Travelling to a new destination is always so exciting! Discovering new places, exploring the culture and tasting local food – there is noting better than going somewhere you haven’t been before. But it can be daunting finding nice places to go and fun things to do in a new place and/or country.
Through social media and the magnitude of information available online it is hard to filter out the good tips from the bad ones. I’ve visited an attraction or restaurant before as recommended online only to discover it was actually very disappointing when getting there. So how do you make sure the things on your to-do list are actually worth visiting?
Below I’ve listed the best ways to find the best things to do when visiting a new destination.
Travel bloggers
We are a great bunch! There are some fantastic travel blogs out there that post their favourite things to do in lots of different destinations. Often they have travelled a lot (they are a travel blogger after all) and really know where to find cool places. Travel bloggers post real reviews, most of the time using photos they have actually taken themselves, which should help you find fun things to do!
The benefit of following travel blogs is that you can comment on their post with questions. You can interact and they can respond to your question with more suggestions or information about a certain place.
Bimble
Bimble is a fairly new platform that you can use for saving and sharing places. I think this is such a good idea, because it makes it so much easier to share great little places! For example, on my account I have made a list for the best pubs in Fulham, London. I know this area well and it has some lovely pubs, but you might not be familiar with this if you are just visiting.
For example: I have added The White Horse, a classic pub in Parsons Green with a lovely (heated) outside space! My list also features The Brown Cow which has the nicest roasts and a fun atmosphere. The Duke on the Green has a fantastic selection of board games. You can see most of the places features in this list I made are ‘cosy’ Sunday vibe pubs, you can of course create any list you want!
The website is super easy to use, I personally love the ‘explore‘ button where you can browse and save lists you like (and might need in the future)! The Bimble team also often create interesting lists, like famous spots in London featured in the new Downton Abbey film.
Tourist boards
Visiting the local tourist board website (or even popping into their office) might seem like an old-school option. However, they have the best knowledge of the place you’re visiting! Whether you are into history, trendy bars or want to shop til you drop, the tourist board will know where you need to be.
They always know about events that are ongoing in your destination, and can inform you of current exhibitions and new openings of restaurants. They might even have some interesting discounted deals for you…
This is the platform I use most personally to discover a new place. There are so many options to find out about things to do and places to go on Instagram. You can search with hashtags (#visitwales, #cardiff etc.), look for specific locations and find people who are based in your destination and follow them. Because Instagram is used by so many people, most locations will have plenty of pictures that allow you to have a really good look before visiting.
On Instagram I would really recommend scrolling a bit further down from the ‘top’ posts as these are usually highly edited. Once you have found place like a restaurant or museum you think might be interesting you can search for that specific account, browse their pictures and contact them to see what’s on.
I hope these tips will help you finding things to do in a new destination! If you prefer, you can of course also go to your local book shop or library and find travel books! These often have great tips in them, although some might be a bit outdated.
There is a great story about my home country (the Netherlands), where we have a national holiday to celebrate the king or queen. It’s really big and everyone dresses up in orange and parties all day. This took place on 30 April for years on end, but recently got changed to 26 April. Every year lots of tourists still show up in orange on 30 April because they have read this in old travel books!
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