I'm curious about how often you stop at cafes when you travel and how much time you actually spend there. I often see posts that say something like "we find a cafe and sit for hours to people watch."

I stop briefly (thirty minutes) for a glass of wine or a beer about twice a day (excludes meals). I enjoy people-watching, but its often more to just rest before moving on to something else. Its a pleasant experience, but not the "highlight of my day" like some posters make it out to be.

Am I missing something here?

You certainly are. It's called travelling.

Look, staring at the stuff in the Louvre is very unlikely to change any of us very much.

Watching - and preferably properly talking to - people of roughly your affluence and career background behaving in a totally different (or identical) way from how you behave back home makes you question all sorts of things. And that transformation is as likely to hit you as a result of watching the couple at the next table flirt as it is through six-hour debates on philosophy in Les Deux Magots.

To invert the question. When in NY, it's nice catching up with what's new in the Metropolitan Museum, or walking round a bit of the Lower East Side I've not seen before. Neither are as rewarding as watching young Wall Streeters on that subway thingy back to Hoboken. Or driving round diners in upstate NY.

Ultimately, all travel is about people.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with FlannerUK...I DO agree that travel is about people but it is also about what those people DO and enjoy...and I'm talking about the travelers.

I don't think you are missing anything because you don't like to spend hours in a cafe, or anywhere else for that matter. Just as I certainly disagree with the notion that "staring at 'stuff' in the Louvre" isn't likely to change us very much..that's a broad generalization (and I think in many cases incorrect)if there ever was one.

People should be able to do what they want to do on a trip they saved and paid for...people derive different things from travel experiences and choose to enjoy them in different ways as FlannerUK has so eloquently said.
Unfortunately, when people begin imposing self-interest-related restrictions and rules on the travel activities of others one of the shortcomings of travel quickly emerges: it doesn't necessarily confer wisdom or the ability to accept opposing viewpoints.

Flanneruk - I'm curious, how do you know some one is of "roughly your affluence and career background" by watching them in a cafe? And why does their background and socioeconomic status make anyone more or less interesting to watch (or talk to, for that matter)?

I spend time in cafes almost every day. Sometimes it's just for half an hour, sometimes my husband and I can spend two hours there just relaxing and talking. Two hours is about our maximum, though. After that, we get itchy feet. Usually, our dog decides the time limit--we go when she tells us it's time to move on--fortunately, we usually agree with her ;-0

Lots of strong opinions about how people should spend their vacations. Mine is that one should do exactly what one wants to do. After all it is a vacation and the point is to do what is most enjoyable.

It's quite obviously a matter of personal choice. I go on holiday to relax, enjoy local food and wine, wander round new areas, absorb the feel of a place. I'm not that bothered about visiting hundreds of monuments and filling my days with itineraries. That's just me.

Some people like to sit in cafés while on holiday, some people like to go to the beach and sunbathe, some people like to visit museums or churches, some people like to play sport...
Nobody's missing out on anything as long as they're doing what they want to do.

Each to his own... A chacun son goût... De gustos no hay nada escrito... De gustibus non est disputandum.

I've got an open mind and not judging anybody or trying to convert them to my way of travel. Just curious about how extensive this "sit for hours" thing is.

Despite flanneruk's strong (some might say rigid) opinion about all travel being about people - I see it more of a more robust mix: people, food, drink, music, wine, climate, art, and old buildings .... .

Just like hanl said: at chacun son gout, everybody has a different view of how to spend and enjoy their time off. Thanks heaven for that, otherwise we will be like robots all doing the same things .
When I travel to a different country, I like to be on the go all the time, my DH au contraire likes to relax and sit at the cafe and take it easy.I enjoy stopping at a cafe to rest my tired feet, but after 20 or 30 minutes , I am redy to go.

When it comes to cafes & piazza sitting, I love the luxury of being able to choose to sit and relax and people watch or visit with whomever I'm with or whatever. So, if I feel like it, or stumble upon a particularly interesting setting, or have just had enough sightseeing for the day, or, or, or...need to recharge before evening...THEN I like to be able to do it. A tight "let's hit this, and then we hit that, and then we get on the bus to X and hit that..." schedule without room for "the sweetness of doing nothing" does not appeal.

On the other hand, there are folks out there who just aren't comfortable without a schedule or list of things to do, and the feeling of accomplishing it on a daily basis. Or, aren't reflective types & don't enjoy much of that kind of "down time." So, whose vacation is it, after all? Do what you enjoy & at your own pace. From what you describe, you ARE doing a bit of the cafe thing...just not extending it as much as some do.

There isn't really a right answer to the question of how long to sit a cafe. My husband is very "do-oriented". He has to be "doing" something all the time. He does not enjoy having a two-hour lunch or a long cafe break. He's the sports enthusiast and the hard scientist. I am very "being-oriented". I enjoy just "being" in a foreign country. I could sit for hours and people-watch. When I studied abroad in Paris I could park myself for 3 hours (easily) at a cafe. I'm the psychologist. None of us are more correct in our approach than the other. We just have to find a happy medium between the "doing" and the "being" when we travel together. Cheers

We tend to take cafe stop breaks throughout our day of sightseeing, but only for about 30 minutes at a time.

We look at people watching as another part of the cultural experience, but I don't think we could sit anywhere other than dinner for two hours. It's just our personal nature to keep moving and doing things when we travel.

Everyone has their own travel style, however, and whether one doesn't sit at all, or sits all day long, shouldn't really matter. It's your vacation, so enjoy it any way you want to!

I think your original post title says it all for you. If you feel sitting is cafes is "wasting time" then it certainly isn't for you. I firmly believe people should do whatever they enjoy on their vacations, not worry about what others tell them they SHOULD do.

Okay, this may sound funny, but let's say I want to expand my horizons and interact with the locals and other tourists at a cafe. How do you guys do it so you don't appear "on the make" or
"looking to get picked up?".

I've read How to Win friends and Influence People but often can't find the nerve to speak to others. Anybody else find themselves in the same situation when travelling?

degas, thank you for sharing that unusual, but effective conversation tactic, but it might not work for me. I'm a female.

... cafes represent a style or element of life we don't experience in this country. Time in the cafe is part of their living. For example, in a rural town, or city in Italy, when isn't going to the cafe part of the daily life? Often people will go multiple times.

... if we're travelling in their country, how is time experiencing what they experience, no matter the length, a waste? We are living as they live, and isn't travel, to a degree, about self education?

... in Europe, you own that table for the hour, the afternoon, the day. You own it. It is your refuge of pleasure. No one is going to chase you away.

... at any time of day, you can plop down and know you'll be served in style, with all that implies. It will not be a plastic experience.

... hours at the table in the cafe, or inside at the bar if you wish to spend more modestly, isn't wasted time. It's using your time differently. Perhaps the issue really is whether packing along our perspective is the real waste.

... the poster's question is borne out of our perspective, and that may be its answer.

In reply to the original question.....
There are times that I do just want to sit and relax. I would not say it is the highlight of my day..but rather a chance to relax and "veg out".

The "cafe" scene is a big part of European holidays for me. It is a great way to check out certain areas and see locals. I like to sit for an hour or so in the morning then in the evening as well. In between I walk all over and visit museums, galleries, churches, or whatever that area has to offer.

hansikday wonders
>...I want to expand my horizons and interact with the locals and other tourists at a cafe. How do you guys do it so you don't appear "on the make" or
"looking to get picked up?". <

Good point. Set down your leather bound, gilt edged book, lean across to the tble next to you and say, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing... I'm rather interested in (subject) myself".

With any luck, a handsome Italian man will want to share my table !!!!