Eight places
we’d actually
send you.
No “top 50 bucket list” filler. Just the places we’ve stood in ourselves, told straight — what’s worth the flight, and what isn’t.
We go first.
We write it honest.
We say when to skip it.
GreeceThe islands earn the hype — most of them, anyway
Skip Santorini’s caldera crowds and go one ferry further. Naxos and Milos give you the same white-and-blue postcard with a fraction of the tour buses, and the food is better because it’s cooked for locals, not layovers.
September is the trick everyone forgets: the sea is still warm from summer, the crowds have gone back to school, and prices drop by a third.
Naxos, Milos, and the Peloponnese coast — real beaches, real tavernas, real quiet.
You’re going in July or August and hoping for solitude on Santorini. You won’t find it.
PortugalEveryone’s discovering it. Go before it fully closes
Lisbon is charming but it’s not a secret anymore — the trams are full of tourists filming the trams. The real find is the Alentejo coast: pine forests running straight into empty Atlantic beaches, an hour south of the capital.
Porto still moves at its own pace. Go for the port wine cellars across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia, and stay long enough to eat a francesinha without shame.
Comporta, the Douro Valley, and Porto’s riverside — slower, cheaper, still authentic.
You want Lisbon to feel undiscovered. That window closed a few years back.
ItalySkip the queue cities, chase the ones with fewer photos online
The Amalfi Coast is beautiful and also a traffic jam with a view. Puglia gives you the same whitewashed-cliffside charm, olive groves instead of lemon terraces, and a coastline you can actually park near.
If it’s your first trip to Italy, go anyway to Rome and Florence — some things deserve to be seen once, crowds and all. Just don’t stop there.
Puglia, the Dolomites in September, and yes — Rome, once, despite the lines.
You’re driving the Amalfi Coast in August. Budget three hours for a 40-minute drive.
MoroccoCloser than you think, further than it feels
Marrakech’s medina is sensory overload in the best way — but give it two days, not five. The real trip starts once you leave: the blue lanes of Chefchaouen, the Sahara’s edge near Merzouga, the surf towns of Taghazout.
Bargaining is expected, not rude. Start at a third of the asking price and enjoy the back-and-forth — it’s part of the experience, not an obstacle to it.
Chefchaouen, a night camping in the Sahara, and the coastal calm of Essaouira.
You’re only doing Marrakech and expecting it to feel relaxing. It’s not that kind of city.
BaliCanggu is a lifestyle brand now. The island is still there
Canggu and Ubud’s centre are built for content, not for you. An hour north-east, the Sidemen Valley has the rice-terrace view everyone’s chasing on Instagram — without the queue of people chasing the same photo.
Rent a scooter once you’re confident with the traffic, not before. The east coast beaches near Amed have black volcanic sand and almost nobody on them.
Sidemen Valley, Amed’s coastline, and a sunrise hike up Mount Batur — once.
You’re chasing quiet in Canggu. That ship sailed; it’s a co-working scene now.
SpainThe coast gets the crowds. The white towns keep the charm
Barcelona and the Costa del Sol are worth a visit, but they’re not where Spain’s character lives anymore. Inland Andalusia — Ronda perched on its gorge, Granada under the Alhambra — moves slower and means it.
Eat late. Nothing worth eating opens before 9pm, and the whole rhythm of the day is built around that fact.
Ronda, Granada, and San Sebastián’s food scene — genuinely worth the detour.
You’re doing Barcelona in peak August heat expecting a relaxed pace. It’s a sprint, not a stroll.
AlbaniaGreece’s water, a third of the price, ten years behind the crowds
The Albanian Riviera looks like it was cut from the same coastline as Corfu, because it practically was — they’re a short swim apart. Ksamil’s beaches are Caribbean-clear and still cheap enough to feel like a discovery.
Infrastructure is catching up fast, which is exactly why the window to see it before it changes is now, not in five years.
Ksamil, the mountain town of Gjirokastër, and Tirana for one good, chaotic day.
You need polished infrastructure. Roads and service are still catching up to the scenery.
New ZealandThe furthest trip on this list, and the one people regret cutting short
Don’t try to do both islands in under three weeks — you’ll spend the whole trip in transit and see none of it properly. The South Island alone, from Wanaka to Milford Sound, is worth a dedicated trip on its own.
Book campervan season early; it fills up months out. The country rewards slow, unplanned days more than any tight itinerary.
Lake Wanaka, Milford Sound, and the Abel Tasman coastal walk — the flight is long, this isn’t.
You only have a week. Save it for when you can give the South Island proper time.
“If a place isn’t worth your time, we’ll say so.” That’s the whole point of this list.