Fresh Air Spots

Instead of Cusco

A Machu Picchu-scale Inca citadel that requires two days of trekking to reach — and has almost no visitors.

Tradeoff: Requires real fitness and 4-8 days round trip.

Instead of Petra

Jordan's largest nature reserve and the country's best hiking — almost entirely overlooked in the rush between Petra and Wadi Rum.

Tradeoff: Limited accommodation and infrastructure.

Instead of Kyoto

A strong Kyoto alternative with gardens, craft, old districts, and considerably more breathing room.

Tradeoff: Fewer major temple complexes than Kyoto.

Instead of Mykonos

A small, clifftop Cycladic island that takes effort to reach and rewards that effort with the Greece the postcards promise.

Tradeoff: Very limited accommodation means advance booking is essential in summer.

Instead of Santorini

The real capital of the Cyclades: neoclassical architecture, an opera house, Cycladic whitewash, and very few posing tourists.

Tradeoff: Less dramatic caldera scenery than Santorini.

Instead of Lake Como

The lake Como used to be: a small, romantic, perfectly preserved medieval lakeside town with an island monastery and no celebrity circus.

Tradeoff: Smaller than Como with less variety.

Instead of Phuket

A quiet Muslim fishing island sitting inside the Phang Nga Bay limestone scenery that most visitors only see from a boat.

Tradeoff: Limited dining options and nightlife.

Instead of Dubrovnik

Croatia's most underrated medieval town: a UNESCO cathedral, river waterfalls, and far less of the summer scrum.

Tradeoff: Less famous, which means less tourist infrastructure in some areas.

Instead of Bali

Volcanic, wild, and dramatically beautiful — the Indonesia that Bali used to feel like before it was discovered.

Tradeoff: Infrastructure is rougher than Bali.

Instead of Lofoten

Norway's answer to Lofoten before Lofoten was famous: the same dramatic peaks-over-sea landscape with a fraction of the visitors.

Tradeoff: Less developed tourist infrastructure than Lofoten.

Instead of Prague

A Moravian university city with a baroque old town larger than Salzburg's and almost no foreign tourists.

Tradeoff: Quieter nightlife than Prague.

Instead of Amsterdam

A Dutch canal city with a unique double-deck waterfront, a functioning life of its own, and 30 minutes from Schiphol.

Tradeoff: Smaller than Amsterdam, fewer major museums.

Instead of Cinque Terre

A real Ligurian fishing port with painted harbour houses, excellent seafood, and boats to an abbey only reachable by sea.

Tradeoff: Less dramatic cliffside terrain than Cinque Terre.

Instead of Cappadocia

A honey-coloured hilltop city in southeastern Turkey where Syriac Christianity, Kurdish culture, and Mesopotamian history overlap.

Tradeoff: Very hot in summer.

Instead of Barcelona

One of Spain's best-preserved medieval cities with a thriving food scene, 35 minutes from Barcelona.

Tradeoff: Smaller city than Barcelona, fewer nightlife options.

Instead of Madeira

A mid-Atlantic volcanic island with a fresh 1950s lava field, whale watching, and blue hydrangeas lining every road.

Tradeoff: Weather is changeable.

Instead of Petra

A Jordanian desert of extraordinary scale — sandstone pillars, Bedouin camps, and a silence that is genuinely hard to find.

Tradeoff: Overnight camp experience varies significantly by operator.

Instead of Tulum

A seven-colour Caribbean lagoon that Tulum used to be before it was discovered: affordable, beautiful, and not yet ruined.

Tradeoff: Not a beach destination.

Instead of Banff

Where the Rockies meet the prairie: smaller, windier, and vastly less crowded than Banff.

Tradeoff: Very windy — it's one of the windiest places in Canada.

Instead of Positano

An Amalfi Coast fishing village that still has actual fishermen, producing Italy's most prized anchovy sauce at a fraction of Positano's prices.

Tradeoff: Small pebble beach rather than Positano's sandy one.

Instead of Chiang Mai Old City

A small northern Thai town with extraordinary temple murals, rice paddy valleys, and almost no international tourists.

Tradeoff: Less infrastructure than Chiang Mai.

Instead of Hallstatt

The real heart of the Salzkammergut lake district: a working Austrian spa town surrounded by three lakes, with no crowds.

Tradeoff: Less visually dramatic than Hallstatt's lakeside position.

Instead of Cusco

Gateway to the Cordillera Blanca — South America's finest mountain trekking, with a fraction of Patagonia's crowds.

Tradeoff: Huaraz city itself is not particularly attractive — largely rebuilt after a 1970 earthquake.

Instead of Lisbon

Portugal's medieval university city with its own fado tradition, a legendary library, and a fraction of Lisbon's tourist numbers.

Tradeoff: Less cosmopolitan than Lisbon.

Instead of Siem Reap

A pepper-producing river town with colonial bones, excellent seafood, and a self-selecting traveller crowd in no hurry to leave.

Tradeoff: Can feel insular if you arrive at the wrong guesthouse.

Instead of Kyoto

A castle town on a lake with genuine heritage, almost no international crowds, and strong tea culture.

Tradeoff: Out of the way by Japanese rail standards.

Instead of Dubrovnik

A compact medieval island town with its own wine culture, the Marco Polo connection, and significantly less mayhem than Dubrovnik.

Tradeoff: Less architecturally dramatic than Dubrovnik.

Instead of Amsterdam

Belgium's best-kept open secret: medieval waterfront, Jan van Eyck's masterpiece, a functioning city.

Tradeoff: Often compared unfavourably to Bruges by people who expect the same aesthetic — Ghent is grittier and more interesting as a result.

Instead of Hoi An

Vietnam's former imperial capital: a citadel, royal tombs in forested hills, and a refined royal cuisine tradition.

Tradeoff: The city is less immediately picturesque than Hoi An.

Instead of Lofoten

Lofoten's gentler neighbour, with exceptional whale watching, bird cliffs, and half the visitors.

Tradeoff: Less dramatically photogenic than Lofoten.

Instead of Reykjavik

Iceland's north: a small city with access to the country's best whale watching and geothermal landscapes without the Golden Circle crowds.

Tradeoff: Still Iceland expensive.

Instead of Venice

The forgotten Habsburg port city where Joyce wrote Ulysses and the coffee is taken extremely seriously.

Tradeoff: Less instantly picturesque than Venice.

Instead of Mykonos

The largest Cyclades island — better beaches than Mykonos, local food, a medieval town, and a fraction of the price.

Tradeoff: Less glamorous than Mykonos — which is entirely the point.

Instead of Bali

A remote Indonesian island with living megalithic culture, ikat weaving traditions, and almost no tourist trail.

Tradeoff: Rougher travel than most visitors expect.

Instead of Cappadocia

A UNESCO Ottoman townscape of timber mansions that looks like it has barely changed in 300 years, with almost no international tourists.

Tradeoff: Remote by Turkish tourism standards.

Instead of Marrakech

A windswept Atlantic medina with better seafood, better music, and less hustle than Marrakech.

Tradeoff: Strong winds year-round make beach swimming less pleasant than expected.

Instead of Tulum

A colonial Maya town ringed by accessible cenotes — a calm, affordable base for the Yucatán.

Tradeoff: Less beach access than Tulum.

Instead of Positano

A Baroque clifftop town in Calabria with beaches that rival Positano at a third of the price.

Tradeoff: Getting here requires more effort.

Instead of Santorini

A rocky, beautiful Cycladic island with a dramatic hilltop village and none of the Instagram crowds.

Tradeoff: Limited restaurant variety.

Instead of Kyoto

A beautifully preserved mountain merchant town with sake, morning markets, and its own pace.

Tradeoff: Does get some visitors, particularly on autumn weekends.

Instead of Reykjavik

Iceland's most remote region: extreme fjords, impossible cliff roads, and the Dynjandi waterfall with almost no other visitors.

Tradeoff: Remote in a real sense.

Instead of Chiang Mai Old City

A quieter northern Thai city with Thailand's most visually striking modern temple and access to the Golden Triangle.

Tradeoff: Less to do than Chiang Mai as a base.

Instead of Queenstown

Queenstown's quieter neighbour — same mountains and lake scenery, smaller town, fewer queues.

Tradeoff: Getting expensive fast as its reputation grows.

Instead of Phuket

A long, low-key island with proper beaches, good diving, and the pace Phuket had twenty years ago.

Tradeoff: Less developed means fewer high-end restaurants and nightlife.

Instead of Lisbon

Portugal's religious and historic north: Baroque churches, sanctuary staircases, and a city that functions for its own population.

Tradeoff: Less cosmopolitan than Lisbon or Porto.

Instead of Cinque Terre

The sensible base for exploring Cinque Terre: a real beach, lower prices, and one train stop away.

Tradeoff: Less picturesque than the Cinque Terre villages.

Instead of Hoi An

The base for the world's largest cave systems — Son Doong and Phong Nha — with uncrowded beaches and almost no international tourist trail.

Tradeoff: The town itself has limited appeal beyond being a base.

Instead of Siem Reap

Cambodia's second city — colonial architecture, a circus school, and the travellers who stayed longer than planned.

Tradeoff: Fewer "major" sights than Siem Reap.

Instead of Jeju

South Korea's second island: coastal paths, spring camellias, and a fraction of Jeju's visitor numbers.

Tradeoff: Less famous than Jeju for a reason — fewer headline attractions.

Instead of Rio de Janeiro

A UNESCO colonial town on a forested bay between Rio and Sao Paulo — cobblestones, schooner trips, and the best cachaca in Brazil.

Tradeoff: Can feel slightly twee — the colonial preservation can make it feel like a museum town.

Instead of Prague

A UNESCO-listed Moravian town square so architecturally coherent it looks like a film set.

Tradeoff: Very small — can be seen in half a day.

Instead of Venice

A working fishing town at the southern lagoon with Venice's DNA and none of its crowds.

Tradeoff: Smaller and less architecturally spectacular than Venice.

Instead of Rio de Janeiro

A Brazilian island city with 42 beaches, serious surf, and a food scene entirely unknown to international visitors.

Tradeoff: Relatively expensive by Brazilian standards in summer.

Instead of Queenstown

A small West Coast town with a turquoise river gorge, a greenstone tradition, and wild beaches that nobody is sharing.

Tradeoff: The town itself is modest.

Instead of Marrakech

The blue-painted Rif mountain town that Instagram discovered — still genuinely beautiful, best visited midweek.

Tradeoff: The blue paint is partly a tourism construct.