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I went back over two years and didn’t see a general questions or recommendations thread, so going to  My wife and I are about to start really planning our next big vacation, and would love some additional destinations that we might not have considered. Looking at 14-16 days, including travel, as soon as June, but probably September-ish. We’re both 40, gainfully employed, and moderately adventurous. We’re pretty active, but we are not ultramarathoners or multi-day hikers looking explicitly for an adventure vacation. Previous vacations that we loved: Costa Rica Hungary Budapest India We tend to like small, boutique luxury accommodations with character, but don’t like a sanitized, touristy experience. For example, for the city portion of our India trip, we stayed in an amazing old haveli in Old Delhi that was about 5 long dark alleys away from the closest big street, and our least favorite place in the city was Connacht Place. For budget, we’re looking at under 10K, but could swing up to 12K for something spectacular. Preferred attractions/activities in roughly descending importance: Architecture/historical sites Food Art Natural beauty Nightlife We tend to like about a 60/40 split between Active/Relaxation, so a place that can accomplish both is great, alternatively, two different close destinations, one focused on each. Our current front runners are: Paris + Rome + Venice Thailand + Vietnam Leaning towards Thailand/Vietnam currently, because we think that will be more fun while we are still in shape and active, whereas France/Italy will be a great time no matter our fitness level in the future. So, would love any suggestions for where to look at. Thank you!
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Oct 26, 2023 18:11
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| # ? May 2, 2024 02:15 |
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Morocco sounds like it would fit the bill very well for you. Turkey as well, particularly S and W coasts + Cappadocia. Venice sounds like it would not fit with your interests, as it exclusively offers a sanitized, tourist hellhole - especially in summer season, which is when you would be going. Turkey would also be good at any stage of life and fitness level. Morocco is better while fit and younger, although it also caters to everyone... just it's not quite as developed as Turkey or France.
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Oct 26, 2023 20:47
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Fly to Barcelona, couple of days then hire a car and drive along the south of Spain. Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Ronda and ending in Seville. Edit: Alternatively swap out Ronda & Cordoba for a few days on the Costa del Sol for some relaxation. Stupid Decisions fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Oct 28, 2023 |
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Oct 28, 2023 22:07
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That also sounds nice, but is something you could do at any age and also with kids in tow. Although that’s true for Morocco and Turkey too, and I guess either you either have kids already and have someone you can easily leave them with or travel with them, or you won’t have them at this point. Which means you have like 20-30 years at sufficient physical fitness to do pretty much any possible trip short of "go climb K2". €500/day for lodging gets you some pretty swanky stuff pretty much anywhere. I don’t budget nearly as much anymore but I find it hard to spend more than like €300/night, at least with my travel preferences. Namibia is the only place I’ve been to where €300/night minimum would even approach your daily budget. I dgaf about 5* hotels though, so ymmv. I still find airbnb is a better deal than hotels for stays of >=3 nights, almost everywhere except for markets where airbnb doesn’t exist.YMMV for that as well, I don’t really eat breakfast and I decline room service unless I’m staying somewhere more than 3 days.
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Oct 28, 2023 23:46
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Sorry for the absolutely massive delay in thank you reply. The day I posted this, my dad had a major stroke, and we’ve been helping take care of him since, so June was immediately out. He’s progressing very well now, so travel planning is back, and I remembered that I started this thread. Around early October is now our likely timeframe. Saladman posted:Morocco sounds like it would fit the bill very well for you. Turkey as well, particularly S and W coasts + Cappadocia. Morocco looks amazing, and is now definitely on the list of the top three. I worked with someone from Tunisia last year, have kept in touch, and they’ve offered to show us around if we ever end up there. It looks pretty great too. Anyone have thoughts on Tunisia? Two weeks split between there and Morocco? We’ve been to Turkey before, and it was good. Just looking for something new. Stupid Decisions posted:Fly to Barcelona, couple of days then hire a car and drive along the south of Spain. Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Ronda and ending in Seville. We did some research on Spain, specifically Barcelona and Valencia, and it looks great, but just not clicking for us more than the other listed options for whatever reason. Again, thanks to both of you for the replies, and sorry for not replying sooner.
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Mar 5, 2024 16:52
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Doom Rooster posted:Sorry for the absolutely massive delay in thank you reply. The day I posted this, my dad had a major stroke, and we’ve been helping take care of him since, so June was immediately out. He’s progressing very well now, so travel planning is back, and I remembered that I started this thread. Around early October is now our likely timeframe. Bummer! Sorry to hear about your dad. I have a lot of thoughts on Tunisia - my wife is in Tunisia, I've collectively spent probably around 3-4 months here over 10-ish visits, and I'm in Tunisia right now. I have also been all over Egypt, and around a lot of Algeria - but have not been around much of Morocco, just two weeks in and around Marrakech. My general view of the Maghreb is: Tunisia - Good cultural interest, nice landscapes, OK people, OK tourist infrastructure, French spoken by the majority of people, English by some (especially Zoomers) Morocco - Great cultural interest, very nice landscapes, people are assholes, great tourist infrastructure, every Moroccan speaks all of the languages Algeria - Good cultural interest, incredible landscapes, amazing people, absolutely 0 tourist infrastructure and little French or English spoken Libya - ???? ???? ?? ? So Morocco has a lot of upsides to it, you just have to deal with quite aggressive touts, at least in Marrakech (and I've heard Fez is also like that). In the countryside it was much more chill, and I've heard some cities like Essaouira are pretty friendly. I don't know Morocco well enough to really suggest too much. Do note that the actual "stereotypical Sahara experience" is like an 8 hour drove from either Tunis (to Douz) or from Marrakech (to Merzouga). Marrakech is at the doors of the rocky Sahara (~2.5 hour drive over the Atlas to Ait Ben Haddou) which is a pretty impressive landscape, but it's not the Sahara of your imagination. For Tunisia for a week, you could probably spend like 3 days in Tunis itself (or the upscale suburb of La Marsa / Sidi Bou Said, which is where Carthage is/was) and then another 3-4 days in Sousse, doing daytrips from there to Kairouan and/or El Jem. Public transport between Tunis and Sousse is fine, public transport to El Jem and Kairouan is pretty mediocre, little minibuses that can be hard to understand how to use, so it might be worth it to get a driver or rent a car. Driving is more or less fine outside of Tunis. Chaotic still to an extent, but not particularly dangerous if driving at day. At night, the biggest danger is you accidentally killing a pedestrian or the many suicidal motorcyclists, who will drive at night without lights on. Alternately for Tunisia for a week, you could fly into Djerba, rent a car (driving is super easy in the south, absolutely zero issue - although again try not to drive at night for the same reason), then go the old ksars in the south near Tataouine, like Chenini, then drive over by Matmata to Douz for the Sahara or to Tozeur for the desert oasis feel, and then there are plenty of daytrips for that area too. Unfortunately looks like no direct flights from Djerba to Morocco. Two weeks in Tunisia would do a pretty good job covering all the main sites -- explore Tunis without a car (use Bolt - Uber equivalent - or public transport), take the train to Sousse, check out the city, then rent a car and do daytrips to Kaiouran, then drive to the south. For Morocco, I have less experience so can't really answer super precisely.
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Mar 5, 2024 18:27
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Saladman posted:Bummer! Sorry to hear about your dad. This is amazing, thank you! My work proximity associate says that she “lives outside Tunis”, so Tunis would probably be where we would end up if we head to Tunisia. We’re not close enough to expect a, like “I’m your tour guide for a week!”, probably just a full day or two, so a lot on our own. Sousse is a great addition to look at, thanks. I’ll dig into researching these much more specifically, which will be great.
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Mar 5, 2024 19:47
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| # ? May 2, 2024 02:15 |
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Doom Rooster posted:This is amazing, thank you! My work proximity associate says that she “lives outside Tunis”, so Tunis would probably be where we would end up if we head to Tunisia. We’re not close enough to expect a, like “I’m your tour guide for a week!”, probably just a full day or two, so a lot on our own. Sousse is a great addition to look at, thanks. I’ll dig into researching these much more specifically, which will be great. Oops, meant to say "my wife is Tunisian" not "my wife is in Tunisia". She lives in Europe, same as me, but we go back a little less often than every year. When I was talking about the friendliness of the people, that was meaning "random people who address you on the street". In terms of friendliness of the people if they are introduced (even vicariously), then nearly all North Africans are incredibly warm and friendly, like you'd expect for the stereotype of small town Italians. If you do end up going to Tunisia, feel free to post back here and I can give my more specific thoughts depending on your interests/disinterests. Specifically we spend a lot of time in Tunis, since my wife's family is mostly living in downtown or in La Marsa, which is the upscale beachtown suburb of Tunis, like Santa Monica is to DTLA.
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Mar 5, 2024 20:53
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