No clue. Probably going to try and spend a 7-10 days with a mix of the coast and inner Spain. Just seems like a fun country to eat, drink, and explore in. I don’t really have concrete plans on any of these, just have them on my bucket list. Would love to hear your opinions since you lived there.
Nothing planned, but I really want to do the Camino de Santiago walk in Spain.
I mean it depends on what you’re into. Obviously history is more prevalent in Madrid. You’d also see a ton in Seville. And if you’re gonna be in Andalucia, Granada is a must due to Alhambra. Also some crazy good Moroccan food in the medieval Moorish Quarter.
As for beaches/partying, basically anywhere on the coast. However, Ibiza is where it’s at. It’s expensive since it attracts a shitload of foreign tourists during the summer relative to its size though. Get to the beach super early in the morning. Spaniards are total beach bums as are the tourists there.
As for Italy, there’s little one can do to avoid crowds beyond staying in one of those villages that’s selling houses for 1 Euro because of depopulation. Reality is that every major city is jammed with tourists at all times. In 7-10 days, just pick a region of the country and stick to it. 7-10 days is a good amount of time for Sicily.
My wife and I went to San Sebastián, in the Basque region of northern Spain, for our 1 year anniversary. It was absolutely incredible and I would go back at a moment’s notice if given the chance. The Basque is part of both northern Spain and southern France, but they consider themselves autonomous. They have their own language/dialect, culture, food, regional government (I think?) - I’m selling them way short here but the takeaway for me was their pride in NOT being Spanish and NOT being French.
I cannot recommend this region enough to anyone who will listen and hope you’ll consider going. My gtfo of USA #300 plan includes, wishfully, going to San Sebastián and living on a farm, learning how to make Basquese salumi and Txakoli.
Separately, but with the same passion, I would encourage you to visit Tokyo. I was lucky to go for work, and spent nearly 2 weeks eating ramen and walking the city in my down time. The Japanese are the real #1, as @Ikioi would probably attest. They are quiet, humble, and have immaculate attention to detail/perfection. For me, I observed this in the food, the infrastructure, the architecture, and the people around me. When I came home, I realized that the US isn’t really a first world country.
Hopefully these memories will get you excited about traveling to these places. If you want any details of specific recs, please just ask or shoot me a PM.
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Spain is so much fun. I’ve been there twice and have had four friends go within the last five years, all of us to a different area. All of us had fun. It really seems like you can’t go wrong no matter where you go.
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Appreciate the write up. I’ve been the morning reading about San Sebastián and I’m sold. I love my trips to consist of walking, eating, drinking, and just exploring little areas. A beautiful beach helps… I read that it has more Michelin stars and bars per capita than anywhere else which seems great! Beautiful architecture too. I’ll hit you up once I start planning.
I’ve been living in Mexico City for 2 years. Been to about 15 states here, but unfortunately not Oaxaca. Everyone raves about that state though so I’m planning to visit there + Chiapas post-corona.
Mexico City is pretty amazing though and I highly recommend it. The city is massive and has tons of points of interest that can easily fill a week or 2 or more. There are also tons of good towns/cities within a 5 hour drive/bus ride so it’s easy to create a longer tour either going towards Oaxaca or the Bajio region, which I know more about. Guanajuato, in particular is a small town that absolutely blew me away. Everyone knows about San Miguel de Allende, and while I liked it, I actually much preferred Guanajuato.
And of course, if you’re coming from USA/Canada, the whole trip will be a small fraction of the cost of a Euro trip.
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Plenty of Tokyo experience. If you can give me an idea of how long you’d likely be there and the type of things you’re interested in doing/seeing/experiencing/eating, I can provide some guidance.
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$478 round trip tickets from Cincinnati to Tokyo in September… if I had faith in the COVID response I would snap book this.
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I was considering booking tickets for the summer if I get vaccinated before then.
Got Romania on my mind.
I just booked flights to Oaxaca City in October. That should give us plenty of time to get both vaccine shots. Planning on spending 4 days there and then catch a flight to Puerto Escondido for another 4. Super excited to have something to look forward too. I’m also doing Duolingo everyday to have passable tourist Spanish by the time we go.
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Are you the one who reached out to me about this trip?
Either way definitely check out El Tule town, and the Mitla and Monte Alban ruins around Oaxaca if you’re into ruins. If you rent bicycles there’s a bike path from Oaxaca to El Tule along an old rail line. That would make a fun day trip. There are some natural limestone pools near Mitla that are cool. Might be too cold to swim though.
Drink some mescal and eat some mole, Oaxaca cheese, and tlayudas - crickets if you’re adventurous. The cheapest mescal from little local places by the side of the road is often the best. Don’t get suckered into the expensive stuff.
If you like more laid back, Playa San Augustin on the Eastern end of the Oaxaca coast is really nice. It buts up against the national park. Mazunta is fun if you want to hang out with naked hippies and have a lot more restaurant options (they’re not naked at the restaurant - just on the beach). Playa Escondido itself seemed kind of Euro (speedos) and crowded to me. But there might be less crowded beaches than the one I went to.
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Oaxaca is one of my “Hopefully sometime this decade” travel spots.
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If you’re a foodie you should do Puebla too. Oaxaca/Puebla might win best food in the world from top to bottom. Definitely the best place I’ve ever been, which includes Italy 3x. The rivalry between the two cities keeps them at their best.
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Wasn’t me. I didn’t even know you had been there. I appreciate the write up though! Can’t wait. I’m assuming it’s a fairly safe spot assuming I don’t buy drugs or act like an idiot?
Yeah Oaxaca is super safe. Do you plan to rent a car?
Nah. Just walking / biking / taxis.
Ah - the bike trip to El Tule might be fun then. If you’re into the ruins and other stuff out of town, you can find super cheap van tours in Oaxaca. One does El Tule, Mitla and the pools I mentioned. For Monte Alban you could probably just take a taxi.
Where are you staying in both places?
Haven’t got that far yet. Depends if I can get any friends to come along. I’ve got a hotel called Casa Antonieta bookmarked from my wife in Oaxaca. Seems like it’s centrally located for easy exploration. I’d like to get a few friends and just get a dope Airbnb in Escondido.
That sounds awesome! I’m tentatively planning to move to Buenos Aires with my girlfriend in Sep/Oct and would like to do a Oaxaca/Chiapas trip before, but not sure if the timing will work out.
My girlfriend’s family lives in Mexico City so I’m sure we’ll be back there often if we don’t plan on living there long term and will have a chance to travel to Oaxaca/Chiapas someday, but it’s the one trip in Mexico that I’m dying to do. I’ve been to 14 states in Mexico so far, but inexplicably neither of those.
If our dates happen to line up, then I’d be interested in the dope AirBNB idea.
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