Not leaving the hotel when on holiday

[LaDamaDeElche]

Do you go and see things when travel to a different country, or just stay in the hotel? I get it if you're doing a week all inclusive in Spain or something, that people want to just unwind and everything is paid for, but how about if you travel further. My dad has just been to the Caribbean and didn't leave the hotel in two weeks. He always does this - Mexico, Dubai, Greece etc - never even venturing out to a local restaurant. They usually go to the same hotel chain too, so it's like the same holiday over and over, but just travelling for more hours 😂 They just drink, eat, sunbathe and repeat. They've been to some beautiful countries and just seen the airport and the hotel. It seems so weird to me, but maybe it's normal and something a lot of people do.

Same with Tenerife - the scenery is just stunning in lots of parts of the island. Masca was breathtaking (and slightly terrifying to drive to!).

The volcanic landscapes are just so varied and impressive.

We also did a private stargazing tour one evening where we sat above the clouds on the side of the volcano, watching the sunset with a bottle of cava, while our guide set up a professional grade telescope a little way away, so we could then look at the moon and planets. Unfortunately it was a full moon, which, while great for looking at the moon, didn't make it useful for looking at the milky way.

That's on top of the eco tour boat trip and a day trip to La Gomera too.

There's so much to do in the Canaries (Ok, maybe not Fuerteventura!).

We stopped in Majorca for a day trip on a cruise last year and I'd forgotten how amazing the scenery is there too and Palma is a fantastic city with a lot of history.

Anyone that thinks the Canaries and Balearics are just for sun-bathing lager louts is very, very wrong indeed.

I don't get why you'd travel to another country and not see beyond the hotel, bar, and pool. It's quite sad, and pointless. But warmer than the UK perhaps.

Same goes for all inclusive, though those holidays are my idea if hell anyway.

My ex was a bit like that. He wasn't remotely interested in the culture or the sights of another country.

He likes to go abroad to places where they had English/British bars and restaurants.

His favourite place and where he had taken his children every year for over ten years was Port de Pollensa in Majorca.

He knew nothing about the history or the culture and was only interested in the English/British restaurants and bars!

The second holiday every year was Disney World in Florida where they did the same things there year in and year out!

I found it bizarre.

Just before we split up we went to Prague and all he wanted to do was go to an Irish pub!

I just went off and did my own sightseeing and restaurants and it was the final nail in the coffin of the relationship.

I like to eat in local restaurants.
Yes of course you do and just like a zillion other tourists you’re all looking for the one the “ locals eat in”. You’re all there with a few guys from the neighbourhood who are busily ignoring the tables of annoying couples from the villas . You aren’t the first to hire bikes to explore or get on a train to the next town.
If TripAdvisor is any indication , everyone wants to head to somewhere everyone else is highly rating
Don’t kid yourself you’re any better than the Ops dad who is just enjoying the sun, pool and stress free resort.
I’ve lived abroad in the home of my foreign boyfriend , I’ve worked abroad illegally, I’ve back packed round Asia and horrors “ done a cruise”. My experience tells me that aside from a very few adventurous types most people do the same stuff as everyone else in their social circle on holiday.

I visited Pompeii early this year, it was heard a of people looking at and listening about the history of the place.

it’s somewhere we had wanted to go, the guide was bored stiff, the heat even in May was too much and it all looked very similar

sadly tourists places aren’t always any better than staying in your hotel n a sun lounger imo

I definitely agree with what your saying, why go all that way when you could literally be anywhere in the world.

We have done both, 95% of the time even when we go AI we have a few days out. I don’t see much point in visiting somewhere and not seeing some of the local area, however we have booked a few trips where we want total relaxation (no more then a week) and usually book somewhere we have been before and explored well. It allows me to relax without feeling like we are missing out on something and also helps if we’ve been to the hotel that we can relax from the minute we arrive, we don’t need to get our barrings, find the best place for a drink, locate the quiet bars etc. We can just step straight into the break.

I can't imagine just staying in the hotel.
The nearest we did to that were Nielsen holidays where the whole point is the watersports.

Other hols are in cooler weather for sightseeing. We did once stay in an AI place in Turkey but it being AI was accidental, we spent all the time visiting places like Ephesus, Miletus and Priene.

But holidays are a you do you thing, I suppose, each to their own.

We visited Pompeii some years ago and it was very interesting experience, though we were based on the Venetian Riviera.

I don't care for holidays on sun loungers, tanning, drinking and that sort of thing. I like to be doing something active; water sports, and other activities, and sight seeing.

We visited Pompeii some years ago and it was very interesting experience

Yes - DH and I went before we had DD, then when she was 10, and we're thinking of going again next year - Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri, amalfi coast, train to Paestum which is wonderful...we'd go at Easter or October, read up and watch videos before we went and not drag round with a guide.

That's unfair on guides... a good one, eg someone who is or has been an archaeologist at that sort of site, can obviously be very interesting- but then we'd go back by ourselves to wander and wonder some more.
People are all different!

Never leaving the hotel isy idea of a holiday from hell !

We went all inclusive to Mexico this year - first all inclusive since having children as our eldest didn’t come for the first time, so we were a 4, which made it work!

We were there 10 days and did one full day trip to Chichen Itza and one half day trip more locally where we did swimming with turtles (in the wild) and snorkelling through the cenotes by torchlight. They were the absolute highlights of our trip!

I didn’t want to miss out on food and drink we had paid for (we only missed one lunch) but my reasoning was if we never left the resort, we may as well have gone to Spain and saved a fortune!

However when we go to Florida we get free accommodation as part of a timeshare someone we know owns (once every few years) and we don’t really leave the Disney bubble. We’ve done other parts of the state at other times and seen other things, but generally we are there for a busy holiday with the teens loving the parks so I guess we don’t explore much on those trips!

I tell you why I hate them, because they will be the people who are down at the crack of dawn to put a towel on a sun lounger. Then they will bimble back and forth between pool, bar, room and restaurant keeping their spot at the pool the entire time. We never spend more than a couple of hours around the pool, there can be dozens of of unused sun lounges covered in towels for the entire 2 hours, while we're perching our stuff on one plastic chair, commandeered from the bar area. We've taken to going to resort hotels that are not frequented by British or Irish tourists. Much more relaxed.

Personally, I love getting out and exploring whenever I travel, even if I’m staying somewhere comfortable. When I stayed at hotel sydney central, I enjoyed the convenience but still wanted to experience the city itself. There’s something about wandering through local spots, trying different foods, and just seeing what makes each place unique. For me, a balance works best—some downtime at the hotel to recharge, but also plenty of time out and about to make the most of the trip.

I went a few years ago. It was absolutely amazing. So was Herculaneum. We didn’t have a guide, we just wandered around on our own, soaking it all in. It’s best to get there as early as possible and avoid the peak season.

Each to their own but I think it's such a waste.

We went to the carribbean to an AI as that was cheaper than just booking a flight. We stayed 2 nights, went off with a hire car and stayed another place then went to a different island for a week and them went back to AI for night before flight.

People sat on the same bar stools as when we left who hadn't left the hotel.

It would drive me mad not to leave the resort.

We've never done AI again.

I went on a nile cruise, which is a small riverboat, about 80 guests and a tiny pool.
The attraction is that you transverse the Nile then travel to see the wonderful temples based a few miles from each port early in the morning say 6am to 12 then sail during the hottest part of the day.

A few nights we stopped to do more sightseeing in the evening or else there was some fun but quite cheesy entertainment.
The food was good - but the point of the trip was to visit the landmarks.

There were 6 people on our boat who never got off! They just sailed down a river for a week.

Speaking to them they liked the relaxation, they didn't seem to have any disabilities that would make sightseeing difficult.

The Nile is beautiful but it doesn't really change, you would think there are better river cruises to choose if you just fancy a float and don't want a big cruise ship. For 2 couples they'd been 3 times and had never seen any of the temples.

It still blows my mind when I think of it.

The nile cruise people who never got off the boat...that's just bizarre.