
52 Places to Go in 2016 - oliv__
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/07/travel/places-to-visit.html
======
arnvald
Very short reviews of the places on the list that I've already seen:

* Brno, Czech Republic - I stayed there just a few days, but even though pretty, the city wasn't very exciting. It's quite cheap and less touristic than Prague, so if you're looking for something less crowded than the capital, it might be a good choice to experience Czech culture

* Barcelona, Spain - one of the most touristic places in Europe, but it totally deserves it. It's not only beautiful and lively, but even if you want to avoid crowded areas, you can book a room a few stations from the center and enjoy the fantastic local culture. I stayed there for a month and as long as you stay away from La Rambla, it's very relaxing place

* Vietnam - I haven't been to Dalat yet, but recently I've visited Ho Chi Minh City and Mui Ne and both are wonderful places. Vietnamese cuisine and coffee, as well as cheerful and very friendly people, make it a perfect place for a low-cost trip.

* Malaga, Spain - way different from Barcelona, with the influence of African culture, it's a good place to spend a few days, but also perfect base for short trips around - from Malaga you can easily get to Gibraltar, Granada, Jerez and Seville

* Phnom Penh, Cambodia - I think that other places in Cambodia like Battambang or Siem Reap are better to visit. Capital of the country is rather crowded and polluted. There's plenty of things to see, however, especially if you know a bit about history of Cambodia, you can constantly feel demons of the past being present in the city.

* Sydney, Australia - I spent 1 week in Melbourne and then 1 week in Sydney, when I was in Australia. I must say I strongly prefer Melbourne as it is more a place to live, while Sydney seems more a business city. Having said that, I highly recommend to visit them both, they're expensive, but wonderful.

~~~
fasteo
Somehow strange feeling to see Jerez [1] - my hometown - mentioned here in HN

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerez_de_la_Frontera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerez_de_la_Frontera)

~~~
gil
I was indeed going to ask why Jerez? I've been there a few times for the F1
tests and never really saw much more than that but now I feel that I probably
missed something.

------
donretag
19\. Virunga National Park - Democratic Republic of Congo

The Eastern part of the DRC is still a dangerous place to go with still
ongoing guerrilla activity.

"Getting there requires a flight to Kigali, Rwanda, and a three-hour taxi
ride."

"While a park spokeswoman said there have been no reports of unfriendly
encounters between rebels and tourists, the eastern D.R.C. remains an
unpredictable area that calls for sensible precautions."

If you want to see the mountain gorilla, just go to Rwanda. Very safe country,
the Switzerland/Singapore of Africa. Or Uganda for even cheaper. I am not
saying to only go to safe places, but avoiding active combat zones is easy to
do.

Sad to see almost nothing in (non Northern) Africa. Great place to avoid the
mobs.

EDIT: a few more points

36 - Tyrol, Austria

The Tyrol extends into Italian as south Tyrol, so if you are touring Italy,
visit this region.

45 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I found it boring, and so did most visiting non-expats that I met. Most
tourists simply visit the Killing Fields and prison, which is not mentioned.

~~~
switch007
Did they really recommend the part of the Congo to which the UK foreign office
advises against all travel (i.e. your travel insurance will be invalid)? Wow.
The rest of the country is "advise against all but essential travel"

[https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/democratic-
republic...](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/democratic-republic-of-
congo)

~~~
donretag
I was surprised to see it on the list, especially when neighboring countries
have many of the same touristic aspects. Keep in mind that the Congo and the
DRC are two different countries.

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akie
This is a beautiful page, but my god, is it heavy. I'm counting 171 separate
requests totaling 31 Mb - excluding the videos. I've not even loaded all
videos, and my total is at over 400 Mb now.... Is this acceptable now?

~~~
pcurve
I was really blown away by how much care went into making it perfect on mobile
view for both orientations. Each photo is positioned differently to ensure
best composition.

But it does feel a but clunky and that size is rather shocking.

~~~
akie
Yeah, they've done an impressive job on mobile as well. The numbers I posted
are on a desktop machine. I've checked, and it seems to weigh in at only 1.1
Mb on mobile. Pretty neat.

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kriro
It always amuses me that that it's "Turin, Italy" but "Providence, Rhode
Island". I guess they assume an American audience but it's still strange that
they don't mention the country for places in the US of A.

~~~
jpatokal
It's also "Kansai, Japan", which is kind of like declaring that "East Coast,
USA" is now hip. Kansai, if the name doesn't ring a bell, being the broad
region that contains 7 Japanese prefectures (~states), the cities of Osaka,
Kyoto and Kobe, and a total of around 22 million people.

~~~
kriro
Yeah I found this odd, too. They did it for a couple of other regions as well
(East Bay, German wine region from memory).

~~~
mkesper
Mosel (wine) region is absolutely a known thing in Germany, so this one is
correct.

------
maxs
If you go to St. Louis, make sure to visit the City Museum
([http://www.citymuseum.org/](http://www.citymuseum.org/)). It is an
incredible, unique playground to explore for children and adults alike. It is
hard to explain what it is and explanations don't do it justice. To this day
it is our fondest memory from the trip to St. Louis.

~~~
shogun21
Bring knee pads!

~~~
peferron
And take off any fancy shoes before going down a slide! (Or even better, don't
wear fancy shoes.) My wife's shoes got ruined by friction in the heel area.
Still glad we went, it's an awesome place. :)

You can even pair it with a visit to the Strangeloop tech conference
([http://www.thestrangeloop.com](http://www.thestrangeloop.com)).

------
planetjones
Having visited a number of cities in the US, I have to say I agree with
Washington DC here - I found it to have the most touristy things to do, be a
great place for exploring on foot and home to good bars and restaurants. Not a
place many people from across the pond have as their first choice (usually
NYC, Vegas, San Francisco or LA) but my favourite city of the lot. And seeing
all the monuments lit up at night is just amazing.

~~~
peckrob
I'm always surprised DC isn't higher on the list for tourists. The museums
alone make it worth the trip.

If you're already in NYC, it's a pretty short train ride (by American
standards at least) to DC. I think it's about 3 hours by Amtrak, just a bit
longer than the Eurostar from London to Paris.

------
henrik_w
Number 3 on the list is Malta, and I just have to add that one of the best
books I have ever read is "The Great Siege: Malta 1565" [1]. It's quite short,
but absolutely fascinating. I wrote this in my Amazon review of it:

The story of the siege of Malta in 1565 is absolutely riveting. The Knights of
St John, with Grand Master de la Valette, and the Maltese population are
attacked and besieged by the numerically superior Turks for the entire summer
of 1565. Ernle Bradford does a remarkable job of describing the events in such
a way that it almost feels like you are there. Along the way, you also learn a
lot about life, war and politics in the 16th century

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Great-Siege-
Malta-1565/dp/1497637864/](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Siege-
Malta-1565/dp/1497637864/)

~~~
arethuza
There was also the Siege of Malta in WW2:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malta_%28World_War_II...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malta_%28World_War_II%29)

Edit: The entire population of Malta was awarded the George Cross (UK highest
gallantry award for civilians) for their actions in WWW2:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Award_of_the_George_Cross_to_M...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Award_of_the_George_Cross_to_Malta)

------
adaml_623
"and the transformation of 700,000 square miles of former docklands into more
than 5,000 new apartments and public waterside attractions"

700,000 square miles? Of Dockland? In Bordeaux? And each apartment gets 140
square miles of land? :-)

------
jacquesm
By virtue of this kind of exposure those are now all places you should avoid
in 2016.

~~~
smcl
Ha that's exactly what I thought. I live in one of those places (#27, Brno)
and there are a number of bars listed by name which are already a little
tricky to get seated in. Luckily there's still not many tourists, the really
good bars are slightly out of the centre and aren't usually listed.

------
JAFTEM
Having grown up in North Dakota, I am deeply confused why tourists would want
to visit any part of it (#5). I'm shocked it shares a list with Barcelona and
Carribean islands.

~~~
ohitsdom
Haven't been to North Dakota, but a few years ago I went to Montana (parts
look very similar to the picture they included). It was almost by chance I
went, didn't really have a hand in planning the trip but-

It was absolutely breath-taking, and I won't forget how it felt to stand in
those hilly fields for a long time. Being at the exact same spot as the Battle
of Little Big Horn, walking in quiet with no cell phone signal... It was all
wonderful.

~~~
JAFTEM
Oh yeah, Montana is absolutely beautiful. When I moved to California for
school I drove through and was absolutely amazed. Western ND is like eastern
Montana, which is much different than western Montana. Then ND gets incredibly
flat like the picture in the article as you go east. Most people from Montana
really don't like eastern Montana.

------
username223
Mexico City as #1? Really? Having been there recently, my main objective was
to get the hell out of the teeming city and its pool of horrible smog without
being killed by the crazy drivers. The rest of Mexico is quite nice, but stay
out of the cities.

~~~
infecto
I had the opposite experience. Such a beautiful city with rich history and
culture. Driving was pretty sane. There is indeed air pollution but its been
getting lower as the years go along. It is not a perfect city but one of my
favorite cities to go visit.

~~~
WildUtah
I'm surprised by parent and gp. Mexico City is beautiful and interesting and
full of things to do, but driving a car there is a nightmare. My first fifteen
minutes behind the wheel there changed my view of traffic and laws forever.

I suggest visiting without a car. If you need one to get to places outside the
city, rent only when you're leaving and ask for exact advice about the easiest
way out of town.

~~~
infecto
If we want to be specific about driving, I would not unless its unavoidable.
It never even popped in my mind that the complaint about drivers was in
reflection of having driven there. If thats the case, agreed. It is so easy
and cheap to take a radio taxi I would never even think of taking a taxi. Plus
for $100 you can usually get a private car for the day with a driver.

~~~
username223
I was there to hike up the nearby volcanos, so taxis weren't practical. I
gather there are some amazing museums and churches, but the city's main
outdoor features seemed to be smog, litter, and protruding rebar.

~~~
WildUtah
Mexico is a great outdoor city. The parks and bike routes are great and
abundant and mountains surround the city. Weather is good year-round. Lots of
day hikes around the city are easy to get to without a car. Popo or Izta or La
Malinche or Nevado de Toluca might require a car ride but you can climb Cerro
de San Miguel (14000') or El Águila (14000') from a bus stop. (Popo (18000')
is closed anyway because it's an active smoking volcano and Izta (17000')
requires a carload of mountaineering gear even if you can find a ride.)

~~~
username223
> Izta (17000') requires a carload of mountaineering gear

Having just hiked it, this is not true during the dry season. You do cross a
small glacier, but all you need for that is YakTrax, if anything.

------
iuguy
I'm surprised to see so many places not on the list, and so many places making
it that caused me to question the rationale (to the point where I read the
follow-up article on how they chose places).

Then I realised as an NY Times piece, this is for Americans. Lots of the
places are Anglo-Spanish-friendly (St Helena, really?), mostly within less
than insane flight times (explains the lack of New Zealand on the list) and
the inevitable references to Kanye and other celebrities (because you know
it'd be insulting to suggest that these places actually have things going for
themselves without the affirmation of a celebrity).

While I disagree with almost the majority of the choices (choose Melbourne
over Sydney any day of the week as a tourist, avoid anything with Democratic
Republic of the Congo on it unless you're already familiar with the safety
requirements for the region) it's an interesting and thought provoking list,
nonetheless.

~~~
knz
> mostly within less than insane flight times (explains the lack of New
> Zealand on the list)

New Zealand isn't that far away. LAX to AKL is about 11 hours travel time. The
west coast to many Asian cities is at least 14 hours, if not 20 by the time
you add in layovers.

~~~
munificent
> LAX to AKL is about 11 hours travel time.

Plus another 6-7 hours to get to LAX from New York. This _is_ a New York Times
article.

------
jtymes
It's great to Grand Rapids, Michigan make this list! I live there and find it
to be a nice area. The craft beer really is delicious, and there is plenty of
it to go around[1]. It's not too far from a beautiful lakeshore (with
exceptional beaches), and is a couple hours drive to Chicago or Detroit.

What I'll be interested to see is what the impact of a major data center will
be on tech investment in the area from both the local community and from
outside investors[2].

[1] [http://www.experiencegr.com/things-to-do/beer-
city/](http://www.experiencegr.com/things-to-do/beer-city/)

[2] [https://www.supernap.com/news/switch-confirms-plans-for-
mass...](https://www.supernap.com/news/switch-confirms-plans-for-massive-
michigan-data-center.html)

~~~
wiremine
I live in Holland, which is 40 minutes from G.R. I second the comments: Grand
Rapids is a great city. I recommend visiting in the late Spring or Early
Summer: it's heaven.

If you do happen to visit in Winter, and you're near Holland or Grand Haven
(also on the lakeshore) you should check out the downtown areas: both have
snowmelt systems that keep the downtown area roads and sidewalks dry:

[http://www.downtownholland.com/green/snow-
melt/](http://www.downtownholland.com/green/snow-melt/)

------
Symbiote
It's interesting to see St Helena on the list. I hadn't realised the airport
was actually being built, and is scheduled to open later this year.

I used to work with someone from St Helena. She was just 20 years old, and —
understandably — didn't see much future for herself on the island. Perhaps the
airport will change that, or at least mean she no longer needs to take two
weeks holiday to visit her family by ship.

------
owenversteeg
A lot of people here are saying "This list seems extremely arbitrary", and I
was of that mindset as well until I got five places into the list and found
Teddy Roosevelt NP. The national parks of North Dakota are amazing, and it's
hard to describe exactly why you should go. I could say "grand views, few
people, and towns that make me laugh" but that doesn't summarize it well at
all.

Some of these places should be more and less generalized, however. "Skane,
Sweden" ought to be changed to "a less populated region of the Norwegian or
Swedish coast, somewhere with a historic lighthouse". I've spent some time on
the coast of Norway, and I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the
world. Additionally, naming "Kansai, Japan" is ridiculous, it encompasses 22
million people and three major cities (Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe); this is especially
ridiculous given that there's also a place on the list with a population of
113.

------
zippoxer
I was certain this was gonna be a list of 52 Go resources.

~~~
TranquilMarmot
Same here, especially with the capitalized "G"

~~~
zippoxer
Even when I'm reading non-programming related stuff, the capital "G" always
gets me.

------
mladenkovacevic
As a Toronto resident for over 18 years, I just have to say don't visit
Toronto in the dead of winter. It's drab, cold and uninteresting.

There are lots of festivals and things do in the summer, but I can't honestly
agree with the #7 spot. Many of the places on the list are more exciting.

Another tip: wherever you go, try to time your trip with a local holiday. This
is when most public events will take place and locals will have the day off
allowing you to interact with them as opposed to other tourists.

~~~
jedrek
Resident thinks their city is less exciting than exotic locale? Well that's
unexpected!

Seriously though, I live in a city where locals keep discouraging tourists
from coming, and tourists keep talking about how great it is. Part of it is
due to how stuff that makes a city fun is different for the two groups, but
also because locals don't treat their cities as special. When we travel
somewhere, we take advantage of everything, at home we mostly just want to get
home.

~~~
mladenkovacevic
You're right there is an element of that, but I think I'm fairly objective
about Toronto because I wasn't born here and I tend to visit a lot of other
cities as well.

At the end of the day, you simply can't get around the weather. If you're
really in the mood for snow, NYC is definitely more exciting around Christmas-
time, and even Ottawa, Montreal or Quebec City have more going on in terms of
public events.

Toronto's a wind-tunnel during most of the cold-season and the snow is not the
fluffy fun kind, but quickly freezes or turns to dirty slush.

For 6 months of the year Torontonians are just trying to get between their
preferred indoor heated spaces as quickly as possible, and public gathering
spaces are very limited.

~~~
ericzawo
Fellow Torontonian here, you sound incredibly boring. Maybe stop and look at
how many people are walking around downtown tonight and around City Hall
skating and at the Distillery District and going to the clubs and

~~~
mladenkovacevic
I guess I'd have to disagree. People are typically not "walking around", they
are mostly walking from A to B at fast pace. Nathan Philips Square might be an
exception due to the skating rink.

Also last few days might be an anomaly due to the unseasonably warm weather,
but during a typical winter the scene is quite different.

Again I wasn't totally bashing Toronto, there is some interesting things to do
here. Christmas Market used to be nice before the 30 minute lineups started,
and during summertime there are definitely a lot of buzzing events or chill
places to just hang out. Or maybe I am boring and tend to see the
uninteresting side of my city. In this case I might need to make some more
cheerful friends like you.

------
nl
Was it 3 or 4 places worth visiting in the _entire Southern Hemisphere_?

~~~
vvpan
Hey, those airline tickets are expensive.

~~~
ohitsdom
Everything on this list is expensive.

~~~
WildUtah
#1 Mexico City is cheap.

------
neogodless
God @#$& developers redirect to mobile site if you use the shortened share
link on a smartphone... and they drop your deep link.

------
liotier
But why would golang developers concentrate in such touristy locations ?

~~~
henvic
Thought it was only me who followed the link thinking it was a metaphor.

------
Yhippa
Methodology: whatever we felt like

Things to do in each location: crowdsource to Facebook

~~~
freehunter
Methodology: Submarine article for Hilton and other travel organizations.

------
prashantganti
Glad to see my home state Tamil Nadu in the list. India and each state in
India is extremely diverse and there is a lot to see and explore. Much of
India's rich heritage is unbeknownst to people outside India. What India lacks
is excellent marketing and lacks in visitor experience. As in software, the
code or a functional product does not guarantee success. It is the entire user
experience - usability, help documentation, security coupled with marketing
and some luck. India has a great product - novel and differentiated - but, lot
of work needs to be done on marketing and visitor experience.

------
rplnt
I wonder how those specific places (bars, restaurants) got there. I live in
one of those place and I didn't know about one half (really expensive
restaurants, so my fault I guess) of those and the other half (bars) wasn't
particularly special. Not a bad selection.. just very arbitrary.

------
vegabook
What beautiful presentation. I realise that there is subtle enhancement going
on in all of these, if it's not the pleasant animations, it's the saturation,
or the slight diffusion giving an impression of dreaminess, to some of the
HDR. But it's very easy to browse, you've chosen some truly stunning photos
that give the best of each location, and it really gives a sense of wanting to
get on a plane. From this jaded, desk-bound coder, you've given me a few
minutes of dreamin'. Well done.

------
cwbrandsma
Grand Rapids, MI? Really? (I lived there for 5 years...not.going.back.) I
mean...Meyer Garden is cool and all, but NOTHING compared to Butchart Garden
on Vancouver Island.

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aubergene
The image for Phnom Penh has some terrible compression artifacts, the other
images and videos are beautiful and worth the bandwidth

[http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2015/11/10/places-...](http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2015/11/10/places-
to-go-2016/assets/images/phnompenh-landscape-1800_x2.jpg)

------
peferron
Was shocked to see Bordeaux #2! My wife and I are there right now. It's a
beautiful city—probably my favorite in France so far. It's also very walkable
and bikeable. Coming from the Silicon Valley (San Mateo area) it's a huge
difference in lifestyle, but I love both: SV is more about work and outdoors
while Bordeaux is more about fine living.

------
brad0
Funny, I'm building an app with my partner that does just this but for weekend
trips from the UK.

~~~
solaris999
I'd be interested in seeing that when it's ready!

~~~
geverett
In the meantime check out Hitlistapp.com - though I'd like to see brad0's as
well!

~~~
mattmanser
Strange app, claims my UK mobile number is wrong.

------
dschiptsov

       53. Nepal.

~~~
benten10
Haha, they missed us this year? Nepal seems to have a permanent stranglehold
on lists like these. It's not surprising, with the earthquake and the ('not
a') blockade, they might have wanted to skip this year.

~~~
beilabs
Love Nepal. Running my startup out of Kathmandu....although we face 14 hours
of power shortages, a crazy political blockade, shortages in every item
imaginable including medicine, silly government taxes and restrictions...the
Nepalese people are some of the best I have ever met. To sum up, come and
visit, you won't regret it...

~~~
bryanwb
I also ran a startup in Kathmandu (OLE Nepal). It was super fun, exhilarating,
and ultimately not as successful as I hoped. May you have better luck!

Sadly, Nepal has made zero political progress since I arrived there in 2006 :(

~~~
benten10
Great job! I had had the good fortune to talk to Ravi dai (of OLE Nepal) and
pick his brains a couple of times. And then we had a few things planned with
OLE (and later OLPC) guys, but they sort of petered out. And since then,
everyone has been in haste to get out of there, so I don't have many contacts
in Nepal anymore. If you know someone still interested in rural-tech stuff,
let me know: I know a few people (myself included) willing to put in a little
bit of money each as business investments. : )

------
archagon
Whoa, Coral Bay looks so beautiful. Guadeloupe, too. Wonder what life is like
in those places?

------
pinkunicorn
If there's anyone coming to TN, India - ping me up! I can offer suggestions.

~~~
parimm
Could you please list the suggestions here or PM me? Thanks

------
eCa
Why write Viñales, San Sebastián and Île de Ré, but not Skåne, Malmö and
Korčula?

Sloppy editing.

~~~
mastax
I've noticed in America its much more common to put accents on Spanish,
French, Portuguese, etc. than for anything else. Can't comment on why.

------
molotv
St. John is on the list, but I'd recommend Caneel Bay Resort vs. their recc to
this audience if you want to unplug while on vacation - no TVs nor phones in
the rooms, and it's amazingly tranquil.

------
sanguedemonstro
Why not visit Brazil?

Take a look:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkmPAOwpkL8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkmPAOwpkL8)

------
iamcurious
Feel free to send me an email if you come to Uruguay.

------
peter303
Just another millionaire pissing contest. Like college rankings and best
cities to live. Makes you anxious if you missed something and changes every
year.

------
jeremyis
Really loved how all the info was on a single page and was easily scrollable
for a click glance. Pagination can cause such a slow experience. The
interspersed moving GIFs were a nice touch as well.

I'll add places I've been to that I haven't seen mentioned:

* Hangzhou, China - I spent about three days hanging around West Lake/Xi Hu ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lake)), a large, BEAUTIFUL lake adjacent to the city. Sprawling mountains in the background, an endless amount of Chinese gardens and beautiful greenery surrounding it. Cheap boat rides that you can drive yourself, and an extreme dearth of Western tourists - even by China standards. Though, I went during the summer and the place was swarming with Chinese tourists. Maybe my favorite meal in China was in a modern restaurant in a random mall there. I'd honestly consider Xi Hu one of the most beautiful places I've been.

* Malmo, Sweden - I didn't go to the countryside like the article recommends though did a day trip to the nearby University town of Lund, which is nice but nothing cooler than most small European cities. The city itself has nothing in particular worth seeing - it's still fairly expensive, though probably cheap by Scandanvian standards. I did stumble upon some good restaurants. I enjoyed Stockholm a lot more, and wouldn't return to Malmo if it weren't for a friend I have there. Gothenburg seems a lot cooler but sadly I never made it out there. Definitely avoid in the late fall / winter due to cold weather.

* Kansai, Japan - I spent a little over a weekin Osaka and various small towns in the area (Nara, Ouji). I got the sense that besides Tokyo and its surrounding area, Kansai contained a good chunk of the interesting tourist things in Japan. Himeji castle is an hour or two bullet train ride away (and many of the towns nearby have similar castles), Mt Fuji is in the area, there are great onsen / hostsprings, Kyoto and the closeby area appears to contain the strongest density of old shrines and temples, and Nara is famous for the thousands of wild deer intermixed with old shrines and temples. Hiroshima is a few hour train ride away and has a lot to see: the A-Bomb museum, memorial, infamous bombed dome remains, and Miyajima - a beautiful island also with wild deer and shrines that I unfortunately missed due to rain. If you have enough time and railpass duration, take a (~3-6 hour) train to Fukouka and then the (~$100/each way) fast ferry to Busan, Korea. I LOVED Busan. Also: be sure to buy the Japan rail pass BEFORE you get to Japan. You can't get it in Japan.

* Malaga, Spain - this one has been mentioned, but I'll add it did seem much more touristy and built up than other parts of Andalusia. The pros of this are there are some nice restaurants and bars and still some good historical stuff - like a nice Moorish fort and Roman ampitheater in the center. I was there in the winter (still ~60 degrees F) but there are beaches. I'd recommend checking out nearby Granada for Alhambra and Sevilla was also cool. Cordoba is overrated and this is coming from a huge history nerd.

* Phnom, Penh - this one was also mentioned. I found this place incredibly depressing. Nearly everywhere you go there are often disfigured or limb-missing locals begging (I am guessing this the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge). They're not actually begging for money, but rather to give you a tuk-tuk ride, which was unusual to begging in other places I've been where people usually just ask for money. It's very dirty - like usually you rent a tuk tuk (think 1970s era chariot - motorcycle with wagon on the back), and I remember getting really dusty just from driving around. The Cambodians are incredibly nice and speak remarkably good English especially compared to the even more heavily tourist-exposed neighboring Thais. You can shoot an AK-47 for $50 at an army range and even a bazooka if you're willing to pay ~$300 (though I found out later in my trip it's a lot cheaper to shoot an AK and Russian weapons in the Baltics - mainly Estonia and Latvia). Angkor Wat in nearby Siem Reap is a MUST see.

------
lugus35
The most polluting human activity is tourism.

~~~
truebosko
False. Sustainable tourism is achievable and can bring good to the places you
go.

~~~
geoka9
What's the best way to cross the ocean sustainably, as a tourist?

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knodi123
on turtleback

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J_Darnley
OMG. Turn off the page style if you want to see any of the content. (Not that
you would want to see it.)

