I found this article in the Washington Post this morning, and liked it, so I thought I would share. It's a nice concept (which I wholly endorse) that discusses traveling to those cities that aren't on most American traveler's radar. Cities like Bristol, Hamburg, Liverpool, Antwerp, and so on. So maybe next time, broaden your horizon a bit and head for those lesser-known cities around the world.
https://wapo.st/3WgqJfg (unlocked)
I’ve been doing this for a few years now after visiting the 5 star cities - some on multiple occasions. Cities like Trieste, Torino, Pescara, Marseille, Lyon, Bamberg, Bayreuth are as fascinating and worthwhile with fewer tourists and, sometimes, lower prices. The same with visiting different areas. Try visiting Aude and the Camargue instead of Normandy and the Loire valley. Skip up the eastern side of Portugal instead of the Atlantic coast. You’ve been to Tuscany, the Veneto and the Dolomites? Check out Abruzzo, Piedmont and the Italian Alps.
Thanks Mardee for sharing the link. I found that the only way to access it is to provide an email address. To many that might not be a big deal, but to me, it seems the newspaper just wants to harvest email addresses to either inundate people with solicitations, or to sell to others who will send out a barrage of spam. Not being critical of you or your effort Mardee, at all, just venting frustration about data mining that leads to spam and junk phone calls. It's enough to drive a baptist to drink.
Thanks, Mardee. I haven't traveled much in Germany or England, so that's helpful info. I guess, people would say Porto is a second city, but we found it just as crowded as Lisbon. That said, the crowds were outdoors so the cathedral, churches, etc., were easily visited. Maybe the port houses weren't crowded, we didn't visit those because we'd been inland on the Douro. Even though it was definitely crowded on walking the main "drags", it still was pleasant. Also, if you'd like to eat dinner in Porto, I strongly recommend reservations.
As an aside, similarly, Bruges, Belgium, was extremely crowded, but every inside venue, like the churches and museums were not crowded at all, with the exception of the breweries.
Fully agree with Rick's perspective in this article. It's one of the reasons I plan my own trips and avoid tours (even Rick's) as they tend to focus on first cities.
TC, sorry, didn't realize that. However, that's why I have an email address that is strictly for situations like that. I like to use google for that because you can create multiple accounts, each with their own storage limit.
Mardee,
You make a good point, don't just focus on cities like London, Paris and Rome.
However, this doesn't mean that every other city is worth the effort.
You mention Bristol, Hamburg, Liverpool, and Antwerp. I have been to all but Bristol and felt that they were second or third tier places for touring. We visited Liverpool and the local tours that I checked were primarily focused on the Beatles. I liked the Beatles, but not in to worshipping them. Frankly, there are many more places in Britain that are better to visit than Liverpool.
Hamburg was a bit more interesting, but still feel it is second tier compared to other German cities. Antwerp, sorry, not impressed.
As far as Marseille and Lyon were concerned, I was not much impressed with Marseille, but I did enjoy Lyon, but would have a hard time finding 4-5 days to spend there.
Oddly, a couple of decades ago Rick would have said not to bother. I've bothered. I hate to think he'll start sending people to these places now. Nonetheless, I still love the big ones, too: Paris, London, Stockholm, Athens, etc.
What might help the crowds is to get rid of AirBNB type places. But that's me, and, gosh, I sound ornery today. Sorry. LOL
As usual, travel decisions are so personal. We found lots to enjoy in Antwerp and Hamburg. It really is quite lovely to visit places that are not crowded with tourists. This September we will stay in Rotterdam instead of Amsterdam (love of modern architecture and interest in port infrastructure), Padova instead of Venice and Torino instead of Milan. Looking forward to what all 3 have to offer with the flexibility to not have to book sights ahead of time. Hotel rates are also cheaper.
We have kinda started doing this also. But as stated above, some of these smaller cities are not crowded for a reason, not much to do and not easy to get out of town. That said, our last stop in the Netherlands this past June, we stayed in Rotterdam, 6 nights. We found it surprisingly empty and easy to get around. We did do 3 days trips - The Hague, Gouda, and Utrecht. Never even went into Amsterdam. In Portugal we are staying 4 nights in Tomar in addition to Porto/Lisbon.
