Favorite spots in Europe that were not in the guidebook
 

What were your favorite places or experiences that you found on your own or with advice from locals, not from your guidebook? I once found my most memorable spot in Scotland from asking a clerk at a small bakery where she would go for a picnic on her day off.

Somewhere in the Dordogne, a very pleasant inn with a lovely lunch under a tree.

A very nice B&B near Conques with a small river.

A very nice drive somewhere in the middle of Spain.

We have found many towns, restaurants, and places to stay that were not in guide books but by serendipity and through friends and relatives who are nationals. Guide books can be far too general. For example, in Fodor's and Frommer's small towns are non-existent. And in Rick Sterve's he might not mention or know, in his case, a nearby town, sight, or restaurant.

We have stayed in a huge old room that was a bakery for a manor in the Dordogne. He have stayed at pousada in Portugal that was 1/4 mile long attached stables where the horses stayed at one end and we at the other. And a pensione in Scopello, Sicily which is now well-regarded. Those are just a few examples.

Any others? What is the best way to find the out of the way places?

Go exploring. Get in a car and drive around. Almost ALL my favorite places in Europe didn't come from a guidebook. If Rick Steve's mentions it, I don't go there. I don't even know how to begin to answer this question - even within a 30-mile radius of my house in the Dordogne, I could tell you about 100+ places that are never mentioned in the guidebooks.

You find them on your own, or by asking local people or reading the local newspapers and such. Helps a LOT if you speak the language.

I agree with St. Cirq. We have had many interesting experiences getting lost.

The main thing is you must think misadventures are fun, funny, and intersting. If you are fearful, need a certain pillow, are a fussy eater, or a complainer without wit, you will not find any satisfaction in any of this.

We stumbled upon a masseria with restaurant at the end of the runway that NATO used to bomb Libya from, in Puglia, some years ago. We were riding on bicycles and we cycled up to Gioca and saw a notice board offering some 15 hotels all miles away and this one which appeared to be 2 km away, well the runway must have been 3 km long...

Anyway the place was empty and we had to knock until we woke a little old lady came to the door and let us in, we were very hungry but the restaurant did not open for another 6 hours. Rumble, my stomach played Wagner!

When the place opened we ordered a full Italian supper (I've never before or since managed this), we ate from 8 to 11, even the staff could not believe how much we ate. Wonderful.

This place is still not in any book and has only 3 poor pages on the internet.

In Orvieto and in Aix en Provence, we found great lunch spots by following people dressed like businessmen. Both places had good food, lots of regulars, no tourists or gypsy children, and reasonable prices.

We stopped at a truck stop outside Montagnana in Northern Italy. Thirteen truckers, my wife, and me. Fantastic food, ordered by pointing, inexpensive. Watching the drivers knocking back the wine with lunch explained a lot about Italian drivers.

Exhausted from the Forum in Rome, we stumbled into a vast but shaded tourist restaurant across the street. After a couple of bottles of chilled sparkling water, we had a spectacular lunch -- mushroom salads followed by light seafood pasta (her) and steppe in ink for me.

In other words, there is some technique (following people who look like they might want the kind of food that you do) and a lot of serependipity.

For places, as suggested above, just drive, walk or take the bus (our favorite in Paris) and see where it takes you.

That's "seppe". Steve Jobs continues to think he knows the words I want better than I do. Control from beyond the grave.

My town gets barely a mention in the guidebooks and we have some great restaurants and Biergartens.

> What is the best way to find the out of the way places?<

Step off the beaten path. Don't be afraid to narrow side-streets and alleys.

i still think asking prosperous-looking, fat, old men and women where to eat works well. Also, never eat in a restaurant which has a fat dog sleeping outside.

You got that right, bilboburgler.

Also, for the Americans out there: when in Germany, NEVER EVER ask a German where you can find good Mexican food. Germany's idea of Mexican food is adding corn to the plate.

"Buy why would you want Mexican food in Germany? You should be eating German food! You so crazy sparkchaser.", you might say. My answer: Fair enough and I would normally agree but live here and after 6-9 months you'll want to satisfy your Mexican craving.


Back on topic: to find the hidden gems of restaurants, I ask a local but not someone working at a hotel, tourist attraction, or souvenir stand because they may have a vested interest in sending you somewhere. Instead, walk into a cell phone shop or department store or the like and ask them for a recommendation. We were in Santa Cruz on Tenerife and wanted some good seafood. The receptionist told us to go to the tourist trap at the end of the street. I went into the Sony shop and asked a salesperson where we could get some good seafood. Not in Sanat Cruz was his reply and he told us to go to the next town up San Andrés. We hailed a cab and told the driver to take us to an Andrés. We ended up at the restaurant tucked at the end of a narrow street and the food was amazing and cheap.

Browsing road maps is another way. Caves, islands in rivers, weird-sounding Michelin one-star attractions.

Some of my favorites have happened on our way to or near places in guide books, but the memory came not from the main attraction but something unexpected along the way.

1.We visited C.S.Lewis’ church and grave at Holy Trinity near Oxford; this is a fairly typical thing for literature fans, but while we were there, we had a marvelous conversation with a couple who were members. The husband had been a boy at the church when Lewis was still attending. Oxford as a whole is a favorite spot, but it's certainly in guidebooks!

2.In Trier, Germany, there is an Antiquities Card that gives a discount for seeing several sites. One of them is out of town and looks infrequently visited but is worth the drive and search (our GPS had trouble!). It’s called Klause Kastel and is a Hermitage Cell/Cave/Tomb thing perched on the cliffs above the Saar and fascinating. But even better for me was what we stumbled on right next to it. Behind a small white church, St. John the Baptist, is a small, quiet, well-maintained memorial to the WWII soldiers who died in the area 1939-1945. (Their remains were moved here in 1957 from a nearby cemetery.) It was moving, but it was made more so to me because the next day we visited the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. To see the two memorials, which looked pretty different but were each commemorating the same losses, was quite a memory for me. Trier is my favorite place in Germany, but it too is certainly in guidebooks.


3.In Terragona, Spain, we made a special search for a chocolate shop with the best chocolate truffles I’ve ever had; DH had been there before, and when I returned with him a few years later, the shop had moved, so we had fun searching for it in the old part of the city, and we had a nice, if hampered by lack of language on both sides!, conversation with the owner, a fourth generation candy maker. L’abella on Carrer Talavera, 8, near the Placa del Forum. Terragona doesn't seem to get as much guide book space as some places, but it is way cool, but not actually not in a guidebook.


4.Learning about the Stolperstein--Stumbling Stones--on a walking tour in Frankfurt and then finding them in several other towns and cities I visited after that. I might not have noticed, and I certainly wouldn’t have known what they are, if I hadn’t taken that tour, which is itself not mentioned in lots of guide books, but should be! Frankfurt on Foot Walking Tours.

How do you keep track of the little out of the way places you read about in trip reports that sound good? I just cut and paste into a word document and keep a file on places I have plans to visit, or just bookmark here. How do the rest of you do it?

Also, for the Americans out there: when in Germany, NEVER EVER ask a German where you can find good Mexican food.
____

I have another one we can all benefit by-never ask someone without teeth for driving instructions. They have never been out of their village and they do not want to appear ignorant so they lie through whatever tooth they have.

__________________________________________________ __


How do you keep track of the little out of the way places you read about in trip reports that sound good?
____

I put them in a trip file and promptly lose them.

Getting lost is a great way to discover hidden gems - or at least places you hadn't known about even if they are somewhat famous. That happened to me in the Cotswolds. We took very small roads for what seemed like forever, then came across a couple of lovely villages. Yes, they are somewhat well known, but we didn't know about them.

Another great way is to click on links of accommodation websites. I have lots of interesting places on my list to visit on a future trip to Germany. Most of them are not listed in any English language travel guide.

At first, OP's question irritated me. Should I write down 100 places in 10 countries?

Some posters gave adequate answers. The fun is not going to such places recommend by others - the fun is FINDING such places. It requires a special style of travelling.

Some travellers read guide books and trip reports and make bucket lists of "must sees" and "not to miss" and "best places" and create itineraries with as-many-as-possible destinations, often planned in a minute-by-minute style. This way, you do not find off-the-beaten-path places, because you do not WANT to find them and if you stumble upon such a place, you do not enjoy it.

If you really want to to off-the-beaten-path places you must travel differently.

Firstly, you go into regions which are ignored by travel-guides. Why not spend a couple of days in a heavy industrialized region like the Ruhr Valley? (You will be surprised how many attractions of all kind you will find in this region, which had been Cultural Capital of Europe, by the way).

Secondly, you travel in a relaxed way - no fixed itinerary, just travelling and staying whereever you find it worthy. I know an elderly couple with a camper who just drive through the country and follow the brown road signs which are indicating interesting spots. If you do that you will find castles, churches, parks, museums, prehistoric sites and many interesting spots which are ignored by the guidebooks.

Thirdly, talk to people. Whereever you are, you will find locals who will be happy to tell you about interesting spots and good restaurants (at least if you do not ask them for Mexican restaurants - when in Rome...).

Fourthly, be open to experiences. If you get wind of a local festivity, just go there. Go to church fests and summer fests and harbour fests and football games and music events and immerse into the culture. You will make priceless experiences.

Finally, why do guidebooks ignore whole regions?

Take guidebooks about Germany. Most American ignore three quarters of the country although you find enough attractions there. The reason is purely historical. The U.S. forces were stationed in the South, hence American travellers visited the South only, and consequently the guidebooks wrote about the South only. And here in this forum, 90% of the traffic is about the South - a cycle.

The same is true for other countries. All Fodorites are crazy about the Cotswolds in England - but I found North Devon - a rarely mentioned region - even more interesting, with cute villages, a rugged coastline, a moor and surprisingly good food.

I could give more examples on Spain (who had been to Cantabria?), the Netherlands, France, Italy and practically every other European country.

Just become a discoverer.

Because we have relatives in Galicia, we have been to many places that are not well known to tourists. One of my favorites is the beautiful Isla de Cies. The ferry from Vigo is expensive which means that it is not overcrowded.

I stick a lot of the detail on Fodors or Tripadvisor

I would really like to strongly praise traveller1959 for that superbly conceived and perfectly written post above. You should write a guidebook, and charge $24.95 for it. It should come in a plastic wrap so punters at the bookstore cannot flip through it in advance. The contents of the guidebook should be what you just wrote above, along with 198 blank pages.

The Ifach just north of the village of Calpe, Spain. It looks much like the rock of Gibraltar, and the view from the top makes the rather strenuous climb well worth it. At one time the family had a time share in the village, and I and the kids climbed it often with a lunch. Good memories ---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural...yal_d'Ifac

I enjoyed the Château de Vincennes near Paris. no mention pretty much anywhere in any of the guidebooks about a huge royal castle that served as a hunting lodge for King Louis. Very easy to reach... on the metro just take M1 to the end

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau_de_Vincennes

"Buy why would you want Mexican food in Germany? You should be eating German food! You so crazy sparkchaser.", you might say. My answer: Fair enough and I would normally agree but live here and after 6-9 months you'll want to satisfy your Mexican craving.''

I think eating Mexican food almost anywhere but Mexico and along the border is a huge mistake. My friend and I tried Mexican food in Spain once. Just because we figured it's like the "mother" of Mexican food. Oh, those poor Spaniards have no idea what they are missing.


Back to the OQ, getting off the beaten track is good but as in life, do something that you're interested in doing.

Get good detailed guidebooks instead of the "See Europe in 14 days" type. A specialized guidebook that describes region xy in 300 or more pages will have a lot of those "unknown" places which uninformed tourists overlook, while to locals they count among the most important places in the are

Someone above mentioned the Ruhr district - I agree that this area is absolutely worthwhile. Essen is the most interesting city there and Essen alone can easily keep you busy for several days in a row. Then there are all the other cities and towns. To cover "everything" you'd need weeks, if not months.

I'd like to join the chorus singing the praises of getting off the beaten track and escaping the guidebook lock-step.

Any guide book will do when it comes to the northern Italian lake country, especially lakes Como, Maggiore and Garda. The better guide books might make a mention of Lake Orta, and you might even get a short paragraph on the lovely Orta San Giulio. But rare is the book that tells you about the remarkable Sacromonte poised above the village, with dozens of temples populated with life-size terra cotta figures depicting the life and times of St. Francis.

Everyone knows about the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Some know of Uig, the port town on the western coast. But not many know about the enchanting Fairy Glen, just outside of town. (Unless they read our trip report, maybe.)

Sometimes, the book gets it right, too. Lonely Planet took us to some pretty out-there spots on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia recently...and out to rustic Cres island, as well. Overall, that book gets a nice thumbs-up from us, even if it was maddeningly wrong about some obvious stuff in Zagreb.

Two caveats. There are certain sights on the beaten path that are worth it. SOME should not be discounted simply because they are popular.

And there are certain sights that are worth repeat visits.

Every trip to Barcelona I visit Sagrada Familia to see what progress has been made without my assistance. It stills holds a great fasconation for me. And I also like to go and see La Sardana, though I no longer dance with them.

We live in NYC and still look forward to going to the Met Museum and MoMA because I always see new things or have a different perspective.