Return Visits ??

The ever-present dilemma; do you revisit a place you truly enjoyed, or a place you've never been to?

KGC, of course. I started planning one new place and one loved place with every trip.

I do this all the time. I try to mix new places with return visits to places I liked. Sometimes to explore more of a city, sometimes its an entire country. And starting in April to ciites in which I may want to relocate.

And, I'll admit, there are some places that don't call to me at all and I will probably never visit.

Places I have revisited outside of Australia.

Gimmelwald x 3. Pretty content now but would certainly return if the stars aligned.
Zermatt x 3. It was crazy crowded last visit 10 years ago I doubt I'd return.
Venice x 3. The last visit was brief, we were in Verona and my wife was keen to have a quick look as she hadn't been there. Certainly not in a rush to get back there.
Oxford x 2. The return visit was not as enjoyable as the first. Wouldn't be rushing back.
Paris x 2. 33 years apart. I doubt I'd return.
Berlin x 2. Last time in 88 when the wall was still intact. It would be interesting to revisit but I doubt it will happen.
Verona x 2. I doubt it will happen but
Lake District × 2. I would enjoy revisiting, a possibility.
Rotorua × 2. I will be returning in a few months.
Tongariro N.P x 2. Hoping to return in May.
Auckland x 2. I will be heading back there in a few months.
Christchurch x 2. Brief visit 24 years ago. Brief visit last May as it was point of arrival/departure. Happy to head back there again but primarily as start/,depart point for further South Island adventures.
I will hopefully also return to New Plymouth/Taranaki in a few months. Last there in 1983. Looking forward to returning.
Same with the Northland/Bay of Islands region.

I am keen to get back to Scotland but mainly to explore new areas. Same with Ireland and Wales.

I would love to return to Nepal. Kathmandu, well it's a bit of a love hate thing but the Himalaya I would happily revisit.

I will almost certainly get back to Te Anau, heaven on Earth and a return to Doubtful Sound.
Also plan on a return to Aoraki.

Some of my most favorite cities
Rome
Florence
Venice
Vienna
Salzburg
Budapest
York, England
Stratford Upon the Avon, England
Toledo, Spain
Brugges, Belgium
Munich, Germany
Lucerne, Switzerland
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cusco, Peru
Machu Picchu, Peru
Kyoto, Japan
Sydney, Australia
Jerusalem, Israel
Cairo, Egypt
Athens, Greece
Istanbul, Turkey
There's more but too much to list

Rarely do we take a trip that we do not re-visit someplace. There is something a bit comforting of arriving in a place you already have your bearings in, and a bit of an adventure if the last visit was 10 or 20 years ago.

Lately the trips have been a mix of old and new, re-visiting a place lets you skip the big sights you have seen, and concentrate on lesser, smaller things, explore neighborhoods, or just relax.

Other areas, like the Amsterdam area, I use as an entry/exit point often using a couple days to adapt on arrival or decompress before I have to fly home, so in eight or more stays, you gain a real sense of comfort. Madrid, Rome, and London are the same to me to some extent.

My sister once asked me why we kept going back to Germany - I think it was when planning my 3rd trip in 5 years - when I pointed out to her that she had vacationed at the same beach in southern California for over 50 years.

My husband is more likely to enthusiastically travel to new destinations if the itinerary includes a return to Paris. That makes it easy to return home with a nonstop to Detroit. I always like returning to various museums to see which works have been returned to the galleries after being loaned out for shows. I always check for new acquisitions (the recent Caillebotte works for example) during our return visits and we have friends in Le Marais. So....it works for both of us! We enjoy time in Amsterdam as well so that's always a possible return destination too. We both have the same "no visit" list for obvious reasons. I'm fortunate to have the ideal travel partner.

That is our current dilemma for our August repeat trip to Vienna. We will fly into Venice (5 nights) where we’ve stayed many times before, take the train or fly to Vienna for 3 weeks with a vacation within a vacation to Budapest (4 nights) where we’ve only been to once before. We are looking for another country/location to spend 5-7 nights before we fly home to the west coast. We have about 10 ideas, 8 of which are repeat places. We are really torn.

The obvious cities I think of are Paris (never stop going back there), Amsterdam (still loving it as a central spot to explore by bike), Munich (somehow our "German" goto), Salzburg (was great having friends there), Milan (family), Venice (still magical), and the French Riviera (mainly Nice, but the whole strip).

But, man, there are a lot of places I've really enjoyed and really will revisit again and again. With limited time (relatively) to visit Europe each year, it's always been a balancing act of "new and focused" (pick on city/area and stick to it) or "new and scattered" (more the old Rick Steve's types we did) or "return & focus" (as many of our more recent trips have been).

We keep opening up new areas - but more focused in many ways. We definitely enjoyed Hungary, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, and other "slightly off the beaten track" places, and going further afield there is always on our radar. We've also never gone south of Rome, and we'd love to revisit Rome and then head down south. So much of our time in Italy has been then north, and while we really like that (and do and will continue to return), I'd really like to see the other half of Italy.

The places in Europe we have visited the most (4 or more times) are:

1) Paris -- This is partly because we love it and partly because it is a convenient entry point to Europe for many of our vacations.

2) Edinburgh -- This has always been our favorite city in Europe, but it was so crowded on our last visit (2023) that I don't know if we'll go again unless we are traveling around Scotland or northern England.

3) Bath -- We have always loved Bath, but after our 4th trip last year, I feel like we don't need to go back.

4) London -- There's so much to see here, but London is just not beautiful in the same way Paris is. But we love the rest of Great Britain, so we'll probably continue to come back. However, for our trip to England and Wales next month, I have only allocated half a day to London, which we may end up spending in an airport hotel, depending on how tired we are after the rest of the trip.

So far, for the rest of the world, it's been one and done for us.

I just went and edited down my lists above. I lost sight of what I was looking for.

A. Have you visited a City that drew you back multiple times? Why?
I guess I should have defined the "why" in the question. The "why" is to just be. Nothing else. Just the comfort of being there. Do people have places like that which they keep returing to?

B. Is there a smaller stop that keeps drawing you back, maybe you return to the country for just that one stop? Why?
Really an identical question to the one before it, but while I have a warm sence of comfort and ease in most all of Budapest or Kyiv there are some places where to find that is really just one small location. Thats why list is hotels. And truly not hotels but maybe a part of the hotel. The roof to at the one in Odesa for instance. I could stay there a week.

C is the list if I had the means ... the time ... these are places the evoked good emotions that i just havent been able to arrange to return to ............. yet.

A. Have you visited a City that drew you back multiple times? Why?

• Venice -- because it's so moody and dreamy
• Istanbul -- because it's exotic enough to be interesting and familiar enough to be comfortable
• Antalya -- because I can't get enough ancient cities, and there are enough in the area to keep me occupied for a long time. (By the way, I didn't especially like it the first time I visited, but it grew on me with each subsequent visit.

B. Is there a smaller stop that keeps drawing you back, maybe you
return to the country for just that one stop? Why?

• Termessos, an unexcavated Pisidian site outside of Antalya. I have been twice and am trying to figure out how to get back there. It's not particularly well-documented, and I like trying to imagine why it existed and what it was like in the past. (Bonus points because the terrain is beautiful and the crowds are minimal.)

• The Winter Palace hotel in Luxor, Egypt because it makes me feel like I am traveling back in time and communing with the spirits of Howard Carter and Agatha Christie. (Bonus points for the very non-touristy area outside the back entrance.)

C. Is there a city or a stop that you havent returned to, but really,
really want to and will as soon as you can.

Ooh, there are lots of those. A few that come to mind:

• Matera, Italy (although I worry that it is more touristy now than when I visited).
• Actually, just about anywhere in southern Italy
• Sagalassos, Turkey. Another ancient site that calls to me. (also like the minimal crowds and mountainous terrain)
• Florence, Italy, because I don't think I was there long enough to get to know it.
• Vienna and Budapest. Same as with Florence. I don't think I was there long enough to get a true feel for it.

The ever-present dilemma; do you revisit a place you truly enjoyed, or
a place you've never been to?

I was going to write something like that. It's rare that I take a trip that I can't wait to go back to. My wife on the other hand wants to explore somewhere new. If we do go back it's because the first trip was a quick visit. Two examples are Beynac in the Dordogne region in France and Sorrento near the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We spent an hour in Beynac during an RS tour in 2019 and I feel in love. We returned last Fall for a longer stay. In 2014 we did a whirlwind day off of a cruiseship to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. 9 years late that turned into a 2 week stay.

I'd go back to both in a heartbeat, but not because it feels like a 2nd home but because there still more to see and explore.

Nothing for your point B rings a bell for me, for C we keep dreaming of a month in Nice, France. We were there for a weekend and put it on the list for a long visit. London is like that too. We've only spent 5 days there but keep dreaming of more. I can see it being a default location because it's a direct flight with frequent seat sales. I suspect we'll end up flying to London often and staying 3 or 4 days at a time and then flying from there for a longer stay somewhere else that we haven't been.

For me it's Athens. Something about the way that city smells I find intoxicating. The smell of meat being grilled, cigarette smoke, exhaust, sea salt, fresh herbs, all jumbled together in a vivid melange. I love it

The smell of meat being grilled, cigarette smoke, exhaust, sea salt,
fresh herbs, all jumbled together in a vivid melange. I love it

When i was coming here two or three times a year, it was the "unique" petrochemical smell that hit me in the face the moment I walked out of the airport. I just smiled and knew I was home. Not to worry, that smell is only around the airport.

RE: revisiting " multiple times" as if the town/ city had a certain magnetic force pulling me back...obviously:

Paris for the atmosphere and a zillion other exhaustive reasons, Berlin and the Greater Berlin area, Vienna, London, Lüneburg,

Weimar, Fontainebleau, Arras and region of Nord Pas-de-Calais, Metz and the region of Lorraine, Potsdam. These places in France and Germany certainly speak to me...obviously, as I never tire of going back to them.

Paris, Paris, Paris...over and over. I first visited in 1973 in an August heatwave and didn't really enjoy it . Went back in 1976 with the person who is now my ex-husband but was just boyfriend status then. He hated Paris and was grumpy the whole time so I thought it was Paris...later realizing it was actually "him", hahaha! Fast Forward to being able to travel internationally again and did Rick's 21 day Best of Europe followed by the Best in Paris tour and you can't keep me away. It's a wonderful location for a senior woman traveling on her own.

Orkney and Shetland - Loved them in 2023. Going back this July. They are places where I want to be very active and need to do this before I'm not able to get down on my hands and knees to crawl into a chambered cairn.

London I will also always return to!

Have not been:
- to East Anglia and the area around Sutton Hoo so have that on my schedule for 2026
- SW France and the Pyrenees and will go there in October 2025
- Some of the gardens in England so have 2 sets of garden tours lined up for 2027
- Christmassy stuff in London, Bath, Salisbury, Paris, Colmar - Plan for Nov/Dec 2026 for that

Oh yeah, does domestic travel count? Yellowstone is the center of my heart....so I go every year.

Paris, always Paris. When I begin my retirement travels, 126-days & counting, I plan on adding at least 3 or 4 new countries in my 5 month rotations, then eventually different cities w/in the countries I have already visited. Of course, I will be in Paris for one month this September/October just because I really need to. Then I will force myself to expand to other cities & regions w/in France.

I hope to one day have enough travel experience to answer this question. The cities I've visited are all just once: Madrid, Cordoba, Granada, Nerja, Rhonda, Seville, Venice, Orvieto, Rome, Budapest. Gyor, Vienna Prague.

I can't say I want to revisit because I feel a particular drawn-to feeling about the specific city. I think I'm still in the exploring phase of travel. I need to visit Rome again because because I barely scratched the surface. Same for Vienna and others. I know I missed so much and want to go back.

If I had to pick one city I felt an emotional connection to, it's Cordoba. I loved walking through all those narrow streets, getting lost, getting found, and ending up at some beautiful historic monument or bridge or something, looking in awe how this thing could have possibly been built so long ago. Cordoba was also on my first trip to Europe so has sentimental value. Haha

And now that I see all the responses for Paris, I need to move that city up the list!

Maybe one day I'll have that moment when you know you need to come back to this one place again and again. Here in the States, the place for me is San Diego to be near the Pacific Ocean.

I will return to a country, but not to a specific city - there's just too much to see and not all that much time left to see it. I'm really not that into Paris, but we have spent more nights there than anywhere else in Europe - but just as a pit stop before or after going to where we really want to be.

We have a few that understood the question, and not surprisingly it was Paris. Tomorrow if I had a need to go to London, I would stop in Paris. Not sure I could fly over it without stopping.

Good question. I guess it all depends on your personality and your overall interest in why you travel.

1. Been there, done that, approach. Try not to repeat visiting places you have been. Look for new experiences all the time.
2. Comfort Zone Approach. Repeat visits to the same locations because you really like the location and feel comfortable in the surroundings.
3. The Combined Approach. Mix new places with comfortable places you have been.

I personally love Switzerland and I could visit there all the time, but there is a stronger force that makes me want to see places I have never seen before. However, in those travels to new places, if by chance Switzerland might be on the path, well, a few days there won't hurt. LOL

As for the "comfort" factor, I don't believe we visit anyplace because it's "comfortable." Perhaps we avoid one or more places because it's uncomfortable; Venice comes to mind.

Our multiple-visit faves include London, Edinburgh, Bristol, Inverness, Paris (duh!), Bordeaux, Prague, Vienna, Florence and Rome. Additional cities we'll visit again include Bologna and Munich. And I'd love to return to Krakow and Gdansk. We'll visit Valencia and Granada this summer, which will be a return for me but first time for my wife. And I'd like to spend more time in Bergen.

I would stop in Paris. Not sure I could fly over it without stopping.

And that is what I find interesting about peoples travels. Been to Paris three times, some 2 weeks in total, and I just have no real desire to return. (Well, I would go briefly to see the restored Notre Dame)

I do not find the culture interesting, the food either boring or pretentious, to me, it is just a big city to endure, not enjoy. The thrill and feelings so many get...is just lost on me, so many other places I have been rank well above. I think some of it is that a "place" evokes a mental image, one influenced by what you have read, seen in movies, fantasized about, little cues from throughout your life, that creates a mindset (either realistic or a bit unrealistic) of an area. For me, Paris just draws a "meh".

But to each their own.

I do not find the culture interesting, the food either boring or
pretentious, to me, it is just a big city to endure, not enjoy.

I've only spent two half days in Paris so it's not enough of a sample size but of all the major cities I've visited, Paris ranks near the bottom. It's not a dislike, but like Paul, it's a "meh" so far. We will go back to spend more time and I hope it grows on me but right now I have no expectations. As for the rest of France, love the history, love the people, love, love, love everywhere else I've been.

Thank you RJ.

The question wasn't, what city disappointed you. Someone can start that thread if you want.

Threadwear i don't do near the travel i use to, but when I traveled more it was always someplace new on on tge edge and someplace for a return to explore more and Budapest because it felt like home. Did that a few times a year for 20 years. Now I find myself repeating the comfortable and enjoyable places more often than the new, but last year did get to Malta, Hallstatt and Salzburg first time and a first repeat on Sydney.

"...you can't keep me away." (in reference to Paris).....Ain't that the truth.

My first time there was also 1973 , ie, peak season in July and knew I would be coming back on the next trip to Europe. I've doing that ever since, "can't keep me away" either.

I was surprised when I first started reading on here how many people visit cities just for the sightseeing. In the places I've been back to again and again, Amsterdam and Barcelona, I could reel off a big list of the sights I haven't seen.

Thinking about both of those, there was an initial hook to both those places where I was drawn; Barcelona for music at Sonar Festival, and Amsterdam, to smoke, quite frankly, in my late teens and early 20's. After those initial hooks drew me in I discovered that I loved lots of other aspects of those cities and the people.

It makes a difference when you have somewhere you're going to often and you end up around locals (both "native" and immigrant) a lot. That feels good. I like using cities as cities when I visit, but I'd never heard of "live like a local" before Rick.

but I'd never heard of "live like a local" before Rick.

I hadn't either, but just this morning I got an email from Scotland Tourism asking me to fill out a survey. One of the questions regarding my travel preferences used that phrase.

I spent a lot of years sightseeing. Then on one trip the first city we got to really wasnt what we had hoped it would be so we packed up early and went down the tracks a few hours. Had no idea where we were really, no research but a good taxi driver that took us up to this hilltop overlook shortly after sunet. That was the first real view of the city. Holy Craaaap! I knew immediately I had started something differnet. Most of my later trips were hunting for more of the same. There has to be an equal someplace...... I am still looking,.

I was surprised when I first started reading on here how many people visit cities just for the sightseeing. In the places I've been back to again and again, Amsterdam and Barcelona, I could reel off a big list of the sights I haven't seen.

GerryM you are fortunate. You live in London so travel is much easier for you to travel throughout Europe than those of us who travel from the US. This is why many travelers from the US sightsee as a primary goal with limited time and money. You can be in Barcelona with a two hour flight. Some of us need that much time just to get to an airport for a direct flight. LOL

I think the US and the UK are quite different culturally in how people take vacations / holidays too. I'm not sure if that's down to the transatlantic flight, but British people tend to stay put in one place for longer, rather than having a short time and moving on to the next place. I think statutory paid time off work makes Europeans holiday in a different way too. Many Europeans will have a favourite holiday resort or region that they go back to again and again, in a way that Americans don't even do with somewhere like Florida so much until they're much older.

I think London is a good city to visit time and time again. There's a lot going on and it's always changing. The lack of language barrier makes it easier for North Americans to integrate if they want to too.

This one required some sifting for my brain, but here’s what it’s distilled down to for the moment.

A.
Budapest. Duh.
Granada, Spain.
Both of these cities just feel right to me.

B.
Plakias Guesthouse in Kastraki, Greece. This is a very specific feel of the hominess of a place sitting right under grandeur - and very much the people. I have been twice and I think it has to weave itself into 2026. It’s not easy to get to, which keeps it less frequent.

C.
This list has been rolling around for 6-8 months and some places are starting to ask to be revisited.
Albania is calling again. New cities and repeat cities. I did well the first time, but it needs more time. And again, people.
Montenegro - I haven’t distilled it down yet. Probably new places and a repeat or two.
We’ll see. Tasmania could make it onto this list.
And England - just as a whole. For some silly reason, I am always surprised at how good it feels to be there.

Sometimes I have to go back if I feel I haven’t done a place justice. I felt that way about Ireland. It took a month my third time.
Sometimes I am wrong about my feeling. I just knew I loved Cobh on my 2 one-day visits. So when I had the opportunity to stay longer, I did - and it wasn’t a good choice for me. And I’m not sure why.

I have quit being concerned with trips that make geographical sense. I choose a general plan with new places, but I need to weave my returns in and sometimes that means just picking up and flying there. Ha!

GerryM do you think Europeans have the same holiday style when they visit the US. I havent known many so my perception is probably skewed, but the few I have known want to go on cross country road trips. Sort of like Americans in Europe.

I have quit being concerned with trips that make geographical sense. I
choose a general plan with new places, but I need to weave my returns
in and sometimes that means just picking up and flying there. Ha!

You and I seem to be the outlier here on that subject.

The advice is often geographically and transportationally constrained. My attitude is you are spending 30 hours getting to europe and back, you may not be able to do it again for years, if every, so go to where your dreams take you. So what if it takes 2 more hours to get there out of 16 days of holiday. So what if you gotta get on a plane. If you hate airports then, again, 4 hours of lack of enjoyment or how many hours of pleasure?

Now, if you dont have any great dreams, just great couriosity, thats different. Then you want to cover as much ground as possible. Done that too.

When I think about it, I know people who have travelled extensively in the US, and some who have gone back to Orlando / Kissimmee etc. quite often. Bit of both. Flights to Florida got really cheap at one point and package holidays there were sold alongside Spanish and Greek holidays for a while. I'm not sure what the state of play is these days.

I prefer to see new things before return trips, but Paris and London are exceptions to that rule because not only is there so much to do and places you might want to revisit, but those cities are good jumping off locations to visit other regions.

Having said that we don't have unlimited money nor an unlimited amount of years to see new things, so that's why we generally prefer not to return to many of the places we have already visited. If I knew we'd live to 100 in good health that would change the equation.

As an example we're going to Yellowstone in June and Wales in September, both being places we've never seen. Next year it will be Yosemite and either Pompeii and Vesuvius, or some type of retracing of my grandfather's exploits during WWII from Normandy to Bastogne. We did visit Normandy on a day trip from Paris but it was rather rushed, plus we have a few inconsiderate passengers who showed up late to the bus EVERY time and that meant cancelling one stop and making another stop quite brief.

Gerry M, it seems nearly everyone around here goes to Myrtle Beach for vacation. It's a running joke that Myrtle is "West Virginia South." Either that or Virginia Beach. To each their own and maybe it's a comfort factor, but to us it's a big world and retracing our steps takes a backseat to someplace new. Having said that there are many great golf courses in South Carolina and that's part of the equation.