Europe off the beaten path

Destinations Europe
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Outside of the main touristy spots in Europe (Paris, Rome etc) what are some must see locations?

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There are SO many! I would say that Eastern Europe is a bit less touristy, have you been to anywhere in that region before? Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania could be good choices.

I was also in Albania for 1 month in June and I looooved it so much. It’s definitely starting to get busier in some of the main spots, but it’s still no where near as busy or expensive as Greece (yet). I would highly recommend Theth in the North, and you can also hop over to Montenegro quite easily as well. The beaches in the south are also amazing! I went to Gjipe beach and it was refreshing to not have to pay for a day bed, or be hassled to buy things on the beach :slight_smile:

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The east is great and will get you outside of the touristy side. It’s hard to avoid when you’re anywhere by the Mediterranean but the Balkans is a great go to area, so much history, incredible beaches and nature

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I would suggest the Baltics and the Balkans, especially Albania (heard it’s the next hotspot). They have grown in popularity but nothing compared to the usual spots like Paris, Rome, Barcelona etc

Even though the well-known destinations still have sometimes a lot of unexplored or touristy regions. Think of Greece. Everyone tends to go to Santorini and Mykonos, yet there are 1,000s of islands less known and equally if not more beautiful.

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I loved the Azores! Ok, they’re not on the mainland, so it depends on your travel plans (easy to fly from Portugal), but its a very unique place and most islands are not very touristy at all, definitely had a local and authentic feel.

I stayed on Pico island, which is basically just a volcano! Beautiful fresh fig tress and wine from from grapes grown in the volcanic rocks. Some great walks and we hired a scooter to drive around the island (which is very small!). You can do tours through the lava tubes underground too which was very cool! Great to swim off the rocks in a few places. It seemed like we were the only tourists there.

You can get ferries to different islands as most are fairly close, we started in Ponta Delgada, but would love to go back and explore some.other islands too!

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I really really recommend Slovenia! Reasons:

  • It’s quite small in size (it only takes about 3 hours to drive the length of the country)
  • It has everything
    • vibrant cities like Ljubljana, Maribor and cozy towns like Ĺ kofja Loka and Piran
    • Epic mountains like the Triglav National Park
    • idyllic lakes like Bled (pls also go to Bohinj Lake, not far from Bohinj. Less touristy and for me even more stunning)
    • Underrated coastline (like the above mentioned Piran, but also Portoroz and Strunjan)
    • And one of my favorite regions: the emerald SoÄŤa river! Some Narnia scenes were filmed there, you can do lots of cool activities like slide down waterfalls, rafting, ziplining

Public transport is OK, the trains can be a bit slow at times and delayed, same with buses, but again - it’s a small country so it’s never “too much” time :rofl:

And it’s super easy to visit the neighboring countries: Italy, Croatia, Austria, and Hungary!

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