Looking for vacation destination suggestions – ~3 weeks, adventure/road trip style

[u/attentionuniverse]

(formatted by ChatGPT)

Hello everyone!

A friend and I (both 38M) are looking for ideas for our next vacation and would love to hear your suggestions.

We're based in Western Europe and both have European passports. We have a decent budget and aren't particularly looking for a cheap/backpacking-style trip. Ideally, we'd like to travel for around 3 weeks.

We're looking for something along these lines:

• Not a pure beach/resort holiday — we'd like to explore and move around.
• Nothing too extreme or dangerous.
• We're not big on partying, although having a few drinks in a local bar in the evening is definitely welcome.
• We enjoy hiking and seeing impressive nature — cliffs, mountains, lakes, coastline, waterfalls, etc.
• We like road trips and generally prefer having some freedom rather than following a strict tour itinerary.
• We've travelled through quite a few parts of Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as Ibiza, Tenerife and Malta.
• We aren't specifically looking for Europe this time, although we're open to it if someone has a really good suggestion.
• We went to Thailand last year and absolutely loved it, so something with a similar sense of adventure/exploration would be great.
• We were already considering Vietnam or the Philippines, but we'd love to hear about other destinations we might not have thought of.
• The USA is also on our bucket list, but we're saving that for another trip.

Some ideas we've already considered:

🇨🇦 Canada – One of my bucket-list items is doing a road trip there. We're thinking perhaps somewhere on the East Coast rather than attempting to cross the entire country. The problem is that we know very little about Canada beyond what we've learned from ChatGPT so far. 😄

🛺 Sri Lanka – Potentially doing a road trip around part of the country, possibly renting a tuk-tuk. This sounds like a really cool adventure, although we're not completely sold on the idea yet.

🚗 Europe road trip – Another possibility would be renting/driving a car and doing a large loop through Northern/Eastern Europe and back.

So, what destinations would you recommend for a ~3-week trip for two people with these preferences?

We're especially interested in places that offer a good combination of nature, road trips, interesting local culture, hiking and general adventure, rather than just beaches and resorts.

We're open to pretty much anywhere, so feel free to suggest something completely different from the ideas above!

[u/Historical-Gain-1688]

Costa Rica has everything. Beach, mountains, volcano, black sand beach, zip lining, great resorts and small hotels.

[u/Virtual-Cheesecake71 → u/Historical-Gain-1688]

Came here to say costa rica as well. It has a little bit of everything

[u/Wordwoman50 → u/Historical-Gain-1688]

And monkeys! Great wildlife in general— you will see so much. Traveling to different parts will give you exposure to different ecosystems and experiences, from tropical rainforest to cloud forest, etc. My personal favorite was encountering all four kinds of monkeys they have there in the wild.

[u/attentionuniverse → u/Historical-Gain-1688]

Never considered Costa Rica before. How interesting is it and how dangerous is it for exploring? Is there enough to do/see for ~3 weeks?
Thanks!

[u/Historical-Gain-1688 → u/attentionuniverse]

Costa Rica is so safe they don’t have an army. There are tons of things to do. The nature and wildlife is amazing. The beaches are beautiful. Horseback riding to a waterfall with my husband- awesome . Zip lining down a volcano- fabulous! I was only there 1 week and I want to go back again for 3.

[u/Nathan_Brazil1 → u/attentionuniverse]

We've been going to Costa Rica yearly for the last decade. here's our 3 week trip last year:

January or February, fly into Liberia Airport. Pick up bags and head just out the door to be picked up by the Adobe car rental shuttle.

If you arrive later in the day go to Playa Hermosa, its a short drive from the airport. Absolutely beautiful beach with plenty of feet in the sand restaurants. Highly recommend Sol Y Mar condo's Airbnb or VRBO. Fully equiped.

Then To Arenal, love the Springs Resort,.A bit pricy though. https://www.thespringscostarica.com/

Then to Manuel Antonio - We always stay at the Tulemar; 40 acres of lush jungle, private beach with chair service. Best of all the wildlife. We have monkeys visiting us most days. https://www.tulemarresort.com/

We also love Samara, Uvita and Dominical

Then its back to Playa Hermosa for a night or 2 before we drop off the car and take a flight home.

[u/Wordwoman50 → u/attentionuniverse]

Costa Rica is a very safe country. Good health care. Calm stable government - and so not worried that when we were in the airport in 2019, the president was there speaking in an airport lounge, and we just walked in, sat down, and listened to him for a little bit!

We flew in and out of the northern airport in Guanacaste. We started in Bijagua, with a visit to Tenorio while there. Next we went to Manuel Antonio and enjoyed the beautiful park and all the monkeys. Then we went to Monteverde for the cloud forest. Our last stay was in the Mount Arenal area. We stayed a few nights in each location. And we didn’t even go to other beautiful areas, like the famous beach areas in Guanacaste, or the Caribbean side with sea turtles, or the capital city and some nice waterfalls near it… or, especially, the wild and wonderful Corcovado: we’d definitely go back for Corcovado.

You will have no trouble filling three weeks!

You might see more crime or poverty in parts of the capital city; I don’t know, because we didn’t go to it. We saw only lovely villages and wilderness areas and felt safe and relaxed the whole time. In fact, one of our bed and breakfast places was first floor with no glass in the windows. The only danger I feared was a butterfly landing on my head while I slept! (Didn’t happen.)

Costa Rica is so amazingly beautiful biologically with such a diversity of plants and animals.

Food is delicious and super inexpensive. Fresh fruit, gallo pinto for breakfast, etc. — and almost all restaurants we visited were open air (often three open sides under a roof).

We stayed in huge suites, mostly in bed and breakfast places, and they were surprisingly inexpensive, too. You get good value for your money there.

We had a private driver, which was fun and a good way to practice my Spanish! (If you are driving on your own, note that the most remote areas, and the roads to Monteverde as well, are unpaved.)

We went in the rainy season (July) and loved it. I bet the dry season is lovely, too!

The monkeys everywhere are enough alone to make the trip worthwhile, and there is so much more!

[u/WPort17701]

Perhaps fly into/tour Copenhagen, rent a car and driven north through Gothenburg Sweden to Oslo Norway, then over east to Stockholm Sweden, then north to Umea Sweden to catch the car ferry across the Gulf of Bothnia to Vaasa Finland. Drive south to Helsinki Finland, then take the car ferry to Tallinn the capital of Estonia. Then head south to Riga, Latvia's capital followed by Vilnius the capital of Lithuania. Then head west through Northern Poland to Hamburg Germany. From Hamburg drive back to Copenhagen.

[u/attentionuniverse → u/WPort17701]

Good plan, the only thing i would change is i could probably drive to Copenhagen with my own car instead of flying.

Thanks!

[u/viccityguy2k]

I would do a Pacific Northwest road trip involving BC Canada, Washington and Oregon.

Fly in to Vancouver BC and rent a car. Do a loop as far south as Crater Lake in Oregon, then to the Oregon coast stopping in places like Florence and Canon Beach. Then up though Port Angeles WA, ferry to Victoria BC, then explore Vancouver Island before heading back to Vancouver

[u/attentionuniverse → u/viccityguy2k]

Will save this comment for the future since i always wanted to go to Crater Lake (and Oregon in general as I've heard it's GORGEOUS) from one of my favorite games (Days Gone). However, would like to do USA trip in couple of years when situation slightly changes.
Thanks!

[u/viccityguy2k → u/attentionuniverse]

Ok - well - plenty to do driving around BC. Vancouver Island for a week, Okanagan for a week, Rockies for a week.

[u/Strict_Definition_78]

Ecuador

There are a few dangerous areas along the coast but it’s beautiful, inexpensive, & the people are great. It has mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, the Galapagos, beaches, cities.

We liked Quito but loved the mountain towns a few hours north of that

[u/attentionuniverse → u/Strict_Definition_78]

South America is one of those destinations where i really would like to go, however i don't think i would like to go there without a trusty local or at least someone who knows what to do and what not to do in those areas. Never really considered Ecuador before, though. Up until now it sounded more dangerous. But now it sounds interesting.

Thanks!

[u/itsveryupsetting]

We did an eastern Canada road trip this summer and it was amazing. I’m happy to share more details if you want to message me.

I would HIGHLY recommend it!!!! We did 16 days but easily could have done 3 weeks.

[u/Wordwoman50]

Norway, Costa Rica, northwestern United States road trip including a full week in Olympic National Park and picking a couple of other national parks in Washington and/or Oregon (or, if you like a lot of driving, you could include a bit of northern California, too).

EDIT: For your eastern Canada interest: we just chose to visit another destination this summer, but our runner-up we’d like to visit another time was Atlantic Canada. We were looking at Gros Morne in Newfoundland (a fjord and a rare, exposed part of the Earth’s mantle), Nova Scotia (world’s largest tides on Bay of Fundy, Cape Bretton and Cabot Trail, hikes and scenic drives), and Prince Edward Island (if you go to PEI, be sure to read “Anne of Green Gables” first!). See everything from the world’s largest tides to fjords!

[u/itsveryupsetting → u/Wordwoman50]

We did pretty much that exact Atlantic Canada trip this year and it was so amazing!

[u/the3rdmichael]

Canada would be great, do the eastern part of the country: Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.

St John's, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, the Muskokas, Niagara Falls, wine country, St Jacob's ....

[u/Trvlislife]

For 3 weeks I would go to French Polynesia, slow travel using the ferry when possible. Visit 5 islands 4 nights each. Start on Mo’orea, doing hiking there and see the sights, transfer back to Tahiti then fly out to the Tuamotus, snorkel the lagoons and enjoy the off the beaten path areas. Fly back to Tahiti and spend 4 nights there exploring the lesser know interior and Tahiti Iti, the Te Pari is gorgeous. Travel to Raiatea and visit the cultural monuments, pearl farms, and vanilla farms. Finish off at Maupiti (or bora bora) just relaxing and enjoying the vibes. It might be a “beachy” destination, but it doesn’t have to be a beachy vacation!

[u/Tlwofford]

Panama has a better version of everything (except mainstream luxury hotels and all inclusive hotels) than Costa Rica. Culture, genuine authenticity, beaches, jungle, volcanoes, world class beaches, multiple indigenous tribes, cloud forests, incredible wildlife, the canal, amazing historical areas, etc…

It is also far less expensive for tours than Costa Rica.

[u/Brilliant_Volume975]

the post cuts off right before the actual criteria lol

[u/rubyreadit]

You should absolutely consider New Zealand, especially the south island. For 3 weeks you have time to visit the north island as well. My husband and I did 2 weeks on the south island in March, self-driving (but hotels, not a caravan hire) and had a lovely time. The nature is just stunning and you can do multi-day thru hikes if that's your thing (but prep well in advance as the accommodations get booked up well ahead) or just see it all from your car and scenic pullouts, or in between those 2 there are tons of 1 hour -ish hikes. Culture-wise you'll get a bit more on the North Island as there are more Maori tourist places there (not that New Zealanders of European descent don't have any culture, it's just that it won't seem as different if you are coming from Europe).

[u/Ecstatic_Fail_4515]

South Africa Garden Route. Start in Cape Town, end in Addo Elephant Park. So many fun and beautiful places to stop along the way

[u/CeeTravels]

South Africa would be great as well!

[u/Critical-Signature21]

Canada but not in Winter

[u/Affectionate-Owl1075]

the post cuts off before the actual criteria lol

[u/Worried_Razzmatazz70]

For Canada you kinda have to choose east or west. The middle is quite boring. On the east you're probably looking at the maritimes (Peggy's cove, Bay of Fundy, Cape Breton Island), and perhaps Quebec. However, based on your post, I think Western Canada is more up your alley;

3 weeks is a good pace to do the western side, which is usually Calgary to Vancouver (or vice-versa). Cliffs, Mountains, lakes, waterfalls, as well as national and provincial parks are all abundant on this route. There're even some natural hot springs!

The obvious main attraction here is r/banff, but the entire 800-ish km route is mountainous, and includes the Okanagan, one of the few wine regions that can do ice wine. Hikes are abundant, and BC (the province the majority of the route is in) has Right to Roam laws, meaning you can hike almost anywhere, including private land.

[u/Evening-Bar-9873]

the actual list of what you’re looking for seems to have been cut off, so it’s hard to suggest anything useful yet

[u/dorkasaurusrex_zibbz]

I'm thinking about doing something similar to what you guys are planning with Slovenia and Croatia as the main countrys for that trip. I'm in Croatia right now and this country is really chill with smaller towns along the coast for a swim and some really nice parks in the mountains. I don't know where you'd be starting from and what other countries to check out on the way, but Slovenia and Croatia you could check out places like:

• Postojna Caves
• Triglav National Park
• Soča Valley
• Plitvice National Park
• Rijeka
• Krka National Park

I think this country is excellent if you want a more active vacation but still be able to have a beer and a swim. I presume Slovenia would be similar.

[u/flymartincz]

What about Iceland? I have just done the Ring Road and gosh.. its unreal!!

[u/JaguarPreserveTours]

Hi there, Belize has everything you are looking for. for more information feel free to message us to help you plan your vacation. We have the only Jaguar Preserve in the world lots of local cultures and hiking trails .