Travel destinations to escape the tourists

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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I realised when visiting Cambodia last year that, while being all too aware that I myself am a tourist like any other, i tend to have fonder recollections of those places that haven't been overrun by Westerners who seem a little unsure as to what country they might even be in, not to mention having virtually no interest in anything beyond where to get a beer...:slanted:

So, I'm looking for places that can still genuinely be considered truly 'off the beaten track'. These need not be brutally difficult to get to: some places simply have inadequate PR, thank goodness.

My picks to start off:

Bosnia - beautiful, fascinating and relatively tourist-free;
Northern Portugal - some stunning architecture here, and nary a tourist to be seen. Out-Greeces Greece...;
Lebanon - not the world's friendliest country in my experience, but still incredible;
Moscow - still not attracting the tourists in off-putting numbers.
 
N

Numbers

Well-known member
Went to Cape Verde last summer. While Cape Vert has been discovered by tourism at least some years ago, we still had about 18 miles of pristine beach all for ourselves.
 
blubeat

blubeat

blubeat
Jordan. Allow yourself at least three days for Petra. Ohmydays that place was out of this world.

East Jerusalem & Bethlehem. Admittedly its a bit of a pain to get to but well worth it, for the Hummus alone. :D
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
I hear Trans-Dnesiter is relatively tourist-free. Bring plenty of bribes, preferably dispersed among many discreet places on your person.

the_transnistria_republic_and_illegal_arms_export-p1.jpg
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Skegness?

No, really, now that trad British food like devilled eggs and boiled pig's cheeks and all that malarky (which surely no-one has actually eaten since Dickens's day) receiving a not-wholly-ironic makeover as the trendy new thing to eat, maybe old-skool holiday resorts will make a comeback? Global warming can only help, really. Be a trend-setter and beat the crowds!
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Thanks for the suggestions. I really shuld go to Petra - was looking at a friend's photos last night and sighing, lustfully.

Please tell me more about Bethlehem and Uganda!

Trans-Dniester - on my top ten list. Have you read the book 'Lost Cosmonaut'? Promises more than it delivers really, but still a good read for all post-sovietophiles.

Someon up in this bitch must have been to Grozny on a romantic weekend?? Come on people...
 
B

bassnation

the abyss
i hear the elephant and castle is lovely this time of year

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relatively tourist free and more dangerous than bolivia (choose your answer wisely when someone asks you which team you support - millwall and chelsea should be ok).
 
H

heroesandvillains

Lono ̴
My dream vacation is to get to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

It's the worlds largest salt flat and its landscapes are a thing of dreams...

boliviasalar003.JPG

300px-Shadow_on_salar_de_uyuni.jpg

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M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
bassnation said:
relatively tourist free and more dangerous than bolivia
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and more common-or-garden and twin-set-and-pearls transvestites and transexuals than anywhere else I've ever seen. Has anyone else ever noticed that? Is it just me?

I'm off to Albania later in the year, will report back on there.
 
bruno

bruno

est malade
bassnation said:
ext2.JPG


relatively tourist free and more dangerous than bolivia (choose your answer wisely when someone asks you which team you support - millwall and chelsea should be ok).
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i spent a week in the area between ec and kennington and liked it very much, i never felt insecure. some fellow nagged me for a pound once but i firmly told him to fuck off and he did, that's the one negative thing i experienced. nigerian dvds, steak pies, friendly people, the odd fox, i have no complaints. i saw an african lady in sunday regalia fall forward on her hands, feet on the ground, completely silent throughout, a statue. what a strange form of exercise, i thought, until the contents of her purse spilled onto the pavement. i offered my hand and she repeated 'i don't know why i fell, i don't know why i fell' in her lovely accent, i think i fell in love with london.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
mistersloane said:
I'm off to Albania later in the year, will report back on there.
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Cool.... I've planned to get to Tirana for a few years, if only for the officially-sanctioned multi-coloured buildings.

I remember once seeing the city described as a cross between Moscow, Cairo and another, ludicrously inappropriate, city whose name escapes me at the moment.... Still, you've got to admire the Albanians for excommunicating the PRC for "not being left enough".
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
heroesandvillains said:
My dream vacation is to get to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

It's the worlds largest salt flat and its landscapes are a thing of dreams...
Click to expand...

It is pretty amazing. They have all these weird coloured lakes with pink flamingoes drinking in them as well as the vast expanses of salt.
 
H

heroesandvillains

Lono ̴
john eden said:
It is pretty amazing. They have all these weird coloured lakes with pink flamingoes drinking in them as well as the vast expanses of salt.
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Wild flamingoes :cool:


what kind of price is it for a trip down there, staying at the salt hotel, getting driven around etc?
 
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john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
heroesandvillains said:
Wild flamingoes :cool:


what kind of price is it for a trip down there, staying at the salt hotel, getting driven around etc?
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I went a while ago so can't really remember (it was part of a 3 month trip...) - salt hotel was comparatively expensive so we didn't stay there (but popped in for a look). Basically Bolivia was pretty damn cheap, even compared to Brazil and Peru - it was also a lot less aggro...
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
i enjoyed this thread while it lasted, so just re-upping.

I have just one to add...er, rural Iceland. That's very tourist-free, very trippy. If you do visit the country, don't even consider just going to Reykjavik.

Anyone been to Leipzig or Trieste?
 
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HMGovt’s Glorious Return!

HMGovt’s Glorious Return!

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craner said:
Hard to get into, mind, particularly Belarus.
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I heard the story, over the weekend, of how a friend's 70-year-old aunt was thrown off the train at the Belarus border for not having a visa. That would have been bad enough, but the guards ejected her in her nightclothes, without luggage, in the middle of the night. That qualifies as hard to get into. She's made of stern stuff, so managed to get in 'by other means' and retrieve her stuff...
 
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