Not Paris and its hordes of Eiffel Tower scammers. Not Rome with the jam-packed Historic Center and ornate fountains behind paywalls. Definitely not Barcelona. If their menacing graffiti is anything to go by, Catalans don’t even want you in their city, to begin with. Europe’s fastest-growing destination right now is a picture-perfect capital that never …
Not Rome and its world-famous Colosseum, not Athens with the millennia-old Greek ruins bestriding Acropolis Hill, and certainly not Paris where basically everything pre-Revolution has been torn down or remade in Haussmann fashion: Europe’s most ancient city, with over 8,000 years of continuous history, is actually located in Bulgaria: Unless you’re a devoted Europhile, or …
Had your fill of the Parises and Londons of the world? This epic Eastern European capital still feels like the Europe of yesteryear—no overpriced tourist traps, no hour-long queues—and even better, it’s arguably safer than your average major Western hub. Belgrade, in Serbia, has been the talk of the travel world lately, and for good …
Cobblestones, centuries-old tavernas, and a historic castle towering above it all: that’s the fairytale version of Europe most of us grew up dreaming about. These days, though, many of the continent’s biggest-name destinations come with overflowing bins, broken glass underfoot, and the uneasy feeling you should keep one hand on your wallet after dark. Europe …
Cheap booze, anyone? That’s not exactly the kind of headline we usually use at Travel Off Path, but considering it’s about 300 degrees everywhere right now, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a pub—with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, there’s no way I’m paying $8+ for a pint—that’s reason enough to …
From someone who lives in Paris myself, how surprised I was when I landed in this somewhat-secret, fairytale-like, charming Eastern European town that feels like a pocket-size version of my hometown… minus the hefty price tags and beret-clad Instagrammers. Paris seems to be everyone’s go-to destination when they cross the pond, and though I live …
If you’ve finally got that one week off and you’re thinking of winging it for that Eurosummer—we know, we’re too far into the season for careful planning—chances are you’re left gobsmacked with the prices right now. Santorini’s definitely not on the table with the $800-a-night caldera-view villas. Those roundtrip flights to Rome could sooort of …
Forget the crowded beaches of Albania or the overpriced tourist traps of Western Europe. Vilnius is a wildly affordable, virtually uncrowded European capital where the streets are safely frozen in time, the medieval magic is real, and a beer costs just $3. But with international tourism to this $60-a-night Baltic gem surging nearly 19% in …
Everyone knows Venice for its winding canals, imposing Byzantine basilica, and grand palazzi built along busy waterways, but have you ever heard of the Eastern European Venice? Well, there’s a bunch of cities that actually lay claim to that title, including… ahem, Saint Petersburg in Russia, but only one of these orient-leaning ‘Venices’ is actually …
Not France and its turquoise sea-fringed southern coast, Italy with the idyllic cypress-tree-lined drives, nor Spain and its world-class city breaks: tiny little Eastern European “backwater” Kosovo is fast becoming the Old Continent’s next hotspot. Kosovo only declared independence 18 years ago, making it Europe’s youngest state, but in recent years, it has surged in …
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in recent months, chances are you’ve heard of Europe’s new, and frankly, pretty controversial Entry/Exit System (or EES). Designed to track overstayers in the Schengen Area, it now requires Americans to provide fingerprints and other biometrics upon arrival in Europe, and people aren’t exactly thrilled about it for a whole …
Step aside France, Italy, Spain: there’s a new cooler kid in the block, one that isn’t drowing in a wave of crime, or buckling under the weight of overtourism for once. Tucked away in its well-protected, cozy Central-Eastern European nook, Hungary wrapped up last year hosting a record-breaking 20 million tourists. As far as foreign …