Favorite Vacation Spot (Non Beach)

plainjane0415

I just got all choked up watching a You Tube video of someone's 50 favorite things about NYC.  NYC is my all time favorite place to visit.  I want to go back so bad!  What places do you all enjoy visiting for a vacay that isn't a beach or tropical place?

amelisha

We ski, so resorts like Sunshine and Lake Louise (in the Rockies near Banff, Alberta) are some of our favourite vacation spots. We ski in British Columbia a lot too. There is nothing better than a full day of skiing, beers and Baileys with coffee after, a huge dinner and an outdoor hot tub with a mountain view.

I love Spain as well - I lived there twice in my earlier twenties and it is one of my favourite places to return, particularly Andalucia.

hellohkb

For quick getaways, we enjoy DC and North Carolina the most. I'm originally from NY so I enjoy going there, but mostly to visit family.

lyndausvi

Great Wall of China, Forbidden City,  Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona (well there is a beach there), Vatican City/Rome.  Bruges, I love Bruges.  Aspen, New Orleans, Vienna.  

I can't say I have a favorite place. I just like to travel.

ETA - Pompeii. South Africa.  I really like safari in SA.    

Just too many places to pick.

I will say I'm not sure why beach and tropical places are not allowed. I love the islands.  Not everyone does.

jdluvr06

Amsterdam. My favorite city.

JCbride2015

I haven't traveled much, but I studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence and have always wanted to go back.

I also love NYC.  :-P

jdluvr06

lyndausvi said:

Great Wall of China, Forbidden City,  Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona (well there is a beach there), Vatican City/Rome.  Bruges, I love Bruges.  Aspen, New Orleans, Vienna.  

I can't say I have a favorite place. I just like to travel.

ETA - Pompeii. South Africa.  I really like safari in SA.    

Just too many places to pick.

I will say I'm not sure why beach and tropical places are not allowed. I love the islands.  Not everyone does.

I love to travel too. I haven't had a chance to safari in SA though. So jealous.

amelisha

jdluvr06 said:

Great Wall of China, Forbidden City,  Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona (well there is a beach there), Vatican City/Rome.  Bruges, I love Bruges.  Aspen, New Orleans, Vienna.  

I can't say I have a favorite place. I just like to travel.

ETA - Pompeii. South Africa.  I really like safari in SA.    

Just too many places to pick.

I will say I'm not sure why beach and tropical places are not allowed. I love the islands.  Not everyone does.

I love to travel too. I haven't had a chance to safari in SA though. So jealous.

I loved South Africa (and Namibia even more), but I don't think fiance and I will ever go back so I'm not sure I'd call it a favourite. We have too many other places to go before we go back!

I really, really wanted to do one of the horseback safari pack trips you can do in Kruger the last time I was there, but it was the wrong season and my fiancé isn't a rider so I've missed my chance, now, I think. Sigh. I did skydive on the Skeleton Coast near Swakopmund though!

kat1114

I haven't traveled as much as I would like to, and when I do travel, it's primarily been to ocean/tropical locations. That being said, my favorite places I've been to outside of beachy destinations are NYC, Boulder, and Austin. I'm also looking forward to heading to South Africa at the end of the year!

Cookie Pusher

Hong Kong, WDW (ok, specifically World Showcase because booze), DC, Vegas. NYC is my favorite place ever, but I don't consider it a vacation spot because going there is just going home for me.

WinstonsGirl

Ohh, too many to pick, I think.  France, especially the south coast, but I guess that's kinda beach.  I loved China.  I thought it was beautiful.  The Baltics were amazing.  Istanbul is up there too.  Sorry, but I love Hawaii.  So many great memories there of my childhood, wedding, and we think we'd like to retire there too.  I know it's a huge beach place, but there's other stuff to do there too.  I like being warm though, so lots of beach places for me.  

I really want to get south of the equator.  I have never been and DH is stalling on us going cos it'll be winter there when it's summer here (teacher schedule).  But his whole family is in Chile, and I'd love to see where he grew up.  He keeps telling me I'd be cold

beethery

Vegas, and Atlanta. I can't really do tons of tourist recs for ATL because I go to visit family.

themuffinman16

Paris and St. Paul de Vence in France, Rome, and Venice. My favorite local spot is Ithaca for all of the hiking, And my favorite non-local place in the U.S. is Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I would love to go to Alaska as well as Yellowstone National Park, and I would love to go back to Colorado to go white water rafting.

loro929

Venice. It's such a beautiful, fascinating city.

larrygaga

I have only been to about 3 places in my life, my favorite of which was Yellowstone. I am excited to travel more!

I'm a poor girl that just graduated from school, so I ain't got traveling money. Someday.....

Simky906

South Africa and Namibia were amazing; I would love to go back someday. I spent about a week camping in Namibia and it's such a starkly beautiful place. Plus I went sandboarding, which is awesome! I could wax lyrical in regards to South Africa, but I will just say that it's a country with so many different and wonderful things to offer that I was never bored. 

Locally, I love the Asheville, NC area. The Grove Park Inn there is just amazing and I also love the small town of Black Mountain. The whole area is just beautiful.

climbingsingle

In the states: Vermont, Newport, RI, New Orleans, San Francisco, Denver

Overseas: Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre, St. Paul de Vence, Barcelona, 

plainjane0415

I'm so jealous of all you well traveled knotties!  I have been several places in the states, but I haven't been out of the country... :-/ It is on the bucket list to spend a month in Europe one day, so hopefully that will come sooner rather than later.

Apologies for excluding the beaches, I love the beach too, but I was just curious on non beach places that I may want to add to my must travel list.

 

 

novella1186

In the states: Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Snowmass (Colorado), Santa Fe, anywhere in Northern California, Chicago in the summer

In other countries: The Forbidden City (in Beijing), Shanghai, anywhere in Spain (omg!), Prague (beautiful surroundings, horrible food though), Lisbon and Sintra in Portugal, the Amazon (no city in particular-- we stayed on a boat on the river or in tiny rain forest villages) 

Honestly did not enjoy Paris, or Costa Rica. I was in -- I think-- 7 different cities in Costa Rica and something bad happened in every single one. Including some pretty serious injuries, attempted hijacking by cocaine dealers (seriously, this happened), and major food poisoning. 

novella1186

lyndausvi you've been to Pompeii? We were looking at the Almalfi Coast for our honeymoon, so we'd be near Pompeii. I've been wondering if it's worth a trip over there? 

jenna8984

Tokyo, Greece, Vegas, Boston, NYC. I've been to a lot of cities and we are excited to start doing some more of "nature" type trips like Glacier National Park in Wyoming and Banff Canada. There's a mountain 2 hours from me in NH that I have hiked once a year since I was 5 years old- that's a definite favorite of mine and I should make an effort to get up there more often.

novella1186

jenna8984 said:

Tokyo, Greece, Vegas, Boston, NYC. I've been to a lot of cities and we are excited to start doing some more of "nature" type trips like Glacier National Park in Wyoming and Banff Canada. There's a mountain 2 hours from me in NH that I have hiked once a year since I was 5 years old- that's a definite favorite of mine and I should make an effort to get up there more often.

Glacier National Park is in Montana, not Wyoming. Yellowstone is in Wyoming, and so is Devil's Tower (which is really cool!). FI's brother lives near Glacier National Park and he says it's BEAUTIFUL. I went to Banff when I was a kid-- also beautiful! Take a good camera  

ETF words 

blabla89

Charleston, SC - it's absolutely beautiful and there are lots of things to do. And it's close enough to Folly and Myrtle Beach to spend an afternoon there.

I also love NYC, Prague and Vienna.

ShesSoCold

H and I have been to Glacier NP area Montana twice and had planned to get married out there. It's probably the best place ever and we're planning to move there in the spring. 

Other than those two trips and an annual WI Dells trip as a kid, every single vacation I have ever taken has been centered around sports. Places like Detroit and Kansas City aren't exactly great tourist places. 

jenna8984

novella1186 said:

jenna8984 said:

Tokyo, Greece, Vegas, Boston, NYC. I've been to a lot of cities and we are excited to start doing some more of "nature" type trips like Glacier National Park in Wyoming and Banff Canada. There's a mountain 2 hours from me in NH that I have hiked once a year since I was 5 years old- that's a definite favorite of mine and I should make an effort to get up there more often.

Glacier National Park is in Montana, not Wyoming. Yellowstone is in Wyoming, and so is Devil's Tower (which is really cool!). FI's brother lives near Glacier National Park and he says it's BEAUTIFUL. I went to Banff when I was a kid-- also beautiful! Take a good camera  

ETF words 

Deeeer you're right! Early morning fail!

lacqueredlover

I have so many!  I love to travel (and being an NYC girl I do love my NY!)

US - Nashville, Tucson, Newport, Berkshires, Washington DC, Chicago, Boulder, and of the National Parks

Europe:  Anywhere in Italy, Barcelona, Madrid, London, Vienna, Finland (specifically to see the Northern Lights, Helsinki isn't so exciting but the Arctic Circle up there, in particular Ivalo, is amazing.) Prague, and Berlin are a few of my faves.  Iceland is also a super cool place to visit!

South America - I went to Peru last year and loved ALL of it.  The Amazon was incredible to see, Machu Picchu is amazing as is the Inca Trail if you are willing to hike it, Cusco and Lima are both wonderful cities.

novella1186

jenna8984 said:

novella1186 said:

jenna8984 said:

Tokyo, Greece, Vegas, Boston, NYC. I've been to a lot of cities and we are excited to start doing some more of "nature" type trips like Glacier National Park in Wyoming and Banff Canada. There's a mountain 2 hours from me in NH that I have hiked once a year since I was 5 years old- that's a definite favorite of mine and I should make an effort to get up there more often.

Glacier National Park is in Montana, not Wyoming. Yellowstone is in Wyoming, and so is Devil's Tower (which is really cool!). FI's brother lives near Glacier National Park and he says it's BEAUTIFUL. I went to Banff when I was a kid-- also beautiful! Take a good camera  

ETF words 

Deeeer you're right! Early morning fail!

I put my boots on the wrong feet this morning. And kept them that way for almost 10 minutes before I noticed. 

birdybride2014

Overseas: no where because poor. We've been on cruises around the Caribbean, but I don't count that as overseas lol. My fav was St. Maarten! 

My favorites in the states: Estes Park, Tahoe, love me some Chicago, I went to Yellowstone/Devil's Tower as a child and loved it, but need to go back. 

I do love California because you could spend two weeks driving up the coast and visiting all of the neat places! It's like 5 states in one! 

Pretty much anything that includes mountains, a lake, or some pretty views gets me. We road-tripped around the country a lot as a child, so I've hit most of the bigger cities around the country and most of the states. 

theartistformerlyknownas

Yeah I'm a homer but Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan's UP. It's the most gorgeous place in the world in September, and one of few places I'll return to multiple times (along with Traverse City). Otherwise I normally choose someplace I've never been before.

Other places I've loved and would return... for nature, Natural Bridge, KY; Cloudland Canyon, GA. For strolling around, Savannah, GA; Boston; Barcelona. I'd go back to Rio if I could go for Carnival. We had planned on going for the Olympics but it's just too corrupt to support in good conscience.

I liked Paris, London, Madrid, Sao Paulo, Philadelphia and Las Vegas, but feel like I can safely check them off my list. No burning desire to do a repeat visit.

I take offense at the remark that Detroit isn't a good tourist place! ;-)

lyndausvi

novella1186 said:

lyndausvi you've been to Pompeii? We were looking at the Almalfi Coast for our honeymoon, so we'd be near Pompeii. I've been wondering if it's worth a trip over there? 

Absolutely. 

I'm drawn to engineering history.  Standing on the Great Wall of China I'm looking around thinking "Why did they think they needed this wall?". Parts of the wall are built on steep terrain.  Then I'm thinking "how did they get the supplies, where did the workers live, sleep?".   

 Pompeii is similar in that they were pretty advanced for the time and I look around wondering they did such amazing things back then when they stuff we build are blown up 20-40 years later.

Sure a lot of the old stuff was made by slave labor, it's still amazing to me they were able to organize such feats.

lyndausvi

plainjane0415 said:

I'm so jealous of all you well traveled knotties!  I have been several places in the states, but I haven't been out of the country... :-/ It is on the bucket list to spend a month in Europe one day, so hopefully that will come sooner rather than later.

Apologies for excluding the beaches, I love the beach too, but I was just curious on non beach places that I may want to add to my must travel list.

 

 ***************SITB ************

It's just a silly thing to exclude.  Not all beaches are the same.  Not all coasts are the same.  The ones in St Maarten are different then the French Rivera.   Seychelles are different then Bora Bora.    

I can't stand Miami or South Beach, but I love Nice.  Both are beaches.