Comments on: On Visiting Touristy Places

By: bistji

bistji — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 11:53:07 +0000

### On Visiting Touristy Places

Touristy places often serve as gateways to local culture and history, offering unforgettable experiences and stunning sights. While they can be crowded, embracing their charm can lead to memorable adventures and unique photo opportunities that capture the essence of a destination.

By: Talon Windwalker

Talon Windwalker — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 07:59:02 +0000

In reply to Lyon. Very true

By: Lyon

Lyon — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 00:12:47 +0000

Love this article and I agree just because is touristy doesn’t devalues a place. There’s always gems still to be discovered because cities are always constantly evolving.

By: Talon Windwalker

Talon Windwalker — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 08:36:16 +0000

In reply to Patrick. Since we travel full time, we definitely do occasionally hit old favorites or places that are familiar.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 05:45:33 +0000

100% agree about the avoiding restaurants that cater to tourists.

The only ones I specifically hunt out are Hard Rock Cafes. I know a lot of people aren’t a fan, but I love them (even if they are very over priced everywhere)!

By: Talon Windwalker

Talon Windwalker — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 16:20:24 +0000

In reply to Elena. I love it, and it's so true! Even one block can make a big difference. Good to know about Etna. I'm glad you had such a great experience there.

By: Talon Windwalker

Talon Windwalker — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 16:19:28 +0000

In reply to Jonny Blair.

I think that is fairly judgmental. I travel to Paris because I adore it. I love the vibe, the people, the food, the quirkiness of some of the neighborhoods, even some of its delightful cliches. But I also tend to seek out the places where I’m not going to find tourists. I don’t think the vast majority of people who are traveling are basing their choices on the potential social media response. And many of my friends would ooh and ahh over a photo of Nukus. They enjoy seeing places they’ve never heard of as well as the places they’ve also visited or dreamed of visiting.

I tend to enjoy less touristy places more as well, but that’s because of my travel style. Not everyone likes to travel like you or me, and that’s fine. There’s no wrong or right way to travel. I just hope people don’t discount a potentially wonderful place just because it is or isn’t touristy.

By: Jonny Blair

Jonny Blair — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:28:31 +0000

I agree with most of your points Talon and interchangeably I myself go to touristy places and ones bereft of tourists. However I usually end up liking the ones with less tourists a lot more for many many reasons. I think when you say that Paris and London are over touristy but also for a reason. For me the reason is – people are lazy and become popular consumers,they don’t make up their own minds about places – they follow trends and crowds as they also want to be seen as popular and go to the popular places. They follow the popular crowd as everybody talks about Paris and London. People want to put a photo up of the Eiffel Tower on Facebook and see the hundreds of likes and wow comments coming in, but it’s too easy to visit places like that. If they backpacked to a city like Nukus and put a photo up on Facebook nobody would say Wow and nobody would like it. People would think that person was strange so the majority of people take the easy option, the simple way out and head to Paris or London. Indeed, I myself will be in both Paris and London this year but I am doing that because of friends and in one instance, an easier flight connection. I’m much more excited about my time in Seborga, Bishkek and Masar e Sharif. These places are unpopular for a reason – everybody got lazy and followed mass consumerism by backpacking to Paris and London, unaware that Bishkek is just as beautiful but just less cool and less popular for their mates on Facebook who all love Paris and hate Bishkek, because they became mass consumers to popularity too. “You can’t argue with popularity. Well you could, but you’d be wrong.” Anyway just my honest take on it, safe travels to touristic and non touristic spots! Jonny

By: Elena

Elena — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:05:46 +0000

So true. To deal with it, we developed a strategy that we call “one block off.” Seriously, it never failed us. From Kuala Lumpur to Berlin, to Amsterdam, we just turn around a corner or walk to the next street. Seriously, sometimes the view is even better, or you get a chance to chat with locals and learn something that is missing from official travel guides.

Speaking of surprise, mine came while visiting Etna. Even with an endless sea of tourists swarming around, it was the truly majestic experience.

By: Talon Windwalker

Talon Windwalker — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 10:18:03 +0000

In reply to Patti. You were probably too tired from walking to be clear-headed enough to choose otherwise. ;)