Summer’s finally here which means only one thing: your long-awaited vacation is approaching fast. Forget about work and have some well-deserved fun! Unfortunately, there’s one thing about summer vacations that’s not so pretty. It’s not the scorching sun, it’s the crowds! Everybody travels during the summer and it’s going to be quite hard for you and your family to enjoy some peace and quiet. Recently we’ve given you some tips on how to save money when traveling and today we’ve got 10 ways to avoid crowds when traveling. Read on and take notes if you want your summer vacation to be as pleasurable as possible.
10. Talk to Your Concierge
So many people just ignore the concierge. Most don’t know what a concierge does. They’re not in charge with booking tickets or helping you with your baggage. They are there for one simple reason: to help you with any requests or needs you might have about the city. That’s right, they’re the experts who wait for you to ask them anything. Go on, do it and you won’t have to stay in line ever again!
9. Sign-up for Special Tours
If you want to see all the good places and avoid the crowds, then you simply must sign up for a tour from a specialized company. It may cost you a little extra, but it will be worth your money. These companies will take you to all the famous places in the less crowded time slots. Some will even get you behind-the-scenes!
8. Watch the Weather
Sometimes, the weather can really scare away tourists. Let’s say that you plan on going to visit a place where there’s a storm announced. If a little wind and rain don’t scare you, you can pick up great last minute deals due to people cancelling. If you’re lucky, you’ll only have a little wind and rain and not a real storm.
7. Skip Photo Ops
Most attractions have photo ops at their entrance. A photo of your family in front of a great attraction may be worth a million words, but you’ll spend a lot of time you will never be getting back waiting for that picture to be taken. Skip the photo ops and see what you came there to see.
6. Travel Off-Season
Imagine going to Florida on Spring Break, or to London during the summer. Everybody’s going to be there and if you’re aiming at a crowd-less vacation, then you should try to avoid going to places when they’re most pretty. The off-season is when you should do all your traveling. Besides, nobody’s saying that you should go to Spain in the dead of winter; September is off-season and it’s lovely!
5. Visit During the Week
Weekends are always going to be busy, that’s just the way things are. But if you want to have a quiet vacation with little or no crowds whatsoever, then you should travel during weekdays. You’ll have the entire place to yourself! And on the weekend you’ll be back at home, resting before going back to work, because we all know that going on vacation can be more tiring that working, sometimes.
4. Adjust Meal Times
Restaurants stick to their meal times, but this doesn’t mean that you should too. You don’t have to wait for an hour to get a table available at 12; instead, what you should do is have a snack at 12 and have lunch at 14 when there are more tables available and the crowds are satisfied.
3. Book Everything in Advance
Needless to say that if you want to avoid crowds when traveling then you should book everything in advance. The plane ticket, the hotel room, everything! You can do everything from the comfort of your own home with the use of the fancy Internet; besides, if you book everything in advance, you’ll also get great deals on prices.
2. Avoid School Holidays
As grown men and women we don’t think about school holidays. It’s as if we have erased that piece of information from our memory. Still, think about Spring Break and how crowded every place will be. Also, Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving aren’t times when one should go on holiday for the same reason. Everyone’s doing it!
1. Don’t Walk the Beaten Paths
OK, you might say that going to France without seeing the Eiffel tower is like… well, going to France without seeing the Eiffel tower! Think about your priorities: do you want to see the popular sites which attract tourists or do you want to relax and enjoy nature. If it’s the latter you crave, then find yourself a cool little hidden spot, tucked away from the tourist path and enjoy your vacation.
Do you have any other tips on how to avoid crowds when traveling? Care to share any of them with us and our readers? Share them in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you!
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