If you don't drink what do you do in the evenings on holidays?

[ParisDispatches]

This is a genuine question. We don't do resort holidays so no all inclusive hotels or hotels with evening entertainment.

Most of our holidays are in cities - places like France / Italy.

By day we explore, sightsee etc & in the evenings we love to go for a glass of wine or aperitif, then dinner with wine. Sometimes beer for dh.

After dinner we stroll & find a nice looking place & then we sit & chat & watch the world go by with another glass of wine or two. It's my favourite way to spend an evening.

If you don't drink do you bother going on after dinner or do you go back to the hotel/ apartment?

We have the odd night when we're tired & might not stay out long after dinner but we're active & generally cover a lot of ground during the day.

Well i don’t need an alcoholic drink to have fun… I drink mocktails if I fancy something different but most of the time I’m happy with my Coca Cola. I used to drink when I was like 15 and it did absolutely nothing and tbh tasted shit. Maybe because my grandparents were alcoholics and my dad borderline, I subconsciously know what harm and chaos it can cause, I jus5 don’t like the taste, I’ve tried all sorts.

Depends on the holiday.

city breaks (not been on one in far to long) we often go out, eat, see sights and have a meal in the evening, we might then see some sights late, or go to certain areas, or find a cafe and kick back and watch the world go by.

nothing that requires alcohol. We may or may not have a drink depending on how we feel. Most likely not.

the fact is we don’t do much different to you however the difference being that you see the activity being based around the alcohol whereas we see it as it being the activity in itself.

i would assess your relationship with alcohol and just because it a glass of wine and more sophisticated doesn’t mean it’s a healthier relationship that Barry down the boozer chugging larger

I find it quite sad that it’s your favourite part of the evening and that you can’t understand how others can enjoy a holiday very easily without alcohol.

This is such a weird question and says a lot about you.
We live in Southern Mediterranean. In the evening we look round the artisan shops selling jewellery, traditional ceramics etc. We will get a granita or ice-cream and walk by the sea sit and get something to drink. In the summer everyone is out and about. In we don't want to go out we will stay in and do whatever we want.
Basically alcohol relaxes you and you don't know how to relax without it.

Literally everything you do, except without alcohol. It's wild isn't it! 😂

A better question would be to ask yourself why you think that you couldn’t enjoy your evenings without alcohol

I think op's question is perfectly reasonable. As a lot of posters say on here, the British drinking culture is so deeply engrained and not in a good way. So I think it's understandable for someone who regularly drinks to be curious about what a holiday without not drinking looks like if they are keen to know.

I don't see the need for the vitriolic/ judgemental responses on here. Good for you if you choose not to drink, but i I think support and helpful/ genuine answers would be more beneficial

My holidays (usually European city breaks) tend to be jam packed with lots of sightseeing/walking etc. My body doesn’t react well with alcohol so it’s not something I tend to risk with a busy itinerary.

Me and my partner don’t drink on holiday and it’s something we struggle with on an evening. Loud bars where we can’t hear each other speak whilst sober are not really our idea of fun so we do tend to get back to the room early to chill before sleeping. I feel judged for not spending on drinking as much as I would if it was alcohol.

I imagine summer holidays are easier as it’s not dark as early or as cold so you can walk around/sit outside in bars.

I don't drink (often) these days. I still go out to bars and do thee same as of I was when drinking, just have alcohol free drinks

We will usually just go back to the hotel room, get showered, into pajamas and read in bed or watch Netflix.

We tend to pack a lot of sightseeing into our holidays and are generally up quite early, so by the end of the day we just want to get comfy and chill out.

What a strange question. Are you saying you can't enjoy yourself without drinking alcohol and wouldn't go out in the evening if you didn't drink?

I do drink alcohol but don't drink every evening on holiday and still have fun.

We holiday abroad 6 times a year and don't drink alcohol but we do drink or we would die.. surely this a stupid question.. we do the same as you. Restaurant with a sparkling water.. bar with a sparkling water... sit and people watch from a waterfront cafe with a sparkling water.. we drive on all holidays.. we explore we sight see.. we don't stay in hotels but private villas..
But gosh just because we don't drink alcohol, doesn't mean we don't enjoy ourselves.
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Cocaine

I just want to say here that I think everyone is being a bit unfair regarding your question. I genuinely don’t love bars and pubs etc when not drinking so I think your question is very valid. Bars wouldn’t survive if we all drank soft drinks and it almost makes me feel guilty? I don’t like the sugary taste left in my
mouth, even with alcohol I opt for sugar free/low sugar mixers. So I’m really limited to waters, cordial or Diet Coke!!

So contrary to many other comments, no I don’t do the same as what you do just with soft drinks. I go for walks, find late night shopping, go back to the room and chill out, see if there’s any sights which are good at night and maybe stop for 1 soft drink somewhere (or feel pressured into 1 alcoholic one). I also start my days early, usually at my first activity/sight by 9am

I don't drink... same holiday, just not with the alcohol in the cup

I do drink, but not very often. We have 2 small children and on holiday when we have had a busy day I can't really be bothered!

We usually sit on the balcony or terrace outside our room/apartment and play cards, chat or just read our books separately. We might share a big bag of crisps and have an iced tea or something (it tastes way better on holiday).

Watch TV, play cards and board games. I'm usually exhausted if we've been out and about so probably fall into bed around 9pm...

I holiday on my own, so I’ll have dinner about 8.30, one glass of wine or a Diet Coke, a carafe of water, three courses and watch the passagiata. Then back to the hotel and read, or a little walk.