u/AndreaAtSuperCom

I grew up in Bad Reichenhall, a small spa town in the Bavarian Alps, so I'll admit upfront: Germany is home. I'm not figuring it out from scratch every time I go back. But what I've learned from years of it isn't insider knowledge. It's just a bit of research before you book and it will move you into a completely different price bracket.

Everyone I talked to before this last trip said Europe was brutal right now. Too popular, too expensive (and too overcrowded). On the main tourist routes, that's true. If you keep going to the ten main cities of Europe it will be just like that. So on my last trip my train had a connection problem and I ended up with three hours in a town in southern Germany that nobody would ever put on an itinerary. I walked into town instead of sitting in the station.

Bakery, church, fountain square, Gasthof. A Laugenstange and a coffee for two-fifty. A hiking trail behind the church with a bench at the top looking over vineyards. Schnitzel, Kartoffelsalat, and a Radler for twelve euros. The woman running the Gasthof talked to me for twenty minutes about her grandkids (might not be a positive for some :-D but I loved it). Fifteen euros for the whole afternoon. The dinner I'd booked in the city that night was four times that.

Two things that made all of it possible that most Americans don't know about: the Deutschlandticket is €63 a month and covers unlimited travel on every regional train, tram, and bus in the entire country. Not one city. All of Germany. I was on a regional train because of it, which is exactly how I ended up in that town. The other one is the Mittagstisch: most German restaurants run a lunch menu that's 30 to 50 percent cheaper than the same meal at dinner. Full plate, sometimes soup. Seven to ten euros. You just have to know to ask for it.

Oh another one: When googling for hotels, google for "Pension". it's not a known word in English but comparable to bed & Breakfasts in the US. Much better pricing and great personal hotels....

You don't need to grow up there to find those towns or those prices. You need thirty minutes and the right ticket.

So, lets hear it: How do you save.

Town pic. Cham

Cham Towncenter

I spend extended time in Spain every year and my base is always Valencia.

It has everything the other cities have without the crowds and without the prices... (At least ... not yet) The beach is 15 minutes from the old city by bus. The food is arguably the best in Spain, this is where paella was invented and they take it very seriously. (Rice is being cultivated in Valencia) The weather is perfect almost year-round. And the city is big enough to have everything you need but small enough that you can walk most of it.

The Central Market is one of the most beautiful food markets in Europe. Modernist ironwork and stained glass from the early 1900s, and inside you have every kind of produce, meat, fish, and cheese you can imagine. You will usually find me in the artesian cheese kiosk right in the center for the best home-made Greek Yoghurt. Jamón ibérico sliced fresh, a bag of Valencian oranges, olives by the kilo.

Favorite restaurants: Living Bakkali (best cheesecake!!), Begin for its beauty and creative healthy food, Dulce de Leche Boutique for all desserts you heart might desire.... and an insighter tip: Masa Madre Pizzeria in el Carmen. Best Pizza in town, hands down! And during Fallas you just get a Paella on the street... (see pic)

Special Tip: Sunset boat tour on the Albufera lake....! Dreamy!

The City of Arts and Sciences is this insane futuristic complex designed by Santiago Calatrava. It looks like it belongs on another planet. Fun fact: Tomorrowland and some Star wars episodes were filmed here. The aquarium, the science museum, the opera house, all connected by reflecting pools. Even if you do not go inside anything, just walking through it at sunset is just amazing.

Now who has been and has tips for me for my next trip: Your favorite restaurant, best cheesecake?

https://preview.redd.it/zicvu8eim99h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23dab4294e9d17867590a40f3fd2b82a092486a7

https://preview.redd.it/9oqlvy71m99h1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3d1a070ced775ac619849a7e7792943d50db973

https://preview.redd.it/w5r29z71m99h1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7982bcf27f0e33130df56b93e23467bdbf5657e

https://preview.redd.it/ykzz4z71m99h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea2137e33fde3f7851ab43343a71f611e0068413

https://preview.redd.it/5v5stz71m99h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28ca429a94a25173081ab69296f31c405d447983

I just want to share one of my best trips I ever had. It was years ago and I still can't get over how beautiful this trip was. Seriously! 90 minutes south of the US-Mexican border is one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen and almost nobody from the US knows it exists... And its not even a long drive. Oh: And wine lovers: this one is for you. It's also a fantastic wine region... We stayed and the private rental houses of El Cielo winery.

Valle de Guadalupe is in Baja California, with dry golden hills with vineyards and farms spreading in every direction. The restaurants out here are open air, fire-grilled, locally sourced, long communal tables.... And some of the best meals I've had. Lunch for two with drinks runs about $30. The drive alone through open countryside with the Pacific on one side is worth the trip. (Best sunsets!!)

Fun fact: What most people don't know is that this desert valley, its dry hills, granite boulders, agave growing wild, produces 70% of all wine made in Mexico, with over 150 boutique wineries, many of them world-class.

One of my favorite restaurants was Animalon (Google it up, you won't regret it). It is a whole restaurant under one tree! Fantastic food. Runner up: Finca Altozano (also on google). The scenery, the vibe is just amazing. It was rainy that day but even with the rain it was beautiful.

Having lived in Cancún for years I already knew that Mexico is not what most Americans think it is. Valle de Guadalupe is the perfect example. This is not a resort. This is a serious destination that costs a fraction of what the same experience would in California.

Cross the border at Tijuana, get on the toll road south, and within 30 minutes you are in open countryside. Stop in Ensenada for fish tacos on the way back. The ones at the Mercado Negro are some of the best I have had anywhere.

Has anyone else been to both Napa and Valle de Guadalupe? Because I genuinely think Valle de Guadalupe wins.

https://preview.redd.it/uyycxov5g99h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b37e29184de4868ecd175e6acd616335d4f15bb

https://preview.redd.it/nlirony5g99h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80c0f67b2e97cc98c5e42f089b003595962ddb2f

https://preview.redd.it/dxpk9106g99h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a927d8beff0a95a28984cbc0864aedbe72d6a225

https://preview.redd.it/9hc4lpv5g99h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=18a83fb8e9c955c0302ee5f08d9dad49e34fa8af

https://preview.redd.it/jhe8ssv5g99h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c80839e24a69b3e9c58c2c34cae1f6179b8fe04d

https://preview.redd.it/ov4pb4y5g99h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ec700f93597925654ca5ece73d489b81eeae9bd

https://preview.redd.it/2da25rv5g99h1.jpg?width=6776&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d8e9456a0cef457fdb659c11a074f483588e087

https://preview.redd.it/e7t0ipv5g99h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f91c3ccd99932310e4cddeac417a1b2e6d09b16

https://preview.redd.it/0jlmptx5g99h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dbf0c6f0be3eaebdbed717405bbacd082c16082a

https://preview.redd.it/t83cpew5g99h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f2ed2e2ca68d259d49253f5fa671549e864b853

I lived in Cancún for eight years. Just worked there. Had a life there. So when people ask me about the Riviera Maya I have opinions that are not coming from a seven-day vacation.

When I first got to Cancún in 1998, Tulum was this quiet stretch of beach with a handful of cabañas, some of them without electricity. You could walk the beach road, eat fish tacos for 30 pesos, and watch the sunset from the ruins without a single influencer blocking your view. It was one of those places that felt like a secret even though it was never really a secret, just hard enough to get to that it filtered out the crowds.

I went back last year. There is now a wellness retreat on every corner, a DJ set at every beach club, and you cannot get within 200 meters of the ruins without being funneled through a gift shop. Rooms that used to cost $40 a night are now $300. The cenotes have lines. The tacos cost more than they do in Miami.

But here is what people miss. The actual town of Tulum, not the beach strip, still has great food at real prices. And if you go 20 minutes south toward Sian Ka'an, it is still wild, still quiet, still the Mexico I remember. The biosphere reserve is one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline I have seen anywhere and it is protected, so it cannot turn into another beach club zone.

Chichén Itzá is worth the trip but go at opening time. I have been three times. Twice it was a spiritual experience. Once it was a theme park. The difference was timing. Get there at 8 AM when the gates open and you have about 45 minutes before the buses arrive from Cancún.

If someone gave me a week in Mexico right now I would skip all of that and fly straight to Ensenada/ Valle de Guadalupe or Guanajuato. Guanajuato is colonial city built into a hillside with tunnels running underneath it, painted in every color imaginable, with some of the best food I have ever eaten in a country that is full of the best food I have ever eaten. Or Querétaro, which feels like Mexico City culture in a smaller, quieter, more affordable package.

What do you miss most that Tulum used to have?

https://preview.redd.it/czlkfjder36h1.png?width=1541&format=png&auto=webp&s=b89ce1a7ba6dfc867a0d08e2cd1b9cf33241b2bc

If you can swing it, give yourself six months or a year somewhere with a different language and a different culture. Immerse yourself fully. It opens your world in ways you cannot predict from the outside.

I moved to Cancún at 25 not speaking a word of Spanish. The first six months I understood almost nothing. But eight years later, Spanish was just another way of thinking to me. You stop being a visitor and start being a person. That is what immersion actually does.

In Granada last year I ended up in a 40-minute conversation with an older man at a tapas bar in the Albaicín because I could actually talk to him. He told me about a mirador locals use to watch the sunset over the Alhambra that almost nobody knows about. That conversation changed my entire day, and it only happened because I could have it.

You do not need to be fluent to start. Even 20 phrases will change how people interact with you. "Please, thank you, excuse me, the check please, do you have a table, where is the bathroom?" That covers 80 percent of what you need. Download the Google Translate offline pack before you go. It has saved me more times than I can count.

The biggest advantage of speaking multiple languages is not the words. It is the cultural fluency that comes with them. When you speak someone's language, you understand their humor, their rhythm, their values.

So pick a place. Pick a language. Get out there and travel.

What is your story? How did you learn?