real authentic central Slovakia folksongs. Very beautiful. The second one is Guralu, beautiful song which one pretty girl sang to me in Slovakia. She sang it more authentic and better than the ensemble on youtube. They had it somewhat combed and more palatable for wider publicum. The song is from the border Tatra mountains region where Poland and Slovakia touch. And one friendly advice if I can - if someone does not agree with you which town is beautiful or ugly, that's not abusive or unjust, they simply have different opinion than you.

if someone does not agree with you which town is beautiful or ugly,
that's not abusive or unjust, they simply have different opinion than
you

That's true, but if someone pretty much says your hometown is underwhelming and does in an almost "you've got to be kidding!" kind of way, that bites a little bit. I try to not to say something blunt about someone's hometown (assuming I'm not crazy about it) because it just causes strain and hurt feelings, without any upside. It doesn't exactly bring people together. If someone is proud of their hometown or favorite place and wants to share that (or has ideas for other cities of interest), why rain on their parade? There's a way to say you prefer some place else without needlessly knocking the first place.

I liked Laurel's contribution of Torino. As a very infrequent Europe traveler, i would rather hear about places that aren't in RS's guidebooks but might be actual destinations and worthwhile of doing some research, and a visit. We actually loved Valle' Aosta (excuse the spelling).

I've been to Slubice a couple of times, mainly for lunch: just crossed the bridge over the Oder....very interesting and unassuming place. No tourists whatsoever, just a small town. I was more interested in seeing more of Frankfurt an der Oder, also a couple of times, for its historical and cultural aspect, and seeing Oder River up close...same as Slubice, only locals, no tourists at all, not even German tourists in Frankfurt an der Oder.

Thank you for all your comments. I thought that many places, institutions or elements of culture that I have described are unknown for you and difficult to seek. I'll reduce number of links. Now I am busy, but will join the discussion today later.

Nothing is difficult to find on the internet. The wiki links are just annoying.

Sorry, but I just didn't find much of value in this topic the way it was presented. Yes, there are many unfairly, under-rated cities in Europe and I live in one of them, but I don't post a zillion wiki links about Frankfurt on here to prove my point.

It is better to describe why you like a city, what are the positive aspects, what are people missing when they go here and say they couldn't find anything of interest. I cringe when I read the walking tour through Frankfurt that Rick has visitors follow. I really dislike the new video he made of the city. He left out most of the beautiful and good things about Frankfurt, leaving people with an impression that it is just banks and maybe some parks.

Just a thought about word choices: "abusive" and "unjust" sounds to me like translations using an online source, perhaps google translate? English may not be Michal's first or even second language. So good for him for trying!

And the comment about shilling for a particular destination, or double posts, or needing to have the last word, I do mind, it's annoying, but it's a human foible on a public forum and I move on. It has been brought to my attention that some of my posts are annoying, too.

I have learned a lot about Poland, have only been once but plan to return.

Just a thought about word choices: "abusive" and "unjust" sounds to me
like translations using an online source, perhaps google translate?

Fair enough. :O)

Thank you once again. This and other thanks are due to the fact that I set up this thread. In other topics I do not write such sentences.

I do not popularize Poland only. I have given advices persons planing travel to other countries, e.g. Germany or Denmark. My city and country were mentioned as firstly I started similar discussion about Polsish cities in the part of this forum about Poland. After that I tried to extend the topic here. This is like in life or science that first you observe and then can expand or develop issues. Once again I recommend exemplary towns and cities with the indication that they can complement the tourism offers of individual countries and not be the main destinations.

I thank for questions about Szczecin that I received from a few person in the last two years and I apologize for a delay in answering as I had a long break in being on the forum.

I see that epithet 'unjust' does not fit you, but I didn't use it instead from 'insulting'. The insulting voice was about Kassel described as 'one of Germanys ugliest postwar cities', but not by me. My was a comment on that. 'Abusive' was not used by me here. Thank you for your concern. I try to not make my limited language skills as a second foreign language a problem for you.

What's about the title? The semantic fields of words 'unjust' and Polish 'niesłuszny' or 'krzywdzący' allow the same meaning. I can not give you printed Polish-English dictionary, but you can check it in electronic one https://ling.pl/, which gathers many books in one system. I recommend you this dictionary for use if you need it in future. The epithet (the) 'ugliest' was classified by me as 'insulting'. Who does not disagree?

The open insults were openly stated that they were insulting. My intention was, however, good discussion. Sometimes we have to defend ourself.

I am glad to read your opinions and hope for further discussion.

Thanks Ms. Jo. I would love to hear what you write about your city known in the world as a city of banks. I could be very interesting to get to know something more. Similarly Baltimore, Cambridge, Greifswald, Göttingen, Lund and Toruń are not only universities. Marseille, Rotterdam, Szczecin and even Ystad are not only harbours. Bratislava, Edinburgh and Helsingør are not only castles, etc.

I would like to highlight some aspect of the discussed problem, namely the less aesthetic qualities of the lesser known places in comparison with these most beautiful. I can say with conviction that Göttingen is more beautiful than Kassel or Cracow is more cosy than Łódź as I do like old historical places and prefer them rather than modern that become old, but it is not well to say that Kassel or Łódź are ugly. I think it is a matter of language culture.

The tourist is a customer and chooses what likes best. You can expand the field of vision but then see something more than specially prepared famous tourist centers. Even famous cities as Prague, Cracow or Berlin have not very representative places, especially on the outskirts, that fulfills their functions as industry, commerce and housing estates. Moreover for me it is interesting to see something beautiful or valuable because of other reason in average area, as a few representative places in Kassel, Kiel, Ústí nad Labem, Ostrava, Katowice, Radom, Wałbrzych or Łódź.

When I went to Göttingen in 1987, I sent home a postcard that called Göttingen...Universitätsstadt. Greifswald has indeed the 2nd oldest university in North Germany.

Hi VS. You have written that you would start talking about your travel plans to north-eastern Germany and Cracow. This is only seemingly difficult to reconcile. You can start arriving Berlin and visiting the city with its area and then by train in one of two ways:
1) to Cracow - one train runs through Frankfurt (Oder) and Poznań to Warsaw and the second one from Warsaw to Cracow
or
2) to Cracow - firstly to Szczecin through Angermünde and then from Szczecin directly to Cracow.
You can also have a flight from Berlin to Cracow instead of trains.
In the area of Berlin you can find for example Potsdam, Brandenburg an der Havel, Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Oranienburg. Also more places closer to Angermünde - it is up to your interests and time for that (e.g. Chorin, Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve and Lower Oder Valley National Park). Other interesting towns in north-eastern Germany are among others Ueckermünde, Greifswald, Stralsund and Neubrandenburg. It is also worth to visit Otto Lilienthal Museum in Anklam. Some of these places can be called undervalued by tourists but all of them are interesting in their own way. All of them are popularized by local authorities.

What is your opinion on the issue of cities overlooked by tourists

My opinion? What an unexpected bonus!

I would be THANKFUL that tourists "overlook" areas of interest for you. Be a visitor and immerse yourself in the local area talking with those who live and work there as RS recommends in his travel books. His "backdoor" travel philosophy is something I embrace.

The greater Berlin area offers tons of places that tourist do not go to, totally off the tourist radar, except for some German tourists. I have been to some of them, (very fortunate too), great places to visit if you're into Prussian history and geography.

Bamberg, Germany

I am happy that we exchanged our thoughts on places overlooked by tourists and hope that we can think about them without categorical exclusion of them from travel plans as some of them are worth visiting. Greetings!

I realize I am a bit late in posting this but I have a couple places that I would suggest, first would be Vieux Lyon. I understand that Lyon is rather large on the other side of the river, but I really took a liking to Vieux Lyon, the charming cobblestone streets, the incredible food, the people are beyond kind, it is a place that makes me feel happy and warm. We always visit in Sep/Oct when the weather is changing and that chilly bite is in the air. It has oftentimes rained while we were there which just added to the charm.

We have definitely travelled across the river and enjoyed the sites, they have a fantastic museum called the Resistance Museum of Lyon that we quite enjoyed. However I have to say the Musee Miniature et Cinema in Vieux Lyon is one of my favorite museums that I have ever visited. It is incredibly unassuming from the outside, seems like a sort of tourist trap actually, but alas when you go inside and realize there are around 6 to 7 stories to the building and all kinds of different sets from movies and beautiful hand made miniatures...it's just unreal, the amount of work that goes into all of these pieces is incredible. The food is...it's just out of this world, so many different things to try, its wonderful and exciting! Lyon is known for it's tarte aux praline, which is a rose colored praline tarte that is sweet, sticky and delicious. I also recommend two other specialities the "Potato Dauphinoise Gratin" and the "Lyonnaise Salad" made with frisee lettuce,crispy lardons and a poached egg. There are many other yummy specialities, far too many to write. If you visit go to Les Adrets for lunch, its the best deal for extremely high quality food. Lyon is only about 2 hours by train from Paris and well worth the trip, I promise.

The other place I would recommend is Mittenwald, Germany. It is a small but incredibly beautiful alpine village in Bavaria where you can truly enjoy the more natural beauty of Germany ( and trust me there is a lot of beauty to see in that regard!) There is a lot of hiking areas, a small downtown to stroll through and enormous mountains all around you. Everything is green, the sun is bright and warm and feels so good on the crisp cool days as you ride cruiser bikes around town. Mittenwald is the village where the modern violin was developed. They have a wonderful museum that you can walk through and see a recreation of the shop where they made the violins all those years ago as well as a whole plethora or beautiful and rare violins, very interesting indeed. The food is also amazing, we stayed in a Gasthaus and we had a wonderful breakfast served in the most darling breakfast room every morning overlooking the gorgeous snow capped Karwendel mountains. The village is also close to Innsbruck if you wanted to take a quick jaunt over to Austria. There is a lot of culture here, and nearly no tourists. We were there one year during a very interesting traditional parade of sorts that they had. We also were able to watch them prepare the local church for a wedding, it was so eye opening to see all the special preparations they made, especially since it was a bunch of the local men from the town doing all the preparations, not the women.
We love traveling to the large cities and enjoying the beauty and grandeur or Paris, London and the like. However, I have found that some of our best memories and experiences have been in these smaller towns where people want to get to know you. How lovely that after just a few trips to the boulangerie the lovely french women welcome you in with a warm smile and a wink as they stuff paper bags full of warm pastries and bread. Or the great guy down at the corner shop remembers you from 2 years prior and proudly exclaims " Mes amies!! Comment avez-vous été!!" thrilled to see you and wants to take photos. Ahhh can't wait to go back, hopefully this post helps someone else get to enjoy these places as well :)
Happy Travels to All!

Thanks Pebbles. I agree that we can add Lyon and the next new place for the collection of German province to our list. Greetings!

It's unlikely that many people would plan to visit a place they've never heard of, at least within the context of tourism

I would like to add this link: http://britainandbritishness.com/2017/01/10-beautiful-english-market-towns.html
10 English medium sized towns. Just to make the point that if you look a little harder, there are plenty of places to find. I added it because one of the ten is the town I grew up in, including a photo of one of the pubs I used to frequent when I was much younger.
Two photos of the town from yesterday:
https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/24993187_10156849507743222_2457712175096231723_n.jpg?oh=26faa8d0d6aaeda6b0fbd4caafa4e249&oe=5AD0D0FF
https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/24993251_10155885458756597_4411012474967783829_n.jpg?oh=323c948c345cfee3f9310488f47d6bef&oe=5ACAE3A5
Anyone like to make a DIY Christmas Card?

"It is unlikely that many people would plan to visit a place they've never heard of, at least within the context of tourism." Not so. It all depends.

Starting with my first trip over in 1971, I have visited scores of places not connected with tourism, some a little, some not in the least, be it American or international, in France, Germany, Poland, Czechia, towns/cities, such as Bremen, Xanten, Hameln, Minden
an der Weser, Kiel, Weimar, Rastatt, Wagram, Frankfurt an der Oder, Kleve, Dortmund-Hohensyburg, Osnabrück, Eutinj/Holstein,

Wetzlar, Lüneburg, Halle, Magdeburg, Plzen, Brno, Chelmno near Torun, Torun, Marburg, Bonn, Arras, Compiegne, Meaux, Cambrai,

Toulon, Metz, Chateau-Thierry, Beauvais, Boulogne, Albert/Somme, Arras, etc.

This places are definitely worth a visit, I particularly liked Roskilde, but I would not include Kassel.

Still, these are all second tier places.

I might include Porto, Portugal, Toledo and Segovia, Spain, and Krakow, Poland as being a bit overlooked.

There may very well be a lot of cities that are overlooked and have unique attractions. However, when you factor in the limited time and expense of international travel, it makes sense that many travelers don't get to them. It's one thing if you have two months backpacking around. But, if you're dealing with limited time, it makes sense that the large cities and popular areas get the most attention. If I'm in a large city and I visit a museum and find it's overrun with school groups and I just can't deal with them, I can leave and go to another attraction. In some smaller areas, there may only be one museum of note and you'r pretty much stuck.

Nice tips and ideas. Thanks a lot!