Before setting out on our latest sabbatical – We thought it would be cool to make a list of our Favourite Travel Destinations – before seeing a ton of new places.
That way when we get home, we can compare our old favourites with the all new places we’ve been to on our most recent trip & see if the list has changed at all.
We spent 10 awesome weeks in Europe in 2010 and we’ve been on a few short trips to Asia before…
But none of that compares to the journey were about to take.
Here’s Our Top 5 List of All-Time Favourite Travel Destinations…
Indonesia – Bali
We live in Perth, Western Australia, so for us Bali is super close to home.
A short 3 hour plane ride to Denpasar airport (we can get return flights for under $100 with Air Asia).
Allowing 30 mins or so to get through customs & 10 mins for the cab ride to the hotel – we can easily be at our hotel, poolside, Bintang in hand within 4 hours of leaving home.
Hands down our favourite spot for a quick getaway.
Some of our favourite things to do in Bali
- Quad Biking
- Massages
- Amazing Restaurants & Bars
- Scuba Diving
Thailand – Phuket
The one & only time we visited Phuket we had an amazing time.
You already know why Thailand’s so appealing – Warm Weather, Beaches & Food ring any bells? (and all of it can be done in Thailand on a budget)
We’re looking forward to seeing a lot more of Thailand on our upcoming trip.
Some of our favourite things to do in Phuket
- Scuba Diving
- Elephant Riding
- Thai Food
- Beaches
Spain – San Sebastian
San Seb is a beautiful little town nestled in the Bay of Biscay, in Spain’s Northern coast – just 20 mins or so from the French border.
One of the last places we visited before flying home from Europe in 2010 – San Seb left us with some special memories.
Only intending to stay a few nights, we found ourselves unwilling to leave and ended up there for 11 nights in total.
One of our highlights was hiring a car and taking a day trip to Laguardia a tiny fortified town in the nearby wine region of la-Rioca. (more on laguardia in a future post)
Some of our favourite things to do in San Sebastian
- Long sleep-ins
- Midday Siestas
- Surfing lessons
- Eating Pinchos (tapas)
- Drinking Sangria
Switzerland – Interlaken
Switzerland never made it into our original travel plans.
But we ended up diverting from our travel route to catch up with close friends. (How often do you get to go crazy with your friends in Switzerland)?
We did some crazy adrenaline sports & explored the local mountains and villages on quad bikes – we even yodled from the top of one the mountains we conquered on our quad bikes
Yodle from Swiss Mountain Top (cross that off the bucket list)
Some of our favourite things to do in Interlaken
- Quad biking
- Hang gliding
- Canyoning
- Basically any other death-defying adventure sport you can think of 🙂
Germany – Berlin
Berlin is a 100% unique city. There’s a buzz about the city that’s difficult to describe to people, or put your finger on.
Some put it down to the people of Berlin trying to shake its dodgy past and make a new name for itself.
Whatever it is – We love it.
Some of our favourite things to do in Berlin
- Walking tour of the city
- Visit the bunker where Hitler shot himself (now just a car park)
- Get your passport stamped at Checkpoint Charlie
- Enjoy some of Berlins “unique” nightlife
Croatia
Another beautiful country with a checkered past. We found the people (mainly the blokes to be a bit cold) but we didn’t have any major problems – except for the Plitvice Lakes incident.
The islands are unforgettable – on Omis you can even trek up to an old pirate stronghold. pretty cool.
We did an 8 day sailing trip around the Islands departing from Split on the mainland. It’s cheap. It’s beautiful. It’s fun.
Definitely deserves consideration if your planning to go backpacking through Europe.
We’re looking forward to adding to our ultimate travel destinations list as we see more & more of the places we plan to visit.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great blog, Marc. I personally only been Phuket, it is nice place but bit commercial to me. Souvenir or good relative expensive compare with Bangkok.
Interlaken always my favourite. Do you go Jungfrau?
Thanks Ken, true… in general I found the islands to be more expensive than Bangkok. Didn’t get up to Junfrau, I did go canyoning and hang gliding though 🙂