"Off the beaten path"- What do you think?
Two recent long threads on this website have generated some peripheral thoughts in my otherwise rusty brain. Chief among them, the frequent references on this website of travelers/tourists (I couldn't care less which term you use) wanting to "go off the beaten path" and "appreciate local culture". Rather than continue to mentally snark at these phrases everytime they pop up, let me ask some questions to the forum. Mainly, what exactly does it mean to you to "go off the beaten path" and more importantly, what do you expect to find there? I promise to try to behave and listen intently... unless you give me a completely cliched answer or a direct reference from some travel TV show (including the one starring you-know-who), then all bets are off!
On an unrelated topic, if you're in Europe this week, don't miss the continent's annual televised exercise in bad taste, otherwise known as the 55th running of the Eurovision Song Contest. Grab yourself a drink (or several) and enjoy!
Tom
Hüttenfeld, Hessen Germany 5/24/10
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Here's what "off the beaten path" means to me:
1. find out where the tourbuses go; don't go there. 2. find out where the cruise ships stop; don't go there. 3. travel by car. 4. stay only at B&B's.
True confessions here -- I have never tried to go off the beaten path. There is so much great stuff to see in Europe that I haven't seen yet, and the only way to get there is to take the beaten path. Maybe some day after I've seen all the stuff on my list I'll be looking to get off the beaten path, but right now I'm just fine with the well-tread path. That probably makes me a tourist. :)
"That probably makes me a tourist." I would say that makes you honest and unpretensious...
"Off the beaten path..." I define it as going where I'd like to go, not necessarily where the tour books tell me I should go.
I read a lot of history, and when I find a place that interests me, I try to include it on my itinerary. Sometimes it's a popular site (Rome), and sometimes it's OTBP, like Badajoz, Spain.
I talk to local friends and acquaintances to get ideas as to where they like to go. It's amazing how many spots popular with local residents aren't on any tour itinerary.
When I'm travelling from Point A to Point B, I always do some research into the cities and towns along the way. If I find something that interests me, I make plans to stop and "smell the roses" en route.
I never accept advice that a destination isn't worth it, until I've done my own research. I love the south coast of Spain...its history, its people, its monuments. Yes, it's crazy built up now....but so is Manhattan..and London...and Paris....
I build in more time for my favourite sport than museums, monuments, or memorials.....people watching. Whether it's a small village or large city, there's nothing better than plunking yourself down in a cafe or bar, ordering a coffee or drink, and watching people go by. Go to the same place a couple of times, and you'll be a "regular."
I'm not shy about striking up conversations with people I meet....I get more good advice that way, since locals like nothing better than to impart their expertise to the visitor.
What do I expect to find OTBP?
New friends.
I think you need to mix the beaten path with a some off path time. I really enjoy going to Edinburgh, but it is packed with tourists. I also could not believe the beach we walked on when I went to Harris. It was misty day and it was magical. I just framed a picture I took on that day.
I've wanted to know the Scotland that my grandfather left. That's involved traveling with my sister to Hoy to visit family. We visited a Martelo Tower and we were the only ones there. I loved seeing the Bu at Longhope. I could see how the Viking Longships could have been dragged across from the Pentland to Scappa Flow.
Another component of getting off the beaten path is that you're more likely to meet people. I was really lucky ten or so years ago to decide to sign up for a walking tour. It turned out I was the only American and the other six were from Germany, England and the Netherlands with a Scottish Guide. The Scottish Guide is now my friend and I'm visiting the couple from the Netherlands in July. Strathpeffer was definitely off the American Beaten Path, but interestingly it was firmly on the retired Englishman's Beaten Path as busload of retirees routinely stop off in Strathpeffer for a Scottish evening on their round the highlands tour!
Off the Beaten Path can be about contrasts. Sometimes, off the beaten path can be a block away from the beaten path. The Leith Water Walk rarely has anyone on it. You're down below in the quiet by the river and then pop up to the tourists at the Dean Gallery. What fun.
Then there's adventure. I got a wee bit lost in the borders one time. A lorry driver finally set me on the beaten path again. But it was fun while it lasted.
So, it's about learning, it's about meeting people, it's about contrasts. It's about a bit of adventure.
Pam
Off the beaten path - another one of those pretentious phrases. Like asking for itinerary suggestions, but only if it's off the beaten path. Forgive me, but I want to go to Vienna and see the Hofburg again - and eat Sacher Torte and schnitzel till I explode. I want to see the Van Gogh Museum and the Louvre. I want to see the Tower of London and watch the changing of the Guard. I want to see so many things ON the beaten path. I want to take a cable car ion the Alps. I might even take the (GASP) Sound of Music tour this trip. And I 'm going to shop at the Christmas markets. I hope I never get so jaded about Europe that I won't be able to enjoy myself if I am someplace where there be might be other (omg - tourists??)
It means putting away your guidebooks and the carefully honed minute-by-minute itinerary you spent 3 months organizing in spreadsheet format - even just for 1 hour a day. Veer away from those blockbuster sights you initially came for and have a genuinely unexpected experience every now and then. You might just find those are your best memories when you get back.
It means trying something different once in awhile, even if it falls outside of your normal comfort zone at home. Maybe that means trying foie gras in Paris when you swear by junk food at home, trying to decipher public transit in Italy when you normally take the car out at home to get a gallon of milk 2 blocks away, or spending time going cow-tipping in rural Ireland with your Irish friends once the pub crawl ends (there are so few cows at home in the city).
It does not mean "I'm such a superior traveler/tourist compared to you because I only go to places no one writes about in guidebooks!".
Elaine...perhaps those who just want OTBP suggestions already have their ON the path part of their journey already planned. That's not pretentious, that's wise planning.
And I don't think anyone has suggested that those who venture to less well known destinations have become jaded with Europe.
No one's criticised for wanting to visit the Louvre multiple times, or even for taking the Sound of Music tour. Some people liked that tour...others didn't, and its perfectly fair for both sides to air their opinions when a poster asks. So why condemn those who are looking for something a little different?
Yes Norm is right. It's not about being jaded. Just because you enjoy going off the beaten path doesn't mean that other times you're on the beaten path. You can do both in one trip, in one day, in one hour! Pam
Steve, I like your style. In fact, Steve has inspired me to boldly say the following: OTBP doesn't have to be about "location", it can also be about "approach". (Sorry if that sounds too "Zen") Which naturally leads to the "Tourist" vs "Traveler" topic. I agree that many split this hair too finely. Which isn't to say that there isn't a difference. Renting an apartment in Paris for a month? That sounds so "traveler" to me. It's about wanting/needing to absorb the essence of a city into your very DNA and not caring what the folks back home might say. (Sorry Steve, for reading motives into your stay that probably aren't there.) Let the slings and arrows fly! P.S.- Eurovision Song Contest! talk about fun so cheesy you can spread it on a cracker!
I think that the first time you go anywhere in Europe, you will never be "off the beaten path". When it is my first time in any city across the pond, I want to visit all the main sites. And guess who's guidebook I use? Yes, I love the way RS spoon feeds me Europe. He makes it possible for me to do Europe without the help of tour guides. When I am done visiting all the staples of all the countries I go to, then I will go back and discover the nooks and crannies that I may have missed because I was in line to some touristy museum or monument or in a souvenir shop, looking at cheaply made trinkets that I will probably not buy. Whether you are a tourist visiting all the main sites with your camera around your neck or "off the beaten path" hanging out with the locals in some cool pub not listed in any guidebook, it is better than not experiencing this very important aspect of life.
"! P.S.- Eurovision Song Contest! talk about fun so cheesy you can spread it on a cracker!" That should be the contest's official motto. This was, of course, the platform that first vomited ABBA onto the worldwide music scene.
For the record, I do enjoy watching Eurovision. In more ways than one, it's like a car wreck. You just can't help but look on in morbid fascination.
Hey, don't knock Eurovision, introduced us to Lordi. Just knowing that there's such a thing as Norwegian Death Metal makes me happy.
I love doing the beaten path stuff and am totally not ashamed to it. Took the kids to Bunratty last summer, and we're taking them to Neuschwanstein next summer. So there. But I like to define my "off the beaten path" more as "off the beaten American tourist path". We've visited some places in Europe that are well frequented by more local (meaning the same nationality) tourists, but rarely see Americans. It's in the guidebooks, just not in Rick's. Many of the families we met on our last visit to Austria stay at the same farmhouse every summer for 2-3 weeks, but that farmhouse had never had an American family stay there. Until us. :) It's in the same town that my German uncle's family went to every summer when he was a boy, too.
Here is the Eurovision Song Contest Link. Scroll down on the right side to "Meet the 39 Participants" by country. Each country has a video that you can watch. Help! Too much fun!
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/home
Tom-I agree that "off the beaten path" has become a yada yada yada phrase for me, too. I think maybe they mean that they don't want to get back home and compare checklists with other people. They want to feel like they did something different and special. But do they travel like that here in the US? Do they go to northern Arizona but skip the Grand Canyon? Do they plan a weekend in Peoria rather than in Chicago? Probably not.
However, it is a question that newbies tend to ask, so we'll all smile nicely and answer politely. Yada yada yada.
My all-time favorite EV performance:
I think that the way many who post here travel would be considered off the beaten path by others, for example travelers who take bus tours. Simply using public transportation exposes tourists to locals. When visiting Rome, we wanted to get to the Vatican early one morning, and planned on taking the bus (one of the more notorious Rome buses). When the bus came, we got on and I was shocked how crowded it was that early...until I thought about it and realized these were Romans on their way to work! While using public transportation in London, my daughter commented frequently on how Londoners were dressed (much more dressed up). Another aspect that many here advocate is staying in a popular spot overnight, versus day tripping. That allows one to see places when they are uncrowded in the evening and the morning. As Pam mentioned above, it can be surprisingly easy to have unique experiences in/near touristy places. When we visited Chaumont last summer, we arrived at the chateau a few minutes before it opened. My son was looking around and commenting that he wasn't sure how we were going to get in, and then the drawbridge started to come down! On that day, our family and one other couple were the only people who got to see that!
That being said, in Italy we were so fortunate to have the experience of staying in a private home in a small village in Liguria. That was probably once in a lifetime for us, and truly allowed us to visit with Italians and get a sense of differences and similarities to life for us here.
Off the beaten path, a term I don't use, is when I look around and there are no other tourists around me. I've achieved it many times in my life.
Once, I had gone to a night club in Honolulu with a group of friends. They all petered out before I did. When I left, there were no tourists out at all - just gangs of locals. On one street corner, I walked through a group and they started saying "watch out Hali, watch out."
Fortunately, I was able to duck into a McDonalds where I spotted a couple of burly Marines and their wives. They had been at the same nightclub so I struck up a conversation and walked out with them (then high tailed it back to my hotel).
Yes, I was off the beaten path that night.
Another time, my wife and I were pulled into the "third degree" room when trying to leave a small Korean airfield at the south end of the peninsula. My wife hadn't had her passport stamped when we entered the country near Seoul. It's a one year prison term and million Juan fine to be in the country illegally (they are still at war). Fortunately, the Korean officer decided to let us go (without even a bribe).
We were off the beaten path that day too. Luckily, we didn't end up in prison or we would have been even further off the beaten path. :)
For me, "Off the beaten path" means doing what YOU want- not what you think others expect you to do. If you want to see xyz.. then do it. But don't do it beacuse you're afraid someone will say "WHAT! you didn't do ..." We have met some wonderful people in "tourist" cities. We even made lifelong friends with a jeweler in Inverness. He and his wife invited us to spend several days with them one December. He started his own jewelery design business and I now have some wonderful, unique pieces that he helped me design! Talk about a great souviener. But the friendship is what I value most. Yes, most people will start off on the path. There is a good reason the path is there... lots of people have felt that this (what ever or where ever THIS is) is important. But, once you are comfortable then you can begin to wander ...
If I ask for ideas about seeing architecture, or mountains, or any other particular thing, am I a pretentious elitist? Then why disparage those whose "particular thing" is "off the beaten path?"
There's no big mystery about what this phrase means. It's generally about no-blockbuster-sights, sit-back-and-smell-the-culture destinations.
Personally I like to include this sort of thing along with visits to justly popular (and thus crowded) attractions and cities. It varies the pace and adds texture.
The truth is that for me as an American the beaten path is pretty narrow, and most of Europe is off of it. So it's not hard to do.
And if it doesn't appeal to you, don't go there. Like anything else: Afraid of heights, avoid Peyrepertuse; Ancient Regime chateaux leave you cold, skip the Loire.
As others have already alluded to; We have not yet been everywhere we want to be, so what sense does it make for us to dwell on being "off the beaten path"?
We go to most of the big hit sites we can in the places we have visited so far. But when the place is too "touristy" for comfort, we don't linger. We move on to the next thing. We always include a rural component to our trips and see small towns that don't always live off tourism.
We try to include places that are a little quirky when we can. For example, this July we will spend two nights in Cesky Krumlov between Prague and Munich. Now, everyone who reads Rick Steves' books knows about the place. And I fully expect the place to be full of tourists. But I'll bet 99% of Americans have never even heard of it. So is it on or off the beaten path? You tell me.
For those that are devoted to OTBP...
Why can everyone of you answer a question about Paris, London, Rome, Bern Oberland, Rhine Castles, Amsterdam, Venice, Florence, Bavaria, Salzburg, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Prague, Bruges, Greek Islands...
But someone asks a question about Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, even Norway, Sweden, Finland, and they are left with no advice? Think about it. If you're hellbent on going where tourists ain't, there's a lot more to Europe than the countries (paths) that MILLIONS of Americans before you have already paved...
James...have patience...we're working on it. But there are lots of OTBP destinations to explore in western Europe...and, of course, a return to old favourites.
For me, "Off the beaten path" is anywhere I've never been before. I guess you could say it's "Off MY beaten path," regardless of whether billions of tourists have come before me or not.
So it could be Brno, Czech Republic, or standing in line for the Eiffel Tower, it's all new to me. And because my husband and I generally never travel the same road twice, we've covered a lot of new (to us) ground and have a lot left to cover. Whether or not someone (or millions) before have done the same thing is not important to us. If we want to see it, we do (ok, unless it is downright "Williamsburg-ish"); if it's not in our guidebook, we roll with it. If there are other tourists around, we don't hyperventilate; if there are no other tourists around, we forge ahead. No biggie.
It's all a new experience.
James, I have been to Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia and they are clearly off the beaten path and I found them in the main to be relatively boring, with people in the tourist industry there unclear on the concept of pleasing and attracting tourists. Very like Hungary & Czechoslovakia just after the break-up of the USSR. So OTBP is an ideal much sought after but sometimes when you find it, it is not "vaut le voyage".
As for Scandinavia, those countries I found to be much like Canada once you leave the cities, and if I want to see miles & miles of trees & rocks I can do that about 45 kms from where I live.
As always, just my personal opinion.
I agree with many of the posters here that OTBP can be anywhere. To me it is expanding your travel experiences beyond the 'must see' museums or sights. No matter where I go I try to visit bars/cafes away from the tourist areas, go to a local park, a laundromat or a grocery store; try to talk to people who live in the area even if I speak their language very little or poorly. A good example is the Cinque Terra. To many, that is OTBP, but thanks to Rick, it is very much on alot of folks path. But if you walk around the villages early in the morning or later in the evening you'll experience glimpses of what it must have been like before it was discovered. When in Rome last Sept. I followed Ron in Rome's public transportation directions to the aquaduct park. On my way I stopped and watched the kids at recess at a local school. On the walk back I stopped at a bar for a coffee and to use their toilet. I never ran into anyone who spoke English and didn't see a single tourist-just lots of people jogging and mothers pushing baby carriages. To me that was OTBP.
James in Germany,
It is probably fair to say that most all of us here could use a "perspective/attitude adjustment" once in a while. We are human after all. But for one paticular individual to take it upon himhelf to dole out the adjustments day after day, makes me think THAT person needs MORE than just an adjustment.
BTW, I feel like I've only just begun my travels, yet I have already been to five of the countries you just listed as OTBP places, and I have posted advice here on all of them in the past. I've also stood in line for hours to climb the Eiffel Tower. So what.
Hmm, I never realized "I see a star" was from Eurovision. I only know the Dutch version, "Ik zie een ster".
Best Eurvision song in my opinion? From 1965...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5aeeSmkPwQ
Not the best singing, but a pretty nifty tune.
And to see a great example of why the combination of the 1970s and Eurovision were such a lethal trainwreck, check out Belgium's entry from 1973. The song isn't awful, but... oh dear God, just watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIQSWoKbVvU
I'm with Carroll at this point in my travels.
"Off the beaten path" is one interesting phrase,, but my another one is:
"live like a local"
I am sorry, even if you rent an apartment you are not really "living like a local". You are not going to work everyday, you are not scrubbing floors and getting the sink fixed( hopefully) you are not running to pick up the kids while juggling three other boring errands.. ( pick up milk, drop clothes at drycleaners, pick up stamps)
You are on holiday, you are eating out more often then most locals( even if you eat many dinners at home and all breakfasts) you do not have boring errands to do, and you are not having to get in the rush hour mob everyday to get to work.
I personally do not WANT to live like a local. I actually like hotels , maid service and eating out, LOL I have stayed with family, ,and trust me, watching grandpa clear the toilet isn't that fun,, but hey,, its what the locals have to do.. LOL
I think what most of us want,, is to just enjoy ourselves and get a sense of the place we are visiting,, and that if I am in line at the Eiffel Tower, or the Coliseum I am still having a "real " experience,, there is nothing fake or bad about wanting to see world class sites..
I do think sometimes its nice to go out of the CITIES and enjoy the countryside, and that by the nature of most big sites being in large cities ,, that smaller centers are more about meeting local people, eating local specialities, and just RELAXING,, NO MUSEUMS OR CHURCHES TODAY! Most locals on their days off do that,, just relax,, they don't visit the sites in their towns much,, they just hang around a cafe or park. Lovely,, but not a better or lovelier experience then seeing major tourist sites. Just different.
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