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Tips for Planning Cultural Trips

Posted in the cultural traveler

I bet you are actively looking for some tips on planning your next cultural trip.

Here are some tips:

Festivals/Holidays – An easy tip, plan your trip around a Festival or National holiday in the destination. Festivals are a blast and a great way to celebrate with the community. Go to India/Nepal during Holi or visit Paris during Bastille day. You can explore, while enjoying one of the best parts of the year for the country.

Accommodation – stay in people’s homes with AirBnb instead of in a hotel or hostel. Find a family that wants to show you around the town instead of reading a map.

HelpX, Wwoof, Volunteer – find cool places to stay amongst the communities. Spend a month picking rice in Vietnam, or in the vineyards of Australia, or at a farm in the south of France. You can stay with your family

Visit the countryside – go to the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and just “be” amongst the indigenous tribes. Get out of the city and go explore new areas.

Take public transit – instead of taking a plane from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Nepal, take the public bus so that you can meet some of the locals and experience normal everyday life for them.

Get lost – walk down random streets and find off the beaten path bars and restaurants. Get far away from the tourist streets and find hole-in-the-wall places. Spend time in the Ruin bars of Budapest instead of downtown bars.

Eat like the locals – find food markets, picnic in parks, go to farmer markets, ask locals where to eat. Stay away from HardRock Café. Instead of going to the main restaurants in the city center of Krakow, Poland, go to milk bars around the city for a locals experience.

Watch street performers – for a real local experience, watch some street performers for a fun time.

Themed walking tours – In Edinburgh, I took a Dark History walking tour and learned about Edinburgh’s witchcraft, grave diggers, well known murder stories, and much more. These are not too expensive either and are really great for exploration.

Go on a Pub Crawl – especially for places that are notorious for bar crawls. Such a fun way to hang out with the locals.

Do research – Learn about the history, culture, dance, food, music, and more about the country before you go. Then you know what to look for when you are there and how to find it all to have a true cultural experience.

This is just a starting list, let’s chat more about other things you can do!

Culturally watching street performances.

Posted in the cultural traveler

Wanderlust Advocate YouTube Channel

Get to know a country’s culture by seeking out street performers. I feel like you really can learn about a culture by watching how it works on the streets. Street performances can be traditional and non traditional and you should try and train yourself to spend time enjoying some of these incredible experiences.

You can also find street performances that are historically and culturally traditional for the country. Checkout The Human Tower blog post about a traditional Catalonian street performance. Changing of the Guards are other cultural and traditional experiences for many countries. Don’t miss out on these experiences!

My favorite places for street performers:

Dublin, Ireland – Grafton street is pretty famous for street performances. People all around the world come here to perform – it’s awesome!

Vienna, Austria – some absolutely amazing singers and musicians play throughout the city. The city is known for Opera and music, which is reflected through some incredible street performers.

Lisbon, Portugal – Alfama district showcases Fado music! Walk down the street and listen to the incredible singers singing traditional Fado music.

Barcelona, Spain – Human Towers in the Summer time is a fantastic cultural and traditional experience.

Granada, Nicaragua – Calle La Calzada is one of my favorite places for some fun music and lively performers!

Marrakech, Morocco – Men holding monkeys, music, outdoor games for locals to play (which you should try!), food markets and more.

Nashville, Tennessee, USA – The best way to find shining Country Music stars is to walk the streets of downtown Nashville on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night!

New York City Metro, USA – Waiting for public transit? Want to listen to some awesome music while waiting, head to Subway stops: Union Square, Broadway/Lafayette, West 4th, Time Square, and Penn Station.

Sydney, Australia – Sydney has a huge range of street performers. Some making large bubbles, some singing, some acrobats. It is pretty incredible and highly recommended!

Siem Reap, Cambodia – I feel like every night is street performances. Sit and get a $2 massage/beer and people watch for your street performances.

Where are some of your favorite street performances?

Check out Wanderlust Advocate YouTube channel for more videos of street performers!