No island has been more vocal about the impact of overtourism this summer than Mallorca. The Balearic island has long bewitched Britons with its winning mix of sun, white-sand beaches and bright-blue Mediterranean vistas. But, as its popularity has grown, so have house prices. And, in 2023, the numbers of passengers passing through Palma airport reached an all-time record of 31 million.
If Mallorca is off the cards, switch your focus to a destination offering 300 days of sun a year and similarly gorgeous coastlines and mountains: Albania. Tourism minister Mirela Kumbaro is aiming to make the country a “champion of tourism” by 2030, so you can expect a heartfelt welcome. And the reasons for visiting are many: the dazzling beaches and crystal waters of Himare on the Albanian Riviera, beauty spots such as Lake Ohrid, and a laid-back feel in terracotta-roofed villages topped with Byzantine churches. Albania is getting easier to reach, too, with the recent expansion of the airport in Tirana and a new airport in the south (Vlora) set to open in spring 2025.
Near the pine-scented Spile Beach in Himare, the sea-facing Geo & Art Boutique Hotel has smart B&B doubles from £80.
Swap Venice for Ascoli Piceno 
Piazza del Popolo is one of Italy’s loveliest squares (Photo: Getty)
Venice has faced skyrocketing numbers of visitors for some time now, with 5.7 million arrivals in 2023. In summer, you can’t often see the canals for the hordes trying to photograph them. This year, Italy’s “floating city” has trialled a €5 (£4.20) day-trip fee on certain days and brought in measures limiting tourist groups to 25 people. But critics say the entry charge has failed to deter tourists.
If you like Venice’s Renaissance palazzi and piazzas, but not the crowds, you’ll adore Ascoli Piceno. Hidden in the Le Marche region, just an hour’s drive south of Ancona, the city of 100 towers and 50,000 people seduces with a proper shot of untouristy Italy. Built from pale travertine marble and capped off with the late-medieval Chiesa di San Francesco, the Piazza del Popolo is one of the country’s loveliest squares. As it glows gold after dark, its cafes and arcades are perfect for an aperitivo and the evening ritual of the passeggiata. And, when you tire of the town, the wild, flower-carpeted mountains of Monti Sibillini National Park are close by.
Centred around a loggia and with vaulted, antique-sprinkled rooms, the Palazzo Guiderocchi offers a slice of style on the cheap with B&B doubles from £70.
Swap Austria’s Hallstatt for Slovenia’s Lake Bohinj 
Bohinj Lake is still under most Britons’ radar (Photo: Getty)
It’s not only the Med revolting against overtourism. But a yodel away from Salzburg in the Austrian Alps and sitting prettily on the shores of a startlingly turquoise lake, Hallstatt was the inspiration for Arendelle in the Disney blockbuster Frozen. Last year, the town shot into the headlines, with residents up in arms about tourist numbers, which reached up to 10,000 visitors per day (versus a population of just 859). They put up a fence to screen off a popular viewpoint that hoovered up TikTok likes and blocked the mountain tunnel. Enough was enough.
For a similar idyllic lake backdrop without the masses, why not try Lake Bohinj in Slovenia? Deep in the mountains of Triglav National Park in the country’s northwest, this forest-rimmed, glass-blue stunner has soul-stirring views of the Julian Alps and relatively few tourists. Though still under the radar, it’s just an hour’s drive from the capital, Ljubljana. For a gulp of crisp mountain air and views that will take your breath away, head up to 1535m-high Vogel.
Rent a tent at lakefront Camp Bohinj in Ukanc, where activities include canoeing, kayaking and visits to Alpine dairy farms.
Swap Lanzarote for La Gomera 
La Gomera offers a taste of the Canary Islands before the rise of mass tourism (Photo: Maria Maar/Westend61/Getty)
Lanzarote made headlines last year when one of Britain’s best-loved Canary Islands declared itself a “tourist-saturated area”, with its president, María Dolores Corujo, calling for “higher-quality tourism”. Its residents can afford to be choosy: a record 3.1 million holidaymakers descended on the volcanic isle in 2023, equating to a whopping 50 tourists for every local. In 2024, anti-mass tourism protests took the debate to a new level.
But that doesn’t mean ditching the Canaries entirely. A ferry ride from mega-popular Tenerife – and with riveting views of cloud-wreathed Mount Teide – La Gomera delivers the same volcanic beauty, clear blue skies, subtropical lushness and glittering black-lava playas whipped by Atlantic waves. Wild and dramatic, La Gomera is a glimmer of the Canaries before the rise of tourism.
The primeval laurel forests and ragged peaks of the island’s Unesco World Heritage Garajonay National Park are Jurassic Park stuff. Getting there is easy: Fred Olsen ferries run between Los Cristianos on Tenerife and San Sebastián on La Gomera.
Set in San Sebastián‘s tropical gardens, Parador de la Gomera has an historic flair, an Atlantic-facing pool and romantic doubles from £123.
Swap Paris for Nancy 
Nancy is modelled on Versailles (Photo: Getty)
Paris gets all the love, but to enjoy it means facing the tourist crush. In 2023, 21.6 million domestic tourists and 25.9 million international visitors flocked to the French capital, and that’s only set to rise in 2024 with the city hosting the Olympics.
Give madding crowds at the Eiffel Tower and Louvre the slip and instead take the train to Nancy (around 1–2 hours from Paris or Strasbourg). The former capital of Lorraine, this petite, walkable and regal city is a treat. Modelled on Versailles, it blows first-timers away with its immaculately landscaped gardens, cultural buzz and opulent, Unesco-stamped trio of squares. Loveliest of the lot is baroque Place Stanislas, an eyes-on-stalks vision in pale stone, entered through gilded gates and presided over by the opera house and Musée des Beaux-Arts (pop inside to admire Daum crystal and works by Tintoretto, Perugino, Picasso and Monet). For lunch in art-nouveau style, head to Brasserie Excelsior.
Right in the heart of town, the bijou 17th-century Hôtel de Guise has elegant doubles from £74.
Source link : https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/quieter-alternatives-santorini-mallorca-no-tourist-protests-3195985
Author :
Publish date : 2024-07-29 15:47:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
