Escape Hunter Planning Tips on How Not To Miss Less-known Unique Attractions

Tips on How Not To Miss Less-known Unique Attractions

Do you always aim for the top attractions at a given destination?
You can dig deeper, there's much more to enjoy than most people think.

There's always more to discover anywhere than just visiting the top attractions. Travel guides and pocket books will show you the most famous places and will omit a plethora of attractions.
If you have a short stop-over, if you can't get to the top attractions for some reason or, then you can still do a lot of other things, like for instance...

Look up the local architects and artists

Some of the most beautiful buildings get away from the sight of visitors, but if you know what's locally special, you can go for it much easier!

Sometimes it's not the biggest attractions that are the most beautiful.
For example, I was impressed to discover Montaner's beautiful buildings in Barcelona... While travel guides emphasized mainly on Gaudí's creations, I discovered many others beauties were designed by Montaner.

My trips brought me to places less-frequented by mass tourism, but not less interesting in terms of attractions. Some of these were found on peripheral areas, in backstreets, some even decaying...

Check out the churches, temples, mosques

Religious buildings tend to look special. But don't forget, getting into mosques, for instance is not allowed to non-Muslims.

Wherever religion played a crucial role in the local communities' lives, there are a plethora of attractive religious buildings to find and admire.

Even the most "usual" local churches in Norway can look very special to someone from Hong Kong and vice-versa... A typical temple in Thailand will be very special to a European.

Ports, marinas, yacht ports

Port buildings are sometimes beautiful old creations (Valencia, Barcelona, Funchal impressed me) and besides that, you can admire the ships.
Whenever I visit a city that has a port, I don't want to miss the local marinas and ports.

Skylines

Although some cities aren't famous for their skylines, seeing their panorama might still be an interesting experience.

Cities are surprisingly different from "up there". I've found some cities almost unrecognizable when vieweing them from higher ground.

From high-situated points I was able to see the cities' layout, the architectural contrast, the natural elements in and around (mountains), lots and lots of new things that I could not see from "down there"!
Skyline viewing is one of my favourites, a totally new perspective!

In order to get a glimpse of it, I seek a high spot like a mountain or hill, high-rise building, tower, regardless whether there are specifically-created viewpoint facilities or not...

When I was in Athens and Alicante I knew they're not as famous for their panorama as Dubai or Hong Kong, but I still found their skylines among the best things to have seen there!

Business districts

The latest modern architecture can be impressive.
Although, most new constructions are mere boxes of steel and glass, many new business districts struggle to bring new elements of design forwards.
The business districts, modern shopping malls and modern train stations can be attractive to curious travelers.

Just to mention a few of the ones that I saw: the Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre (Lisbon, Portugal), the Central Business District (Singapore).

Explore the urban river banks

Walk along the main river that passes through the city. Buildings can be admired from the distance and because there is distance, you will take photos of entire lines of buildings much easier!
Plus: the bridges... Cities like Budapest are very famous for their bridges (there, they constitute a primary attraction). But even less-known bridges can be interesting to visitors.
The old 19th and early 20th century bolted steel bridges in Europe and North America are particularly beautiful with their vintage look, romantic even!

Throughout history, cities naturally flourished along rivers. And that's why walking along the rivers can be such an uplifting experience!

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