Travel Covens?
March 5, 2012 7:12 PM Subscribe
How do you find off-the-beaten track cool things to do when you travel?
I've travelled a lot and I'm not unaware that things can happen or fall into place and I'm cool with that. Bit how do you find cool things to do in places you've never visited? Is there some website out there? Or some secret coven of travellers that passes around secrets?
FWIW: I'm travelling to Italy, Greece an then probably the Dalmation Coast/Turkey/Bulgaria this summer.
I've travelled a lot and I'm not unaware that things can happen or fall into place and I'm cool with that. Bit how do you find cool things to do in places you've never visited? Is there some website out there? Or some secret coven of travellers that passes around secrets?
FWIW: I'm travelling to Italy, Greece an then probably the Dalmation Coast/Turkey/Bulgaria this summer.
I check out the local newspapers before I go anywhere. I just learned there's an open air cinema in Athens.
posted by buggzzee23 at 7:26 PM on March 5, 2012
posted by buggzzee23 at 7:26 PM on March 5, 2012
I talk to the locals.
No - I'm not belittling your question... cause that's really what I do. Every place I've ever traveled, I found the coolest things and most intriguing places to check out by asking the locals in restaurants, shops, parks, etc.
It helped that I took the time to learn a TINY bit of the local language just about everywhere I've been... enough to get by and then forget months down the road.
Oh - and I threw out any and all itineraries.
posted by matty at 7:27 PM on March 5, 2012 [5 favorites]
No - I'm not belittling your question... cause that's really what I do. Every place I've ever traveled, I found the coolest things and most intriguing places to check out by asking the locals in restaurants, shops, parks, etc.
It helped that I took the time to learn a TINY bit of the local language just about everywhere I've been... enough to get by and then forget months down the road.
Oh - and I threw out any and all itineraries.
posted by matty at 7:27 PM on March 5, 2012 [5 favorites]
The Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum can have some gems, if you're willing to sift through all the 'which train goes where' questions.
Other than that, I've always found that talking to people - both other travellers and locals - and just saying yes to everything usually works out to make an adventure happen.
Also, make sure you're not too set on your itinerary - the more open you are to spending an extra week in a place, or taking a ten day detour somewhere, the more likely you are to take the chance when it comes along.
posted by twirlypen at 7:27 PM on March 5, 2012
Other than that, I've always found that talking to people - both other travellers and locals - and just saying yes to everything usually works out to make an adventure happen.
Also, make sure you're not too set on your itinerary - the more open you are to spending an extra week in a place, or taking a ten day detour somewhere, the more likely you are to take the chance when it comes along.
posted by twirlypen at 7:27 PM on March 5, 2012
Find the most boring, normal, everyday store and shop there. That's one of my favorite things to do in a foreign country. Go to the supermarket, or a clothing store, or a hardware store, and you'll get a real flavor for the people and the things they don't think about themselves when someone says, "What is your country like," because it's just so day-to-day.
posted by xingcat at 7:31 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 7:31 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Wander around by yourself and be willing to get lost. Be willing to mangle other people's languages. Look friendly and smile often. Randomly strike up conversations, one question that has worked for me is "Can you recommend a good restaurant around here?" When we asked this in Paris, from an impossibly chic Somalian French couple, they introduced us to a real gem of a place that was loved by locals.
To give you an idea of some of the random adventures that I have had: In Rome, I randomly popped into an Italian class that was for immigrants to Italy, then later that night I ended up chatting with an electrician and trying cheese and wine from Sardinia on the banks of the Tiber.
Wherever I go, I try to talk to the locals. I don't really speak more than ten words of any language other than English, Mandarin and Cantonese, but I'm very willing to give it a shot.
posted by so much modern time at 7:43 PM on March 5, 2012
To give you an idea of some of the random adventures that I have had: In Rome, I randomly popped into an Italian class that was for immigrants to Italy, then later that night I ended up chatting with an electrician and trying cheese and wine from Sardinia on the banks of the Tiber.
Wherever I go, I try to talk to the locals. I don't really speak more than ten words of any language other than English, Mandarin and Cantonese, but I'm very willing to give it a shot.
posted by so much modern time at 7:43 PM on March 5, 2012
It's kind of a right-brain thing for me. I go by hunch and instinct and "hmm, that looks interesting," or I get an invitation or offer or suggestion from someone and I think to say "okay, yeah, I'll try that."
And that's how you end up getting your palm read in Dublin's only Cajun restaurant by a guy who was CREEPILY good at it, or idly wandering around back behind a tool shed in Big Sur to find that freakin' RIVENDELL was just hanging out back there, or you open a door in your hotel that you were just wondering what was behind it and find that there's a huge brass clawfoot bathtub that no one else knew about, or you end up in Malachy McCourt's entourage at a late night radio talk show, where you and the producer both split a bottle of merlot and talk smack about censors.
All it is, is being presented with a road, a building, a door, a room, or what have you, and asking yourself, "I wonder what THAT'S like over there. Let's go find out."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:58 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
And that's how you end up getting your palm read in Dublin's only Cajun restaurant by a guy who was CREEPILY good at it, or idly wandering around back behind a tool shed in Big Sur to find that freakin' RIVENDELL was just hanging out back there, or you open a door in your hotel that you were just wondering what was behind it and find that there's a huge brass clawfoot bathtub that no one else knew about, or you end up in Malachy McCourt's entourage at a late night radio talk show, where you and the producer both split a bottle of merlot and talk smack about censors.
All it is, is being presented with a road, a building, a door, a room, or what have you, and asking yourself, "I wonder what THAT'S like over there. Let's go find out."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:58 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Similar to what Matty wrote, I ask the cabby who takes me from the airport to the hotel. In Jamaica, I ended up with him and a whole bunch of Rastafarian in the back room of a deli playing pool, drinking Red Stripes and sampling the local vegetation. From there, they told me about the cool local restaurants and the secluded beach.
Just ask a local.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:07 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Just ask a local.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:07 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
i try to make a friend, a real one, in every place i go.
in barcelona, it was this cool guy who worked at a clothing store. i was feeling LOST and wondering why i was in barcelona at all, but he told me great places to go and what i should do. we hung out every day for 9 days, he introduced me to his boyfriend, they took me to a little beach town, we watched the world cup in plaça catalunya... i have since sent several friends to that guy when they are in town, so the friendship lives on!
when i'm in my hometown, i just walk through my day, but when i'm on vacation, i'm always open to meeting someone, so i take the extra time to chat. nobody knows that i can be shy and cautious in my real life if they meet me in croatia (or wherever). so i just play the role of the person who is up for anything, and i trust my instincts to not do anything toooo dangerous.
it helps that when i go travelling, i try to give myself MORE time in fewer places, rather than 2 days per city, as much as possible. i feel a sense of investment to the place, and i have time to hear about and experience all the good stuff.
i also make use of askme for good insider tips about where i'm going. also i ask my facebook friends for tips.
also, if the question arises: "do we feed the travelling klezmer hippie musicians our leftover salad, or do we not?" the answer must always be "YES, we do." this question can become the metaphor to any adventure, if one allows it to be.
posted by andreapandrea at 8:13 PM on March 5, 2012
in barcelona, it was this cool guy who worked at a clothing store. i was feeling LOST and wondering why i was in barcelona at all, but he told me great places to go and what i should do. we hung out every day for 9 days, he introduced me to his boyfriend, they took me to a little beach town, we watched the world cup in plaça catalunya... i have since sent several friends to that guy when they are in town, so the friendship lives on!
when i'm in my hometown, i just walk through my day, but when i'm on vacation, i'm always open to meeting someone, so i take the extra time to chat. nobody knows that i can be shy and cautious in my real life if they meet me in croatia (or wherever). so i just play the role of the person who is up for anything, and i trust my instincts to not do anything toooo dangerous.
it helps that when i go travelling, i try to give myself MORE time in fewer places, rather than 2 days per city, as much as possible. i feel a sense of investment to the place, and i have time to hear about and experience all the good stuff.
i also make use of askme for good insider tips about where i'm going. also i ask my facebook friends for tips.
also, if the question arises: "do we feed the travelling klezmer hippie musicians our leftover salad, or do we not?" the answer must always be "YES, we do." this question can become the metaphor to any adventure, if one allows it to be.
posted by andreapandrea at 8:13 PM on March 5, 2012
I stay in youth hostels. Seriously, it works awesome. And I'm not a youth.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 8:24 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 8:24 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
I carry a notepad and ask anyone that I feel like I click with or just feel like would have a good suggestion. Every time I've done this I wind up with an impossible to complete list of options with a much higher rate of awesome than any guidebook can provide. I like the notebook, because people tend to enjoy going through it to see what their neighbors are suggesting and you can get a lot of second opinions and some fierce rebuttals.
posted by piedmont at 8:27 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by piedmont at 8:27 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I suggest joining Couchsurfing. It's not just about free accommodation, it's about finding out what locals do and like and think and feel about their space and place.
I take guests to parties at friends' houses, to a surfing beach only locals know, loan them bikes and draw a map of unusual stuff to see, take them to my favourite hole-in-the-wall coffee spot or tapas bar, show them where us locals watch foreign films in a pine forest, tell them which bakery to buy the best lamington, take them bouldering along the river at 7am on a Sunday, make food together, play card games with vodka shots interludes, show them ancient Aboriginal sites, play frisbee in our local dogpark, go twilight sailing on a Wednesday night when the whole river is alive with local sailors quaffing wine n cheeses aboard their yachts, have a bbq by the river, dink them on the motorbike to a great sunset view. ie give them a flavour of our local life here in the most remote city in the world.
It works both ways. I stay with couchsurfing hosts and in Paris I got taken on a architectural treasure hunt through the 16th arr., went cycling, cooked snails and frogs legs, went to local markets etc. My host drew me a map for a walk through Montmartre that took in all of my interests and showed me a graffiti trail of awesome. In Cap Ferrat I was taken on a yacht to Monte Carlo, up the mountains behind Monaco, wave-skiid around Roman Abromovich's yacht Pelorus, ate the best croissants ever. In New York I got great advice on local favourites like the Pencil Factory in Greenpoint that I would have walked right by.
In London I've had all kinds of experiences that no tourist could have - best pubs, best walks, best street art etc.
I could go on. It's been an amazing way to travel. Be a good guest; I always spend as much as I would on backpacking accommodation on my hosts - pick up meal tabs, buy wine, flowers etc.
posted by honey-barbara at 8:58 PM on March 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
I take guests to parties at friends' houses, to a surfing beach only locals know, loan them bikes and draw a map of unusual stuff to see, take them to my favourite hole-in-the-wall coffee spot or tapas bar, show them where us locals watch foreign films in a pine forest, tell them which bakery to buy the best lamington, take them bouldering along the river at 7am on a Sunday, make food together, play card games with vodka shots interludes, show them ancient Aboriginal sites, play frisbee in our local dogpark, go twilight sailing on a Wednesday night when the whole river is alive with local sailors quaffing wine n cheeses aboard their yachts, have a bbq by the river, dink them on the motorbike to a great sunset view. ie give them a flavour of our local life here in the most remote city in the world.
It works both ways. I stay with couchsurfing hosts and in Paris I got taken on a architectural treasure hunt through the 16th arr., went cycling, cooked snails and frogs legs, went to local markets etc. My host drew me a map for a walk through Montmartre that took in all of my interests and showed me a graffiti trail of awesome. In Cap Ferrat I was taken on a yacht to Monte Carlo, up the mountains behind Monaco, wave-skiid around Roman Abromovich's yacht Pelorus, ate the best croissants ever. In New York I got great advice on local favourites like the Pencil Factory in Greenpoint that I would have walked right by.
In London I've had all kinds of experiences that no tourist could have - best pubs, best walks, best street art etc.
I could go on. It's been an amazing way to travel. Be a good guest; I always spend as much as I would on backpacking accommodation on my hosts - pick up meal tabs, buy wine, flowers etc.
posted by honey-barbara at 8:58 PM on March 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
Is it terribly old fashioned to recommend Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books? They're written as the anti-Fodor's, so to speak, and I've always had good times in the countries I've visited with them.
posted by bardic at 10:21 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by bardic at 10:21 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
You know, I have really tied to get "off the beaten path" on my last few vacations and it seems like it never panned out. I think I have decided that the places that everyone goes to are often worthy of being on the beaten path.
posted by kenaldo at 11:43 PM on March 5, 2012
posted by kenaldo at 11:43 PM on March 5, 2012
Ask Metafilter. We're all locals to somewhere.
posted by troika at 11:48 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by troika at 11:48 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Choose GPS-powered rental driving as your mode of travel when you're abroad. When you fly into a foreign city, such as Paris, Athens or the like, pick up the car at the airport and skip the city, saving it for another trip. Point your steering wheel in the direction of interesting towns and villages in the countryside, and go. Make up the itinerary as you go along, spending one or two nights in each town. As you get the feel for the terrain, you'll be able to hunt down the best towns each night on the Internet. Aim for the smallest roads, if possible, and let the GPS do the rest.
Oh, and when you get lost and hear the GPS's "recalculating" refrain, keep a smile on your face. This is where the fun begins.
posted by Gordion Knott at 2:49 AM on March 6, 2012
Oh, and when you get lost and hear the GPS's "recalculating" refrain, keep a smile on your face. This is where the fun begins.
posted by Gordion Knott at 2:49 AM on March 6, 2012
Seconding youth hostels! Both times I've been to New Orleans I ended up befriending someone from the hostel - another traveler like myself in both cases - and we'd go out and do something together and something about the having-someone-with-you makes you a little more daring when it comes to "So, what do you think, should we try this?"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:41 AM on March 6, 2012
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:41 AM on March 6, 2012
When I travel in America I always find this site to be helpful: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
posted by sybarite09 at 6:22 AM on March 6, 2012
posted by sybarite09 at 6:22 AM on March 6, 2012
Befriend restaurant and bar staff. Granted, it's a specific kind of non-beaten path, but, in my experience, loads of fun.
posted by looli at 7:41 AM on March 6, 2012
posted by looli at 7:41 AM on March 6, 2012
I'm seconding honey-barbara's suggestion on couchsurfing and adding that the site has forums where locals plan meetups, events, hikes, what-have-you.
For example, I looked in Athens, Greece and found a concert, spring picnic, and a photo exhibition, all free. You can also post to these forums ahead of time to suggest events, or to just say "I'm hoping to do/see ______ while i'm in _______ and am hoping for input from locals." Which is not unlike your Mefi post!
Good Luck : )
posted by MansRiot at 8:26 AM on March 6, 2012
For example, I looked in Athens, Greece and found a concert, spring picnic, and a photo exhibition, all free. You can also post to these forums ahead of time to suggest events, or to just say "I'm hoping to do/see ______ while i'm in _______ and am hoping for input from locals." Which is not unlike your Mefi post!
Good Luck : )
posted by MansRiot at 8:26 AM on March 6, 2012
I LOVE to travel and as much as I love to travel, I love researching travel. I read forum after forum and try to find info from expats and locals.
I make myself little books of my research. My favorite forum threads, restaurant menus and maps. Then it's a place to make notes and keep for a reminder. I've enjoyed reading them and they are great for return trips.
Then when I get there I wander or ride buses.
posted by beccaj at 12:13 PM on March 6, 2012
I make myself little books of my research. My favorite forum threads, restaurant menus and maps. Then it's a place to make notes and keep for a reminder. I've enjoyed reading them and they are great for return trips.
Then when I get there I wander or ride buses.
posted by beccaj at 12:13 PM on March 6, 2012
Having traveled Korea and actively sought out the weird and quirky places, I can say the following has helped me find dozens of places (from where I started to where I'm currently finding places):
The guidebooks
The official tourist publications / magazines
The locally produced publications / magazines (in Seoul alone there are four or five English-language publications of good quality)
Browsing Google Maps on a fairly zoomed-in level
Googling 'weird' and the name of the area.
Ask, ask, ask - and then ask someone else.
posted by chrisinseoul at 8:22 AM on March 7, 2012
The guidebooks
The official tourist publications / magazines
The locally produced publications / magazines (in Seoul alone there are four or five English-language publications of good quality)
Browsing Google Maps on a fairly zoomed-in level
Googling 'weird' and the name of the area.
Ask, ask, ask - and then ask someone else.
posted by chrisinseoul at 8:22 AM on March 7, 2012
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posted by aint broke at 7:25 PM on March 5, 2012