What is a Back Door?

Hi Cleda. I guess my idea of a back door is "undiscovered" (whatever that means) parts of Europe. But I don't know if Rick's idea of a back door is true anymore because it seems like a lot of people visit the places that he once deemed undiscovered (the Cinque Terre, Hallstatt, Bacharach).

Almost any place not described in a Rick Steves guidebook. EDIT: OK, that's not quite fair. Rather, I would say no location in one of the Blue Books can truly be called a Back Door anymore. "Back door friend"... um, that phrase had a different meaning where I grew up...

Certainly with thousands of guide books sold those back doors might now be called 'side doors.' But, because of the type of hotels he typically recommends, its probably not the front door with the red carpet rolled out. I think of it as almost more a state of mind. Are you willing to go a little off the beaten path to have your own experience? Do you engage with the local people? Are you interested in what they think?
I don't think of any of those large cities...Paris, Rome, London as 'back door places', but I think one can find little back doors no matter where you travel.

Well said, Terry kathryn!

I think a back door can be a place that you discover that is wonderful yet relatively undiscovered by tourists. But it can also be a state of mind that means no matter where you are, be it Paris, London, etc. you have an attitude more like a local. You are not expecting to stay in 5 star hotel where everything is the same or better than at home, and you just shuttle between tourist hot spots. You get out in the streets, the metro, the museums, the cafes and experience places as if you lived there. Hang out with the locals, and make an effort to understand and appreciate other people and cultures.

I think it has to do with the philosophy of not isolating yourself when you travel but espousing the "temporary local" frame of mind. I think it comes from the saying that "back door friends are best" in that most people you meet formally at your front door but your best friends can see your real life at the back door. Rick is trying to be a back door friend to everyone in Europe!

I agree with Glenn of NL, Canada. I also feel it is a "humbler" way to travel, nothing showy, no 5 star hotels, no limos meeting you at the airport, no 3 star Michelin restaurants ... and so you can afford to do it again much sooner.

I think it's a gay thing. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Not particularly, Rik, but enough about that... I agree with the above, and I also think it's about having to work a bit harder - do some research on your own to see what's neat about Paris, even, above and beyond the obvious sites. Stopping in a little town on the train tracks/car route and just seeing what there is to see. There's SOME reason that people live there, although it may not be terribly exciting! Back doors aren't necessarily heart-thumping discoveries...maybe you find a quiet little fishing village with people going about their day. Just getting into their rhythm... Back doors may require you to work a bit harder at the language 'barrier', and there won't be any English menus - you place your life in the hands of those hosting you. Relinquish some control...As opposed to being herded on and off a big bus with 150 of your closest friends to and from places you never even caught the name of...8-(...('What museum did we go to this morning?' 'I dunno...') (BTW, I've taken a tour with 150 of my closest friends, and it was fine for what and where we were...got lots out of it...but NOT back door!) Back door to me is like watching the kid/grown kid (!) who wanders away from the tour group in the museum and looks behind closed doors, goes down unmarked staircases, peers into rooms he's pretty sure he's not supposed to be looking into, and just exploring the 'unseen'; the things off of the regular tour 'menu'. For me, back doors aren't necessarily the next blockbuster sites - Rothenburg OdT, Bruges, etc. I think MOST 'sites' are back door, actually...maybe that's the point. They're all around... OK - I don't think my ramblings said anything not already said...;-)

I've always likened the whole "Back Door" deal to my experience where I grew up. Casual aquaintances and strangers to our home came in through the front door, and knocked before entering. Relatives and close friends always came into the house through the back door , and never knocked. So for me, experiencing something "through the back door" means experiencing something in a way that is much more relaxed, informal, and inviting and much more likely to have a intimate or personal connection...

Cleda,
It is definitely a state of mind. It's slowing down and looking spherically in many directions while traveling. It's kindness, understanding and acceptance of other countries customs and viewpoints. It's traveling low to the ground, connection and acceptance from others, without putting labels on people, and immersion into different lifestyles and cultures. It's travelling with a certain mental thriftyness. We don't mind paying a hundred euros for an incredible dinner in an amazing place, but get irked if our lack of travel knowledge gets us ripped off 5 extra euros in a cab or restaurant. It's when the owner of a bar in Italy lets my wife and I take his 70 year old wine carafe and our glasses across the street on a tray. We sat on the seawall in Napoli, and watched a full moon rise from behind a snow capped Mt. Vesuvius. His only statement, "Nonla rompa, per favore!" (Please dont break it!) Ahhhh. These moments become your quintessential Back Door memories. No one can ever take them from you, they live inside you forever, and they just have to make you a better person. Sorry, I pontificate!

You are right, Crash!

And thanks to Lee for recommending Oberstdorf in the Allgäu to me.

Here is how Rick Steves describes a back door. He's not dogmatic about it--refers to "back-door congestion" in some places. To me the phrase suggests some places I've been to that have zero sights--no great monuments or mountains or museums--but lots of charm. In effect, the whole back door is the sight.

Where I come from, and I bet this is true for a lot of places, friends come though their yard and in your back door which is of course unlocked to facilitate the flow of neighborhood children, dogs and assorted other riff raff. Company rings the front doorbell. The back door is where you enter into another persons life and experiences.

"He's not dogmatic about it--refers to "back-door congestion" in some places." Makes me think of needing a fiber supplement. This thread is just full of innuendo...

You might not want some friends to visit via the back door...you don't know where they've been.

I've "discovered" three back doors of my own, the Allgäu in SW Bavaria, certain towns in the northern Black Forest, and the Harz. These places are well known to Germans, but have not been "discovered" by people like Rick. There were very few, if any, Americans around, so few that they didn't attract the normal collection of English speaking Germans that cater to English speaking tourist. I could check into a hotel or go to a restaurant or shop without someone immediately speaking English to me.

For me, a Back Door is finding any place that isn't a typical tourist attraction. Whether it is an unusual museum, a small hidden church, a local event or festival, or even an old neighborhood in a big city. I think it is why I like cities like Milan, or Brussels, and yes, Frankfurt. They have all these "undiscovered places" in them that will probably never make it into the guidebooks, but are wonderful to see and experience. Same thing with the smaller towns. Everyone goes to the same places, when right up the road is a town that is probably just as beautiful, just as historic and interesting, but no one has written about it, cause it is impossible to write about them all. It is one of the reasons why I hang out here on this forum, to help travelers find some new places to visit, so that their trip to Germany will be even more memorable.

I like the Back Doors like Lee said, places that Germans (or local countrymen, wherever you are) know are great vacation places, but haven't been discovered as vacation spots by others. They've been beautiful spots that we have great memories of. We're hoping to find more this summer. And we've made great friends at the places we've found, too, they've been surprised to have Americans visiting these towns, and have been (mostly) very hospitable.

If you see tour bus parking, you're not at a back door.

I have enjoyed reading the responses so far. But I think there is a distinction to be made here between the aspirations of those who either have easy access to Europe or return repeatedly to the same area, and those who want to experience something new as often as possible. It is all too easy to find and get enamored with numerous "back door" places when you have frequent or easy access to them. It is understandable how a person in this situation might get frustrated by the fact that those following guide books too closely will never appreciate the gems that they have found on their repeated visits. But not everyone travels this way. Most (including myself) have not yet spent decades making trips across the ocean and/or, have made it a priority when choosing where to go, the desire to see a different area each trip (even, god forbid, some place other than Europe :-). When this is your situation, you are going to want to spend a significant portion of your trip seeing the things that are iconic for that area, because there is a realistic chance that you will never return. I know I COULD return, and if I can some day, I will. But life can be shorter than hoped for and there are many places I would like to see before it ends. So when I am in Paris, I'm going to spend time at the Eiffel tower. When I'm in Germany, I'm going to see Neuschwanstein. When I'm in Budapest, I'm going to the Szechenyi baths. But that's not ALL I'm going to see. For people like us, there are still "back doors". They can be as simple as the village grocery where you buy the food for the dinner you make at your cottage rental, or a simple park where neighborhood children play, or any quiet residential street where locals live. You do have to look for them. But they don't have to be earth shakingly special. Just some place that creates a warm memory of "real" life away from the made-for-tourism path.

Well said. I may roll my eyes when tourists want to see only the Field of Dreams or the Bridges of Madison County, but those are world-famous sites in Iowa that tourists want to experience. Of course that's where they wish to go...they may not be back this way, especially if they're from Japan or Germany. I can easily recommend tons of great "back doors" all over the state because I live here, but first-time visitors want to see the icons. It would make no sense whatsoever for me to recommend a back door itinerary for a first time visitor from Japan that didn't include these two sites (especially the Field of Dreams). Of course, this is assuming that anyone wants to visit Iowa in the first place. :) BTW, we used have a "back door" experience that isn't such a "back door" anymore...check out the live streaming video Eagle cam online from a nest in Decorah: http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles It's like watching the Truman Show but with American Bald Eagles.

If you just devote yourself to finding back doors, you might miss the Academia, the Tower of Pisa, the Coloseum, the Tour Eiffel, the Musee d'Orday, just to name a few. Back doors should be devoted to your 'off' hours or travel days or evenings, when something out of the ordinary can be done. Rarely can you find such places in a guide book, no matter who wrote it.

Very well said Randy! And Michael, watching the eagles is addictive. One more thing to do at work now...sweet.

It's Europe THROUGH the Back Door. The Back Door is a philosophy, a mind-set toward travel. It is not a place. I believe Rick's original idea was to create a different, original way to travel. Now that so many travelers use his books and try to adhere to his philosophy, I can't say that the ETBD way is anything but "mainstream." What I'm saying is, there is no Back Door.

And we have a winner! It's kind of like "there's no there, there" - it's not a particular door, it's the portal through which one experiences travel in a different (back door) way - even if you're standing with 700 of your best friends on the Eiffel Tower... (and this is what several posts are saying in their own way)

And there's a lot of truth to James' last sentence.

Yeah, but if you don't step through that back door, you'll never get to enter that contest.

Yes, "the back doors" is a travel philosophy...you either agree with it, become dedicated and committed to it as a justification for travelling or you reject it since it serves no purpose for your choice of travelling. I travel but the "back doors" philosophy is irrelevant to me, agree with James' basic point on the ones' upmanship way of thinking. Travel is a matter of priorities and interests once you determine what they are for you personally, whether you want to see a famous site in Milan or a certain town in CZ, whether the canals of Venice or the Eiffel Tower, or whether you rather go to Barcelona or Helsinki or Vienna.