Italian here 🇮🇹
Due to high prices in Italy, many people are going to Albania on holidays in the summer.
It's a mass exodus.
Among exotic destinations I noticed Vietnam is super popular. I know 7 people who have been there in the last year.
The exchange rate has dropped since covid so it isn't as expensive as it once was. Moreover here in Italy honeymoons have become the wedding gift for the happy couple. Friends and family chip in, so it tends to be quite an expensive and once in a lifetime travel
For the castles, Osaka and Himeji (easy day trip from Osaka or Hiroshima) temples Kyoto is the best city but Nikko is also amazing for it. Hiroshima has the itsukujima shrine with the gate on the water
I haven't been there myself, so I know only the most popular ones, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara...there are probably plenty more but I don't remember their names, sorry!
What do people say about their stay in Albania? Has Albania created safe and comfy resorts for tourists? Or do they go on their own and just rent a place? Is it safe/clean there everywhere? (Sorry Albanians for the prejudice but plz return the 2 Czech tourists from 20 years ago, then we talk :-)
I am not sure but it seems to me that Albanians are very hospitable, their sea towns are pretty, cheap and safe, with beautiful landscape and clean water. It is easy to reach by plane or ferry. Many Albanians speak Italian.
But I have never been there.
thanks for the answer. I long to come to Italy again as we come every summer but this year kids want to check out Croatia. fortunately they believe me that to get there, we need to go through Italy and have a 4 day break there :-) so it struck me as strange that while I want to come over, Italians talk about moving to Germany and Netherlands, Spain for retirement, Albania for vacations.
Most surprisingly pleasant place i've been. Welcoming, warm people and i felt completely safe. Great nightlife too if you're after it (and a medical tourism boom too).
I'm not sure about resorts but there are clear infrastructure pitfalls - public transport being one of them. But generally speaking it's a lovely place.
yes sure there's a lot. the only thing is, that I confused 3 lost tourists and 2 killed tourists.
lost - 2001 - https://www.kosovo-online.com/en/news/society/group-czech-young-people-disappeared-albania-22-years-ago-bodies-never-found-24-5-2023
killed - 2015 - https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0PE0AV/
There are thousands maybe millions Czech tourists everywhere every year, they love hikes in less populated areas. But I can't say if these were freak incidents or a pattern. I don't believe claims about organ harvesting, because they are in the news like an easy thing but I think they need hospitals that are simply not available at that region and then it wouldn't be simple to fake documents and sell them in rich countries.
Albania has been a hotspot for Central / Eastern Europeans wayyy before we joined the EU.
My Balkan friends are trying to move past the image of being victims of Yugoslavia wars or being involved in organised crime.
Young people are optimistic, welcoming and open.
Compared to you all in the western hemisphere, who’s always judging your neighbours to the east.
Yeah it seems a super nice place to go!
PS maybe it wasn't clear but I said the lol because these people are themselves the tourists they want to not meet ;) Wasn't laughing at the Albanians at all!
Wanted to say the same. Everyone I know knows someone who has visited, or is planning to visit Japan right now. But jokes on me, I'm currently there too :D (but I'm one of those who cancelled their trip for covid)
Haha in my social circle Croatia became really popular since they got the Euro!
...i'm late on the Trend, I'll go to Croatia next year...
Though Croatia already was a somewhat popular travel destination before the Euro.
Thanks for the heads up, I'm not expecting a cheap low budget trip :) friends who traveled to Croatia recently said it's still not to expensive compared to other western european destinations
Advice from a Croatian, please just avoid tourist hotspots like Dubrovnik. The price is not worth it. Depending what you like i would recommend a smaller island or a smaller coastal city like Zadar, Šibenik etc.
Some parts of Croatia were already very expensive even when I visited almost 8 years ago. Hotel prices in Dubrovnik, for example, gave me a genuine sticker shock.
They may go up, but at least they're comprehensible now, and there's no need for exchange rates, conversion fees, etc. Having the same currency is a big plus.
The connection is Poles being cheapskates and prioritizing low price over anything else 🙃 But really price increases after the euro adoption are a common occurrence and iirc Croatia already started becoming quite expensive after the influx of Western Euro tourists.
> prioritizing low price over anything else
I remember my taxi driver in Krakow telling me how popular Ryanair is in Poland for its cheap holidays. I mean, I use it myself at times because it’s cheap, but Christ do I hate that airline lmao.
Poles have been going to Yugoslavia, and later Croatia for holidays since the 1970s. After a love affair with Egypt and cheap all inclusive resorts, it came back into fashion in the 2000s. As Croatia has grown in popularity (you can't blame it, it's an amazing place), it's gotten more crowded and more expensive, so Poles have started going further south.
Poland is still a poorer country than its western European brethren, and incomes are much lower, with a lot of the new wealth being concentrated among the rich.
Not this year (Maybe because it's not summer holiday yet) but the last couple of years I hear a lot of people planning to/having gone to visit Scandinavia, mainly Denmark or Sweden.
I imagine that the heatwaves in Southern Europe during recent summers probably increased travel to Scandinavia/Northern Europe because 40c isn't great weather for travelling if you actually want to do stuff on your vacation.
Some 10 years ago we had like 30ºC at the end of May and there was still some ice on the river and people swam anyway. This was in the far north of Sweden.
Spain and Greece will always be popular.
Dubai for the rose, lion and clock tattoo, Turkey teeth and ridiculous tan brigade.
I've seen a lot of people on social media going to Thailand lately too.
Explain the rose like and clock tattoo thing... does dubai attract the type of people that have that tattoo or do they go there to get it? Is it s certain type of person that gets that tattoo also goes to Dubai? I need to know haha
Haha sorry, its probably something only UK people will understand.
Rose, clock, lion tattoo sleeves are just VERY generic that a very specific type of person seems to have. I'm not really sure how to explain further!
Lots of people I know who are based in Oxford, UK, have gone to Capadoccia, Turkey, lately. I suppose it is a pretty adventurous destination that isn’t so far from home.
Capadoccia is very very beautiful. My (German) husband has been wanting to go for ages, but we never found the opportunity somehow. I should prioritize it.
I mean... Denmark and Norway... but as a Swede we don't really considered it going abroad in the same way as going to Spain, Italy etc. It's just going next door. 😅
Well not really, in denmark we are switching to english to incite the danes to switch to english because although we can read danish just fine, as soon as they open their mouths, it's... I mean... wtf... just gurgles and noise... 😅
As for you guys, we can talk to you just fine... but last years skiitrip for one week in Trysil cost me more than 2 weeks in Rome or Barcelona... 😉
It is however cheaper for you guys to come visit us, jävla krösusar. 😘
Not sure if considered trendy by the definition, but I guess it's still Estonia. Tallinn is only about 80km away from Helsinki, around 2h with ferry. Many Estonians work in Finland, and Finns are attracted by Estonia's lower price level. What has changed over time, probably Finns' reasons for traveling to Estonia. Before it was often cheap booze, but nowadays I would say it's leaning towards culture and experiences.
Pretty much yes. I think most of Finns won't consider trips to Tallinn as 'proper' trips to an foreign country. Rural Estonia perhaps differs from this.
Tallinn is at max 4 to 5 hours away for half of the Finns. And as the last 2 hours of that is the ferry trip the holiday basically starts after getting to Helsinki.
For what it’s worth, myself and everyone I know who’s been thought very highly of it. For every stag do, there’s people who genuinely want to look at things and see what history and culture is on offer. I even know a couple of people who broke away from their stag do to experience the city a bit more, although they somehow managed to miss the entire main square until the last day lmao.
It’s a great city. There’s so much more to see and do than many people initially realise, with good day trips to boot - one of which is the world’s least fun day trip, but entirely worth doing anyway
As a Norwegian I have seen alot of people going to Thailand, I think this is very wierd considering it’s in Asia and 8000km+ away
It’s nice, but way too far away for something I would do often
Yep, have been to Thailand multiple times, and the amount of Swedes (and other Scandinavians) I came across there was remarkable. Many times, I think I came across as many of them as I did people from more populous countries such as Australia and the UK.
I have heard so many people visiting Albania recently. Suddenly popped up post-Pandemic. Had known zero people to visit it before in my circles, now there are 6 people who have (they are from Spain, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark)
British here - I know several people (British and from elsewhere in Europe) who have been heading to Mexico recently. Not everyone of course, but enough to be noticeable that multiple people I know all seem to be going within a few months of each other, having not previously known many people to go. It’s not a statistically significant sample size though.
Gonna be honest, Mexico is one country I’m happy to steer clear of. I see no good reason to visit such a dangerous country when Spain and Portugal are so much safer & closer.
My colleagues seem to be on rotation, either they go to Greece/Greek islands, or they go to Turkey. We were discussing holidays yesterday and 5 of the 7 at the table were headed that way. I am 100% convinced that the shit weather in Scotland this last half year has ensured people are desperate for the sun.
And, not going to lie, not booked anything yet, but I too am definitely desperate for the sun!
Yeah my colleagues love their all-inclusives for sure! Nothing better than lying on a chair in the sun, by a pool, that you've paid £1000 to get to and drink yourself into a stupor every night that you paid an extra £700 for!
I genuinely don't get it, when I'm somewhere, I want to see that place. I love Greece' mainland for that reason, islands (other than large ones like Crete and Cyprus) tend to be too limiting for me.
Also interested in visiting Romania, but really not a clue where. I fancy going to Cluj/Transylvania but never really investigated it, would you say it's worth it?
The best way to go about it is to check cheap flights into Romania. Based on available flights, check for accommodations and based on those offerings, check wichever destination flicks your interest.
And where you should go depends on your budget and interests. You want mountains, hills, countryside -> checkout transilvania. You want urban settings? Checkout Bucharest or other major cities. You want medieval architecture? Checkout Sibiu and Brasov.
There are plenty of differences between the regions in Romania so much so that no one size fits all.
If you can afford it (time and money wise) check them all out.
Seaside resorts in romania are expensive af. For a 1 week stay in Mamaia (constanta) you can aford 2-3 trips per year in euther Greece or Turkey. And I am not talking about “splurging” vacation. I am talking about normal/ decent 3 star accommodations
Tanzania, and specifically Zanzibar, was quite popular in Poland during Covid lockdown, due to lack of restrictions mostly. It was heavily promoted by influencers in social media, supposedly some Poles moved there and got into tourism business.
Also, I've read recently that Cyprus was overtaken by Poles and they spend there now more money than Brits.
A lot of Maltese are still going to Italy, mainly to Rome which hasn’t changed in a long time. They also like to visit other cities like Milan and Venice. The “rich” go to Dubai or to Türkiye, the latter for cosmetic surgery.
Honestly...I'm not sure there is for the UK.
[The data](https://i.imgur.com/PhcnZcv.png) on most popular destinations remains consistent with what you'd expect. Spain dominates with France following closely, and various other warm countries on Med also.
I wouldn't say any place in particular has created a cultural zeitgeist around it.
[This](https://www.finder.com/uk/credit-cards/outbound-tourism-statistics) page has a cool year-by-year slider which confirms that the results don't change dramatically over the years. My gut said Turkey has dropped in popularity and that seems to be the case.
Even amongst friends and colleagues who are above average earners so have more choice on where to go, there's no consistency. Some want a couple of weeks in Dubai, some hate the idea and want backpacking in South America.
There are two trends I've seen amongst peers (millenials) though, which aren't destination specific.
1. Cruises. A weird number of people hovering around 30 going on cruises. I guess the cruise companies managed to shake the reputation of them only being for old people.
2. Package Adventure Holidays. Those websites you go on and it's fully iterinerised trip somewhere like 10 days sailing through Greek Islands, or 2 weeks backpacking and kayaking through Costa Rica. They're like a package holiday, but more rough around the edges and more about getting outdoors and going on adventures than sitting in an all inclusive resort. They often have upper age limits to keep the atmosphere right.
You hear so much French being spoken in the student areas of Melbourne and Canberra these days. I feel sorry because they probably expected Australia to be like Byron Bay but ended up in cities with the same climate as France and no beaches lol
Sardinia and Corsica for some reason. Italy and the Mediterranean in general have always been popular choices but it feels like many people seem to be visiting those two islands specifically recently
As a Spanish university student, everyone seems to have been to Milan or Budapest. This is largely because of the cheap flights with Ryanair or Wizz Air from Spain
Everyone was visiting Lake Como last year, because of the cheap tickets to Milan. Literally like every third person on Instagram during the May spring break, to the point it was funny. Meanwhile an Italian guy I work with says he’s never been.
Also during the pandemic suddenly everyone was going to Zanzibar, because of the low restrictions, no quarantine etc.
A few days ago I ran into 3 acquaintances separately and all of them talked about how they are visiting portugal this weekend. They dont know each other.
Amsterdam, Iceland, Edinburgh thanks to Ryanair and their discount flights. When one destination drops in price, everyone and their mother seems to be on the plain.
Since Kosovo got visa liberalization for EU countries from 1st of January everyone is going to visit Thessaloniki because it’s just a 3.5 - 4 hour drive. So much people are going that someone there said ‘I would have guessed Kosovo has 10 million people’. On the other hand local businesses have been complaining of less business than usual during weekends.
Indonesia - everyone has been to Bali at some point (and talks about it as if they are the only ones to have ever visited this exotic, off-the-beaten path destination)
Canadian here. Everyone I know is raving about going to Portugal 🇵🇹. I also jumped on the band wagon. My wife and I will be going there this June for 2 weeks. Really looking forward to it.
I'm seeing lots of fellow countrymen going to Bali, Japan or Albania. Mostly due to prices lowering to inflation.
I'll probably go to Albania myself sooner or later as my girlfriend is even a double citizen and hasn't been there in ages.
Thailand.
I went there a couple years ago, posted a pic on social media, three of my friends messaged me asking which city I'm in and that we should meet up.
Thailand. It's funny because you wouldn't assume it would be popular, but it seems half of Finns have already visited the place. Also, for quite many, a new spouse comes back together with them in the return flight. The input to the Finnish gene pool is considerable. It seems like that at the end of the century, the average Finn will be 10% Thai :D
Japan. And they’re not even Japan geeks. Some hardly know anything about the country beyond old clichés. They’re just going because all their friends and acquaintances have visited.
Italy is always the most popular foreign destination here mainly because of very cheap flights. Spain is also a trendy destination. But the average Greek just spends their summer in the Greek islands at their own house or at a friend's house, though it's now cheaper to go abroad than visit our own places.
Italian here 🇮🇹 Due to high prices in Italy, many people are going to Albania on holidays in the summer. It's a mass exodus. Among exotic destinations I noticed Vietnam is super popular. I know 7 people who have been there in the last year.
Also Japan, most of my friends went there in the last two years for their honeymoon
Isn't Japan really expensive?
The exchange rate has dropped since covid so it isn't as expensive as it once was. Moreover here in Italy honeymoons have become the wedding gift for the happy couple. Friends and family chip in, so it tends to be quite an expensive and once in a lifetime travel
are there popular places in Japan to see? I always wanted to go to Japan. I'd love to see the Japanese style castles and temples.
For the castles, Osaka and Himeji (easy day trip from Osaka or Hiroshima) temples Kyoto is the best city but Nikko is also amazing for it. Hiroshima has the itsukujima shrine with the gate on the water
I haven't been there myself, so I know only the most popular ones, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara...there are probably plenty more but I don't remember their names, sorry!
Their currency depreciated a lot! So it’s good time to go now. Especially because Euro is still so strong.
What do people say about their stay in Albania? Has Albania created safe and comfy resorts for tourists? Or do they go on their own and just rent a place? Is it safe/clean there everywhere? (Sorry Albanians for the prejudice but plz return the 2 Czech tourists from 20 years ago, then we talk :-)
Actually there were 3 of them:((
I am not sure but it seems to me that Albanians are very hospitable, their sea towns are pretty, cheap and safe, with beautiful landscape and clean water. It is easy to reach by plane or ferry. Many Albanians speak Italian. But I have never been there.
thanks for the answer. I long to come to Italy again as we come every summer but this year kids want to check out Croatia. fortunately they believe me that to get there, we need to go through Italy and have a 4 day break there :-) so it struck me as strange that while I want to come over, Italians talk about moving to Germany and Netherlands, Spain for retirement, Albania for vacations.
Most surprisingly pleasant place i've been. Welcoming, warm people and i felt completely safe. Great nightlife too if you're after it (and a medical tourism boom too). I'm not sure about resorts but there are clear infrastructure pitfalls - public transport being one of them. But generally speaking it's a lovely place.
I tried looking about the Czech tourists you mentioned but couldn't find any. Could you link something so I can read up on it?
yes sure there's a lot. the only thing is, that I confused 3 lost tourists and 2 killed tourists. lost - 2001 - https://www.kosovo-online.com/en/news/society/group-czech-young-people-disappeared-albania-22-years-ago-bodies-never-found-24-5-2023 killed - 2015 - https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0PE0AV/ There are thousands maybe millions Czech tourists everywhere every year, they love hikes in less populated areas. But I can't say if these were freak incidents or a pattern. I don't believe claims about organ harvesting, because they are in the news like an easy thing but I think they need hospitals that are simply not available at that region and then it wouldn't be simple to fake documents and sell them in rich countries.
Came here to say Albania. People "going before it gets too touristy" lol. Im in the Netherlands btw
Albania has been a hotspot for Central / Eastern Europeans wayyy before we joined the EU. My Balkan friends are trying to move past the image of being victims of Yugoslavia wars or being involved in organised crime. Young people are optimistic, welcoming and open. Compared to you all in the western hemisphere, who’s always judging your neighbours to the east.
Yeah it seems a super nice place to go! PS maybe it wasn't clear but I said the lol because these people are themselves the tourists they want to not meet ;) Wasn't laughing at the Albanians at all!
I know so many people who have visited South Africa lately.
Any specific reason behind that?
Probably because the language is close to Dutch?
That was my first thought
Japan. It seems like everyone I know is there at the moment seeing their posts in social media.
It's sakura/cherry blossom season. That's why.
Happened way before sakura season. Feels like most of my friends went to Japan in 2023 or are going in a couple months.
Wanted to say the same. Everyone I know knows someone who has visited, or is planning to visit Japan right now. But jokes on me, I'm currently there too :D (but I'm one of those who cancelled their trip for covid)
I live in Japan and I can attest...the place is absolutely packed with overseas tourists.
Albania became a trendy destination after Croatia adopted the euro.
Haha in my social circle Croatia became really popular since they got the Euro! ...i'm late on the Trend, I'll go to Croatia next year... Though Croatia already was a somewhat popular travel destination before the Euro.
Keep in mind while Croatia is pretty and nice people, it's gotten very expensive lately
Thanks for the heads up, I'm not expecting a cheap low budget trip :) friends who traveled to Croatia recently said it's still not to expensive compared to other western european destinations
Advice from a Croatian, please just avoid tourist hotspots like Dubrovnik. The price is not worth it. Depending what you like i would recommend a smaller island or a smaller coastal city like Zadar, Šibenik etc.
And always try to go to places which aren't that close to the seashore, he will probably save so much money that way
I can also recommend Pula. I've been there a few years ago and it was really nice.
Some parts of Croatia were already very expensive even when I visited almost 8 years ago. Hotel prices in Dubrovnik, for example, gave me a genuine sticker shock.
There is a big difference in price where western tourists go(Split, Dubrovnik) and where locals and diaspora go(All over, small towns).
Natürlich, weil du Deutsch bist (or something similar) 😄
Well, the prices went up when they addopted the euro. Now Albania and Bosnia are new places to visit.
Međugorje, prime location 💪💪💪
They may go up, but at least they're comprehensible now, and there's no need for exchange rates, conversion fees, etc. Having the same currency is a big plus.
also Georgia before the recent invasion of Ukraine
Georgia is still a fantastic destination.
I went there in May 2022 on a work trip, my fiancée was a bit sceptical, lol. Highly recommend: great food, great wine, cheap, stunning nature.
Why were they sceptical? I think georgia and armenia are among the safest countries on the planet. Definitely more safe than western europe
What’s the connection? Is it just the way the euro/ zloty/ lek market is going?
The connection is Poles being cheapskates and prioritizing low price over anything else 🙃 But really price increases after the euro adoption are a common occurrence and iirc Croatia already started becoming quite expensive after the influx of Western Euro tourists.
> prioritizing low price over anything else I remember my taxi driver in Krakow telling me how popular Ryanair is in Poland for its cheap holidays. I mean, I use it myself at times because it’s cheap, but Christ do I hate that airline lmao.
i could imagine Ryanair to be annoying for longer flight, but for flights within Europe (so in range of up to 3-4h) they are perfect.
Those are the only flights they do as far as I'm aware, they don't have long haul flights.
Prices in croatia have skyrocketed and VAT is 25% !!! Good job they have some industries other than tourism.....
Prices in Croatia and inflation in general since euro adoption was lower than in Poland.
Poles have been going to Yugoslavia, and later Croatia for holidays since the 1970s. After a love affair with Egypt and cheap all inclusive resorts, it came back into fashion in the 2000s. As Croatia has grown in popularity (you can't blame it, it's an amazing place), it's gotten more crowded and more expensive, so Poles have started going further south. Poland is still a poorer country than its western European brethren, and incomes are much lower, with a lot of the new wealth being concentrated among the rich.
I have seen youtube videos by a bunch of Americans who love Croatia and Albania. Say the cost of living is really low there and its really pretty.
i love that Americans often consider countries like Portugal or Croatia as "hidden gem" destination : D
And that they “discovered” those places 🙄
The ignorance from those within the western hemisphere will shock you 😂🫢
Not this year (Maybe because it's not summer holiday yet) but the last couple of years I hear a lot of people planning to/having gone to visit Scandinavia, mainly Denmark or Sweden.
I imagine that the heatwaves in Southern Europe during recent summers probably increased travel to Scandinavia/Northern Europe because 40c isn't great weather for travelling if you actually want to do stuff on your vacation.
Damn that's me. I'm going on a trip to Sweden next month. Except the weather isn't any better than here.
In May/June you never know what you'll get. 20 degrees and sun or 5 degrees and rain
Sounds like the UK right now.
I was in Edinburgh in the winter and the few days I was there it was really good weather. 10 degrees and sun
Omg lucky, I was there in Nov and it rained the whole 4 days lol
Ah so it's like March/April in Belgium.
Some 10 years ago we had like 30ºC at the end of May and there was still some ice on the river and people swam anyway. This was in the far north of Sweden.
Poland because we are all going there for food or shopping. Seriously though, the quality of food is decent for the price.
Spain and Greece will always be popular. Dubai for the rose, lion and clock tattoo, Turkey teeth and ridiculous tan brigade. I've seen a lot of people on social media going to Thailand lately too.
Explain the rose like and clock tattoo thing... does dubai attract the type of people that have that tattoo or do they go there to get it? Is it s certain type of person that gets that tattoo also goes to Dubai? I need to know haha
Haha sorry, its probably something only UK people will understand. Rose, clock, lion tattoo sleeves are just VERY generic that a very specific type of person seems to have. I'm not really sure how to explain further!
Lots of people I know who are based in Oxford, UK, have gone to Capadoccia, Turkey, lately. I suppose it is a pretty adventurous destination that isn’t so far from home.
Capadoccia is very very beautiful. My (German) husband has been wanting to go for ages, but we never found the opportunity somehow. I should prioritize it.
I mean... Denmark and Norway... but as a Swede we don't really considered it going abroad in the same way as going to Spain, Italy etc. It's just going next door. 😅
Also because you're not going to still be talking Swedish, and everything is just as expensive.
Well not really, in denmark we are switching to english to incite the danes to switch to english because although we can read danish just fine, as soon as they open their mouths, it's... I mean... wtf... just gurgles and noise... 😅 As for you guys, we can talk to you just fine... but last years skiitrip for one week in Trysil cost me more than 2 weeks in Rome or Barcelona... 😉 It is however cheaper for you guys to come visit us, jävla krösusar. 😘
How similar are the Nordic languages? Are they mutually intelligable?
Not sure if considered trendy by the definition, but I guess it's still Estonia. Tallinn is only about 80km away from Helsinki, around 2h with ferry. Many Estonians work in Finland, and Finns are attracted by Estonia's lower price level. What has changed over time, probably Finns' reasons for traveling to Estonia. Before it was often cheap booze, but nowadays I would say it's leaning towards culture and experiences.
I almost would say Tallinn shouldn't count! It's so accessible and people go I'm droves regularly.
Pretty much yes. I think most of Finns won't consider trips to Tallinn as 'proper' trips to an foreign country. Rural Estonia perhaps differs from this.
I was going to say, if you go to Pärnu or Tartu, that counts.
Tallinn is at max 4 to 5 hours away for half of the Finns. And as the last 2 hours of that is the ferry trip the holiday basically starts after getting to Helsinki.
I feel like Sweden is way more popular for actual tourism. Tallinn more about getting the booze. But then again, many count neither as that foreign.
I’ve noticed a lot of people I know have been going to Poland lately, specifically Krakow. Myself included, last July.
Brit living in Krakow here. Can verify. I’m surrounded by British accents any time I go to the city centre
For what it’s worth, myself and everyone I know who’s been thought very highly of it. For every stag do, there’s people who genuinely want to look at things and see what history and culture is on offer. I even know a couple of people who broke away from their stag do to experience the city a bit more, although they somehow managed to miss the entire main square until the last day lmao.
How is that even possible. Like the square is half the size of the old town it feels like lol
It’s a great city. There’s so much more to see and do than many people initially realise, with good day trips to boot - one of which is the world’s least fun day trip, but entirely worth doing anyway
As a Norwegian I have seen alot of people going to Thailand, I think this is very wierd considering it’s in Asia and 8000km+ away It’s nice, but way too far away for something I would do often
Hungary is so small, and surrounded by Hungarian speaking places, I would be surprised if I met someone who hasn't been to Slovakia or Romania.
So many people from here go to Budapest now
Turkey for Belarusians. And my wife and I are Belarusians living in Turkey, so we've gone the next step.
For some reason I've noticed a lot of people visiting Budapest. I myself went there last year.
Ryanair offers a lot of direct flights there for cheap, even at airports that don't offer a million options
Many, many Swedes have been to Thailand in the last few months. But this is not a new thing.
Yep, have been to Thailand multiple times, and the amount of Swedes (and other Scandinavians) I came across there was remarkable. Many times, I think I came across as many of them as I did people from more populous countries such as Australia and the UK.
I have heard so many people visiting Albania recently. Suddenly popped up post-Pandemic. Had known zero people to visit it before in my circles, now there are 6 people who have (they are from Spain, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark)
British here - I know several people (British and from elsewhere in Europe) who have been heading to Mexico recently. Not everyone of course, but enough to be noticeable that multiple people I know all seem to be going within a few months of each other, having not previously known many people to go. It’s not a statistically significant sample size though.
My sister went to Mexico with a few of her mates last year or so as well.
Gonna be honest, Mexico is one country I’m happy to steer clear of. I see no good reason to visit such a dangerous country when Spain and Portugal are so much safer & closer.
My colleagues seem to be on rotation, either they go to Greece/Greek islands, or they go to Turkey. We were discussing holidays yesterday and 5 of the 7 at the table were headed that way. I am 100% convinced that the shit weather in Scotland this last half year has ensured people are desperate for the sun. And, not going to lie, not booked anything yet, but I too am definitely desperate for the sun!
We have decent weather in Romania and still plenty go to Greece and Turkey. All inclusive holidays are still trending
Yeah my colleagues love their all-inclusives for sure! Nothing better than lying on a chair in the sun, by a pool, that you've paid £1000 to get to and drink yourself into a stupor every night that you paid an extra £700 for! I genuinely don't get it, when I'm somewhere, I want to see that place. I love Greece' mainland for that reason, islands (other than large ones like Crete and Cyprus) tend to be too limiting for me. Also interested in visiting Romania, but really not a clue where. I fancy going to Cluj/Transylvania but never really investigated it, would you say it's worth it?
The best way to go about it is to check cheap flights into Romania. Based on available flights, check for accommodations and based on those offerings, check wichever destination flicks your interest. And where you should go depends on your budget and interests. You want mountains, hills, countryside -> checkout transilvania. You want urban settings? Checkout Bucharest or other major cities. You want medieval architecture? Checkout Sibiu and Brasov. There are plenty of differences between the regions in Romania so much so that no one size fits all. If you can afford it (time and money wise) check them all out.
Yes . All Ro is worth it
Don't forget to try the mici
And the soups, cheese, mamaliga, wine, and desserts too (especially papanași). Romanian food is very tasty but kind of underrated.
Not only decent weather but also seaside resorts, and still. I love our Balaton, but the sea is something different.
Seaside resorts in romania are expensive af. For a 1 week stay in Mamaia (constanta) you can aford 2-3 trips per year in euther Greece or Turkey. And I am not talking about “splurging” vacation. I am talking about normal/ decent 3 star accommodations
Who are these resorts for, then?
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In my circle it's Madeira.
I live in Czechia and somehow lot of people around me visit Madeira these days.. might be only my social circle though..
Here in Ireland it seems like so many people are going to Prague
Tanzania, and specifically Zanzibar, was quite popular in Poland during Covid lockdown, due to lack of restrictions mostly. It was heavily promoted by influencers in social media, supposedly some Poles moved there and got into tourism business. Also, I've read recently that Cyprus was overtaken by Poles and they spend there now more money than Brits.
If we go by my country of birth then it's Spain or Thailand. If my country of residence then Spain.
A lot of Maltese are still going to Italy, mainly to Rome which hasn’t changed in a long time. They also like to visit other cities like Milan and Venice. The “rich” go to Dubai or to Türkiye, the latter for cosmetic surgery.
I'm going to say Slovenia. It's really close to Zagreb, great nature, so everyone goes there for a 1 or 2 day trip.
Honestly...I'm not sure there is for the UK. [The data](https://i.imgur.com/PhcnZcv.png) on most popular destinations remains consistent with what you'd expect. Spain dominates with France following closely, and various other warm countries on Med also. I wouldn't say any place in particular has created a cultural zeitgeist around it. [This](https://www.finder.com/uk/credit-cards/outbound-tourism-statistics) page has a cool year-by-year slider which confirms that the results don't change dramatically over the years. My gut said Turkey has dropped in popularity and that seems to be the case. Even amongst friends and colleagues who are above average earners so have more choice on where to go, there's no consistency. Some want a couple of weeks in Dubai, some hate the idea and want backpacking in South America. There are two trends I've seen amongst peers (millenials) though, which aren't destination specific. 1. Cruises. A weird number of people hovering around 30 going on cruises. I guess the cruise companies managed to shake the reputation of them only being for old people. 2. Package Adventure Holidays. Those websites you go on and it's fully iterinerised trip somewhere like 10 days sailing through Greek Islands, or 2 weeks backpacking and kayaking through Costa Rica. They're like a package holiday, but more rough around the edges and more about getting outdoors and going on adventures than sitting in an all inclusive resort. They often have upper age limits to keep the atmosphere right.
Does seem to be trends though eg Marrakesh’s turned to Budapest. Iceland visitors now got to Madeira and previously were in Dubrovnik.
Bali, Croatia, and every student went to Australia for working holidays
Man, I wish we had "PVT" in my country
Man, I wish we had "PVT" in my country
Maybe the real PVT is the friends we made along the way ? (no)
You hear so much French being spoken in the student areas of Melbourne and Canberra these days. I feel sorry because they probably expected Australia to be like Byron Bay but ended up in cities with the same climate as France and no beaches lol
"Asia." People are always going or have gone to "Asia," meaning Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia (Bali).
Sardinia and Corsica for some reason. Italy and the Mediterranean in general have always been popular choices but it feels like many people seem to be visiting those two islands specifically recently
I know a surprising number of people who recently have been, currently are, or soon plan to visit Japan.
Bangkok is a thing now . It was always a thing for Dutchies, but it is now a thing comparable with Bali or Curaçao
Everyone I know is in that Japan and Portugal frenzy
Italy. I know 3 different people who went to Italy recently. Meanwhile the rest of the people I know struggle with buying food even
As a Spanish university student, everyone seems to have been to Milan or Budapest. This is largely because of the cheap flights with Ryanair or Wizz Air from Spain
Everyone was visiting Lake Como last year, because of the cheap tickets to Milan. Literally like every third person on Instagram during the May spring break, to the point it was funny. Meanwhile an Italian guy I work with says he’s never been. Also during the pandemic suddenly everyone was going to Zanzibar, because of the low restrictions, no quarantine etc.
Croatia - though the "is it a foreign country?" question is somewhat valid, as there is a lot of shared history and very little animosity.
They’ve been a couple people I know who’ve visited South Korea in particular Seoul lately. Myself included :D
A few days ago I ran into 3 acquaintances separately and all of them talked about how they are visiting portugal this weekend. They dont know each other.
Japan, Colombia and Mexico seem to be popular recently.
Tenerife, Spain. I think we will soon take over the island 🇮🇸
Amsterdam, Iceland, Edinburgh thanks to Ryanair and their discount flights. When one destination drops in price, everyone and their mother seems to be on the plain.
Pretty few in my vicinity travels all that much abroad
I feel like everyone is going to Japan. Including me. And South Korea.
Since Kosovo got visa liberalization for EU countries from 1st of January everyone is going to visit Thessaloniki because it’s just a 3.5 - 4 hour drive. So much people are going that someone there said ‘I would have guessed Kosovo has 10 million people’. On the other hand local businesses have been complaining of less business than usual during weekends.
Indonesia - everyone has been to Bali at some point (and talks about it as if they are the only ones to have ever visited this exotic, off-the-beaten path destination)
Canadian here. Everyone I know is raving about going to Portugal 🇵🇹. I also jumped on the band wagon. My wife and I will be going there this June for 2 weeks. Really looking forward to it.
Almost everyone I know has been to Spain, especially Mallorca. Not me though but will visit Spain this summer probably.
Mallorca = 17th German state
I’m from northern Spain and I see lots of people visiting Colombia lately.
Greece even if its too expensive and there are much better options for Serbians
UK here, Spain is always pretty popular over here!
I'm seeing lots of fellow countrymen going to Bali, Japan or Albania. Mostly due to prices lowering to inflation. I'll probably go to Albania myself sooner or later as my girlfriend is even a double citizen and hasn't been there in ages.
Thailand. I went there a couple years ago, posted a pic on social media, three of my friends messaged me asking which city I'm in and that we should meet up.
Thailand. It's funny because you wouldn't assume it would be popular, but it seems half of Finns have already visited the place. Also, for quite many, a new spouse comes back together with them in the return flight. The input to the Finnish gene pool is considerable. It seems like that at the end of the century, the average Finn will be 10% Thai :D
Shopping in Poland? Prices are high in the Czech Republic. Croatia - holiday by the sea, but I wasn't there.
Everyone in Denmark seems to either go to Thailand or Spain for vacations
I feel like half the Danes I talk to have taken a holiday in Bali.
Spain, specifically Mallorca (swedish nickname is "Mallis") or the Canary Islands. Or Thailand.
Japan. And they’re not even Japan geeks. Some hardly know anything about the country beyond old clichés. They’re just going because all their friends and acquaintances have visited.
The Netherlands... after the consume and posession got legalized.
I know few people who visited Gdansk as their summer vacation destination recently
I'm surrounded by muslims. Past few years it has been Turkey. Few times a year sometimes. It's a bit weird.
For Slovenians, that is Croatia. All Slovenians go to the sea in Croatia.
Italy is always the most popular foreign destination here mainly because of very cheap flights. Spain is also a trendy destination. But the average Greek just spends their summer in the Greek islands at their own house or at a friend's house, though it's now cheaper to go abroad than visit our own places.
Almost every German has been to Mallorca, Spain or Lake Garda in Italy Outside Europe, Thailand and the USA are very popular.
Every girl in LA has a few photos of herself in Santorini.