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"Touristy" - it's a sliding scale

I was thinking the other day about the negative use of "touristy" by some posters here, and considering that it's a variable concept. I was also reminded of some of the really hopeless requests I occasionally see for a "non-touristy" spot in a region that has been a major international tourist destination for decades if not a century, like the French Riviera.

But there's no simple distinction between "touristy" and "non-touristy", more of a spectrum:

Totally non-touristed - you will hardly ever see a foreign person. However, in these days of easy travel and widespread information, in Europe any genuine place like this will probably be either very dull (see what "living like a local" is really like and decide never to do it again) or very remote indeed and inaccessible without a car or a lengthy hike.

National tourist site - somewhere that is visited by people in the country or region but not by many international tourists, either because it's not of outstanding interest or because there's no nearby international airport. Probably not horribly crowded except on public holidays, but you'll see souvenir shops and so forth. You'll get a taste of the local leisure culture but you might find it a bit tacky.

International tourist site - you'll see plenty of foreign tourists. Seriously, most places in Western Europe that are highly rewarding to visit are going to be like this.

Tourist honeypot - the usual stereotype, hotels full, local people getting seriously pissed off about crowds and too many AirBNB properties, sites more and more requiring pre-booked timed tickets, etc.

Posted by
1988 posts

When I read your definition of "National tourist site" I immediately thought of Cheddar Gorge. I have never been anywhere else where I really think I was the only person from the US that day. There were just no international visitors-all seemed to be English. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed our visit (even the 'bit tacky' bits,) but the lack of other intl. tourists is probably what I remember the most.

Posted by
14632 posts

Interesting thoughts Philip! I love the sliding scale concept.

Two things occurred to me while reading.

  1. My Mom (who died at 94 and who's only life regret was not being able to see the Great Wall) was definitely a "beaten path" traveler. She always said there was a beaten path for a reason - there was something good at the end of it.

  2. I post a lot on a Yellowstone forum and people are always wanting "hidden gems". What? Tourists have been coming since the 1890's following basically the same loop thru the park. The only hidden things are as you mention as totally non-touristy - in this instance not accessible by car (or stagecoach, lol!) and require a long hike.

Posted by
8168 posts

I too have been to Cheddar Gorge, if that is the one south of Bath and Wells.

Many posters want to skip key places because they are touristy. Sorry, but many people want to see the Sistine Chapel, Eiffel Tower and such.

Having traveled quite a lot and lived 9 years overseas, I do appreciate going to a place where there are few if any foreign tourists.
I have found a few of those places.

We did a river cruise and land tour of Russia that also include four days in Kiev before and 6 nights after in the Baltic Countries. We had a bus load of people in both places, but found few other tourists in those places.

Some tourist places we don't visit these day. We are in our early 70 and live on an island off the coast of Georgia. We have a beach here, but don't go there much, since exposure to the sun adds to the risk of skin cancer. We never visit places to go to the beach. We did one Caribbean cruise and saw some nice beaches, but didn't care.

The old Michelin green guides had a system of stars rating how significant a place was to help tourist prioritize their visits.

Looking at the one for Italy, I find a plethora of three star sites (top) also many more two or one star sites. I have been to Italy about 10 times and still not seen all the three star sites. I still love going to Italy, despite the hordes of tourists, that are many more than they were 25-40 years ago.

Posted by
381 posts

Totally non-touristed - you will hardly ever see a foreign person. However, in these days of easy travel and widespread information, in Europe any genuine place like this will probably be either very dull (see what "living like a local" is really like and decide never to do it again) or very remote indeed and inaccessible without a car or a lengthy hike.

(Notice the phrase "inaccessible without a car," and think about what it implies, in context.)

I know there is a huge prejudice among many regulars on this forum against road trips, but the above passage reinforces to me why I like road trips so much. When we are driving around and stopping to explore in relatively random places, or spots that seemed from the map that they might be interesting, we often discover places that interest us a lot. For example, once we drove from Belgium to Luxembourg on a secondary road and went around a corner into a little town that was so much like a storybook village that my husband and I both gasped. We parked and walked around, and not only were there no foreigners in evidence, there were very few people of any stripe in evidence.

What is "ordinary" in a foreign country can be very pleasurable and interesting to visit and not at all dull. That is, if you have an open mind and do not travel merely for monuments and famous places. We enjoy seeing people going about their daily lives amidst different architecture, street signs, plantings, traffic controls, types of shops, etc. than at home. We even enjoy visiting supermarkets when we are in a different country and usually make numerous fun discoveries there.

Posted by
4656 posts

On the forums right now there is a long thread about 'getting bored visiting close to home and only wanting to travel overseas' and another asking about Spain's East Coast.

Personally, I think if you are bored, you haven't done enough research, or you aren't open to simple pleasures. We, in North America, are blessed with boundless nature and natural wonders to offer mental respite, or perhaps something to become a new hobby. With a hobby or interest, you can do a lot of travel with that as a focus that aren't just man made places of interest.
Spain's East Coast between Malaga to Barcelona (or Valencia to Barcelona) is a region I just saw from the window of the public bus on the freeway, but there were fortifications on hills, towns on the coast line, and what looked like ready roads. Perfect for a road trip, or if regional trains available, day or weekend trips from Barcelona. It seems they are certainly known to locals and UNESCO but I don't know if they are well covered in 'Spain' travel guides. More a 'national tourist site'.
When I plan to travel, I don't follow a 'must see' list and try to schedule and prebook every hour of the day. I do see a lot of these, but I add other places as well. I also rent apartments which put me outside the hotel zones. This really changes out the ratio of local vs tourist. I also birdwatch, so I spend time in parks and green spaces....or hire a guide that gets me out of the city limits for the day. Really, you can still visit the honey pot cities but just look at them with a different perspective. Stay outside the city or on the periphery. Take a local bus into a neighbourhood. Use a travel guide that isn't Rick Steves. They often list sites that Rick cuts because most people don't have more than 3 or 4 days for a city. Sometimes, even moving a block or two off the principal streets gets you out of the tourist zones....but there is still interesting architecture, restaurants, shops. Maybe you'll find a great leather worker, or cobbler keeping up a craft that is pretty much a forgotten art in our own country.

Even in a city known for tourism, touristy can be a sliding scale. You just need to invest a little time and a sense of adventure to find them.

Posted by
15777 posts

Interesting observations, that I hadn't thought much about. For me, touristy means full of shops and restaurants that are aimed nearly exclusively at tourists. That's why I prefer Ghent to Bruges, for example. And why I didn't much like Obidos in Portugal and Nazare not at all.

Posted by
14905 posts

Good definitions for the various terms, very true, a sliding scale and relative.

Re: "Totally non-touristy....hardly see a foreign person." Exactly.. numerous places in eastern and North Germany I have visited

and revisited fit this appropriate description, eg, Rheinsberg, Neuruppin, Eutin/Holstein, Küstrin an der Oder, Meissen, Neustrelitz,

Cuxhaven, Flensburg, Kleve, Magdeburg, Hameln, Wustrau/Brandenburg, Babelsberg, and so.

Posted by
2965 posts

I would add an axis to the scale for national and international tourists.

From my travel experience in a lot of places the locations of national and international tourists sometimes macth and sometimes they don''t. As Fred mentioned there are a lot of examples in Germany but also the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) are full of examples.

Furthermore the time dimension needs to be added (season vs. off-season).

In total it is very relative / geeling-related: I never forget being two hours completely on my own with my camera at a touristic known waterfall in Norway - really nobody there, only 2 cars were passing by at that time. On the other hand I drove to the very North-Eastern end on Norwegian mainland directly at Russian border. Finally reaching the beach there were a Dutch, a German and a French motorhome standing in a row in first view line to the water. Even these three motorhomes I felt as "touristy" compared to being at one end of the world.