10 Amazing Underrated Cities to Visit
A Hidden Gem City with a Safari, Hot Springs, or Sandy Beaches? Yes please.
While city hopping is often about New York, London, or Tokyo, there are many fantastic, charming cities that are off the beaten track. Think soaking in modern hot springs in Durango, Colorado while looking at snow-covered mountains; lounging on a beach in San Diego and visiting a world-class microbrewery afterwards; or seeing lions in the wild and feeding giraffes in Nairobi, Kenya. Here are top picks for underrated cities in 2024.
Charming Porto, an underrated city in Portugal, on the Douro River. Photo by Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
1. Porto: Portugal’s Underrated City & Port Wine Paradise
Go if you like: Wine tasting, seafood, university towns, Portugal, nightlife.
While Lisbon seems to be #1 on everyone’s destination list these days, Portugal’s second biggest city is a real charmer. It has a vibrant, young feeling, has PHENOMENAL seafood, is more compact, and is less touristy than Lisbon. We’ve been to Portugal 3 times, and Porto (or Oporto, as some know it by) was our favorite city.
🦞 Porto has wonderful seafood (& other) restaurants, a vibrant riverside area, and fun, innovative bars. Importantly, it’s also close to the picturesque Douro Valley wine region, which is fantastic for wine and port tasting.
Top things to do in Porto:
🌆 Stroll along the river at Cais da Ribeira, especially at sunset. Porto has a lovely riverwalk area along the Douro River. There are many good restaurants, bars, cafes, and perhaps best of all, excellent people watching.
Visit an incredible palace with… The Palácio da Borsa is the old stock exchange in Porto. You can only enter via a tour, and unfortunately you have to physically stand in line to book the tour. The online tickets don’t allow you to reserve a tour time. But it’s well worth it. Go on a weekday to avoid crowds.
👑 The highlight is an incredible room made with huge amounts of gold, the Arabic Room — pictured below. It’s very memorable.
The Arabic Room in the Palacio da Borsa is incredible, one of the things that make Porto an underrated city. Photo by Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
More things to do in Porto:
🦞 Eat fresh, delicious seafood (& other food). The best place to eat incredible seafood is slightly out of town in Matosinhos, right along the Atlantic ocean. There are over 20 seafood restaurants all in a row there, and they get their seafood fresh off the fishing boats.
Our favorite restaurant is Tito 2, which has a relaxed vibe, has high quality fish, & is more affordable than other restaurants on the block. We liked it so much that we went there twice — in one day!
In Porto city, our top restaurant pick by far is Solar Moinho de Vento, which is a bit off the beaten track & has phenomenal dishes (the aged pork, oh la la) and an excellent wine list. Our other top restaurant picks are Taberna dos Mercadores (phenomenal seafood) or Chama (trendy, cocktails, innovative), and the historic Majestic Cafe (not such amazing coffee & a bit touristy, but very historic and interesting).
🍷 Taste port wine
🍷 Porto is the center of the world for port wine. So do a little tasting while you visit. You can either go to the port wineries themselves, which are all located across the river in Gaia, or go to a wine bar in Porto. We recommend doing both. Our top picks are:
Cockburn’s, one of the best port wine cellars. You can take a tour with a reservation, or just taste at their really good tasting room with no reservation.
We did the latter and loved it. It’s owned by the same company that owns Dow’s & Graham’s, so you can also taste those ports also (and a few still wines).
Prova Wine Bar (decent port wine bar next to the river where you can sample a variety).
De Lima’s Bar (a wine tasting experience).
Or head to the Douro Valley (see below).
More around Porto: do a day trip to a charming town:
Aveiro is smaller and has canals and has the famous striped houses (palehiros) at Costa Nova.
Braga is Portugal’s 3rd largest city but actually off the beaten track.
Senhor da Pedra beach - a peaceful beach in Gaia that’s more of a hidden gem.
🔥 🍷 Hot tip: Go to the source of port wine and a day- or overnight trip to the Douro Valley. It’s a phenomenal drive. See our top picks for wineries to visit here.
Part of what makes Durango an underrated city are its incredible hot springs. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
2. Durango, Colorado: One of the Best Underrated Cities Anywhere — Hot Springs & Skiing within Half an Hour
Go if you like: Hot springs, family trips, skiing and snowboarding, classic trains and train rides, good burgers and steaks, Aspen,
Everyone knows Boulder or Aspen, but Durango is Colorado’s up-and-coming hot spot city, along with Grand Junction. It sits amid the beautiful San Juan Mountains, and it’s a perfect spot to explore the Four Corners, where you can ski, see red rock formations, visit ancient Native American civilization ruins, and soak in incredible hot springs on consecutive days. It’s kind of incredible. It’s honestly one of the most underrated cities we’ve ever been to.
Top things to do in Durango:
Soak in the Durango Hot Springs. These are maybe the best hot springs we’ve ever been to. They were recently completely redone, so are clean. There are 32 different pools to soak in at different temperatures, and it’s family friendly.
🍔 Eat a ranch-to-table burger at the picturesque, sustainable James Ranch. It’s a unique experience seeing the cows that go into your burger. Here are two other of our favorite eating & drinking spots in Durango:
Have a juicy steak at the Ore House. They’re very good here.
And start the day with a cappuccino at the Durango Coffee Company.
❄️ Take a day trip to Silverton and/or Ouray and go snowshoeing: Silverton is a small town nestled between the mountains that looks like Switzerland.
❄️ Our top tip for snowshoeing is Andrews Lake, a gorgeous area on the way to Silverton.
You can rent snowshoes for a reasonable price at Performance Sports on the way up.
The San Juan mountains around Durango are great for skiing, hiking, etc. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
More things to do in Durango:
⛷ 🏂 Go skiing or snowboarding, including backcountry skiing: Durango is only half an hour from the very good Purgatory Ski Resort.
⛷ Durango is also famous for its world class backcountry skiing — people fly in just for that. This is where a car takes you to off-piste hills and picks you up when you’re done.
Visit the excellent railroad museum and/or take a ride on the old steam engine, the Durango-Silverton railroad. It’s one of the only remaining working steam trains in the country and a beautiful trip through the San Juan Mountains.
👫 In addition, the Powerhouse Science Center, is a small but high quality interactive museum for families.
🔥 Hot tip: Take a weekend and head out to Moab, where Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and more are. In theory you can do them all in a day. It’s a phenomenal trip and only 3 hours from Durango.
✈️ 🚗 Getting there: There’s a small airport in Durango that you can fly to, or the biggest nearby city is Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is a 3 1/2 hour drive away.
The charming hill city of Perugia, an underrated city 2 hours north of Rome. Photo by Mauro Grazzi on Unsplash
3. Perugia, Italy: Tuscany without the Tourists
While everyone flocks to Florence, everyone has fun in Perugia. Ok, Florence is also fun, but it’s also very crowded with tourists. Perugia is a charming city where you can get a more local Italian experience. It sits on a large hilltop and that is teeming with life, thanks to its famous university, which was founded in 1308.
It’s got large, wonderful downtown walking area, tons of lovely bars, few tourists, nearby wineries, and the gorgeous province of Umbria all around it. Ok, we’re a little biased—we got married here—but we really do love it. It’s off the beaten track and an underrated city in Italy.
Top things to do in Perugia:
🌆 Stroll around the old city: Old town Perugia is a lovely area full of life and history. Walk all around here, check out the churches: Abbazia di San Pietro and Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo (we got married here!).
🍫 Go for a chocolate tasting: Ever had a Baci chocolate? It’s a dark chocolate with hazelnuts (and a love note) and is one of our favorites of all time. They’re made in Perugia at Perugina. Head to the Perugina chocolate factory for a tasting.
Yes, you can actually stay in a castle like this one around Perugia, and it won’t break the bank. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
More things to do in Perugia:
🏰 Stay in a castle: One of the coolest local experiences you can have is staying the night at an actual medieval Italian castle or castle-like villa.
This is an excellent list of castles to stay at in the Perugia area, or
Check out the Agriturismo website for a range of options.
🍷 Go wine tasting: Umbria is home to the full bodied, delicious Montefalco de Sagrantino wine that is a perfect pairing for the region’s food, roasted pork.
Saio Assisi, with a stunning view of Assisi itself, is one of the best wineries in the region to go wine tasting. We’ll most more in our upcoming blog on Umbria later.
🔥 Hot tip: take a day trip to Monte Sibillini National Park. Split between Umbria and Le Marche, this park is a spectacular, under visited place with mountains, paragliding, gorgeous, multi-colored fields, and home to the truffle and cured meats capital of Italy. We’re working on a more detailed blog on Monte Sibillini and Umbria, so stay tuned.
🚗 Getting there: Perugia is a 2 hour drive north from Rome. We recommend renting a car, since most places you’ll want to see will be out in the countryside. You can do so either in Rome or when you get to Perugia. There are also regular trains from Rome to Perugia.
Zemun, a charming old town that's part of Belgrade, an underrated city in the Balkans. Photo by Nikola Cirkovic on Unsplash
4. Belgrade, Serbia: Great Nightlife at Affordable Prices
Belgrade is often overlooked when compared to Croatia, but actually this is some of the most fun you can have in the whole Balkans. It’s a young city filled with friendly people who like to go out, has very tasty grilled meat restaurants, and is full of adventures. You also get a lot more bang for your buck than in other eastern European cities like Prague.
Top things to do in Belgrade, an underrated city of southern Europe:
🏰 Walk around the old city: Knez Mihailova Street is a fascinating area to walk around, stop for a cappuccino, shop, or people watch.
🥩 Try delicious grilled meats and be treated to a Roma brass band: Belgrade has some fantastic spots to eat Balkan grilled meats known as ćevapčići, pleskavica, and more. And having a vibrant brass band accompany your meal is quite an experience. Our top picks include:
Lorenzo & Kakalamba (very original restaurant, excellent wines).
Restoran Tabor (brass bands frequent here).
💃🏼 Listen & dance to turbo folk at a local bar: Listening and dancing to fast paced folk music, the famous “turbo folk” that young and old enjoy, especially live, is an awesome cultural experience you have to try. We recommend:
Bata Laki (lively local music)
Gastro Pub Vučko (lovely atmosphere, good beer).
More things to do in Belgrade:
Try rakia (or rakija) at one of Belgrade’s best bars and/or go clubbing: One of the best things of Belgrade for us is its vibrant nightlife, both in bars and clubs. And the fruit brandy rakija is found all over the Balkans but pours like water in Belgrade’s bars. Try it at
Rakia Bar & Shop (fun bar)
Druid Bar (hidden bar, amazing cocktails)
Bitters Bar (delicious cocktails)
Gunners Pub (craft beers on tap).
Or check out BoemBar (pictured) with good local food and a big range of drinks. Photo credit: Raxit Gamit.
Visit the Belgrade Fortress: Built on the site of a Roman fort, the fortress is a fascinating place, where Byzantine, Ottoman, Austrian, & Serbians then followed with their buildings. It contains an old Roman well & a sacred spring where both Christian & Muslim women went to pray for fertility. There’s also Nebojsa Tower, a fantastic little museum, the tomb of an Ottoman Vizier, and a palace (credit to Dr. Elizabeth Zelensky for this tip!).
People watch at “Silicon Valley”. Belgrade is also famous for plastic surgery and implants, and the people who do it seem to all go to similar clubs and bars. Go people watching around here in the evening — it’s a hoot.
✈️ Getting there: Discount airline Wizz Air flies to Belgrade, or there are direct flights via Air Serbia. US, UK, Canadian, or European citizens do not need a visa for any trips under 90 days.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia nightlife is very underrated. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
5. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Underrated City in Africa
Enjoy unique culture, amazing food, & surprising nightlife in this East African hub.
Ethiopia is chock full of culture, special cuisine, history, and unique nature experiences. Many of those are outside the capital city of Addis Ababa, but Addis is also a vibrant city full of life and is often overlooked! If you’ve made it to Ethiopia, you’re already pretty well off the beaten track. But here are some tips to make your experience in Addis memorable.
Top things to do in Addis Ababa:
🎷 Ethiopian jazz night. Fendika is one of our favorite jazz clubs anywhere in the world. Listen to local musicians playing a fusion of Ethiopian and western jazz on local and international instruments in a cloth-ceilinged venue with a fire pit and local Tej honey wine.
Explore a local market. Mercato (or merkato) or Shola Market are huge semi-open air markets, very lively, and fun places to explore and “window shop.”
🍺 Have the cheapest & maybe the most fun happy hour of your life. Yeshu Tower Beer Garden. Drink local beer on draft and watch soccer at this bar at Ethiopia’s national soccer stadium. It’s SUPER cheap, around 40 cents a beer, but very good quality. Yes, you read that right.
Unity Park is a great way to spend the day in Addis Ababa. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
More things to do in Addis Ababa:
🏞️ Spend the day at Unity Park. This newly opened area is the best urban park we’ve been to in Africa. There’s a good zoo, the old imperial palace, Ethiopian cultural exhibits, stunning views of the city, and more. Plan on spending most of the day here.
🍺 Try Ethiopian craft dark beer. Selo Tella bar is a new, very local brewery to try tella, traditional Ethiopian beer, they have several different kinds to sample.
🍽️ Eat amazing Ethiopian food. Ethiopian food is to die for in many ways. Our top picks are:
Agyet, an Ethiopian Gurage restaurant specializing in Kitfo (ground spiced meat).
Habesha 2000 (touristy but delicious food and cultural dancing).
Visa: If you’re from anywhere outside Africa, you’ll need a tourist visa to enter Ethiopia, but it’s easy to get online. Unlike in the past, you now need to get your visa ahead of time, instead of on arrival at the airport, but it’s easy and saves a lot of waiting at Addis Bole airport.
✈️ Getting there: There are direct flights from the U.S. and Europe on Ethiopian Airlines (a 12 to 13 hour flight from New York or DC), or you can fly via Dubai or Qatar.
Short trips
The real highlights of Ethiopia are outside Addis, so you’ll want to venture outside the city if you have time. Ethiopian Airlines does short, affordable flights around the country, so it’s easy to do 1 to 3 day trips to several places. We’re working on a separate blog on trips within Ethiopia, including Lalibela, Harrar, the Danakil Depression, and the Simien Mountains.
Missoula is one of the most underrated cities in America & home to the University of Montana. Photo by Matthew Lancaster on Unsplash
6. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Hiking & University Town
Missoula is that underrated town you want to move to. It’s surrounded by wonderful mountains to hike or do winter sports in, it’s home to one of the state’s most prestigious colleges, the University of Montana, and it’s got good restaurants, micro breweries, and bars that are higher level than just college dives. And it hasn’t been spoiled by gentrification, still retaining that friendly western town feeling.
It’s been ranked in the top third of happiest cities in the United States. And of course, it’s a gateway to Glacier National Park, which is about 2 1/2 hours to the north.
Top things to do in Missoula:
🍺 Visit an outstanding micro brewery: Missoula is well known for its beer breweries. Three of the best are:
Kettle House (outstanding IPAs in particular)
Big Sky (makers of the famous Moose Drool brown ale), and
Bayern Brewing (german style beers).
A bit further north, check out the best breweries in the Flathead Valley.
Visit the fascinating & huge 1,000 Buddhas garden where the Dalai Lama visited: The 1,000 Buddhas Peace Garden is a unique, interesting place in a gorgeous peaceful setting at the foot of the Mission mountain range near Arlee, about 45 minutes north of Missoula.
Hiking in the Mission Range, a hidden gem near Missoula, is amazing and you have solitude. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
More things to do in and around Missoula:
🥾 🚵 Hike or go mountain biking: Missoula’s best feature is arguably its very close proximity to gorgeous mountains.
Try the Blue Mountain Recreation Area (easy, medium, and hard hikes).
The hike to the famous “M” (1.2 miles, 690 feet elevation, moderate).
Jerry Johnson Hot Springs (2.6 miles, 260 feet elevation, easy).
Hike in the Mission Range, e.g. McDonald Lake, which is not on AllTrails…
⛷ 🏂 Ski or snowboard: Choices, choices. The Snowbowl is located just 30 minutes from Missoula (yes!).
About an hour and 45 minutes away, Lookout Pass is known as a top Montana powder spot, and
the Discovery Ski Area is 90 minutes away.
Relax on Flathead Lake: Giant Flathead Lake, 90 minutes north of Missoula, is a summer playground for Montanans but doesn’t feel crowded.
Kayak or rent a boat.
Go fishing (Sasha caught his first fish here!).
Pick cherries, or swim in the lake.
The Flathead Cherry Festival is Polson is a highlight.
✈️ Getting there: You can fly to Missoula on most major airlines. Alternatively, it’s a 3 hour drive from Bozeman, the city most people fly to to go to Yellowstone.
Nairobi has a vibrant nightlife, great restaurants, and a national park in the city. Photo by Mustafa Omar on Unsplash
7. Nairobi, Kenya: Feed Giraffes & Get Your Dancing Shoes On
A major regional hub for East Africa, Nairobi is a very dynamic city with lots of personality, classy restaurants, world class cafes, a giraffe zoo, and even a national park inside the city. East African jazz and Kenyan hip hop are fun to listen to, and Kenyan beer is very good (as are cocktails at the best bars).
Nairobi is also the gateway to Kenya’s natural wonders, including the Masai Mara National Park (home to some of the best safaris in Africa), the paradise island of Lamu, Mt. Kenya, the Swahili coast at Mombasa and Diani Beach, and more.
Best things to do in Nairobi & underrated places to go:
🦁 Go on a safari inside the city: Nairobi National Park is unique as an actual safari park within a major city. If you don’t have time to go to the Masai Mara or Tsavo, Nairobi NP has lions (we saw them fighting!), buffalo, leopards, zebras, and more.
🍽 Enjoy fine dining. Our top restaurant picks are:
The Talisman — a huge variety of food at this farm to table restaurant in a beautiful setting.
INTI Nikkei — high quality dishes in this unique Japanese & Peruvian restaurant with a fabulous 20th floor view.
Ankole Grill — some of the best grilled meats and steaks, which Kenya is known for.
More things to do in Nairobi:
Feed the giraffes: The Giraffe Center in Karen is a ton of fun. They have a dozen giraffes and you can feed them in a lovely setting.
Sip on some of the best coffee in the world. Kenya produces some world’s best coffee. Try it fresh here and enjoy a delicious latte at one of Nairobi’s best coffee shops, Connect Coffee, Jowam Coffee Roasters, or the Nairobi Java House.
Stroll around Uhuru Park. Uhuru Park in the center of the city is once again a lovely large urban park after a recent renovation in 2022. It’s a meeting spot for locals and now has a food court, a kids play area, and is home to the new Nairobi Festival.
Have a fun night out. Quench your thirst and put your dancing shoes on, because Nairobi is one of the liveliest cities after dark on the continent. Our top tips for going out are:
Geco Cafe for live music.
Kulture Lounge, a classy lounge.
MUZE, fun dancing to Kenyan music.
✈️ Getting there & visa: There are direct flights to Nairobi from New York on Kenya Airways and many flights from Europe.
You need a visa to enter but can easily get one online in advance before arriving Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Cleveland is a hidden gem in the Midwest, with a vibrant nightlife, lake life, and more. Photo by DJ Johnson on Unsplash
8. Cleveland, Ohio: Underrated City in the Midwest
Cleveland is your surprise up and coming city in the Midwest. We were very pleasantly surprised by Cleveland and we think you will be, too. It’s home to a new art scene, cool neighborhoods, and a lovely waterfront area. And it has a surprisingly lively nightlife, good museums, fun breweries, and excellent Eastern European ethnic food. And it’s diverse, to boot.
Best things to do in Cleveland:
🏙️ Check out the hip Ohio City neighborhood. This is a vibrant up-and-coming area of Cleveland with tons of good places to wine, dine, check out galleries, or have a latte. Our top picks include:
The West Side Market, with over 100 vendors and tons of farm fresh food, eateries, flower shops & more in a historic building.
🍸 TownHall, a very lively bar/restaurant with 20 beers on tap, a very good whiskey list, and genuinely good food. We liked this place so much that we went there twice, and it’s kicking even on a Monday night.
☕️ Lekko Coffee: enjoy an excellent espresso drink at this airy Scandinavian style coffee shop that feels like an art gallery.
🍦 S’mores ice cream at Mitchell’s Homemade: This is some of the best ice cream we had on our first cross-country trip. Flavors like Campfire S’mores or Blue Cosmo may tickle your fancy (they did ours).
More things to do in Cleveland:
Great Lakes Brewing Company makes some excellent beers. They’re famous for their Dortmunder Gold Lager, but they also make IPAs, porters, and more. Try the ones you haven’t had yet right at the brewery. jacket.
Visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This unique place has all kinds of original memorabilia from the music world, from Jimi Hendrix’s guitar he allegedly used to record “All along the Watchtower” to John Lennon’s St. Pepper jacket.
🍸 Check out a cool cocktail bar
1) Re:Bar (pictured) some of the best margaritas we’ve ever had are at this fun but unpretentious cocktail lounge. They have a live DJ on weekends.
2) Garden of Eden has spectacular city views on a rooftop and good cocktails.
🍽 Eat at one of Cleveland’s delicious eastern European restaurants. Cleveland has been a hub for eastern European immigrants for 150 years. Eat local & check out these top spots to sample the ethnic food:
Marie’s Restaurant: delicious home cooking of goulash, schnitzel, dumplings, etc.
Mom’s Pierogies: these are on a completely different level from the ones you buy at the grocery. Take-out.
Mabel’s BBQ: BBQ with eastern European spices.
🚗 ✈️ Getting there: Cleveland is surprisingly close to the east coast, only a 5 1/2 hour drive from Washington, DC, for example. There are many direct flights that go there as well.
Tirana, an underrated city in southern Europe, at sunset. Photo by Enxhi Hasanaj on Unsplash
8. Tirana, Albania: Hidden Gem of the Balkans
Albania is one of Europe’s last “undiscovered” countries, receiving less than half the tourists that neighboring Croatia does. Its capital city Tirana is fun, very affordable compared to the rest of the region, has excellent cocktail bars & nightlife, a cable car to a mountain with magnificent views, and a wonderful park. It’s close to the beach, only half an hour away from the seaside towns of Durrës and Golem with sandy beaches. And best of all, it’s very affordable. Prices are almost half of what they are in Croatia. A perfect off the beaten path destination!
Top things to do in Tirana & hidden gems in the city:
🍸 Check out the nightlife: Albanians love to have a good time, and Tirana is home to some great nightlife. Check out:
Living Room Antik for delicious cocktails and a retro vibe.
Colonial Tirana for a huge variety of cocktails and a vibrant atmosphere.
Kantina Binjakët for an awesome wine bar with a very friendly experience.
Te Latini for a latin dancing nightclub.
🖼 Fascinating art gallery in a bunker: Bunk’Art, a converted former nuclear bunker is a fascinating art museum with over 160 rooms and 5 floors. There are actually two of them — Bunk’Art 1 and 2 — and both are definitely worth a visit.
Ride a cable car to the Mt. Dajti: This is a really fun thing to do in the day — ride the Dajti Express cable car to the top of a 2,500 foot hill and get stunning views of the city. The restaurant at the top is decent as well.
Albania is a hidden gem for beaches in Europe. Durrës. Photo by Denis Ismailaj on Unsplash
More things to do in Tirana, a Hidden Travel Gem:
Take a stroll in the Grand Park: Tirana’s main green space with old & new growth trees is a lovely area to get some fresh air and take a walk, go biking, or enjoy the lake.
Relax & people watch in Skanderbeg Square: Tirana’s central square is lively and a lovely place to chill out and see all walks of life. It’s a great place to unwind at the end of the day, and there are also many concerts that take place there (and some demonstrations as well).
🏖 Go to the beach: Albania has a long coastline, and some of Europe’s best beaches are only a stone’s throw away from Tirana.
30 mins away: The closest beach to Tirana, Durrës, is only half an hour away.
1 hour away: If you have a little more time, an even better beach is Golem, about an hour away. It’s popular but charming, and the water is shallow, so it’s good for families.
For a weekend trip, most of the best beach towns are in the south, about 3 to 3 1/2 hours away. These include Sarandë, Dhërmi, and Ksamil in particular. Sarandë has excellent food and rocky cliffs along with a very good beach. Dhërmi has both beautiful beaches and a charming Byzantine town.
La Jolla beach and cove is a gorgeous area in San Diego. Photo by Andres Garcia on Unsplash
9. San Diego, California: Amazing Food, Great Beaches
San Diego is one of our favorite places in the U.S. — we’ve spent over 6 months there because we loved it so much. It’s both a good family destination and a vibrant young person’s city because there’s tons to do. There is a variety of high quality restaurants — Mexican, seafood, and Asian in particular — good beaches for relaxing or surfing even in the city, some of the best margaritas in the country.
It’s also close to hiking and mountains. The traffic is much, much better than LA, and it’s close to cool beach/surfing towns just north of the city. And probably best of all, the weather is good nearly year-round. It’s a very underrated city compared to LA.
Top things to do in San Diego:
Check out America’s top aircraft carrier to visit: The USS Midway is a treasure and a great way to spend a day. Many former pilots volunteer and give tours, there are countless airplanes to see, and it’s relatively recent.
Explore a gorgeous beach cliff park: Sunset Cliffs Natural Park in Ocean Beach is a hidden gem. Walk along the cliffs, explore the tide pool areas and mini sea caves down below, or go at a particularly low tide and find the spectacular sea cave.
🏖 Relax on the beach or learn how to surf at Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach. Both are excellent spots. Laws Beach is a particularly good one, as is the main Ocean Beach beach.
Visit historic Balboa Park with its Spanish vibe. Balboa Park feels like you’re in the middle of Seville with its Spanish architecture.
It’s also home to several museums, so it’s worth spending a few hours checking one or more of them out — the Museum of Photographic Arts and the Model Railroad Museum (the largest one in the world) were our favorites.
The tacos and margaritas in San Diego are to die for. Photo: Sasha Lezhnev, all rights reserved
More things to do & hidden gems in San Diego:
See the famous zoo. It’s hard to leave San Diego without visiting its world-class zoo. It actually has two parts — the zoo in town and the safari park about 45 minutes away. They each have different animals. It’s expensive, yes, but it’s probably the best zoo in the country (and we’ve been to many).
🔥 Hot tip: Go on a weekday (and preferably a bit later) because it gets crowded.
See the sea lions & explore cliffs in La Jolla. La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya) is San Diego’s fanciest neighborhood but also home to a cove with a seal and sea lion colony, excellent restaurants, a world class gelato shop, and a lovely area to walk high above the ocean.
Eat phenomenal tacos (or other good food). The San Diego area has some of the best tacos in the world in our view, but also many other very good restaurants. Our top tips are:
The Taco Stand (several locations, some of the best tacos, informal setting)
Din Tai Fung (absolutely amazing Taiwanese dumplings), and
Puesto (delicious tacos in La Jolla).
✈️ Getting there: There are many direct flights to San Diego, including on Southwest Airlines.
Hermanus on the Western Cape is a hidden gem in South Africa, with mountains and ocean. Photo by Rudi De Meyer on Unsplash
10. Hermanus, South Africa: A Very Underrated City in South Africa
Everyone knows about Cape Town or Durban on South Africa’s coast, but Hermanus is the hidden travel gem. A stunning area where the mountains meet the sea and where whales mate in the bay, Hermanus is known by some as the Malibu of Southern Africa. But the best part is that it’s a far more affordable version. Hermanus is only a 90 minute drive from Cape Town on the Western Cape, but is much quieter. This is off the beaten travel at its best.
Things to do & hidden gems in Hermanus:
🐋 Whales! Hermanus is known by many as the whale capital of South Africa. Right whales migrate from Antarctica to Hermanus from June to December as they mate, give birth, and raise their calves. They congregate in Walker Bay in Hermanus, and there’s even a whale festival in Hermanus in September that’s worth checking out.
🐋 Incredible whale watching without getting sea sick: Hermanus is arguably the best spot in the world to see whales without getting on one of those boats that make many people (including us) sea sick. There are fantastic spots to watch the whales from land:
Hermanus Cliff Path (which is also a nice little hike) and
Gearing’s Point. There are, of course, boat tours as well, if you want to get closer in the water. Just note that the waves can be rather high around here.
🏖 Relax or surf at the beach: Hermanus has several good sandy beaches and is a world class surfing spot because of the waves.
Grotto Beach is the calmest, stretches for 11 miles, and is good for families because of the calmer water.
🏄♂️ Onrus Beach and Voelklip Beach are the best surfing spots, with Onrus hosting an annual surfing competition in December.
More to do in Hermanus:
🍷 Go wine tasting: Hermanus is close to several wineries. We recommend:
Bouchard Finlayson (about 20 minutes away, stunning views, good Pinot Noir & Chardonnay)
Spookfontein Wines (special restaurant in the winery with a modern vibe).
Newton Johnson Family Vineyards (see photo — stunning setting with a view of the mountains, personal experience). Photo credit: Newton Johnson.
Creation has wonderful wines and an exquisite tasting menu.
Dine at farm to table restaurants: Hermanus is close to the bountiful Hemel en Aarde (Heaven and Earth) Valley, so it has farm fresh food at several good restaurants.
Check out The Wine Glass (restaurant) which has a fantastic wine selection (including flights) and fantastic wine and food pairings. Plus it’s just next to Gearing’s Point, one of the best whale watching spots.
The Pear Tree Bistro just nearby has fresh seafood (their poke bowl is just wow) as well as vegan options, and is one of the best spots in town.
The Saturday farmers market, the Hermanus Country Market, is worth checking out as well.
🔥 Hot tip: Go between June and December to take advantage of whale mating season. Just remember, it’s the southern hemisphere, so June/July will be the coldest months, and December the warmest ones.
✈️ Getting there: The best way to get to Hermanus is to fly to Cape Town and rent a car to drive the 90 minute journey to Hermanus. U.S., U.K., Canadian, or European Union citizens do not need a visa to visit South Africa for up to 90 days.
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Hi! We’re Sasha & Megnote
We’ve traveled to 50 countries on 5 continents & have been full-time travelers for the past 2 years with our now 5-year-old son. He now teaches us how to skateboard…
We got engaged in Bolivia, started a nonprofit in Uganda, and love outdoor adventures (& a good pisco sour).
We’re writing the book Travel More, Spend Less to help people get to full-time travel.
We’re passionate about finding hidden travel gems & off the beaten path destinations, and we want to share our tips with you. Come explore with us!