Paris on a Budget

October 25, 2012 15 Comments

Making Woopie

With my girlfriend eager to get out and do some exploring in the February Chinese New Year break (and it goes without saying that I am) we’ve narrowed our destination list down to either the warmth of sunny Australia or the frigid beauty of Europe in the winter.

When I was sent a guest post about doing Paris on a budget I was pretty excited, but my interest soon went beyond formatting the post. So, I put on a little Barry White, ran a bubble bath, and this article and my own twisted mind did the bad thing.

What you see below is an ungodly amalgamation of the original post and my own research. May God have mercy on us all.

Paris on a Budget: How to Get the Most out of Your Paris Vacation

Who doesn’t someday dream of taking in the beauty of the Eiffel Tower up close?

Europe has always been an extremely popular tourist destination, but there are some locations in Europe that are more popular than others. France – along with Greece, Italy, and England – has become synonymous with European vacations, and the beautiful city of Paris is often the reason why.

Paris is well-known as the number one tourist destination in the entire world – no small feat when you’re up against the history of Greece or Italy; the natural beauty of Australia; the drawing power of the Disneys; and the wild majesty of Africa. Over 30 million tourists visit the capital of France every single year, and this number continues to grow as more people start to discover all of the wonderful things that Paris has to offer.

Taking a vacation to Paris is not exactly cheap, but there are several ways to plan a vacation to Paris without breaking the bank or scrimping and saving for years. This guide will help anyone plan a great fun filled Paris vacation without spending a small fortune making it happen.

Determine Your Budget

Before you even start thinking about taking a vacation to the great city of Paris, you better know what your budget is. Be realistic! There is no point planning a $10,000 trip to gay Paris if you’re working a checkout. It may not be the vacation you’ve always dreamed about, but it’s entirely possible to have a fantastic time anywhere you go without bankrupting yourself. Trust me – it’s the only way I travel.

When constructing your budget, it should include: spending money, airfare, food, hotels, travel insurance, and the all important shopping money. Or, if you’re a guy, that will probably be booze money. But they’re similar amounts of money. If they’re not – you’re doing it wrong.

You may also need to factor in the cost of transportation throughout the city. Whether it’s public transport, taxis (are you insane), or cycling, you’re definitely going to occasionally need to splash out a bit to get around. Planning your budget is much like shopping for anything else. You know what you can or can’t afford to spend on your vacation. Once you come up with a number, it will be much easier to determine if you can afford the trip.

Preparation is the Key to Staying on Your Budget

Even the most thorough planning won’t prepare anyone for unexpected expenses, but you can save a significant amount of money by making reservations far in advance. This will also help you stay within your budget. Many of the places to stay in France will offer steep discounts for booking far in advance. This can be one of the best ways to save some money on your vacation.

Where Do You Plan on Staying?

There are plenty of places to stay while you are touring the city. Deciding which place to stay in will usually depend on your budget. It’s true that it is an expensive city, but there are still plenty of affordable hotels in Paris. It really comes down to how much you want to spend. There are five star hotels that will treat you like royalty, and there are plenty of places where lodging is relatively inexpensive. Your lodging expenses will most likely make up the bulk of your vacation budget.

Don’t forget that hostels aren’t just for stinky backpackers on their gap year anymore, although families should probably avoid them, as hostels are generally geared towards the under 30 crowd. In that case, home-stay sites like AirBnB offer a remarkably pleasant and affordable alternative to hotels.

drunk backpackers — Not exactly family friendly…

Shopping in Style

No vacation to the capital of France would be complete without taking advantage of some great shopping. The only problem is this: the great shopping in Paris can quickly take a huge bite out of your budget. The whole idea is to enjoy everything that the beautiful city has to offer without maxing out your credit card. Luckily, there is an easy way to shop in style and still stay within your budget.

Many tourists don’t know about the discount shopping tours within the city. Tourists can access all of the greatest shopping secrets that are only known by the locals. These tours are not difficult to find either. Most of the popular hotels in Paris will be able to arrange these money saving shopping tours. Take advantage of these great opportunities so that the city does not take you and your budget into a darkened alley and beggar you.

NB: Perverts, that says ‘beggar’, not ‘bugger’.

Enjoying Fine French Cuisine

Ask somebody to tell you what they’d like to do in Paris and a few things probably pop up. The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre might be principle among them, but dining on French food won’t be far behind. Who hasn’t grown up thinking about sipping fine French champagne while eating extravagant French cuisine?

Escargot — Yeah… I don’t see the appeal in French cuisine…

No vacation to this great city is complete without sampling some of the wonderful foods. There are plenty of places in and around the city where tourists can eat without blowing their budget. Information about these excellent places to eat is available online relatively easily. It also doesn’t hurt to ask some of the locals. Hit up sites like Couchsurfing or Arribaa to get in touch with locals willing (and often eager) to show you their side of the city.

Finding Cheaper Options

We can’t all take the horse drawn carriages and dine at the fanciest restaurants. The idea of standing in line for five or six hours to get into the Louvre or ascend the Eiffel Tower doesn’t exactly ring with appeal either.

It may not be the dream vacation you’ve always used to get you through calls with nagging customers or classes full of screaming brats, but don’t try and shoehorn unaffordable things into your holiday. You can have just as much fun by taking a few detours and finding cheaper (and often more fun) alternatives.

Attend a free classical music performance at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris, relax in the quiet beauty of Plas de Vosges, explore the many architecturally beautiful churches in the city, visit the catacombs (and the cathedral) that inspired the Hunchback of Notre Dame, hook up with a local to try some food away from the tourist traps, hit up a museum or a gallery on the first Sunday of each month for free admission, or find a quiet cafe and do a bit of people watching.

Place des vosges — Relaxing in the Place des Vosges is free

Determined to hit the Louvre? Admission is half price on Tuesdays and Fridays between 6pm and 9.45pm. With crowds substantially reduced, you can find some quiet time to spend with some of humanity’s most prized artworks. Want that stunning view of Paris without the queues at the Eiffel Tower? Grab a bite to eat in the Montparnasse Tower and soak it all in without a thousand tourists jostling you for position.

Don’t forget to do your research. There are plenty of affordable day trips from Paris available.

Vacationing in this great city should be about having a good time that will create memories that last a lifetime. Memories are free and Paris is expensive. The above tips should help you find a nice middle-ground so you can keep the memories and your house.

About the Original Author

Jasmine Swanson is a contributing author who fell in love with the city of Paris at a very young age. She is an American citizen, but she travels to France at least once a year.

About the Man Who Bastardized It

I am Chris. I am awesome. Rwar!

Your Say

Ever been to Paris? What are your tips for doing it without being smothered in a crowd or leaving with only an empty wallet for company?

Guest Post, Portland, United States

5 Things to do in Portland

October 22, 2012 2 Comments

My Love Affair with Portland

If there’s one city in the United States that was meant to be my home someday, it’s Portland. From its fantastic beer and food scene to its wild northern landscapes to the vibrant arts and alternative lifestyle scene – the place just screams CWB. It’s a dream of mine to one day call the beautiful city in the Pacific Northwest home.

I’ve been blessed enough to have visited Portland twice – first in 2008 and again in my recent five week tour of the United States. Both times I’ve eaten my fill of awesome food, drank more than my fair share of microbrew, and spent time catching up and exploring with great friends.

One of these great friends – whom I sadly didn’t get a chance to see during my recent visit – is the beautiful Stacy from over at Stacy Laughs. We met during my ill-fated tour of duty in Busan in 2011 and have stayed in touch over the past year and a half. Recently, she asked if I’d like to feature a wee bit of content about her hometown and I couldn’t imagine why I’d say no.

So, here are Stacy’s favorite five things to do in Portland, Oregon. And damned if I couldn’t agree more with her list.

Take it away, Stacy…

Five Things to do in Portland

Portland, Oregon is a city with many nicknames. Whether you call it the City of Roses, Bridgetown, Beervana, Stumptown, or Rip City, if you visit, you will be sure to expand your waist span. When out of town friends and family visit me, their main complaint is always that they can’t fit enough meals into each day. You won’t be able to eat in every delicious nook from East to West, but here are my suggestions for categories you must be sure to hit.

Food Carts

In the last few years Portland has gone from having a discrete affair to a blown-out passionate romance with food carts. In Portland, almost 500 wood huts and steel Airstreams offer fast, affordable, and (most importantly) good food. The wide variety of cuisine in close proximity beats any of the other major food cart cities. The website Food Carts Portland frequently updates on edibles in pods.

delicious food portland — Photo by Stacy Austin.

It’s hard to narrow it down, but here are a quick five I would recommend:

The Whole Bowl (Brown rice served with “crack sauce” and fresh veggies)
Nong’s Khao Man Gai (Chicken broth cooked rice with poached chicken and soybean sauce)
Koi Fusion (Korean beef galbi and bean sprouts served in a local corn tortilla with a side of kimchi)
The Egg Carton (The best tasting and priced bennie in town)
Fifty-Licks (Hand made ice cream with taste bud shocking treats like jasmine tea ice cream with apricot bits).

Really, ridiculously good food

Portland restaurants don’t carry the pretentious air of requiring reservations several months in advance or dress codes at the door, but food carts aside, Portland has really good food. No Michelin stars (yet) but we are definitely starting to feel the media love with mentions in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and Sunset amongst others.

Andy Ricker, the owner of four –and soon five—dining establishments in Portland opened two places in New York after winning Best Northwest Chef at the 2011 James Beard awards. Gruner serves comfort food with local ingredients with the heart flavors of Middle Europe, while Tabla is a bistro that serves authentic Mediterranean with a modern twist and cleverly mixed drinks.

Booze and Caffeine

Oregon has about 150 microbreweries, 51 of them in Portland, which is more than any other city in the world! A good microbrewery in Portland is literally a stone’s throw away, regardless of where you’re at in the city. Try the biggies Rogue, Widmer Brothers, McMenamins, Full Sail, or one of the countless smaller breweries littered about. You really can’t go wrong in this beer-mazing town.

(Want to see ’em all? Check out The Great Portland Brewery Tour for an idea of how easy it is to arrange a kick-ass brew tour)

Coffee is also an important staple for the Portland diet. Try any of these coffee roasters, which coincidentally have great coffeehouses:

Donuts!

A snobby Portland hipster might roll their eyes at tourists that line up outside of Voodoo Donuts at all hours, declaring, “That place is so five years ago,” but ignore them. Voodoo donuts is fun. Don’t over think waiting in lines or the price. Decide whether you want a maple donut topped with crispy bacon, a glazed donut as big as your head, or a cinnamon treat shaped like a marijuana joint. And, like most Portland establishments, they have a more than decent vegan menu too.

Well, I hope this has served as a brief introduction (or review) of Portland gastronomy. Again, it can be difficult to fit all the meals you want in each day, but if you need help splitting plates, you know where to find me.

About the Author

Stacy Austin is a former ESL teacher now back in her native Portland. If you liked what you saw here or want to know more about Portland or ESL teaching in South Korea, you can visit her blog, Stacy Laughs or follow her on twitter at @stacylaughs.

Your Say

Alright, Portland natives and Portland lovers – how’d she do? No doubt if you’ve visited this city of gastronomical delights you’re going to have your own favorites. Help me out so that visit #3 can be as heart-attack inducing as the two that went before!

estonia, Europe

Guest Post: Time for Tallinn

October 16, 2012 No Comment

Why Tallinn?

Since shrugging off the boring, wet old blanket of Communism, Estonia’s capital has never looked back. It’s now an exciting, chic, and amazingly dynamic city that is nothing short of an architectural jewel in the crown of Eastern European former Soviet satellites. Try saying that ten times fast.

It’s also pretty cheap by the standards of cities in Europe such as Paris, Berlin, and (especially) London, so if you’re stuck for somewhere to head for without breaking the bank, then this stunning metropolis makes the decision a no-brainer. Check out economy car rentals before heading off because a car will get you out into the surrounding countryside as well. The roads in Estonia are pretty good and there are plenty of hidden treasures waiting to be explored there.

A Quick and Dirty History Lesson

Tallinn’s foundations go way back to the mid-twelfth century, with its name meaning ‘Danish Stronghold’ because of its essentially Viking roots. The Danes sold it to Germany in 1347 and until its independence in 1918 it was known by the Teutonic name of Reval. The Old Town has been beautifully restored and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

Under the thumb of Tsarist Russia since 1710 and then of the Soviets; there was an understandable period of decline, but then the old spirit of the city burst back with a vengeance and now it’s a hot destination. But, as I discovered recently, it’s far from being swamped yet and you won’t find yourself gasping for air in crowded streets and historic sites awash with happy snapping tourists. It’s just comfortable for a pleasant stroll.

Pretty Estonian girl — A pretty Estonian girl being all pretty and stuff. Photo by S.K. LO

A Bit of Old World Charm

Tallinn street — The cobbled streets of Tallinn offer a relaxing stroll.

As in most of the older medieval towns and cities littered across Europe, and especially in countries like Germany and Switzerland, the majority of the most important and impressive sights in Tallinn are to be found clustered around the central Town Hall. This, along with the Toompea, can be found in the Old Town, and exploring on foot once you’ve parked in a convenient side street is the best way of getting around.

Tallinn is especially good if you love wandering around winding cobbled streets, as I do. There are quaint little courtyards and spired churches seemingly at every turn here, along with some really fascinating museums that showcase Tallinn’s cultural and historic traditions. There are also plenty of notable buildings to be found on the outskirts of the Old Town, again just a short and easy stroll away.

The next thing I’d recommend is to then get back into the car and head for the eastern part of the city wall, where the impressive Viru Gate is the main access point into the central area of the Old Town. The car is also the easiest way of getting to Kadriorg Park to the east which is perfect for a picnic.

Tallinn is just one of the many cities spread across Eastern and Central Europe which are now coming out of hiding and taking great delight in sharing their unique and often ancient heritage. In the West we’ve probably just had it good for too long and take these things for granted, but in places like Tallinn you sense that the people themselves take enormous pride in their traditions and old buildings and love nothing more than to show them off.

What are you waiting for?

About the Author

David Elliott is a freelance writer who loves to travel, especially in Europe and Turkey. He’s spent most of his adult life in a state of restless excitement but recently decided to settle in North London. He gets away whenever he can to immerse himself in foreign cultures and lap up the history of great cities.

Your Say

Ever been to Estonia? I’ve been fascinated with the place since watching Rufus represent the country a few years ago in Eurovision. If you like a bit of criminally underrated European pop, their track 80s Coming Back is quite catchy.

What other little secret corners of Europe would you recommend? With it looking like Europe may be a possibility in February of 2013, I’d love your suggestions!

Life on the Road

Two Years of Travel & Awesomeness – Happy Birthday, Aussie on the Road

October 13, 2012 6 Comments

Happy birthday to me…

Happy birthday dear Aussie on the Road…

Happy birthday to me!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a shade over two years now since I sat down in my apartment in St Leonards, Australia and started work on this humble little blogging project in an effort to kill some time and find a common interest with a now ex-girlfriend.

Two years, six countries, three relationships, four jobs, five apartments, and countless beers later – the site isn’t only still kicking, but it’s actually helping to fund my travels now. Hell, about 60% of my recent US trip was funded by advertising, media trips, or sweet deals that I discovered through contacts in the industry.

This entire journey has been enlightening, humbling, frustrating, entertaining, and utterly life changing. I’ve met countless wonderful people through the blog – both readers and fellow bloggers. I’ve learned about places I never knew existed and I like to think I’ve helped a few people find their own love of travel whether it was through advice or a little vicarious living.

Pretty girls — Being all Charlie’s Angels with two super talented Filipina travel bloggers in Sydney.

Another blogger recently said to me: “I’m glad to hear you’re involved in the Travel Blogging Calendar project. Now I know it’s legit”.

I’m not sure when I became ‘legit’, but I’m flattered to be a part of such a warm and vibrant blogging community. Here’s hoping I’m still traveling and sharing my tales after two more years.

It’s a Celebration, Bitches!

In the words of Dave Chapelle playing Rick James: It’s a celebration, bitches. I’d love nothing more than to get everybody together for some beers, some KTV/noraebang/karaoke, and a bit of debauchery – but that’s not really possible unless ya’ll feel up to a short jaunt to China.

Instead, I’ve decided to reflect a little on the past two years and share a few of the posts that I feel have defined or best exemplified this crazy, wonderful life I’ve been blessed enough to share with all of you. Bon appetit!

In the Beginning…

It all started, as so many things in a man’s life are wont to do, with a girl. My girlfriend at the time had been working on a healthy living blog and watching her wrangle with CSS, headers, and SEO intrigued me enough to consider launching my own website. While my original plan had been to launch an ill-fated Dungeons & Dragons website, it soon became clear to me that travel was my real passion.

So while DM Downunder never really did manage to get off the ground, Aussie on the Road was born.

Early Trips (and a wee bit of heartbreak)

After spending the first month or so of the site’s life recounting my old adventures in the United States, October through January saw me actually on the road again. A weekend spent learning to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef and exploring Kuranda in north Queensland in October was followed by a ten day whirlwind tour of New Zealand before heading to celebrate New Year’s in Fiji.

scuba diving — Sending my love before descending into the depths.

It wasn’t all zorbing, drinking kava with the natives, and climbing glaciers though. The trip ended with my girlfriend of two years and I breaking up on the road, and while we remain friends and we’ve both found other people – it’s fair to say that the break-up had a huge effect in shaping the next few months of my traveling life.

Back to Korea

In the wake of the break-up, I decided the best thing for me would be to return to teaching ESL in South Korea and the lifestyle of drinking, partying, and doing precious little else that had made my two years in Gwangju so much fun. But you know what they say – you can never recreate a good time in your life. My five months living in Busan were not as awesome as I had hoped they would be.

Riding a bucking bull at ME World in Busan, South Korea

Cherry blossoms and barbed wire in Jinhae, South Korea

While I had some good times attending a cherry blossom festival, exploring the many things to do in Busan, and falling in and out of lust in record time – it’s safe to say that returning to Korea had been a terrible idea. I returned home with my tail between my legs and no real idea what lay ahead of me.

Treading Water

The remainder of 2011 was a period of transition and self discovery for me. Cheesy as it sounds, being back home forced me to confront the elephant in the room – my lifelong battle with depression. While it would be another year before I would share my story in the entry linked to above, my time back in Australia showed me the importance of family as well as confirming for me that I just don’t ‘fit’ in Australia.

Friends in a boat — My Sydney posse in a land-locked boat in Tea Gardens.

Dark Point, Nelson's Bay — Beautiful Dark Point near Tea Gardens. One of the highlights of 2011.

In spite of all of my wonderful friends and my undying love for the country – I just wasn’t made for the 9 to 5 lifestyle. A week spent on picturesque Tangalooma in QLD wasn’t enough to satiate my desire to get on the road again and that lead to…

China 2012

…a return to ESL teaching in an entirely new country. While I had visited Hainan back in 2008, 2012 saw me adjusting to life abroad all over again as I tackled the language gap and a whole new kind of culture shock here in China. Over the past six months I’ve fallen in love with Nanjing, volunteered in rural China, been shipped out to Lianyungang to represent my school, taken part in a Nanjing Olympics, explored distant Xinjiang province, and found time to spend five weeks in the United States.

A yurt along the Karakorum Highway, Xinjiang

Standing outside Disney World — Heather and I at Disney World during my tour of the US.

Oh, and I somehow convinced a pretty American girl to move to China too. But I’ll have to write about that later.

What Does the Future Hold?

As I mentioned, I’ve just been joined here in Nanjing by my girlfriend, Heather. With this being her first real experience abroad – I’m hoping we can fit in as much travel as humanly possible over the next nine months. There’s huge chunks of China still begging to be explored, and I’d personally love to visit a lot more of China before it’s time to find a new stomping grounds.

There’s also rumblings of a month long trip to Europe for next year’s Spring Festival/Chinese New Year, and I’m hoping to finally get my ass to South-East Asia at some point in 2013 as well.

For the site? Hopefully more of the same! The past six months have been the most profitable and the most visited in the site’s history, but I’m aware that there’s more hard work ahead of me. Between helping promote the Travel Blogging Calendar project, working to find the best travel deals I can, and trying to cut down on those nasty guest posts I know you all hate – I’ve got my work cut out for me!

A Quick Top 20

In case you didn’t feel like clicking on all of those shiny, in-text links above – I’ve gone ahead and put together my top 20 favorite/most popular posts for your reading pleasure. I hope you get a kick out of them!

Your Say

A big part of the reason I keep coming back to this blog is because of all of you. I know it’s sounds horrendously cheesy (and I promised myself I wouldn’t cry), but the comments, Tweets, Facebook likes, and shares are a big part of why I still enjoy sharing my adventures now as much as I did two years ago.

What kind of things would you like to see more (or less) of? More test drives? More photography? Top 10s? Let me know what you want to read so I can make it happen.

Thankyou

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to all of the people who keep coming back. I kind of dig being famous, haha. This one ought to help with the coming cold winter nights…

Sexy man (and not unattractive girl) in Fiji.

Great Britain

6 Beautiful Places to Visit in Northern England

October 11, 2012 5 Comments

Brought to you by… A Song of Fire and Ice

It was within about ten minutes of finishing the sixth (and thus far most recent) book in George R. R. Martin’s stellar A Song of Fire & Iceseries that I found myself perched at my computer and poring through countless forums and discussion boards looking for word on when the next volume could be expected.

While reading with increasing frustration that Martin had yet to confirm a publication date more specific than ‘in a few years time’, I stumbled across an interview where the author discussed his inspiration behind the books and how a visit to Hadrian’s Wall in England’s north had lead to the creation of one of the most popular and critically acclaimed titles in modern fantasy.

While I’ll leave in depth analysis of the saga to my new pet project over at Multiple Nerdgasms, I will say that reading about Martin’s sense of isolation and wonder while standing at the former border of the Roman empire inspired me. What follows is the fruit of that inspiration. I hope you enjoy it.

6 Beautiful Places to Visit in Northern England

England’s biggest tourist draws may lie in the south with London, but there’s no shortage of places to visit in northern England by any stretch. Hell, my initial knowledge of British geography came from following the English Super League – so names like Wigan, Leeds, and Bradford are the names I most commonly associated with England before developing a passion for travel.

While it was Hadrian’s Wall that initially put the bug in my brain, my own research and discussions with others have helped me form an enchanting image of northern England. Between chats with my Newcastle raised co-worker and an abundance of suggestions over on the Aussie on the Road Facebook page, I’ve come up with what I think are six of the most beautiful places to visit in northern England.

Hadrian’s Wall

The location that inspired this piece, Hadrian’s Wall once marked the boundary of the Roman frontier and, as such, also marked the boundary of ‘civilization’. It was standing at the wall and realizing this that inspired ‘The Wall’ in George R.R. Martin’s epic, and it’s easy to imagine just how small a man must have felt standing at that wall and looking out into a world full of questions and dangers.

At almost 2,000 years of age and with walking trails stretching for 86 miles through ‘rolling hills, rugged moors, and a dynamic urban landscape’ along which are countless archaeological sites, museums, and tributes to the long dead Roman empire.

For an eager student of history, the Roman empire and all it touched fascinates me – so the opportunity to walk the boundaries of one of history’s most influential empires is one I’m eager to someday take.

St James’ Park

It might seem a bit odd to list a football stadium as one of my beautiful places to visit in northern England, but rarely are form and function meshed as well as they have been at the home of legendary Premier League club, Newcastle United. Immortalized by movies such as Goal! and famous almost as much for their eccentric (and often hard to understand) supporters as for their achievements on the field, there are few more quintessentially northern pastimes than attending a game and seeing the black and white battle the best in world football.

If the lure of seeing football played in one of the oldest stadiums in the country isn’t enough – let’s not forget that Newcastle isn’t a city without its own charms. There’s an abundance of shopping, dining, and cultural options to be found as well as the natural beauty of the stark British coastline.

Speaking of…

Islands of Northern England

I’ve always been drawn to the ocean, and while the beaches of northern England aren’t much to write home about – there are an abundance of beautiful islands as well as stark stretches of coastline. If seeing animals in the wild is of appeal, the historic Farne Islands play host to both puffins and seals every summer. With the chain of rocky islands also boasting a number of picturesque lighthouses, there’s a real haunting beauty to be found.

If history has drawn you to England, look no farther than Lindisfarne with its rich history as a key location in the introduction of Christianity to the British Isles. With churches and other structures dating back as early as the 7th century, the island is known as the ‘jewel in the crown of Northumbria’ and is a must for anybody with an interest in medieval history. While there, don’t forget to grab a mead and rock it old school.

Bamburgh Castle

Described as ‘the finest castle in the country’, historic Bamburgh Castle spans nine acres and is one of the largest still inhabited castles in the United Kingdom. With its lofty view of the rocky coast and the churning seas, it’s easy to transport yourself from the hustle and bustle of modern life and back in time to feudal England for a few moments as you stand on the battlements and soak in the view.

While the entirety of the castle isn’t yours to explore, there’s still enough to give you a glimpse into English history. If history doesn’t get you as metaphorically hard as it gets me – there’s the option of tasting some of the local flavor on site. Not a bad way to take your high tea and scones, eh?

York & Leeds

I wouldn’t have considered the primarily industrial cities of northern England to be considered attractions, but more than one person recommended that both of these cities deserve a visit when considering places to visit in northern England. York, in particular, grabbed my eye with the grim and grisly City of York Dungeons. Maybe it’s the inner nerd conjuring up images of Orc infested warrens and hordes of treasure, but exploring these supposedly haunted dungeons sounds like a fun (albeit tacky) little adventure.

Not into the grim? York Minster is the oldest cathedral in all of northern Europe and there’s no shortage of fine dining or boutique shopping to be found in the city either.

Heading to the home of my beloved Leeds United, shopping enthusiasts can find the home of legendary British chain, Marks & Spencer. If that isn’t your cup of tea (and there’s no shortage of fine tea to be found in England) there’s the option of a gaslight cinema, a number of theatres, and plenty of picturesque walking trails among the buildings and streets of the city.

The Lakes District

I’ve already spoken at great length about this gem of natural beauty in northern England, so the best advertisement for the area would be to take a look at my recent travel daydream post about the Lakes District.

things to do in northern england

Your Say

I’m by no means an expert on northern England, but my appetite has been whet and I’m keen to learn more. Been yourself? Give me your favorite spots so I can update my bucket list and maybe update this post!

Any tips on hotels in northern England or the best restaurants? I’d love those too.

Truth be told, Google wasn’t a whole lot of help. There’s a niche to be filled here, people.

More on my US trip and my recent adventures in China to come over the next few days. Brace for awesomeness!

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Chris

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