Bargain destinations and the cheapest places to travel


Old Travel Assumptions Die Hard

October 4th, 2009 Posted in Cheap Asia Travel, Cheap Latin America Travel, Destination reports, General, Travel adventures, Travel bargains

Once a place becomes a pariah destination, it’s pretty hard to dig out of that hole. Blame it on sensationalist cable TV or our brain’s constant search for patterns and shortcuts, but once war-torn regions stay that way in people’s minds even after a decade of peace.

There’s a great piece on this subject on MSNBC.com from Richard Bangs, travel show host and eloquent author of a few books I’ve reviewed at Perceptive Travel including Quest for the Kasbah. It’s called Lifting the veil on verboten vacation spots and is about places that sound far scarier than they really are.

Many of these spots are some of the best travel bargains around though, partly because of economics: if nobody but hardy backpackers and adventure junkies will go, prices stay at a level those travelers are willing to pay. So while you may want to give the capital of Honduras a pass this month, here are some spots featured in The World’s Cheapest Destinations highlighted in the article above that are a good bet, all suffering from long-outdated assumptions:

  • Granada, Nicaragua
  • Annapurna region of Nepal
  • Darien Gap of Panama/Colombia

Others include Sarajevo in Bosnia and Ghat, Libya.

Be sure you’re with the right travel partner though. Richard says people avoid the Snake River in Manitoba, Canada during the summer for its reputation of being thick with mosquitoes. He says that’s true, but the wildlife made up for it. Not so with his wife. “It was the most delightful river trip for me; my wife thought it the worst trip of her life. When we got home, we divorced.”

Related posts:

  1. Don’t Be a Victim of Others’ Wrong Assumptions
  2. New Reasons to Visit Nepal
  3. How the Travel Dollar Fared Last Year
  4. Where Your Travel Dollars Are Still Worth Something
  5. Where the Travel Bargains Are This Year
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  1. 4 Responses to “Old Travel Assumptions Die Hard”

  2. By Mike on Oct 5, 2009

    Is the Darian Gap actually passable? I’ve never heard anything about that…

  3. By Mike on Oct 6, 2009

    I think the article meant you could visit the Darian Gap, not machete your way through it.

  4. By tim on Oct 21, 2009

    Yes, to visit parts of it, not to cross.

  5. By Chris on Oct 21, 2009

    I was in Granada a few years ago. Only stayed a few days, really beautiful but there was still a menace in the air at night – it wasn’t recommended that you ventured out on your own at night.

    I went through Managua and that looked like the strangest cities ever. The centre was disserted, which only wrecks leftover from a big earthquake and the Sandinista era. A niche tour in the making!

    Annapurna – I’m surprised that people aren’t flocking back to this one – it was well busy 10 or so years ago

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