City Guides

13 Unique Things to Do in Marrakech

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If you’re planning a trip to Morocco, Marrakech likely figures highly on your itinerary.

There are so many unique things to do in Marrakech that it’s hard to narrow it down — and after reading this post, get ready for your Marrakech wish list to get even longer!

Here are the coolest and most interesting things to do in Marrakech!

Visit the desert & ride a camel (or a quad bike!)

You can frolic along the desert and palm trees or better yet, ride a camel! I would recommend this half-day tour (check here for rates and availability) so you can fashionably ride a dromedary (AKA, a one-humped camel) while wearing nomadic attire should you choose!

You will also get a chance to visit a remote Berber village and sip local Moroccan tea in the afternoon. What’s extra convenient about getting this tour is that you will be picked up and dropped off from your hotel or accommodation.

If you are more adventurous and feel the need for speed then you can ride a quad bike as you go along the Palmeraie of Marrakech.

The best view of this oasis is at sunset, so if you choose you can also take a camel ride at sunset for a romantic experience. A lot of luxury hotels and resorts are also here should you choose to have a longer stay outside of the hustle and bustle of Marrakech.

Someone who wants to experience all of this and want to end the day with a relaxing massage plus a hammam bath can check this tour!

Check out the otherworldy and lovely gardens

The Anima Garden is one of the most unique gems you will find in Morocco. An Austrian artist named André Heller is responsible for the creation of this one-of-a-kind botanic garden. It took him 6 years to finish this masterpiece of installation art.

As you stroll along the different pavilions and paths, you will experience different smells and sights that will spark your imagination – a perfect way to get some inspiration or just to destress.

It is around 26km from the southern part of Marrakech, and there are free shuttle services at the Koutoubia car park (behind the Koutoubia Mosque) that can take you to the location. You can also get this ticket so you can skip the line and enjoy the gardens for three hours, which is plenty of time to marvel at the garden.

Food and drinks aren’t included, but you will be glad to know that you can buy one inside. The café serves snacks and dishes, mostly sourced from the garden itself! Someone who is traveling around July and August should be aware that shuttle services are limited during this time of the year.

Another garden is the Menara Gardens, which is a beautiful botanical sight to see near the Atlas Mountains that has olive trees surrounding it and an artificial pond (with lively big fish!). It is said that the pond was used to hold the water from the Atlas Mountains to keep moisture for the olive plantation.

The pavilion inside has a green roof and it is elevated above the ground (this is why it is called a menara). There isn’t much explanation or signage in the garden so it is best to get a local licensed tour guide, such as this one, here.

The best part about this tour is that it combines two famous Marrakech gardens in one and it includes transit to both. You will be picked up from your riad or hotel, and you also get to check the famous property once owned by the acclaimed fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, the Majorelle Garden.

The garden showcases a rich blue-colored mansion inspired by Moroccan architecture. There are also a collection of cacti, and unknown to many, the ashes of the late Yves Saint Laurent were actually scattered in this garden. The tour ends with getting a glimpse inside the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque!

Take a cooking class in Marrakech

No one should miss tasting the traditional tagine (pronounced as Ta-zheen) while visiting Marrakech. It is a stew that has vegetables and meat that’s extremely tender (vegetarians rejoice — veggie tagines are very common as well).

To their tagines, Moroccans usually add a lot of spices, herbs, fruits, and nuts. The meat used can vary (mostly chicken and beef, though never pork) and there’s a Berber tribe that makes use of lamb and beautifully arranges the vegetables around it.

Do not confuse yourself, because tagine can also refer to the inverted funnel-shaped cooking pot they use, as well as the stew itself. You can actually experience how to cook with one by attending this class which is taught by an expert chef.

The first thing you do on this tour would be to shop at a local souk for some ingredients (you could pick up your very own tagine in the souks later!) while your guide explains what spices are needed and how they are used.

The class itself will take about 3 hours to prepare your tasty tagine creations, and of course, eat them! After the class, a recipe will be provided to you so you won’t have a hard time thinking about what to buy after the class.

Alternatively, you can also prepare a 4-course meal al fresco — Moroccan style. While your main meal is being cooked in small clay ovens, you will be taught to prepare sides and salads. Once your slow-cooked meal is done, enjoy it with a tasty glass of Moroccan wine, plus a yummy dessert after!

Cooking courses can also be tailored to what you want, but most recipes depend on the availability of ingredients seasonally. They also offer an additional optional tour at a Moroccan bazaar. The day’s cooking class will end with a nice warm tea plus some snacks. If you like the experience, feel free to tip!

Have a traditional Moroccan hammam bath

Relaxation and cleansing are an important part of Moroccan social life, which is why the hammam is still an integral part of Moroccan culture!

While Morocco is a conservative country, bathing naked (segregated by sex, of course) is totally normal and par for the course. Though of course, if you’re uncomfortable, you could generally bathe in your underwear or swimwear, although local rules for each hammam may differ.

Relaxing amongst locals chatting and bathing at a local hammam is one of the most unique things to do in Marrakech. Curious how it works?

Each gender has its own separate bath area. Once you enter, you will notice a bucket of a gooey-looking black soap (which is made from olives) and the scratchy kessa gloves (which are used for exfoliation).  Some people are surprised by the gunk that shows up being exfoliated by the gloves – it is actually your dead skin! People love the feeling after every bath because you feel squeaky clean and buttery soft from head to toe.

While you can visit a hammam on your own if you’re brave, going with a guided tour can be a little less intimidating as there are sure to be no language barriers. I suggested this a cost-efficient and hassle-free hammam experience including round-trip transfers, which you can book here.

This hammam experience includes a relaxing 50-minute massage with oils from the endemic Argan trees (also known as liquid gold due to its vast properties!). No need to bring towels or bathrobes, as these are provided, but make sure not to forget to bring extra underwear.

The perfect way to end this ritual is to sip some mint tea (aside from the snacks in between treatments) which also helps soothe your throat. It is indeed a total relaxation package!

Taste an explosion of flavors

Marrakeshi food is not just about tagines or the famous couscous, there’s actually so much more!

The key to Marrakech cuisine is the unique and authentic spices and ingredients. You can try some of their nuts, dried fruits and local favorite dishes like the chermoula, brochettes and maakouda.

Chermoula is a tangy herby and lemony sauce, usually served in a tagine or served on top of fried or grilled fish. Brochettes are like Moroccan kebabs (grilled meat in skewers), whereas maakouda is a tasty fried snack made from potatoes, eggs, and spices. 

Jemaa El Fnaa is a place where you can find most of these food shops. It is also declared as an Intangible Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO.

You may find tour guides as you enter the square, but beware of fake ones or ones who claim to give a ‘free’ tour. They will end up asking you to pay them a hefty cost!

It is best to get a trusted 3-and-a-half-hour tour that’s complete with a guide that will take you to a Moroccan food escape. After a tour of the square, you will be taken to the spice market where you can smell different aromas of turmeric, saffron, dried fruits and so on.

See the sights above the desert on a hot air balloon

Aside from riding camels in the beautiful Palmeraie (Palm Grove), you can also hop in a hot air balloon to get a breathtaking view of the beautiful oasis, the countryside, and the mountains.

But that’s not the main highlight, once you get higher and higher you will see the clouds as the sun creates majestic silhouettes over them – it is so surreal!

The easiest way to get to the location would be through a shuttle service when you get this hot air balloon package tour. Travel will take you around 45 minutes from Marrakech and they will pick you up and return you to your riad.

While watching how they prepare to inflate the balloon, professional hot air balloon pilots will also guide you and give you a quick briefing on what not to do while on-board, since other people are also sharing the ride. The experience will last for an hour or so. Once you land, you can optionally add on a camel ride or just relax and enjoy the scenery.

The final activity of the morning would be tea at a Berber village – you just can’t get enough of that yummy mint tea! Once you arrive at the village, Berber people will warmly welcome you with their tasty tea and traditional hospitality.

Stroll around at night when the medina springs to life

One of the most popular places in the medina is the Jemaa El Fnaa, which I wrote about in my guide here for a 3-day itinerary in Morocco. In the post, I mentioned what things you need to know when going to this chaotic square, as it can be quite an assault on the senses and there are quite a few scams which can occur to unsuspecting visitors, especially at night!

It does help to get a night tour to avoid any hassle because your local guide will be there to assist you. You won’t just enjoy the night music at the square, but also a nice free drink at a rooftop bar overlooking the chaotic beauty of the square. Time will also be given for you to admire the gorgeous architecture of the Koutoubia Mosque from the outside at night (unfortunately, not the inside, since non-Muslims aren’t allowed to enter).

Since you have a local guide, you will be taken off the beaten paths where you can unlock some secrets unknown to many tourists. Get to taste tanjia (it is different from tagine, although both are cooked and given a name based on the pot in which it is cooked), a tasty Moroccan dish with lots of meat and a bit of vegetables. Other local snacks are included on the tour for free as you stroll around.

Attend a leather working class

The Chouhara Tannery in Fez has been famous for producing quality soft leather in the traditional way since the 11th century. It is considered as one of the most iconic sources of leather in the world because all tanning procedures and operations have been preserved in the traditional way — including the step where they cure it in pigeon poop!

They turn the hides into beautiful pieces of belts, jackets, bags and shoes while adding a lot of stylish Moroccan influences. Another thing that adds up to its uniqueness, is the use of natural dyes coming from sources like spices, pomegranates, and flowers.

However, if you don’t have time to visit Fez on your trip to Morocco, you can still learn about the craft’s long history in Marrakech. Just be careful and avoid the prevalent Marrakech tannery scams by instead booking a guided experience.

Someone who is curious about the craft of leatherwork need not go far from Marrakech to attend a leather-making workshop, which you can book online.

Expert craftsman Youseff and Oumaima will take you on a journey about how they make leather and how they prepare it. You will make your very own babouche slipper (it is a heelless slip-on shoe that looks like the Instagram-famous Gucci Princetown mules) from scratch!

There are snacks and tea served if you get hungry while working on your masterpiece. The best part about it is bringing it home!

Memories are also easily kept as you will get a souvenir photo that will be sent digitally through your email.

Learn to speak the language

Learning a language can be quite difficult, but Moroccans are quite talented linguists. Some Moroccans even know more than four languages, but you won’t encounter everyone like this. When traveling, you should at least try to pick up a few basic words, as it will be easier for you to interact with local people as well as to bargain in the souks.

A 90-minute Arabic language class (it’s that easy and quick to learn the basics!) will surely help you communicate and understand body language and insider tips on what you should and should not do. Moroccan teachers will also be provided to ensure you are learning from the best.

The class will begin with a quick tea ritual and a guide on how to make the famous and extremely yummy mint tea. Booklets are also provided for free so that if in case you forget some words outside, then you have a quick cheat sheet.

After the quick intro class, you will feel more comfortable and engaged in communicating with locals. The next time someone blocks your way and sells or asks you for something, you will know now how to better deal with them without being thought of as rude.

See a wonderful performance at the Lotus Club

A tasty dinner with a nice dance show is a date-night Marrakech can’t-miss at The Lotus Club’s restaurant and bar.

It is located in the Hivernage District, outside of the chaotic medina, so you can have a sweet and fun escape from the hecticness of the medina and see a different side of modern Marrakech.

The place will surely give you a luxurious ambiance, plus you can listen to the best mixes of their DJs for a fun night out. You can choose from three different menus which range from local to international cuisine, with a lot of fusion recipes in case you don’t want to pick just one cuisine! There are also drinks like colorful cocktails and mocktails you can’t find elsewhere, plus a good selection of beers and wines.

The experience is superb as you watch the dancers (beautiful and glamorous Marrakeshi women) perform live on stage (just like Vegas!). They are called the Artistic Revue OhLaLa. Once a month, they also invite international artists to perform.

You can actually book a 3-course meal for two here for a cheaper price. Just make sure to bring your passport or ID because those 18 and under are not allowed to go inside. Drinks are not included in the voucher, but you will not regret the nice music and performance they showcase!

Wander around the colorful souks and meet the artisans

The souks are not just an open marketplace but also a spectacular loop of alleyways where you can get lost. Items are stacked up to the heavens, making the place look like a forest of products being sold.

If you love shopping or planning to get unique finds at the souks, then it is best to have a local private English-speaking tour guide to help you find hidden treasures and keep you on track (Google Maps is just terrible in the medina).

The licensed guides are very informative and will ask you if you already have a shopping list with you so that he can personalize the tour. The adventure usually starts at Mellah, a walled Jewish quarter that means “salt marsh.” You will also get to know the sellers and the unique finds they offer from colorful tiles, home décor, carpets, fabrics, jewelry and so on.

The best part of the journey will be at Al Kawtar Women’s cooperative, where every purchase you make will give back to the local community. It is a boutique that sells handmade embroidered clothes, scarves, bags and children’s wear that help empower disabled Moroccan women.

Before you head back to Jemaa El Fnaa, you will have some tea and a quick snack with your tour guide, where you can ask him for any last-minute tips and tricks and shopping recommendations. The entire tour will take around 3 hours.

Capture special moments with a talented Marrakeshi photographer

Memories are perfectly stored in the photographs we take every time we travel. While it’s easy enough to snap selfies as you travel along Marrakech, if you’re commemorating a special moment or this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, I suggest hiring a professional to shoot your photos in some of the most beautiful and photogenic places Marrakech – it’s more affordable than you may think!

You can have different options on how many photos (from 15, 30, 45 and 75 photos) you would like to be taken, and it doesn’t matter if you are a couple, group, family, or just a solo traveler!

You can customize the locations of your photos or ask for their local insight. There are usually 2 or 3 locations allowed, depending on the package you wish to get. If you still don’t know where to have your photos taken, then they can give you the best recommendations.

After 5 days, you can download the professionally edited photos in their online gallery for free. Just note that travel expenses are not included in the package, so it is best to choose locations that are nearby to each other or factor in cab fare.

Where to Stay in Taipei: Neighborhood + hotel Guide [2023]

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If you’ve landed on this page, you’re probably a bit overwhelmed when it comes to deciding where to stay in Taipei, Taiwan.

It’s a huge, sprawling city of over 7 million people, and there so many different neighborhoods in Taipei, each having its own personality.

There’s sparkling Ximending with its neon lights, Shilin with its famous night market, Xinyi with its classic sights like Taipei 101: each Taipei neighborhood offers something different than the next.

Allison Green in a hat, wearing sneakers and a coat, looking at the Taipei 101 in the distance

However, choosing the best area to stay in Taipei is a little less daunting when you consider the fact that nowhere in Taipei is really that far away.

Thanks to the excellent and ridiculously efficient MRT system (seriously, it makes this girl who survived a decade of NYC’s MTA want to cry, it’s so good) you can get to all of the best Taipei districts in minutes, for around 50 cents a ride.

This perfect transportation system makes traveling between neighborhoods easy, making every location in Taipei honestly a pretty good one.

So, if you haven’t quite figured out where to stay in Taiwan’s vibrant capital city? I’ve got your back. 

I’ve done the research, culling reviews of the best hotels in Taipei from various sources and checking maps to make sure my suggestions for where to stay in Taipei are in good locations.

Allison Green throwing up a peace sign while on Elephant Mountain with a view of Taipei 101 in the distance

I’ve picked the best Taipei hotels and hostels in each neighborhood, culminating in this ultimate guide to my top recommendations of the best places to stay in Taipei.

I’ll break this post down by neighborhood, giving a quick preview of the different districts in Taipei and why you’d want to stay in each Taipei neighborhood, what sights are there, and what kind of traveler it’s good for.

This way, you can pick the best district to stay in Taipei for your interests and desires. Then, I’ll give you three options for Taipei accommodations in that neighborhood, so you can find the best place to stay in Taipei for your budget.

Where to Stay in Taipei: Neighborhood by Neighborhood

Xinyi

view of the taipei 101 from elephant mountain

Best for: luxury seekers, people who want to stay in the heart of Taipei, business travelers

If you’re looking for the best place to stay near Taipei 101, you’ve got to pick Xinyi.

This is where you’ll find the hottest restaurants and hotels to stay in Taipei. Though of course, with the near-perfect location comes higher prices, so if you are on a strict budget, this may not be the best Taipei neighborhood for you.

From Taipei 101 to Elephant Mountain, Xinyi offers a bit of everything, from soaring skylines to nature escapes.

From the metro you can be up Elephant Mountain mere minutes, with some of the best views of the Taipei area at your doorstop.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of world-class restaurants just a short walk from wherever you end up staying in Xinyi, so you can rest assured that an excellent meal is never more than a few minutes’ walk away.

For first timers, Xinyi may just be the best location to stay in Taipei (in my opinion!)

Budget: Just Inn Taipei

While, in general, Xinyi isn’t exactly the best neighborhood to stay in Taipei for budget travelers, that doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to be found.

The lovely Just Inn Taipei is a well-rated option that’s rather affordable given its location!

Just a few minutes’ walk from the metro, literally all of Taipei is at easy reach, and the Taipei 101 is a short walk away.

This isn’t a hostel, either: it’s got affordable private double and single rooms, all for less than $100 a night much of the time.

The design downstairs in the lobby area is very cute and welcoming, and the rooms are pretty charming as well, despite their overall small size.

Little details make up the difference here: modern bathrooms, good lighting, fun little details like hand-painted murals on the walls.

Plus, the staff’s hospitality add to the comfortable, relaxed vibe!

Check out availability, rates, rooms, and reviews here!

Mid-Range: Home Hotel

For an affordable Taipei lodging option near the Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain) metro and Taipei 101, look to Home Hotel, which promises hospitality that’ll make you feel welcome no matter how far you’ve traveled.

Named two years in a row by the Michelin Guide, this hotel features simple but spacious rooms with a minimalist but comfortable design.

The large windows offer great views of the surrounding Xinyi cityscape, and some of the bathrooms even have their own soaking tubs.

This hotel also offers a fitness center, room service, and a 24/7 front desk in case you need anything during your stay.

Check out availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Luxury: W Taipei

While mid-range and budget options are slim in Xinyi, you’re spoiled for choice in the luxury department!

But if I had to pick one, I’d pick the W Taipei as the best hotel to stay in Taipei near the Taipei 101 building, specifically the Xinyi district.

I’ve stayed in W Hotels twice and always loved my experience. I love how they blend luxury and quirky in a way that feels tongue-and-cheek, not stuffy.

W Hotels are artsy, trendy, colorful, and chic, and the one in Taipei is no exception.

With 5 star amenities, including the WET outdoor pool with poolside bar, the luxe AWAY spa, and the hip on-site bar Woobar, the 400-square-meter FIT gym with state-of-the-art equipment, the chic restaurant YEN… you basically would never need to leave your hotel…

… but of course you will, because you’re in the best area of Taipei!

Check availability, prices, photos, and reviews here!

However, if you prefer a more classic take on luxury, there are some perfect options for you as well.

The Grand Hyatt in Taipei offers prestige and unparalleled 5-star service (I’ve stayed at the Grand Hyatt during my time in Vienna, and it was marvelous).

Le Meridien Taipei is a perennial favorite among luxury hotel lovers and is often considered to be one of, if not the, best hotels in Taipei.

Da’an

a peaceful park in the center of taipei with skyline behind it

Best for: people who want a quiet place to stay in Taipei, a more residential side to the city

Da’an is right next to Xinyi but the vibe couldn’t be more different.

Long a favorite with the expat community in Taipei, Da’an has a nice blend of residential buildings and quiet businesses catering to a foreigner-friendly crowd.

The biggest part in the city, Da’an Park, is right in the heart of the neighborhood, offering a buffer between the business of Xinyi and the peacefulness of Da’an.

Budget: Chaiin Hotel

There are no hostels in Da’an so if you are traveling on a shoe-string budget I would not recommend this neighborhood.

However, if you’re looking for a cozy yet cheap hotel in Taipei, Chaiin Hotel is a great option with plenty of affordable rooms on offer.

With easy access to the Dongmen MRT and a 5-minute walk away from happening Yongkang Street, it’s a fantastic location.

All rooms have A/C, private bathrooms, desk areas, and flat-screen TVs, although note that the most basic budget rooms do not have windows.

Perks like bathrobes and slippers, an electric kettle, and a mini-fridge all make this budget hotel feel more luxe.

Check out availability, prices, photos, and reviews here!

Mid-Range: Madison Taipei

For a glamorous yet affordable place to stay in Taipei’s quiet Da’an district, I recommend Madison Taipei.

Just 10 minute walk from the Da’an Metro station, it’s great option for travelers who want to see a less touristic side of Taipei.

Rooms are well-designed, with large and cozy beds, plenty of warm wood tones and freshly pressed white linens to give a minimalist yet comforting aesthetic.

The en-suite bathrooms are sleek and modern, with beautiful marble floors, fancy toilets, and even bespoke Madison Hotel slippers to use during your stay!

A multi-year winner of the World Luxury Hotel awards, this hotel offers great value for your stay!

Check availability, prices, rooms, and reviews here!

Luxury: Chez Nous

For a glamorous place to stay in Taipei not far from Da’an Park, I recommend Chez Nous.

This gorgeous, trendy hotel is just two stops on the metro away from Taipei 101.

But even better, it’s just a short walk from one of my favorite streets in Taipei, Yongkang Shopping Street (where you’ll find the original branch of Din Tai Fung).

There’s also an on-site bar and restaurant if you don’t feel like exploring the neighborhood or just want a lazy meal in after a full day of exploring Taipei.

Rooms feature A/C, hardwood floors, flatscreen TVs, and basic kitchen amenities like coffee and tea makers and a mini-fridge.

All rooms have a seating area (some even have a duplex, two-story option!); some rooms even have a gorgeous private terrace area.

Rooms are beautifully furnished with lovely wood accents and vibrant blues, creating a calm oasis away from the bustle of Taipei.

Bathrooms are the true epitome of luxury, with marble floors and even soaking tubs with gorgeous brass accents on the knobs, as well as walk-in showers!

For the quality and the price, it’s one of the best hotel deals in Taipei.

Check availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Zhongzheng

the famous pagoda of chiang kai-shek memorial hall

Good for: staying in the heart of the action, young people and Instagram lovers

The heart of one of Taipei’s most attraction-filled areas, Zhongzheng is a great area to stay in Taipei if you are after its most photogenic places.

Home to the complex which houses Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the National Concert Hall, this square is iconic Taipei and it’s a must-visit on any Taipei itinerary.

There’s also the 2/28 Peace Park and several other gorgeous sights right in this area, plus it’s not far from Taipei Main Station for all your travel needs!

Budget: Via Hotel Taipei Station

This charming budget hotel offers quite a lot for its budget price tag. Its location is great, near the iconic and beautiful 2/28 Peace Park.

Both Ximending and Taipei Main Station are a 10-minute walk away, so it’s truly as central as it gets!

The rooms are a little small but the space is put to good use, with many rooms featuring seating, work desks, and places to put your things, in addition to full-sized beds.

Note that the cheapest rooms don’t have windows, so if that’s a dealbreaker for you, look for the other rooms in this hotel!

Check availability, prices, reviews, and room types here!

Mid-Range: Hua Shan Din by Cosmos Creation

This fun boutique hotel is located right within one of Taipei’s very own creative parks, a unique cultural institution you’ll find in Taiwan.

These parks mix restaurants, art installations, pop-up shops, and nature all into one place — and yes, some even have hotels, too, like Hua Shan Din at Huashan Creative Park.

From its gorgeous black and yellow-detailed exterior to its funky rooms with creative, cartoon-y wallpapers, this is a hotel where design has been thought of in every step of the process!

The premises are wild — think art gallery meets candy shop meets loft — and there’s always a free flow of snacks available to guests!

Check availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Luxury: Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel

For one of the fanciest hotels in the Zhongzheng area, I highly recommend the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel.

While it has great name recognition as part of the Sheraton brand, it’s also just a dang nice hotel in a lovely neighborhood midway between Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the Taipei Main Station MRT.

It’s right next to the lovely Shantao Temple and its accompanying MRT station, so it’s truly a lovely location!

The hotel offers 5-star luxury in the heart of it all, with great amenities like a day spa, fitness room, outdoor pool, and literally nine dining options (not like you need them in a city as fun to eat in as Taipei, but y’know, options are sweet!).

There’s a helpful concierge desk who can help you with any pressing Taipei questions and with making needed bookings.

While the facilities throughout the hotel are great, the rooms offer next-level luxury and privacy.

The rooms themselves are inspired by both Chinese and modern elements, providing ample workspace in the spacious rooms.

The bathrooms have a bathtub, excellent toiletries, and bathrobes for you to feel like a true luxury stay

Check out prices, reviews, photos, and availability here!

Datong

a famous temple area in taiwan

Good for: travelers who want a slightly off the beaten path place to stay in Taipei close to their favorite sights

Just north of bustling Wanhua district and its Ximending neighborhood, Datong is relatively quiet by comparison and in that lies much of its charm.

If you want a more local and quiet feel, without the crowds that come with Ximending or Xinyu, then this is the choice for you.

Many of the best attractions are still within a short walk, but you can also easily escape the noise.

Budget: CU Hotel

One of the best places to stay in Taipei on a budget is CU Hotel.

It offers fantastic location as well as lovely aesthetics at an affordable price that will make any backpacker very, very happy — with a choice between both dorm-style rooms and private rooms.

This is one of the better cheap accommodations in Taipei and should be on the short list for any budget traveler!

The hostel rooms are very well-designed in a way that I wish more hostels were — simple things like privacy curtains and places to store your stuff next to your bed really go a long way.

Check availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Mid-Range: Bayman Hotel

For an affordable yet private place to stay, I recommend Bayman Hotel in Datong.

It’s still close to the Taipei Main Station MRT (about a 10-minute walk) but it’s in a more residential and relaxed neighborhood where you can unwind and get a feel for the real Taipei.

There’s a great night market nearby if you’re curious to try one of the most essential things to do in Taipei!

The location is great and the price is fantastic for what you get: private rooms and modern bathrooms (some even with bathtubs)!

They have comfy beds with reading lights next to each bed, plenty of outlets to charge overnight without inconveniencing yourself.

The furnishings are simple, but for the price and location combined, it’s hard to beat.

Check out prices, reviews, and availability here!

Luxury: The Door Inn

Datong isn’t the fanciest neighborhood of Taipei, but that does mean that you can get an excellent hotel for a fraction of the price of the luxury hotels you’ll find in Xinyi and Songshan.

I love the unique design of The Door Inn: everything is soft and white, so it’s literally like stepping into a cloud!

Despite the stark whiteness of everything, it manages to feel uber-cozy and peaceful (and not like a padded wall room).

Little touches add that sense of softness, whether it’s the inspiration wall art, plush bean bags to sit on, lovely balcony views, or little pops of greenery here and there.

It’s certainly a unique design and one that Instagrammers will appreciate!

Check availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Songshan

Baroque Garden of songshan cultural park in taipei, taiwan

Best for: people who love design hotels, business and luxury travelers, artsy people

Songshan is the area roughly above Xinyi and its skyscrapers and to the side of the fun shopping district of Zhongxiao.

It’s a great choice for business travelers and people looking for a slightly more creative variety of options when it comes to where to stay in Taipei.

There are lots of design hotels in this neighborhood as it’s inspired by the Songshan Creative and Cultural Park which is at the heart of this neighborhood.

In fact, one of my top Taipei hotel recommendations for Songshan is in the park itself!

It’s also close to other essential sights like Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall and it’s not far from Raohe Night Market, which is often considered one of the most authentic local night markets.

Budget: Hostel Jiizu

This isn’t the cheapest area to stay in Taipei, but there are some hostel options, the best of which is Hostel Jiizu.

There’s a range of options from dorm beds to economy doubles and deluxe quadruples, so there’s something to suit virtually all budgets and group sizes.

It’s a little bare bones, especially in the dorm and economy rooms, but it’s clean, well-located, safe, and quiet, and the dorms have privacy curtains.

The shared bathrooms are also really nice, which is a huge plus!

For the price and location, it’s hard to find anything that offers similar quality at this price point!

Check out reviews, prices, and availability here!

Mid-Range: arTree hotel

For a super unique place to stay, check out arTree hotel, which is essentially the world’s classiest treehouse meets a 5-star hotel.

With the greenest lobby and dining area you can imagine, completely inspired by a canopy of trees, this hotel is designed beautifully while still being in the center of Taipei just a few minutes’ away from an MRT station.

Meanwhile, the rooms are entirely modern, with all the luxury amenities you’d expect: deep-set bathtubs, A/C, epic city views, delicious in-restaurant dining options, an upscale bar, a fitness center, a spa, the works!

For how creative and high-quality his hotel is, the prices are really quite affordable. 

Check rates, availability, and reviews here!

Luxury: Eslite

Want to stay in one of the most creative Taipei neighborhoods with tons of luxe perks at your fingertips?

Look no further than Eslite, which offers up luxury meets a dash of artsy creativity.

Located in Songshan Creative & Cultural Park, this 5-star hotel is one of the best hotels in Taipei, beautifully appointed with tons of amazing details like unending shelves of books in the lobby (swoon!).

With perks like private balconies, enormous beds, sunken bathtubs, in-room sound systems, you can stay in style at Eslite without paying an insane amount — this area is much cheaper than the area around Taipei 101!

Check rates, availability, and reviews here!

Ximending (Wanhua)

neon lights of the nightlife district of taipei

Good for: young people who want to stay in the heart of the action in Taipei, people who love bright lights and buzzy areas

Often compared to Shinjuku in Tokyo or Dotonbori in Osaka, Ximending is where the young people in Taipei come to walk around, eat, and hang out in the neon-light glow of Ximending.

The larger district is called Wanhua, but people are generally more familiar with the Ximending area which surrounds the Ximen MRT station.

This is a great option for being centrally located in the heart of the action, but it can be a little crowded and thus a little noisy, so keep that in mind!

Budget: Meander Taipei Hostel

This may just be the most beautifully designed hostel in all of Taipei!

With a rooftop social area, funky design in all its common areas, social events that the hostel hosts, and in-house laundry, Meander Taipei is a hostel you could actually settle into.

It has an amazing central location in Ximending, one of the most bustling neighborhoods of Taipei all times of day, but especially the evenings!

The dorm rooms are well-designed and colorful, with privacy curtains and individual bunk lights so you can have your own little area of the room.

But there are also some lovely double and triple rooms, also for an affordable price, less than $100 per night.

Check rates, availability, and reviews here!

Mid-Range: Cho Hotel

The trendy Cho Hotel has one of the best locations in Taipei, a two-minute walk from the Ximen MRT and the Red House theater.

It’s a design hotel, so expect a fun and aesthetically pleasing environment that will surprise you!

There are lots of lounge areas where you can relax and enjoy the creativity of the space.

It almost feels like a very artsy friend’s house with all the different rooms to lounge in and explore.

There are a variety of rooms, ranging from basic double (note that these are windowless) for a very affordable price all the way up to luxury quadruples which are great for families or groups of friends traveling together!

No matter the room type, the rooms are clean and cozy, feature cool murals, and have modern en-suite bathrooms.

For the price point, it’s a great choice in Ximending.

Check out prices, reviews, and availability here!

Luxury: Taipei Garden Hotel

A 10-minute walk from Ximending (or take the free shuttle bus there!), the 5-star Taipei Garden Hotel is a great pick for a luxury stay in Taipei.

With spacious, no-nonsense rooms with stunning city views and modern bathrooms (some with bath tubs!), the hotel is fairly standard in terms of its room design.

Where it stands out, though, is its amenities, including a spa with treatment rooms and a fitness center.

If you want a spa stay without a huge price tag of some of the other 5-star hotels in Taipei, this is a great pick.

Check out prices, reviews, room types and availability here!

Taipei Main Station

light trails showing a busy taipei city street

Best for: people who want to be at the heart of Taipei’s transportation options and are planning multiple day trips, people on a short stay to Taipei

While not in and of itself the most fun neighborhood in Taipei, for its ease of access to virtually everywhere in the city and beyond, Taipei Main Station is unparalleled.

It’s perfect for people who plan to take advantage of the city’s many day trip options.

It’s also good for people who are doing a quick visit to Taipei (maybe just for a layover) and want to stay central.

Personally, I love Taipei Main Station’s convenience as it’s rarely more than 20 minutes away to anywhere I want to be in Taipei city center!

Budget: Morwing Hotel – Culture Vogue

For a budget-conscious yet fun place to stay near Taipei Main Station, I highly recommend the funky Morwing Hotel – Culture Vogue.

It has extremely affordable private rooms with A/C just a 5-minute walk from the Main Station, perfect for all travel opportunities.

The rooms are quirky and colorful, with themes that veer a bit on the strange side of things (room designs encompass everything from Milan to Le Petit Prince to anime characters to Santorini…).

But hey – for the price and the location, it’s hard to find fault!

Guests agree, giving it high points for its location, cleanliness, price, and friendly staff.

If you value location and comfort over cohesive aesthetic principles, it’s a great choice.

Check prices, reviews, photos, and availability here!

Mid-Range: citizenM North Gate

If you’re looking for an affordable yet beautiful and trendy place to stay in Taipei Main Station’s vicinity, I highly, highly recommend citizenM North Gate.

That’s because Taipei is home to one of my favorite affordable hotel chains, citizenM (I stayed with them in Shoreditch, London and loved it!).

I love booking rooms with citizenM because I know that I’m going to get a well-designed room at an affordable price, without having to pay for a bunch of luxuries I won’t use.

The design is fun and quirky, with a real sense of personality that is missing from many hotel chains.

You always know when you are stepping into a citizenM and I love that!

Check rates, availability, room types, and reviews here!

Luxury

To be as close to Taipei Main Station as possible without, y’know, actually sleeping in it, I recommend Caesar Park.

This glam 4-star hotel has all the amenities you need in the perfect location, 400 meters from Taipei Main Station.

There’s an on-site restaurant and spa, so it’s a great place to unwind after a long flight to Taipei when you need to recover from jet lag, as it’s only one hour door to door from Taoyuan Airport.

The room decor isn’t super modern (think carpets and bland curtains), but it’s quite comfortable and spacious.

If you want a super design-focused hotel, there are better options (check the offerings in Songshan) but if you just want a clean, luxurious stay in one of the best locations in Taipei, Caesar Park is a great choice.

Check prices, reviews, photos, and availability here!

Zhongshan

the downtown view of taipei 101 from zhongshan

Best for: hipsters and nightlife seekers

Bordering Songshan and Datong, the Zhongshan neighborhood is the perfect place to stay for trendy travelers!

If you love funky boutiques (and fast fashion), quirky and Instagrammable cafés, trendy restaurants, sleek bars and nightlife options — this is the place for you.

Whereas Taipei can generally be a bit of a quiet city after dark, Zhongshan is the exception as this is where many of the city’s best bars can be found as it’s sort of the unofficial nightlife district.

It’s also the most LGBTQ-friendly neighborhood in the city, so this is a great place to stay in Taiwan for LGBTQ travelers as well as anyone hip, fun, and tolerant!

Budget: 4Plus Hostel

There aren’t too many hostels in the area, but if you want to stay in a budget-friendly place in Zhongshan I recommend 4Plus Hostel.

Housed in a quirky mint-green building, on the inside the hostel is quite comfortable.

The lounge areas aren’t anything special but the rooms are really well-done!

Each bunk in the female dorm and 4-bed dorm has a privacy curtain, USB charging ports, outlets, and reading lamps: the recipe for a perfect hostel set up.

Note that the 6-bed mixed dorm doesn’t have quite the same nice setup, so keep an eye out and check the photos of your room type before booking.

Check out availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Mid-Range: Green World Grand NanJiang

If you want to stay in affordable luxury in Taipei’s fun Zhongshan district, I’d pick Green World Grand NanJiang.

With a straight-up glamorous lobby that will make you shocked at how affordable the hotel is, this is one of the best options in the trendy nightlife and shopping district of Zhongshan.

We’re talking spacious rooms, huge bathrooms with bathtubs included, and a fantastic breakfast spread including dumplings…. brb, booking myself in now.

With a fantastic location close to the MRT, it’s a wonderful place to stay in Taipei.

 Check rates, availability, room types, and reviews here!

Luxury: Doubletree By Hilton Zhongshan

The Hilton brand is synonymous with luxury everywhere, and that’s definitely no exception for the lovely Doubletree By Hilton Zhongshan.

With everything from twin rooms to king suites, there’s something for everyone in this hip hotel.

The rooms are your standard luxury hotel offering – crisp white sheets, comfortable beds with fluffy linens, great views, TVs, the works.

Some rooms have extra perks, like the corner king suite with a soaking bathtub with incredible views of Taipei. But even the standard rooms are quite lush and welcoming!

The hotel has all the amenities you’d expect from a four-star hotel, including a fitness center, on-site restaurant, and concierge service.

Check rates, availability, room types, and reviews here!

Shilin

food served at a night market in dim light, squid and other skewers

Best for: foodies and budget-savvy travelers who don’t mind spending a few more minutes on the MRT to get more bang for their buck

The biggest (and in my opinion, best) night market in the city can be found in Shilin, and the neighborhood has basically become synonymous with its night market.

But even by day, it’s a great area to stay in Taipei: quiet as it’s away from the main hustle and bustle of downtown, but bursting with businesses and shops at all hours of day.

It’s also close to the the buses to Yangmingshan National Park, one of my favorite city escapes from Taipei, which leave from the Jiantan MRT.

This was my first stop where I stayed in Taipei, and I highly recommend it to foodie travelers who want to have one of Taipei’s best night markets literally on their back door.

Yes, it’s touristic, but that means you won’t have issues communicating with vendors and you’ll be able to try all the Taipei must-eats all under one (non)roof.

Budget: Papersun Hotel

For a place to stay near the Shilin Night Market, Papersun Hotel is just 400 meters away from the action!

It’s also a cute but affordable design hotel, with an intriguing interior (think: rainbow sculptures of animals meets white-spined bookcases — a classic combination, I know).

The rooms are also quirky and full of personality, with pops of color in fun hues like yellow and lime green, livening up the otherwise rather plain room.

For a good price and a great location, this is the place to stay in Shilin!

Check availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Mid-Range

Just 100 meters from the Shilin Night Market, Tango Inn Taipei Jihen is the best mid-range option in the area!

Plus, you’re so close you’re practically inside the market.

The hotel design manages to be both eclectic and aesthetically pleasing, with greenery-covered walls, mix-and-match carpets, and brightly colored details.

Inside the rooms, the color palettes are more restrained: think faux-wood walls, white sheets, and bright wardrobes or chairs for a needed pop of color.

The en-suite bathrooms too are very modern, with step-in showers and high-tech toilets.

Check availability, prices, room types, and reviews here!

Luxury: The Tango Hotel

Not to be confused with the above, similarly-named hotel, The Tango Hotel is a great option in Taipei.

It has a few locations around Taipei but it’s the Shilin location that catches my eye.

The hotel has a lot of perks that other top hotels in Taipei don’t have, like an outdoor swimming pool (great in summer when Taipei gets crazy hot).

And if you’re visiting in a season when using the outdoor pool is a no-go, there’s also a jacuzzi!

The rooms are gorgeously designed, minimalist without being too bare. Mostly done in shades of white, neutral, and black, there is a very elegant look that complements the hotel’s location with views of the greenery outside perfectly.

Some rooms even have terraces with mountain views of Yangmingshan National Park, and some rooms have jacuzzi bathtubs (can this be a thing in every hotel from now on, please?).

For the quality of the hotel, it’s a fantastic price, and all because you’re just a few more stops out of Taipei city center on the MRT.

Check out reviews, photos, prices, and availability here!

Beitou

brilliant blue pool of a hot spring water in taipei

Best for: people who really want to relax and not feel like they’re in a city, people who want a spa and wellness experience

If you’re looking for a wellness-inspired getaway while in you’re in Taipei, Beitou is the obvious choice.

It’s one of the best places to stay in Taiwan for health and relaxation.

While easily connected to the rest of Taipei by MRT, the neighborhood of Beitou offers plenty of spa hotels.

They all boast natural mineral-rich waters which come from geothermal activity from the volcanic landscape of Taiwan!

The best example of said activity can be seen at the incredible (and incredibly foul-smelling!) Hell Valley, where water so hot it nearly boils as it meets the air floats beautifully into the sky above.

Budget: On My Way Hostel

A hostel in the middle of a luxury hot springs destination? It surprised me too!

But the On My Way Hostel in Beitou looks amazing for travelers on a budget who still want to get their feet wet and enjoy the Beitou hot springs area without spending a fortune on a luxury hotel.

With lots of shared common space including a lounge area and kitchen and bright, clean, cluttered dorm rooms, On My Way provides a social atmosphere in a less touristic part of town.

It’s conveniently close to some of Taipei’s hot springs, which can be enjoyed for just a small fee!

Check out prices, reviews, and availability here!

Mid-Range: Beitou Hot Spring Resort

If you don’t want to stay in a hostel (same) bud don’t have the budget for the 5-star Grand View Resort (same), there’s definitely plenty in the middle for you to enjoy in Beitou!

The 4-star Beitou Hot Spring Resort is a fantastic option for travelers who are budget-minded, but also want to splurge a little bit on a one-of-a-kind experience.

I mean, how often can you stay in a hotel where you have your very own steam room and hot spring tub in your room (for under $200 a night, no less)?

To me Beitou Hot Springs Hotel strikes the perfect balance of luxurious yet attainable, great for a special stay if you’re not someone who typically splurges on luxury experiences.

There’s a hot spring bath, jacuzzi, and massage center on site so you can relax in or outside of your room.

The on-site Chinese restaurant serves up incredible dishes, including a complimentary breakfast with dim sum!

As a budget-savvy traveler, who knows when to save and when to splurge, it’d be my personal choice for where to stay in Taipei’s Beitou area.

Check prices, reviews, availability and photos here!

Luxury: Grand View Resort

By far the best hotel in Beitou is Taipei’s Grand View Resort. It’s the top 5-star resort in the Beitou area, making it a no-brainer for a luxury hotel in Taipei.

It’s located a 10-minute drive from the Xinbeitou MRT, but there is a free shuttle that can bring you there and back as needed.

Located in the heart of Taipei’s hot springs area, this beautiful resort was designed by the same architect as the Taipei 101, Li Zuyuan – yup, that’s some pretty big accolades, and reason enough to stay there in my mind!

The on-site restaurant is run by a chef trained in culinary arts in Paris, who can prepare both Chinese and French cuisines with a skillful hand.

Despite how luxurious the hotel is, it keeps a restrained hold on its aesthetics with a focus on natural touches and neutral colors.

The interiors are framed with timber and there are gorgeous cypress trees on the property.

You can relax in the white sulfur hot springs, the spa, or at the pool, or work up a sweat at the fitness center.

But best of all, every single room has its own private hot and cold spring so that you can bathe in total privacy.

It’s not a cheap hotel in Taipei, but it is truly world-class luxury.

Check photos, reviews, prices, and availability here!

5 Delightful Reasons to Visit Lisbon in March

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When I was planning a trip from Bulgaria this spring, Lisbon pretty immediately came to mind.

I had visited Lisbon for the first time in August 2018 and promptly fell in love with the city. But the heat and tourist crowds definitely was a strike against it!

When I returned to Lisbon in March this year, I was doubly enamored with the city.

Far from being cold and gloomy as I feared, Lisbon was delightfully warm and sunny, reminding me exactly of spring days back in California.

In fact, I think March in Lisbon may just be the best time of year to visit (though the rest of winter isn’t bad, either!)

Why You Should Visit Lisbon in March

Lisbon in March has almost no crowds

There’s no denying that Lisbon has been a major victim of overtourism.

Cheap flights, generally low prices in Portugal, and tons of “Instagrammability” make Lisbon one of the most impacted European cities in terms of overtourism.

I get a bit annoyed when I hear travel influencers declaring that they don’t promote traveling to destinations suffering overtourism.

Not because I don’t believe overtourism is an issue, but because it has a gate-keeping feel to it.

Basically: I went, but you can’t. A similar phenomenon occurs in discussions of the merits of geotagging.

However, I do think that being cognizant of how you affect the destination that you’re visiting is key when it comes to visiting places that are suffering from overtourism.

Visiting Barcelona in February is much, much different than visiting Barcelona in July.

I recognize that not everyone has the liberty to decide when to visit a place, especially teachers (which I used to be for five years) and families with school-age kids.

But for those who can, I recommend visiting the more touristic places in the off-season and saving your peak-season travel for emerging destinations which could use more tourism, like Albania or Azerbaijan.

And since Lisbon is such a delightful place to visit in March, it’s hardly a sacrifice.

Yet Lisbon isn’t that cold in March

Lisbon’s March average temperatures are definitely on the warm side. Your average daytime high is 65 °F / 18 °F, while nights dip to around 51 °F / 10 °C.

That said, it can get even warmer than that. During my 2 week stay in Lisbon, I had some days that were in the low 70s °F / low 20s °C.

The reason for this is that Lisbon is quite far south in Europe but also because it benefits from the jet stream which blows warm air across the Atlantic.

This has a moderating effect on the climate, so that summers aren’t quite as scorching as they could be and winters aren’t nearly as cold.

In fact, there are tons of sunny days in Lisbon in March

I was pleasantly surprised, and definitely a little lucky, that I didn’t experience a single day of rain over my two weeks in Lisbon.

While that’s not always going to be the case – my friends previously visited Lisbon in March and said it rained for three days straight – my experience isn’t totally unusual.

According to WeatherSpark, the chance of a rainy day in March in Lisbon is about 17%, less than 1 day in every 5.

So while you won’t exactly want to go swimming, you likely won’t be rained out of your trip.

On the other hand, Porto is very rainy this time of year, so it’s not a good time to visit Porto.

But there are plenty of indoor things to do if it rains

However, even though I was blessed with abnormally good weather in Lisbon this March, there would have been a lot to do anyway.

In fact, because I was enjoying visiting the more offbeat side of Lisbon, I was spending a lot of time in its quirky museums and delicious African restaurants.

That was a fun way to explore a different side of the city, rather than bouncing around from tourist-clogged miradouro after miradouro.

Some of my favorite unique and quirky museums are as follows: National Coach Museum, the Museum of Fado, the Geographic Society of Lisbon’s Museum, and the Doll Hospital.

And if it gets cold, you can warm up with some delicious spice and flavor

We also really enjoyed exploring Lisbon’s delicious culinary scene, which is far more diverse than you’d imagine from first glance.

Portugal’s colonial legacy, while bringing plenty of violence and displacement to those lands it pillaged and claimed, has a more palatable taste today – literally.

Many people from Portugal’s former colonies (spread across Africa, the Americas, and Asia) have immigrated to Portugal for various reasons, many of them bringing their food culture to Lisbon with them.

And let me tell you, while I like Portuguese food, it’s not something I could eat every day.

Truthfully, Lisbon’s culinary map is all the richer for the diversity of the people who call this city home!

While I definitely gorged on traditional Portuguese foods like bacalhau and pastel de nata, we also explored an alternative side to the Lisbon culinary scene.

We really enjoyed supporting immigrant-owned businesses like Cantinho do Aziz (Mozambican food), Anastacia’s (Cape Verdean food), and Chongqing Hot Pot (Sichuan food).

Where to Stay in Lisbon in March

yellow tram in front of a cathedral in lisbon

If you’re visiting Lisbon in March, you’ll find a lot of great deals on accommodations. Here are a few of the hotels I recommend for each budget category.

Budget: For a central option that won’t break the budget, I recommend NOMAD 64. Given high marks for cleanliness and their great breakfast spread and bonus points for friendly staff, it’s a great, affordable option in Lisbon.

With a variety of room options, from dorms to private rooms, there’s something for every budget and travel style.

Check prices and availability here.

Mid-Range: For a cute guesthouse that will welcome you warmly without costing an arm and a leg, and a variety of room configurations for every group size and budget, I recommend Rainbow Guesthouse 56.

It’s adorable, packed with personality, and has a great location near the metro.

Check prices and availability here.

Luxury: If you want to stay where the stars stay (literally, Madonna stayed here for a month!) in a former palace converted into one of the leading hotels of the world, you can’t miss Pestana Palace.

I actually got to spend two nights here on a family trip and can vouch that it lives up to the reviews. A stay here is truly an incredible experience!

Check prices and availability here.

5 Off the Beaten Path Lisbon Experiences

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Lisbon has become a bit of a poster child for mass tourism these days.

Everyone seems to come to the city just to do the exact same thing as everyone else… and suffers in the crowds for it.

The typical one day in Lisbon itinerary goes something like this: snap some photos on Pink Street, ride the iconic 28 tram, and wait in line for fresh pastel de nata (OK, the last one is entirely worth it).

And that’s great to get an introduction to Lisbon…. but what about when you want to see a little more of the city?

Visiting Lisbon off the beaten path means getting away from the crowds (what’s that Sartre quote? Hell is other tourists?) and seeing a side of the city that is a bit protected from mass tourism.

view of an old tiled street in alfama, the oldest neighborhood of lisbon that was not destroyed during the earthquake

For example, if you’ve ever been to the ruins of a castle before, you can safely skip the Castelo de San Jorge: the most interesting part of which is its view.

You can get basically the same view at the nearby and far less touristy Miradouro da Nossa Senhora do Monte.

The famous elevators are also worth passing over — I only took one when I had a sprained ankle and was trying to hobble my way through the city in spite of it.

Instead, I sought out some alternative Lisbon hidden gems, things that wouldn’t necessarily make it on most guides to the city. Here are 5 of my favorite off the beaten path Lisbon activities!

SIP, SHOP, & EAT AT LX FACTORY

LX Factory is Lisbon’s hipster utopia, a converted fabric factory that’s been turned into an urban playground for the city’s young crowd.

In this multi-functional space, you’ll find everything from coffee shops to art galleries to delicious restaurants to funky bookstores.

A few restaurants worth noting in LX factory are Sushi Factory, which serves up atypical sushi creations (not for Japanese food purists!) and Cantina LX, which serves up Portuguese food with a fancy, contemporary twist – and delicious local craft beers and wines to match.

I wanted to check out Rio Maravilha, which has a 4th-floor location serving up Brazilian food (mmm, coxinhas) with stunning views over the Tejo River and Lisbon’s Golden Gate Bridge lookalike… but it was closed for a private event when I was there.

My favorite place in LX Factory, though, is the excellent bookstore Ler Devagar, which means “read slowly” in Portuguese. It’s an incredibly photogenic bookstore with an excellent selection of books in both English and Portuguese.

STROLL THROUGH THE PEACEFUL CEMITERIO DO ALTO DO SAO JOAO

Lisbon’s cemeteries are quite beautiful, and visiting one is definitely among one of the more unique off the beaten path Lisbon experiences.

There are two large cemeteries in the city that were built in the 1830s, during an epidemic of cholera that decimated Lisbon.

The Cemiterio do Alto do Sao Joao served the eastern part of Lisbon, whereas Prazeres was reserved for the western part.

Both cemeteries are still in use, with beautiful funerary architecture that is quite unique.

Rather than having gravestones under the ground, the cemeteries feature a number of mausoleums and tombs that house an entire family of coffins.

The cemetery almost works as if a city: the “houses” are numbered and the “streets” are all given names. It’s beautifully landscaped, with jacarandas and cypress trees and other beautiful flora.

EAT DELICIOUS AFRICAN FOOD

Portugal had one of the longest-lasting empires in the world, spanning nearly six centuries from the establishment of its first colony in Ceuta in 1415 up until 1999, when Portugal ceded Macao back to China.

Of course, six centuries of colonial rule don’t go by without brutality, and the War of Liberation fought in Portugal’s African colonies was no exception.

It lasted nearly 15 years, only culminating in 1974, long after most English and French colonies had won their independence.

Since independence, there has still been a lot of cultural interchange between Portugal and its former colonies, particularly in the form of food.

If you’re a fan of trying hard-to-find ethnic cuisines, Lisbon is a gastronomic goldmine!

I got to try two different cuisines that were brand-new to me (a rarity when you spend nine years in New York eating your way through the city’s food scene) in just a matter of two weeks in Portugal: Mozambican and Cape Verdean.

I had a memorable Mozambican meal at Cantinho do Aziz and can recommend their matapa, vegetable curry, and makoufe.

But even better was the Cape Verdean food I tried at Anastacia – the cachupa was absolutely incredible and hands-down one of the best meals I ate in Lisbon.

There are also Angolan restaurants worth seeking out, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to try any on my last visit to Lisbon!

GAWK AT TILES AT THE MUSEO DOS AZULEJOS

While Porto is the best-known city in Portugal for its intricate tilework, you can get a taste of this beautiful and distinctly Portuguese art form in Lisbon at the Museo Dos Azulejos.

As it’s located a bit outside of the historical center, it’s often skipped by tourists, which is why I rate this as one of the true Lisbon hidden gems.

The museum traces the history of tile work in Portugal back to Moorish influence and the beautiful Islamic tiles that were common in mosques from this region.

It explored the evolution of Portuguese tiles over the centuries, from the transition from the Islamic calligraphy tiles to the blue-and-white tiles that come together to form large-scale murals that you see all over Portugal today.

They also showcased new takes on Portuguese tilework from contemporary artists, who continue the legacy with their own unique modern spin.

Don’t miss the beautiful “Panorama of Lisbon” on the top floor, where an entire room is dedicated to an azulejo reproduction of Lisbon’s skyline with its most important features all identified.

CHECK OUT THE BEAUTIFUL (AND FREE) FILM MUSEUM

One of my favorite Lisbon hidden gems is the Portuguese Cinemateca located near Marquês de Pombal.

There’s a free film museum with rotating exhibits and old cinematography equipment, as well as an excellent bookstore that features a huge selection of film-related literature.

The building itself is beautiful and the interior architecture is worth a visit alone: I loved the Moorish detailing inside the townhouse.

There are some theaters on the ground floor if you’re in the mood to catch a movie, or you can simply explore the 2nd-floor museum and bookstore and have a drink at the café there.

Prague Off the Beaten Path: 15 Ways to Experience Alternative Prague

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When I lived in Prague in 2009, it felt like I was in on a little secret. While all my other classmates were studying in more “traditional” places like London (yawn) and Paris (zzz), I was exploring the lesser-known corners of a city I had barely heard of before I decided to study there.

Well, it’s nearly 2019 and let’s just say that the secret is out — if there ever was one, and I wasn’t just living under a rock the whole time.

Even when I lived there in 2009, it wasn’t undiscovered at all – there were hoards of people in the Old Town cluttering up the streets every time the astronomical clock neared its hourly, disappointing show.

Tourist restaurants and museums had already started to pop up and clutter the streets with gimmicky shops shilling absinthe and endless variations of the tired “Czech me out” pun-emblazoned souvenirs.

But it was never hard to get off the beaten path in Prague, just by getting off the Old Town – Charles Bridge – Prague Castle circuit. 

Well, 10 years have come and gone since I called this city home and while it is a little harder to find the alternative Prague I once found rather easily, it is by no means impossible. 

Here are my favorite ways to get off the beaten path in Prague and experience the hidden, local side of the city.

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Planning to visit Prague and want to find a non-touristy side of the city? Prague can be crowded but I lived there for six months and can give you local tips on how to get off the beaten path in Prague. Full of TRUE Prague hidden gems, this guide will show you a secret, alternative side to Prague that will have you avoiding all the lines.
Planning to visit Prague and want to find a non-touristy side of the city? Prague can be crowded but I lived there for six months and can give you local tips on how to get off the beaten path in Prague. Full of TRUE Prague hidden gems, this guide will show you a secret, alternative side to Prague that will have you avoiding all the lines.

Explore the sprawl of Vyšehrad

It’s kind of hard to believe that a fortress offering sweeping city views can make the list of hidden gems in Prague… but truly, so few tourists make it to Vyšehrad that this place surely deserves a place of its own on this list. In fact, even though I lived in Prague for six months, I never made it there until my most recent visit.

Despite being located within the city of Prague and not a far walk from a metro line, Vyšehrad enjoys relative tourist-free peacefulness. Meaning “upper castle” in Czech, this fortress is on the right bank of the gorgeous Vltava River, offering views of Prague’s bridges and the famous Prague Castle.

While the views alone would be enough to convince someone it’s worth a visit, there are several interesting places within Vyšehrad that shouldn’t be missed.

The most obvious of which is the beautiful Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, which is far less crowded than the tourist-packed St. Vitus yet, in my opinion, similarly awe-inspiring. And at a mere 50 crowns to enter (about $2 USD), it’s well worth the price of admission.

The Vyšehrad Cemetery just outside the Basilica is also interesting to visit, as you’ll find the resting places of several famous Czechs, including the famous classical musician Antonín Dvořák, the playwright and inventor of the word ‘robot’ Karel Čapek, and Art Deco darling Alphonse Mucha.

Another thing not to miss is the Rotunda of St. Martin, one of the oldest existant pieces of architectural history in Prague, dating back to the 11th century.

Stroll down Náplavka Riverbank

Not a far walk from Vyšehrad, it’s a great idea to combine a trip to Prague’s offbeat fortress and the lovely Náplavka Riverbank.

While it was a bit quiet when I visited recently in winter, I’ve been told that it’s bustling in spring and summer, when it becomes the closest thing you can get to a beach party in a landlocked country like the Czech Republic.

You can drink on boats tied up to the boardwalk, explore the Saturday morning farmer’s market (one of the best in the city), or just sit with a beer enjoying Prague’s drinking in public laws.

In the winter, you can actually hang out on a floating sauna at Lázně na Lodi, part of the (A)Void Floating Gallery which is one part bar, one place music venue, one part cultural center – all floating on a boat in the Vltava River!

Check out the DOX Center for Contemporary Art

Now that Prague’s National Gallery is open for the first time in nearly a decade, there are lines to match. My guide on my Prague food tour estimated that the lines to get in take over an hour, maybe even two.

While I love visiting a museum or two on my travels, I certainly am not about to wait in line for hours just to enter. So I made it a point to go out to Prague 7 during my time to explore the DOX Center for Contemporary Art. This museum is relatively new, having opened in 2008, and since it’s far from the major tourist sights in the city it’s more popular with locals than tourists.

There were a handful of excellent exhibits while I was there. My two favorite were Welcome to Hard Times, a take on today’s bizarre nonstop political news cycle, set in an interactive gym. The most impactful piece to me was the rock-climbing wall, on which a map was printed, identifying a handful of the border walls all over the world.

To me, this piece is about the futility of walls in the face of people’s determination to climb them.

The other exhibit I really enjoyed was #DATAMAZE. There were quite a few interesting projects as part of this exhibit, the most interesting of which was one where someone created a bot to randomly purchase items off the dark web, bringing up questions of whether or not a robot can commit a crime.

Meta.

There were also commentaries on oversharing in social media, data privacy, consent in image-sharing, and many other topics. In my opinion, it was contemporary art at its best, bringing up intriguing topics in a way that is accessible to the public rather than deliberately inscrutable.

Exhibits are subject to change, obviously, so check DOX’s program here.

Explore the fantastically unique Cross Club

Cross Club is a short walk from the DOX Center for Contemporary Art. You’re bound to pass it on your way to DOX if you take the metro there, so I recommend bundling the two together.

So, what is Cross Club? It’s hard to describe properly, but basically, it is a multipurpose art center, club, café, bar, and restaurant at the heart of Holešovice, one of Prague’s alternative neighborhoods.

Whether you stop in for a cup of freshly-roasted coffee, a beer, or a meal during day hours or come in the evening for live music or to dance into the wee hours, Cross Club is the beating heart of a more local side to Prague.

If you want to truly experience Prague at night, head to Cross Club. Skip the tourist traps like Karlovy Lázně, which may be the biggest nightclub in Central Europe but is also basically just filled with backpackers and tourists, serving drinks at twice the price and half the quality of other clubs and bars in the city.

Eat authentic Vietnamese food

Nowadays, Prague has plenty of international dining options, but while most of these restaurants are relatively new phenomena, the Vietnamese food scene in Prague has been vibrant for a while. That’s because the Vietnamese make up the 3rd largest minority group in the Czech Republic, since many Vietnamese immigrated to then-Czechoslovakia under an agreement made between Czechoslovakia and Vietnam during communism.

As a result, there are countless great Vietnamese restaurants around the city and even a neighborhood called “Little Hanoi” on the outskirts of Prague. The ones I hear the best praise for are Mr. Banh Mi (Rumunská 30) in Prague 1 for Vietnamese sandwiches, Pho Vietnam Tuan & Lan (Slavíkova 1) in Vinohrady for pho, and the massive Sapa market complex in Prague 4.

I haven’t had a chance to explore Sapa yet, but my friend Crystal (who is of Vietnamese descent) did when she was in Prague recently and she gave it two thumbs up! Check out her video below.

Eat like a local

One of my favorite traditions when traveling is to do a food tour that takes me to the nooks and crannies of a city that I may not have explored independently.

I joined Eating Europe for their Eating Prague tour and loved it. Despite having lived in the Czech Republic for six months, most of the dishes were actually new to me, and I had only visited one of the locations on the tour previously. I especially loved our final stop, Cafe Louvre, where we had delicious Czech svíčková (beef tenderloin in a slightly sweet root vegetable purée with cranberries and cream) and the best apple strudel I’ve ever tasted.

I recommend joining a food tour on the first day of your trip so that you can know what you like, what you didn’t get to try, and get tips from a local food-obsessed guide, and so you can prioritize the rest of your meals. Check out the tours here.

Shop and snack at Jiřího z Podebrad Farmer’s Market

The Jiřího z Podebrad square (often mercifully abbreviated to Jirák) near the metro stop of the same name is one of my favorite hidden gems in Prague. At the meeting point of two of my favorite Prague neighborhoods, Žižkov and Vinohrady, this square is one of the best local neighborhoods in Prague. I used to live just a few blocks away on Slezská Street, so I feel a huge affinity to this area. Somehow, this market is not at all that far from the Old Town, yet it has an entirely local vibe.

My top tips? Get a plum and poppyseed filled koláč from one of the bakers or a drool-inducing sandwich or burger from Kaiser Franz if you’re feeling especially hungry (or hungover).

There are also stands selling fresh produce, baked goods, excellent espresso, and plenty of other farmer’s market staples.

Luckily, whereas most farmer’s markets are a once-weekly, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair, the Jiřího z Podebrad Farmer’s Market runs four days a week. Wednesdays through Saturdays. I’m not sure exactly when it closes, but I wouldn’t get there too much later than 1 or 2 PM if you want prime selection.

Drink your way through Vinohrady’s cool bars

Ahh Vinohrady, my favorite neighborhood in Prague! Yes, it’s a bit more upscale than other Prague neighborhoods but there are so many wonderful places to go for a drink.

My favorite bar in all of Prague is Bar & Books (Mánesova 64), where you can enjoy being surrounded by books and cigar smoke and feel yourself transported to another decade. Another newer bar that I love in Vinohrady is BeerGeek, which focuses on craft beer in a casual and unpretentious setting (Vinohradská 62).

For a totally different scene and for a more active night, I love Radost FX (Bělehradská 120) for dancing – or at least, I did when I still went out dancing (I’m old now). Radost FX was literally Prague’s first electronic music club in the post-communist era, and despite the years of popularity it’s still quite a favorite amongst locals and visitors alike. The vegetarian brunch on weekends is also a local favorite!

Hang out in Letná

Letná is best known for its park of the same name, home to one of Prague’s most beloved beer gardens thanks to its lovely views. But what is there to do in Letná besides its beloved beer garden?

I had the chance to find out, seeing as I went in December – hardly beer garden weather in Prague. Letná has a ton of great coffee shops worth exploring and spending some time in when you want to get off the beaten path in Prague.

Letná is home to a handful of great museums, including the National Technical Museum (which comes highly recommended) and the contemporary branch of the National Gallery. There’s also a lovely café in the ground floor of the National Gallery, Café Jedna, which is lovely to sit in with a coffee.

Don’t miss grabbing a pastry at one of Prague’s most beloved cukrarnas (bakeries), Erhartova. If you have time and want to have a lazy day in Letná, see if there’s a movie on at Bio Oko, a casual yet artsy cinema house filled with bean bags and lounge chairs in addition to your standard movie seats.

A short walk from Letná but technically (I think) in Holešovice, you’ll find some other lovely coffee shops including the book-filled Ouky Douky and the cozy Kavárna Liberál. You can also do alternative bar crawl of Letná if you prefer some guidance or want to meet up with fellow travelers.


Explore beer history

Prague is synonymous with beer for many, and if you’re a beer lover there are a handful of historical places you should visit that are well-known but not too crowded.

Be sure to check out U Pinkasů to pay a pilgrimage to the first ever tank of Pilsner Urquell ever tapped in Prague! Easily one of the most famous beers of all time, eating a meal with a perfectly poured glass of Pilsner Urquell is a Czech must. Don’t miss the delicious and surprisingly spicy sausages in dark beer – it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten in Prague.

The monastery at Strahov, Klásterní Pivovar, has a fantastic brewery making old-style and new beers – 3 permanent offerings and several rotating taps. The monastery itself dates back to 1140 but the brewery is a newer development, but still quite an interesting piece of beer history.

Why it’s by no means off the beaten path, the oldest brewery in Prague is also worth visiting as well, U Fleků, though check your bill carefully as I’ve heard they can be a bit… unmeticulous, shall we say… with their bills.

If you prefer a little guidance and context, I recommend this 3-hour beer and microbrewery guided tour or this beer & Baroque tour that takes you to some beautiful monasteries and lets you try out their homemade beers.

Hang out in trendy Žižkov

Best known for its concentration of bars and nightlife, Žižkov has been called “up and coming” for the better part of a decade and yet it’s never quite gotten that popular with tourists.

There is one main reason why travelers come to Žižkov – namely, the absurd but interesting communist TV Tower slash art installation by David Černý comprising of several giant babies crawling up the tower. The other reason why travelers may come to Žižkov is the New Jewish cemetery, where Franz Kafka is buried.

There are several places worth visiting in Žižkov, but it really depends on what your “scene” is. If you’re a fan of live music or want a late night out, check out who’s on at Palác Akropolis – this huge complex similar to Cross Club in terms of multifunctionality has a restaurant, multiple bars, a concert venue, and a nightclub. For a more casual vibe, check out Pivo a Párek, beloved for its beer and sausages (hence the name).

There’s also an arthouse cinema – Kino Aero – and several great coffee shops. I recommend just reserving some time to stroll around the area on a free day and popping into whatever catches your eye.

If you prefer to explore the neighborhood with some guidance, this bar crawl of Žižkov run by Bohemian Alternative Bar Tours is well-reviewed.

Check out the St. Cyril & Methodius Crypt and Church

This benign-looking church has a remarkably interesting history. It was home to the final chapter in a story of one of the most daring attempts to overthrow the Nazi occupation.

In short, two Czech soldiers trained by the British RAF parachuted into the Czech Republic and entered Prague by stealth. They attempted to execute the Nazi leader, Heydrich, who was overseeing the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech Republic). They succeeded in hitting him, but he wouldn’t succumb to his wounds until the next week.

They went into hiding, and the Nazis responded with characteristic vengeance, completely massacring the population of the village of Lidice and steamrolling the town. In total, some 5,000 or so were killed in Lidice and other villages around Prague in retaliation for the assassination.

Eventually, the Nazis closed in on them, and under pressure of torture a 17-year-old boy gave up their locations in the St. Cyril & Methodius Church. They were hiding in the crypt, and as the Nazis flooded the crypt, they committed suicide to avoid being taken alive.

You can see a plaque and memorial to their daring sacrifices at the church in which they met their end.

PS – Thanks to Amos for sharing this bit of hidden Prague history with me on my recent visit!

For more WWII and Communist history, I recommend taking a 20th century history walking tour or e-bike tour to learn more and add some context to your sightseeing.

Explore the Výstaviště Praha (Prague Exhibition Grounds)

I had no idea that this place even existed until I was wandering through Holešovice one day on my recent trip. There are several gorgeous buildings in this complex that would make an Instagrammer go nuts, but luckily the secret isn’t out with these types (and I’m not going to write an Instagram guide to Prague, so these places can remain Prague hidden gems).

Located on the edge of Prague’s biggest part, Stromovka, these exhibition grounds are composed of several interesting buildings. My favorite building in the complex is the Industrial Palace, which looks a bit like an abandoned Art Nouveau train station.

You can also find a planetarium, the Lapidarium of the National Museum (which hosts some of the original statues from the Charles Bridge) and just a bunch of other really cool buildings with zero other people around, save for a few families making their way to the aquarium on the grounds.

Try a communist-themed escape room

Escape rooms aren’t my thing because I’m super anxious and slightly claustrophobic, but I know many people who love them! Prague is well-known for its variety of escape rooms and their creative themes.

One interesting looking escape room is the Communist Czechoslovakia themed escape room. You play as Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident playwright turned first president of Czechslovakia, who masterfully guided the Czech Republic out of the dark years of communism. To check out this escape room (and others), click here.

Check out the House of Black Madonna

Czech Cubism is one of the most distinct architectural contributions of Prague and the House of Black Madonna is a great example of this.

Close to Ovocny Trh, the House of Black Madonna is at once uniquely Cubist and blends into the Baroque architecture of the Old Town it’s set in.

You can stop for a coffee at the Grand Café Orient, the only Cubist interior in the world still in existence, or you can stop at the two floors dedicated to cubist art which make up part of Czech Museum of Fine Arts.

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  • Want to see Prague off the beaten path? These unique things to do in Prague are rarely on any tourists' Prague itinerary, so check out my favorite local places in Prague (from someone who used to live in Prague!)
  • Want to see Prague off the beaten path? These unique things to do in Prague are rarely on any tourists' Prague itinerary, so check out my favorite local places in Prague (from someone who used to live in Prague!)
  • Want to see Prague off the beaten path? These unique things to do in Prague are rarely on any tourists' Prague itinerary, so check out my favorite local places in Prague (from someone who used to live in Prague!)

Do you have any other favorite off the beaten path places in Prague? Share your hidden gem favorites!

Note: I was a guest of Eating Europe on my most recent trip to Prague, but all of the opinions expressed are my own.

15 Interesting Things to Do in Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City)

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Saigon (also called Ho Chi Minh City) is a vibramt, dynamic city that is the heart of Southern Vietnam.

While Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the most important city of the north, Saigon is the largest city in all of Vietnam and also the busiest and most bustling.

Saigon is a city people either love or hate.

There’s a lot going on there – the constant motorbike traffic and the ever-present smog accompanying them, the litter on the streets and the general loudness of the city, especially in the morning.

But in spite of Saigon’s flaws, I found myself loving the city, enthralled by its constant hum and rhythms.

In Saigon, I loved how sunset didn’t mark a time of quiet and people hurrying indoors off the streets but rather a time of renewed energy and focus.

saigon street blurry motorbike and still buildings

The punishing sun finally down, the humidity slackening just a bit, Vietnamese people of all ages would grab a plastic chair, sit in an alley, and laugh and drink into the late night hours.

Contrast this with the winter in Bulgaria that I was escaping, and you’ll see why I found Saigon such a treasure.

Meanwhile, the people of Saigon are in my opinion its greatest asset. I had some challenges on my first visit to Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi.

I was nearly pickpocketed in broad daylight walking in a city park – mere hours after I was scammed by a taxi driver, overcharged nearly 20 times the amount the ride should have been.

While of course you can’t judge a city of millions by the actions of a few, I did find Saigon’s people to be far more pleasant to tourists – less bent on fleecing tourists, more friendly and free with their smiles, more honest.

I spent three weeks solely in Saigon with not one issue, taking a few minor precautions which I’ll go into detail on shortly. 

One quick word on the city’s name: The city is officially known as Ho Chi Minh City, but many people still call it Saigon, and locals typically still call it Sài Gòn when speaking about their city.

For stylistic purposes, I’ve primarily chosen to use the word Saigon, but I call the city by its official name (Ho Chi Minh City) at times in this post, in order to respect both points of view. Thanks for your understanding.

Get acquainted with the city on motorbike

Getting thrown headfirst into the crazy flow of Saigon traffic on the back of a motorbike is hands down one of the most fun things to do in Saigon! I booked a combination sightseeing and street food tour by motorbike, and it was a fantastic experience.

We tried bun bo hue (a spicier and more flavorful take on Vietnamese soup), visited the oldest apartment block in Saigon, ate banh xeo (an enormous savory Vietnamese coconut pancake), visited a flower market and the Cambodian market, tasted a banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and headed to District 4 for some seafood BBQ.

It was a fantastic evening and despite the complete madness of Saigon traffic, I felt very safe with my experienced and very funny, friendly driver.

Seriously, these guys drive in this traffic every day – you are in good hands! If you don’t have the money to spend on a street food/sightseeing tour, you can always just do as the locals do and hire a motorbike taxi for as little as 50 cents using Grab Bike!

It was my primary way of getting around the city and while some of my drivers were a little less cautious than my driver was on my motorbike tour, it was always a lot of fun!

Take a cooking class at M.O.M. Cooking School

Salty, sweet, sour, full of umami, and a hint of spice:  it’s no wonder that Vietnamese food is some of my favorite in the world.

So obviously, one of the top items on my list of things to do in Saigon was to take a cooking class!

I took a class with M.O.M. Cooking School and had a fantastic experience –

I’d highly recommend taking a class with them if you have any interest in cooking or bringing home some Vietnamese recipes, or just learning about Vietnamese culture in a hands-on way and getting a break from the relentless Saigon heat in an air-conditioned and comfortable kitchen.

Each cooking class lasts about 3 hours and covers 3 dishes.

I learned to make pork and shrimp summer rolls (goi cuon) with a hoisin-peanut dipping sauce, fish-stuffed pumpkin blossoms with a fiery fish sauce-infused nuoc mam cham sauce, and the most delicious lemongrass and chili chicken stir-fried to be impossibly soft with the addition of coconut water.

Most of the prep work was done for us, so we were able to focus on technique – so the fun stuff, basically!

The menu changes daily so if you have any dietary preferences or restrictions (or just want to know what you’ll cook in advance!) be sure to check on Klook. 

They’ll give you a sample menu of what dishes will be prepared on each day. If you’re a huge fan of Vietnamese cooking you could even go for more than one day and learn even more dishes as all 3 dishes you prepare change daily.

Pay your respects at the War Remnants Museum

While not an easy or light thing to do in Saigon, visiting this museum about the Vietnam war is essential viewing in my opinion — especially if you are American or are from a country that was allied with the Americans in the war.

No matter what side of the ideological divide you fall on, you can respect the senseless loss of human life and the ongoing tragic impact this war has had on generations of Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Americans, and other victims of this brutal war.

The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is an excellently laid-out museum, full of photographs and articles documenting the worst abuses of the Vietnam War.

As an American, visiting this museum was hard, knowing the pain that my country inflicted on this country that is now welcoming me.

I know that the pain I felt in bearing witness to the awful acts my country committed is nothing compared to the pain of those who lost their limbs, their homes, their livelihoods, and their loved one as collateral during this war.

For me, it was particularly heartbreaking to see the effects of Agent Orange and dioxin on the population of Vietnam, and the effects it continues to have, causing birth defects and severe illnesses even in the fourth generation of survivors.

There’s no doubt that the U.S. committed serious war crimes in Vietnam and that the war here was one of the biggest tragedies of the 20th century. It’s hard; it’s heavy; it’s essential to see in Ho Chi Minh City.

Seeing this museum then going into the streets of Ho Chi Minh City – where the locals welcome guests openly and proudly – can be a bit of a shock to the system, making you wonder if you deserve their kindness.

It’s a dose of humility and an important reminder of the power of forgiveness and the human ability to survive.

Get lost in beautiful smells at the Ho Thi Ky Flower Market

Another stop on my motorbike tour, I loved visiting the Ho Thi Ky Flower Market in District 10.

Our stop here was brief but definitely worth it, and if you’re a huge fan of flowers or want to bring something home to decorate your hotel room, it’s definitely worth a visit all on its own.

I learned that white and purple flowers together symbolize death and are the appropriate gift for a funeral – so don’t make that mistake when buying flowers if you’re trying to woo a Vietnamese girl or make a good impression on a host family!

My guide explained to me that many of the flowers come in daily from Da Lat, a mountainous region about 6-8 hours away by truck.

Seeing the effort that these markets put in to constantly have fresh flowers, despite the punishing Saigon humidity, is really beautiful.

Walk over to the Cambodian Market

Just a short distance from the Ho Thi Ky Flower Market, you can find a local Cambodian market (Le Hong Phong Market), which is a little different than all the other markets in Saigon.

This was also a stop on the motorbike tour I did as it’s literally right next to the Cambodian Market – we walked over from the flower market. So if you’re traveling by Grab Bike or taxi, this is a great way to see two outer-district sights in one if you’re not going as part of a tour.

There’s a ton of delicious Cambodian food offerings here, as there is large Cambodian population living in Saigon, who fled the country during the genocidal reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

The market has been here since not long after, as the heart of the Cambodian refugee community, and it is now a spot for Vietnamese, Cambodians, and curious tourists who make the trek out to District 10 to explore.

Explore the vibrant craft beer scene

When I first visited Vietnam 4 years ago, craft beer wasn’t even a thing – it was pretty much just Tiger or Saigon everywhere you went.

Now, there’s a number of excellent craft beer bars and even microbreweries located in the heart of Saigon.

I got the chance to visit three during my stay in Ho Chi Minh City – East West Brewing Company, BiaCraft, and Pasteur Street Brewing.

While all were lovely and had different vibes and atmospheres, my favorite by far was Pasteur Street Brewing – don’t miss their jasmine beer, it’s so fantastic and delicious.

I wanted to write a guide to craft beer in Saigon… but my low alcohol tolerance, especially in the hot humid weather, meant this was a job better left for professionals!

Check this post out for a complete guide to craft beer in Saigon.

Walk around Ben Thanh Market

This is the most popular market in Vietnam, and while it is touristy and slightly more expensive than other markets in Ho Chi Minh City, I think it’s still worth walking around.

That’s mostly because it’s so close to many of the other sights that you will see in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, rather than of itself being essential viewing.

It’s a great place to buy Vietnamese souvenirs, if you have friends or family back home who you’re thinking of shopping for.

Rather than get a kitschy T-shirt or, god forbid, a pair of elephant pants, here are a few authentic Vietnamese souvenirs that I recommend as good souvenirs to bring back from backpacking Ho Chi Minh City.

I love Vietnamese drip coffee pots and Vietnamese coffee from the highlands (Da Lat), any sort of specialty cookware or non-perishable goods if you have a friend back home who loves cooking (or for yourself!), and an ao dai, a beautiful Vietnamese traditional dress-like garment typically worn over trousers.

See a piece of history at Independence Palace

Independence Palace is also called Reunification Palace – you’ll find that like Saigon itself, many things in this city have two names, an indicator that the North-South divide is not merely a thing of the past.

Whatever you call it, Independence/Reunification Palace is a must-see in Saigon, as one of the most famous buildings in the city. Tickets cost 40,000 dong, less than $2 USD.

I visited right after it reopened at 1 PM and thought that was perfect, as it was pretty peaceful when I was there and easy to snap photos without massive groups of people crowding it. By the time I left, huge groups were arriving, so I think I had good timing.

The building looks as if it is standing still in time – its 1960s architecture along with its kitschy vintage furnishings have barely changed since the tanks from the North arrived in 1975, when the city of Saigon officially fell. 

Personally, I regret not having an audio guide as I didn’t really know what I was looking at, even though it was visually interesting.

I thought there might be more signage about why each room was important, and what was the general history of the place, but I didn’t find this to be true, so if I came back I’d spend the extra 50,000 or so dong on the audio guide.

Alternately, you could visit it (alongside a lot of the other sights on this list, such as the Post Office Building and the Opera House, on a guided walking tour).

Admire the Notre Dame Basilica

Unfortunately under construction during my visit, I still think Notre Dame Basilica is well-worth a visit while in Ho Chi Minh City, especially given its prime location near Independence Palace and the beautiful Post Office building.

In fact, it’d almost be harder to not visit Notre Dame than not!

Notre Dame has its roots in the French colonial period which is responsible for a lot of the architecture that you see in southern Vietnam, and it’s well worth making a small circuit when downtown to see the other French colonial buildings.

I’ve included the Central Post office across the street, as well as the City Hall and Opera House in this post, but there are others – this can be done easily independently or with more context on a guided walking tour.

Visit the Saigon Central Post Office

I found this to be the most beautiful building in Ho Chi Minh City – but maybe it’s because my favorite color is yellow.

Located right across the street from Notre Dame Cathedral and truly in the heart of Saigon, Buu Dien (aka the Central Post Office) is so central that it’s almost impossible to miss.

Unfortunately, this gorgeous building has been thoroughly converted into a tourist mecca, with endless rows of booths selling tours and two souvenir shops.

However, if you can look past the touristic angle and appreciate the beautiful architecture, I think it’s still worth visiting.

Admire the lovely Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Another colonial-era building from the early 1900s, it’s unfortunately not possible to go inside the City Hall as a tourist.

While it’s still in use, it is strictly for civil servants and staff of the Peoples Committee in Ho Chi Minh City.

It was another one of my favorite buildings in Saigon and since it’s just a short walk from the Saigon Opera House it’s easy to tack on to your Saigon to do list.

See a show at the Saigon Opera House

One of the most essential places to visit in Saigon is the Saigon Opera House, which is both a prime example of the French colonial architecture but also one of the few colonial buildings still in use for its original function (or close to it) today.

The Saigon Opera House is home to the AO Show, a performance which combines elements of dance, circus arts, and a distinctly Vietnamese twist, as folk instruments, costumes, and bamboo are all utilized during the performance.

Shows run just about daily at 6 PM so it’s a must-see in Saigon if you’re a lover of the arts.

You can see just a performance of the show or you can combine a showing with a dinner for an even more special night out! Whichever you pick, it’s a recipe for an incredibly memorable night out.

Drink some fantastic Vietnamese coffee

One of the most unmissable things to do in Ho Chi Minh City is indulge in the city’s coffee culture (though I have no idea if $nob Coffee pictured above is any good – I just thought it was hilarious).

The traditional way to drink coffee in Vietnam is over condensed milk either hot or cold – and in Saigon, you’re probably going to prefer cold.

I warn you, there’s nothing quite like the double-whammy of a shot of extremely concentrated coffee plus the sugar rush of all that condensed milk, so drink with caution or prepare to stay up all night!

Check out Saigon’s hidden Hindu temples

Vietnam is often associated with their own syncretic blend of religions that include Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, with elements of folk religions mixed in.

But naturally, as Saigon is the most diverse city in Vietnam, there are plenty of religious buildings that don’t fall under the pagoda umbrella, such as Hindu Temples, Catholic churches, and even Islamic mosques.

There are actually a handful of Hindu temples right downtown. I particularly liked visiting Temple Goddess Mariamma, but Sri Thenday Yuttha Pani Temple is not far away, either.

Check out the Saigon City Museum (Gia Long Palace)

This museum traces the development of Saigon as a city, but in my opinion, the museum doesn’t quite reach its full potential.

This is a city with so much history that it should be hard to tell a boring story about it – but the collection of artifacts inside don’t do justice to the tumult and changes that have marked Saigon since its early days.

So why am I even including this on a list of things to do in Ho Chi Minh City? Well, the building itself is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s super cheap to enter.

The building was designed in 1887 by the very same French architect who designed the beautiful post office that’s now iconic of Saigon’s colonial style. However, its intended purpose (an exhibition hall) never came into fruition.

Instead, it was, at times, a lieutenant governor’s residence, the residence of Japanese occupiers, and then it was the residence of Emperor Bao Dai…. which promptly ended when the revolutionary Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh’s crew, came in.

Later, the British held it, then the French, and then eventually the South Vietnamese president…. before finally being part of the North’s sweep of the city during the fall of Saigon, and eventually being turned into a museum post-reunification.

Indulge in a spa day

Vietnam is one of my favorite places to indulge in a day of R&R and I took advantage of their affordable spa prices several times during my 3 weeks in Saigon.

One word of warning: many massage centers and spas offer insanely low prices when inviting you in (around $6-8 per hour for a foot massage, say) – then, after your massage, which may or may not have been satisfactory, demand tips of up to nearly 100%, therefore doubling the price!

I have no problem with tipping masseuses – they do hard work for little pay or security – but I do have a problem with being duped into paying double the expected cost disguised as a “tip,” when I generally tip 20%.

Instead, I recommend going to a more reputable and slightly more expensive spa where you can be guaranteed you won’t get the tip hustle.

I went to Cat Moc Spa several times during my stay in Saigon and loved it each time. The massages are reasonably priced, around $15-20 USD for an hour, and there is no tip hustle (though of course you are free to tip and tip well!).

I highly recommend them, as the atmosphere is a step above what you’ll usually find in Saigon and the quality of masseuses is extremely high.

They’re very friendly and experienced, so it’s worth the extra expense in my mind (which doesn’t actually end up being that much extra when you consider that you are getting an honest price from the get-go).

Where to Stay in London: First Time Guide to London Neighborhoods & Hotels

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One of the most overwhelming parts of planning your first trip to London is deciding where to stay in London for the first time – and better yet, finding the best area to stay in London that won’t break the bank.

London is not an affordable city by any stretch of the imagination, and that is even truer when it comes to finding a hotel in London.

London is composed of 32 boroughs which make up Greater London, and many of those boroughs break down further to be divided into neighborhoods as well.

I’ve been to London three times and I’ve stayed in three different London neighborhoods: Bloomsbury, Shoreditch, and Stratford.

While I loved staying in Central London and Shoreditch, I don’t think I’d stay in Stratford again, as the neighborhood didn’t feel safe as a solo female traveler.

So if you want to know where to stay in London – for a first time or repeat visitor – keep reading! Also, check out my 4 day itinerary for a London first-timer.

Best Areas to Stay in London, by Neighborhood & Budget

London is not a cheap city and as a result, it’s hard to recommend places that fit squarely into what I personally consider “budget.”

This post is about hotels in London, so I’ve excluded hostels unless they have private rooms available as well. However, if you’re a solo traveler on a budget, you may want to look into different hostels in London – I usually use Hostelworld to do all my hostel searches.

Here is a rough breakdown of what I mean by the different budget categories.

Budget: Under $100 (low season) / under $150 (mid to high season)

Mid-range: Under $200 (low season) / under $300 (mid to high season)

Luxury: Upwards of $300 regardless of season

Bloomsbury

This is where I stayed in London the first time and I’d definitely recommend it to fellow London first-timers.

It’s in central London, but it’s a bit away from some of the most touristic spots (London Eye, Big Ben, etc.) but still walking distance from them.

There are plenty of Tube stations nearby as well as King’s Cross station which is super useful if you plan to travel around England by train or do some day trips from London which are just a quick train ride away.

But far and away my favorite thing about Bloomsbury is that it’s home to the world-class British Museum, which is free (though it welcomes donations).

This meant that every time I was coming home, I’d pop into the British Museum for literally just 30 or 40 minutes at a time to check out a new section without getting overwhelmed and feeling like I needed to try to see everything.

It’s also home to London University and as a result, there are plenty of restaurants that cater to more student-friendly budgets.

I was able to find some truly budget-friendly meals here, such at Bibimbap Café just across from the British Museum, where you can get a delightful Korean meal for about 5 pounds.

Close to Bloomsbury is Soho, a thriving LGBT friendly London neighborhood, which is another great choice for where to stay in London for first-timers.

Budget: The best-reviewed budget hotel in Bloomsbury is Alhambra Hotel, located right across from King’s Cross. With very budget friendly double rooms with a shared bathroom (and rooms with a private bathroom for slightly more) this is a great place to stay if you don’t want to sacrifice location but you are also on a tight budget.

The design is quite simple and stripped down, but rooms are comfortable, a full English breakfast is included in the room price (very helpful considering how much food costs in London!), and the staff is friendly — plus, that location!  Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Mid-Range: This gorgeous Georgian townhouse is nearly 200 years old and used to be the home of the famous artist, Sir John Everett Millais. The highly-rated Arosfa Hotel in historic Bloomsbury is stylish yet central, just a short jaunt from the British Museum.

The rooms are beautifully decorated with different themes. Some are more classic, with wood paneling and warm earth-toned curtains and even a fireplace, whereas others have more personality, like funky wallpaper and black-tiled bathrooms. Either way, all rooms can enjoy the lovely lobby, the garden with a small glass gazebo, and a hearty continental and cooked breakfast. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Luxury: Right on lovely and quiet Russell Square (across the street from the most rad London phone booth of all, incidentally, decked out with parrot-themed wallpaper!), I first noticed and photographed the building that the Kimpton Fitzroy is in before even knowing what it was. The exterior is gorgeous, with a beautiful rich terra cotta exterior, but the inside is even more lovely.

The Kimpton Fitzroy is a Grade II-listed landmark building rich with historical details, making you feel like you’re staying in a palace more than a hotel. Inside, the interiors are luxe with a contemporary edge, designed with an eye towards classic modernity. There are several dining options within the Kimpton – from a casual coffeehouse slash wine bar to a more luxurious hotel bar to an upscale restaurant to afternoon tea in a courtyard.

A short walk away from the British Museum, several theaters on the West End, and the National Gallery, the Kimpton Fitzroy is luxurious yet surprisingly affordable for a London 5-star hotel in the heart of town (I’ve seen rooms for under $300 in the off-season). Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

City of London

Technically, the actual “City” of London is quite small and encompasses only one small part of what we commonly think of as, well, London.

The “City of London” excludes several of its most known places, such as Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the London Eye. Rather, the City of London includes the Tower of London, Tower Bridge (mistakenly known as London Bridge), the Bank of England, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Its proximity to so many sites makes it a great choice for a family trip to London!

I haven’t stayed here but my friend Megan did when staying at the citizenM Tower of London. I went to visit her and cowork with her for a few hours in their gorgeous bar on the 8th floor with jaw-dropping views of the Tower of London.

I loved being in such a central location surrounded by history everywhere, from the Tower of London with its intense and often dark history to the beautiful Thames River to the gorgeous Tower Bridge and the historic Old Spitalfields Market. This is truly the heart of London and a great place to stay!

Budget: For such a central location you’d imagine that the prices would be outrageous but there are still a few deals to be found in City of London. Premier Inn London Bank near the London Monument is an excellent choice, close to London Bridge and the Shard. You can also cross the bridge and walk to Shakespeare’s Globe and the Tate Modern from here. Rooms at Premier Inn are simple, as befits a budget hotel, but well-equipped and private with basics you’d expect (plus some extras!).

Each room has a private bathroom, a hairdryer, tea/coffee maker, WiFi, a work desk, blackout curtains, and a TV. Despite being a budget hotel, each room has a king-size Hypnos bed with a pillow-top mattress and your choice of pillows, great for a cozy night’s sleep in the heart of London without breaking the bank. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Mid-Range: I didn’t stay at the citizenM Tower of London, but I did visit my friend there and then later stayed at the Shoreditch location for three nights on my next trip to London. For the price, this hotel is amazing. Every single common area is bursting with creativity and artisticness, with a touch of irreverence and a sense of not taking itself too seriously.

Every common area is inviting, and there is a general vibe that makes the hotel lobby and bar areas places to see and mingle rather than just rush through on your way to your room, which I really enjoy. The rooms are small and compact but exceedingly well-designed and modern. Every room has its own iPad with which you can control the lighting, movies/TV, etc. There are so many wonderful thoughtful touches for the modern traveler, from USB chargers everywhere to in-wall adaptors that fit plugs from not only the UK but the US and Europe as well. And for the price, it’s quite an amazing deal, especially if you’re in London on the weekdays (it tends to be more on the weekends). Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Luxury: I’ve stayed at a number of Hilton hotels over the years (mostly because my mom is a Hilton Honors credit card holder – I don’t have that kind of money!) and always been impressed by the quality of their hotels, and it seems like Hilton Tower Bridge is no exception based on the reviews! The rooms are massive and there are excellent views of both Tower Bridge and the Shard (which is it just opposite from), one of London’s most iconic new skyscrapers, from the hotel.

It has all the amenities you’d expect from the Hilton name – massive luxe bathrooms with showers and bathtubs, great city views, enormous rooms with king-size beds and working desks, that sort of thing. There’s a world-class bar – TwoRuba – where you can get inventive cocktails. And while it’s certainly not cheap, it’s actually quite a good value for the Hilton name in one of the most expensive cities to sleep in in the world. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Kensington

Bordered on the east side by Hyde Park and the north side by the colorful Notting Hill, Kensington is one of the best places to stay in London for the first time if you want to be in the center of the action. The architecture is predominately gorgeous Victorian buildings and beautiful embassy buildings with true London charm.

Kensington and the immediate area around it is home to some of London’s best museums, such as the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The beautiful Royal Albert Hall is here, which is one of the most photogenic buildings in London, as well as the eponymous Kensington Palace.

It’s also quite close to Harrod’s, London’s most famous department store and a must-visit for those looking for London souvenirs, as well as Buckingham Palace and St. James’ Palace.

If you want a typical London experience in the heart of it, and you’re willing to pay a little more for it, Kensington is a fantastic choice.

Budget: There aren’t a ton of budget options in this neighborhood, but there are a few. The best-rated yet still affordable option I could find was Ravna Gora Guesthouse, which has small but well-designed rooms in the heart of Kensington. The cheaper options here have a shared bathroom; however, it is still possible to find a room with a private bathroom for under $100 for a double given the time of year.

They also have some of the more affordable family-sized rooms on offer in London, so if you are traveling with children on a budget it may be a great choice. Breakfast is not included but can be added for an additional price, about 7 pounds. Overall, the guesthouse isn’t anything particularly special, but it is affordable, friendly, central, and clean, which is about all you can really ask for for a budget hotel in central London. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Mid-Range: It’s hard to find an affordable hotel in a neighborhood as popular as Kensington, but there are still some better deals to be found such as Hotel Moonlight. With sumptuously decorated rooms that look far more sophisticated than the price tag would suggest, the rooms are small but have more than you’d expect – from a microwave to a coffee maker to a proper bathtub in each room, perfect for soaking your sore muscles after a long day of hitting the pavement.

One major bonus is that they have smart TVs that hook up to Netflix (assuming you have a subscription) which is a lovely touch when traveling. Even better, each guest receives complimentary snacks upon check and free use of a mobile smartphone that is GPS-enabled so you can use maps, etc. while walking around London in case you don’t have an unlocked smartphone with a British SIM. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Luxury: Of course, there are plenty of luxury options in Kensington given the general chicness of the neighborhood. Number Sixteen is the most stylish choice of them all, a gorgeous boutique hotel just a few steps from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The interiors are chic and beautifully designed by Kit Kemp, one of the most renowned interior designers in the world. In her opinion, “there is nothing less cozy than a room that feels too formal” – and that’s exactly the philosophy behind Number Sixteen’s decor.

Each room is unique so that you feel more like a guest in a home than in a mass-produced luxury hotel. But my favorite feature of Number Sixteen is the zen private garden, complete with a pond with lotuses and a small gazebo, which is a real treat in a city as bustling as London. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Marylebone

For a lovely residential neighborhood with a small village feel rather than a big city buzz, while still being central London, look no further than Marylebone. Home to some seriously stylish boutiques (as well as the super-gaudy and definitely skippable Madame Tussaud’s, which decidedly does not fit into the neighborhood’s feel), this is one of the trendier yet calmer neighborhoods in London.

There is lovely Georgian architecture everywhere you look, the highlight of which for me is the Wallace Museum, which coincidentally is home to one of the most affordable afternoon teas in London – I had a fantastic tea there for around 15 pounds. Fans of Sherlocke Holmes shouldn’t miss the museum dedicated to him, naturally located at  221b Baker Street.

Sandwiched between two green spaces – Regent’s Park on the north corner and Hyde Park to the south – Marylebone is a delightful breath of fresh air, close to the hustle and bustle of Central London while feeling a world apart from it.

Budget: Marylebone is more affordable than its chic boutiques would suggest. Just a touch outside the confines of the budget category I outlined above, the Marylebone Inn is a fantastic choice if you have your heart set on Marylebone yet don’t want to pay a fortune. Set in a traditional London home, Marylebone Inn is just a short walk from Regent’s Park and the theaters of the West End. The rooms are simply decorated but spacious and offer a good value for money in this area.  Check out prices, reviews, and availability here.

Mid-Range: Stretch your budget just a tad and you’ll find even better options in Marylebone. Nottingham Place Hotel is one of the best-reviewed boutique hotels in the neighborhood with over 1,000 reviews. The interior is seriously stylish, with gray, gold, and black touches that bring the design together beautifully.

Rooms are sparsely yet elegantly decorated, ranging from studios to one- and even two-bedroom suites. Each suite has a separate workspace, so they’re a fantastic place to stay in London if you’re expecting to have to work at the same time as you travel. Breakfast is available, but not included in the price, so keep that in mind when booking. Check out prices, reviews, and availability here.

Luxury: For a beautiful yet unfussy luxury experience in Marylebone, The Arch is a fabulous option. A lush yet not overwrought boutique hotel with spacious, colorful rooms, it’s located in the heart of Marylebone close to Hyde Park.

But what guests say truly stands out about The Arch is the staff, who go above and beyond to provide an unforgettable experience for each guest (even four-legged ones, who are welcomed at the hotel, for the record!).

Composed of 7 Georgian townhouses which have been connected to make one luxury hotel with a handful of dining and drinking options, each room is well-appointed with TVs, working desks, tea/coffee facilities, EU/US adaptors, rain showers,  and more. The Arch is comfortable luxury at its finest, at prices that are reasonable given the quality of the experience and the location in London. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Shoreditch

Shoreditch is hands down one of my favorite places in all of London – after all, I have written a whole neighborhood guide to Shoreditch. This district of London is known for its street food and street art, and if you are looking for a hipster-y, slightly gritty neighborhood with plenty of amenities, Shoreditch is the place to go.

There are countless excellent restaurants in Shoreditch, including some delicious Indian food on Brick Lane (famous for its curries) and Vietnamese on Kingsland Road (aka Pho Mile). And don’t forget the legendary salt beef beigel, the 24/7 street food snack that made Brick Lane a can’t-miss destination in London.

There’s Boxpark, the world’s first “pop up mall” in a series of shipping containers, which is a great place to drink and dine in a casual setting, There are so many fantastic bars, cafés, and bakeries that it would truly take the better part of a year to explore the whole dining scene in Shoreditch.

While it’s not technically on the Tube but rather the Overground, it’s still quite easy to get to Shoreditch and I never felt like I was too far away from Central London when I stayed there. I also loved being around so much street art and creativity, plus it’s a great place to stay on a budget as the constant street food markets offer a delightful variety of international cuisines for well under 10 pounds.

I’ve gone from Ethiopian to Mexican to British food in a manner of minutes in Shoreditch, which is one of its greatest strengths. If you consider yourself a foodie – and don’t have a huge fine dining budget – stay in Shoreditch and you’ll be happy you did.

The citizenM in Shoreditch

Budget: An excellent budget option in a budget-friendly neighborhood, Point A is the place I’d tell someone to stay if they were trying to do a London trip on a tight budget. For a budget hotel, it has a bunch of personality, including a jukebox in the lobby where guests can play their tunes free of charge.

The design is modern and well-designed, if a little sterile for my personal taste and not quite as stylish as citizenM (pictured above). There are tons of modern perks – USB chargers, ability to change the lighting colors and ambiance, air and heating controlled by remote, etc.

However, many of the rooms do not have windows (you can check on Booking.com to see whether or not the room you are looking at has a window – it’s well-marked so you won’t accidentally get a no window room), so just keep that in mind when looking. Still, prices are regularly under $100, so it’s a great choice in the heart of East London. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Mid-Range: I personally stayed at the citizenM Shoreditch on my recent March trip to London and absolutely loved it. The hotel itself captured the vibe and ambiance of the neighborhood itself so well, with the graffiti-esque explosion of art in the public spaces that mirrored the wonderful street art all around Shoreditch.

I felt like it was a lovely nod to the neighborhood while still creating a warm, cozy space to get away from the busy London streets. The rooms themselves are on the small side but they’re very well laid out. For example, underneath the bed is an expansive area to stash your luggage, and the bathroom is well-placed to make the room feel as big as possible.

The staff is incredibly friendly and welcoming and I enjoyed snacking and drinking at the bar when I was too lazy (and cold) to go outside. But what I love best about citizenM is the modern technology that makes me feel like I’m living in the future, like the remote-controlled blackout curtains to the iPad that knew my name upon arrival to the easy self-check-in process.

It’s fantastically priced (for the record, I stayed one night complimentary and paid for two nights out of pocket) and I’d happily stay there again. Check out prices, reviews, and availability here.

Luxury: For a trendy yet luxe experience in the heart of Shoreditch, look no further than Ace Hotel. This maverick brand of hotels specializes in creating design-focused, trendy hotels that appeal to travelers who prefer unfussy luxury.

The rooms are music-themed as befits Shoreditch’s grungy DIY vibe – expect touches like record players with expansive record catalogs to listen to and acoustic guitars in the rooms. There’s a buzzy hotel bar serving up inventive and delicious cocktails and a lovely, lively rooftop area for guests to hang out on and gets views of the skyline from Shoreditch’s unique vantage point.

If you want a faceless and typical luxury experience, this isn’t the place, but if you want something that fits the vibe of Shoreditch, this is the perfect luxury choice for the neighborhood. Check out prices, reviews, and availability here.

30 Unique Things To Do In Kyiv, Ukraine’s Lovable Capital City

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Note: This post was written in 2018 prior to the invasion of Kyiv by Russian forces. It is obviously not safe to visit Kyiv at this time. I will not be updating this post until the war is over and it is safe to travel in Ukraine again. I stand with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, as well as the brave Russians who risk their freedom to protest against this senseless war. I look forward to visiting Ukraine again when it is safe to do so. Slava Ukraini <3

Within minutes of stepping foot in Kyiv, I knew I had discovered one of my new favorite cities.

I had a feeling I would like Kyiv – after all, I did book myself two weeks there, with the intention of getting to know the city under its skin a bit. And I am so glad I followed that initial impulse and really got to know the city.

Kyiv to me feels like a city on the rise, improving rapidly. To put it simply, the energy in the city is electric.

There are new businesses opening up on every corner, catering to a new generation of locals who are more upwardly mobile than generations past and more excited for their country’s future.

And it shows in the streets. Hipster coffee shops and trendy cafés are popping up on nearly every block. Street art is on every other corner. There are restaurants that serve brunch that would make an Australian weep with joy. 

Yet meanwhile, the old way of Kyiv continues. Vintage trams totter along on shoddy streets, ancient metro cars roar along the well-worn tracks, and paint is peeling from every other facade.

Towering above the new and old, the polished and the decaying, are the stately, gold-domed cathedrals everywhere.

Standing tall above the city of Kyiv, they remind you just how important Kyiv has been – and will be – throughout the centuries.

I could go on about why I’m so obsessed with Kyiv for hours – but I digress. Let’s get down to business. After spending two weeks enjoying this beautiful city, here are my top things to do in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Discover the mummies of the Pechersk Lavra

Also known of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, the Pechersk Lavra is hands-down the most interesting Orthodox monastery I’ve ever been to.

And considering I live in the Balkans and travel more in Eastern Europe than anywhere else in the world, that’s a superlative that means something.

The Lavra complex is quite large. After paying for entrance into the complex (about 25 hryvnia, or ~$1 USD), you’ll pass through a beautifully ornate gate with painted iconography and gilded in gold.

One of the first things you’ll see is the Great Lavra Belltower, which at a height of nearly 100 meters was once the tallest belltower in all of Kyiv.

There are several churches within the Pechersk Lavra complex, but one of the most interesting is the Dormition Cathedral, which was built in the 11th century but completely destroyed in World War II.

The church was painstakingly restored and is now a convincing replica of how it used to be in its heyday.

But I haven’t gotten to the most interesting part of the Lavra yet: the labyrinthine cave monastery located further down the hill, which was built in 1051. 

This complex of tunnels and crypts is every bit as unique as it is spooky. Admission is free, but purchase a candle for 3 hryvnia to light the way (and add to the creepy ambiance).

Over 100 important Orthodox figures have been buried in the Lavra complex over the past millennia.

If you look carefully at the coffins, you’ll notice that under the robes, there are actual dead bodies — look for the telltale mummified hands. Undoubtedly, it’s one of the creepiest, yet most interesting things to see in Kyiv!

Marvel at the Microminiature Museum

The nondescript entrance to the museum – don’t miss it!

While I wanted to put this first, the Microminiature Museum is located inside the Pechersk Lavra complex so you’ll have to pay for an admission ticket in order to even get into the area in which you’ll find the museum.

After that, you’ll have to pay separate admission to the museum, an additional 50 hryvnia.

The Microminiature Museum is exactly what it sounds: miniatures done on an extremely small scale, best appreciated through a microscope.

The level of technical prowess involved in creating these microminiatures is astounding, and Mykola Syadristy – the artist who created all of these miniatures – is unparalleled in the field.

In fact, even modern machines can’t replicate what he was able to accomplish with these microminiatures. Photographs are not allowed in the museum, but even so – they wouldn’t be able to capture what you see.

In the museum, I saw everything from a complete, perfect chess resting atop the head of a pin, to a camel and pyramid threading the eye of a needle, to a rose embedded in a single strand of hair.

The museum is small and can be seen in approximately 20 minutes, but it’s the best thing to do in Kyiv in my opinion. I left feeling like a giddy child.

Stop and shop at Bessarabsky Market

I went into Bessarabsky Market (Rynok) twice during my stay in Kyiv and loved walking around it.

The market is still used by locals today, even though it is rather upscale compared to other smaller markets you’ll find dotting the streets of Kyiv.

The produce is stacked beautifully and you’ll see lots of traditional Ukrainian products, like pickled everything and exotic caviar. I couldn’t stop marveling at the beautiful jars of pickled and preserved everything!

I should also pause here to give a shoutout to my favorite Ukrainian supermarket, Silpo, which is quite possibly the best supermarket in Europe and can be found in the ground floor of the Gulliver complex.

Seriously — you can’t miss shopping at Silpo. It’ll kill any stereotypes you ever had about traveling Ukraine – this place is like the Whole Foods of Eastern Europe, without the obnoxious price tags.

Enjoy the amazing third wave coffee scene

Forget any pre-formed ideas you have about Kyiv being a cold post-Soviet city — Kyiv is hip and modern as hell, and you’ll see this more than ever in the specialty coffee scene.

The coffee scene in Kyiv is simply amazing and luckily my friend Megan has already navigated it in great detail in her excellent Kyiv coffee guide.

I meant to go to more places on her list, but since First Point was only two blocks from my Airbnb in Podil, I ended up there nearly every day, guzzling their delicious flat whites and snacking on their amazing quiche and lemonade cake.

I did manage to visit Blue Cup on one of the rare days I pulled myself away from First Point and wasn’t disappointed either. Definitely a worthwhile stop for coffee if you’re near Maidan Square or Khreshchatyk – and they look like they have delicious salads, too!

Pay your respects to the victims of the Holodomor

Many people are familiar with the Chernobyl tragedy in Ukraine, but fewer people realize the extent of the suffering of Ukrainians during the 20th century at the hands of the Soviet leadership.

In two short years between 1932 and 1933, somewhere in between 3.5 and 10 million Ukrainians were starved to death in a man-made famine orchestrated by the Soviet Union.

Many believe that Stalin was the architect of this famine, targeting ethnic Ukrainians in order to quelch the rumblings of an uprising — something that certainly wouldn’t be out of character for a man like Joseph Stalin.

The Holodomor Genocide Museum is a poignant small museum located underground the Park of Eternal Glory, nearby the Pechersk Lavra complex. Admission to the museum is around 20 hryvnia.

There is not a lot of information in English available, but the most important symbols of the loss incurred during the Holodomor need no language.

The museum contains several books listing the names of those who died in each district (oblast) in a series of tomes that form a circle around the room, each book far larger than it should be.

A monument in the middle of museum shows a silo filled with grains of wheat – each grain of wheat represents one soul lost.

It’s a small museum that can be seen in a matter of 10 or 15 minutes, but visiting is an important part of understanding 20th century Ukraine, in my opinion.

Meet (and perhaps climb) Rodina Mat

During your time in Kyiv, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll catch a glimpse of Rodina Mat, otherwise known as Mother Motherland.

At a whopping height of 340 feet (over 100 meters, including her sword), located on top of one of Kyiv’s hills, she’s apparently the 18th largest statue in the world (suck it, Statue of Liberty, who is a measly #42).

Nearly every SSR had some version of the Motherland monument – I’ve seen similar monuments in Yerevan and Tbilisi – but this one in particular is one of the tallest and most impressive.

Apparently, you can climb to the top of Rodina Mat’s shield for an epic view over Kyiv, but I was in a hurry visiting Rodina Mat and the war museum nearby before my flight out, so I didn’t ask around to figure out how to get up to her shield.

Hunt for Soviet architecture

Some of Kyiv’s Soviet architecture is easy to find – Rodina Mat ain’t exactly hiding, nor are the war monuments at her base (shown below).

But if you are a fan of hunting down Soviet architecture and monuments, Kyiv has plenty to offer.

I stumbled across the Hotel Salut while walking from Arsenalna towards Pecharsk Lavra with some friends, but if I were to actually go out on a hunt for Soviet architecture in Kyiv, I’d follow this awesome Soviet architecture guide by my friend Megan.

Learn about Ukraine’s past in the World War II Museum

Perhaps the longest-named museum I’ve ever visited, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War is part of the Rodina Mat complex.

In the courtyard outside the museum itself, you’ll find some Soviet-era statues and several disused army tanks – many times being used as a makeshift playground for tiny children.

At first I thought this was the entirety of the ‘museum’ – turns out I nearly missed the enormous and excellent museum nestled at the base of Mother Motherland herself!

As the name purports, the museum is primarily dedicated to the history of World War II and its impact on Ukraine, but the ground floor at the moment is dedicated to a not-so-temporary exhibit about the ongoing struggle in Eastern Ukraine (Donbass) between Ukraine and Russia.

As the war has largely dropped out of mainstream media, but is still felt quite acutely by Ukrainians, it was important to visit this museum and understand the ongoing impact of the war in the East.

Check out the Kyiv underground economy

By this, I don’t mean buying drugs – I mean marveling at all the economy that is taking place underneath Kyiv’s walkways.

As with many post-communist countries, there are several underpasses at busy intersections.

While as a person with a pedestrian-first mentality, who believes it’s shitty urban planning to make pedestrians go up and down stairs in order to cross a simple street just not to inconvenience the traffic, I actually like what Kyiv has done to their underpasses.

People buy flowers, espressos, underwear, odds and ends – these mini-market stalls truly seem to be a part of people’s everyday life

An upscale underground market near Bessarabsky Rynok

Take the metro to the deepest station in the world

I don’t usually love riding the metro (I blame it on NYC-induced public transport PTSD). However, in Kyiv, I’m a whole different person.

The metro is an amazing and reliable way to get around, and at only 8 hryvnia for a single ride (after a recent price hike), it is extremely affordable.

Kyiv is built atop several hills, with plentiful sources of underground water. Great for building a city – not so great for building a subway.

As a result, the Kyiv metro is one of the deepest metro systems in the world, and Arsenalna Metro is the deepest metro station in the world, constructed a massive 105.5 meters underground (346 feet for my fellow metric-shunning Americans).

To get from the bottom of Arsenalna takes an ear-popping (yes, literally – for me, at least!) 5 minutes or so by the two escalators which bring you to the surface.

One other cool thing about Arsenalna is that the room between the two escalators forms a massive echo chamber. Make like a tourist and clap to hear the echo – it’s quite amusing.

The Arsenalna metro stop is nearby the Pecharsk Lavra complex so it’s not super out of the way to visit.

Visit the heart of Kyiv at Maidan Square

A lot of the recent history of Kyiv can be found in Maidan Square, a place you likely saw on the news during the Euromaidan Revolution.

Now, Maidan Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Ukrainian – good luck pronouncing that!) is a peaceful place where friends meet up before going out or just sit and enjoy the weather on nice days.

Many of the free walking tours of Kyiv will start at Maidan Square, so if you do one of these tours it’s quite likely you’ll see Maidan Square and her tell-tale angel statue at some point during your stay.

Explore the craft beer & cocktail scene

I idiotically managed to get bit by a stray cat in Odessa and spent most of my time in Kyiv getting rabies shots (side bar: the American Medical Center in Kyiv is A+)…. and as a result, I wasn’t able to drink in Kyiv the entire time I was there, so I have nowhere I can point you to personally.

However, I highly recommend checking out either Megan’s guide to craft beer in Kyiv or Amy’s excellent guide to craft cocktails in Kyiv.

If you prefer a more guided approach to learning about Ukraine’s burgeoning craft beer scene, this craft beer tour comes highly recommended! Check prices, rates, and availability here.

Go on a self-guided street art tour

By now, it’s common for European cities to have street art, but what I find so impressive about Kyiv’s street art scene is the sheer scale of it.

Often, the street art pieces take up the entire 6+ story facade of a building, adding color and life to buildings that have seen better days.

There is so much street art in Kyiv that the city actually has its very own app for finding street art. Unfortunately, the app is only available for iPhones for now (click here for iOS if you have it).

However, Kathmandu & Beyond has also created an excellent web guide to street art in Kyiv with a map you can use offline, which you can find here.

If you prefer a guided tour, it is possible to book a guided street art tour online.

Eat amazing Ukrainian food

I think that Ukrainian food is probably my favorite of all the Eastern European cuisines. Here are a few of my can’t-miss dishes:

  • Borscht (duh): Both the red and green varieties are delicious, though of course red is more traditional.
  • Salo: Cured lard, essentially, but so delicious on Ukrainian bread!
  • Pickled herring: Also delicious on bread as an appetizer
  • Varenyky: Similar to Russian pelmeni or Polish pierogi, these Ukraninian dumplings are best enjoyed stuffed with cabbage, potato, or meat. Or some combination of the above! There are also sweet varieties.
  • Deruny: Potato pancakes served with sour cream, sometimes stuffed with other goodies like mushrooms
  • Mixed grill: Ukrainian BBQ is not for the faint of heart, but unless you’re a vegetarian, you’ve got to at least try to mixed BBQ plate before leaving Ukraine. Your heart will not thank you, but your stomach will.

I ate traditional Ukranian food at a few different restaurants during my stay, but my favorites were Varenichnaya Katyusha nearby Bessarabsky Rynok and Kupidon near Khreshchatyk Avenue.

Interested in learning how to cook like a Ukrainian? Consider taking a half-day cooking class.

Or try some delicious international food

Long gone are the days where all you could find in Kyiv is Ukrainian food.

While Georgian food is huge in Kyiv, it’s actually not one of my preferred cuisines so I took a risk and tried some of Kyiv’s Asian offerings and I was blown away by the quality of food I tried.

I had excellent Vietnamese food at Chang including top-notch fresh summer rolls and excellent beef pho, polished off with a Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk – perfection the likes of which I’d expect from any Vietnamese restaurant in California or NYC (nothing can touch Vietnam, I know).

I also had quite good and very affordable ramen at Menya Musashi, which is a mini-chain of Japanese restaurants in Kyiv. I had mouth-wateringly delicious (and eye-wateringly expensive) Thai curry at San Tori and outrageously delicious Korean food at Pyan-Se Bar. 

I had such good success with international food in Kyiv that I almost braved a Mexican food restaurant… before backing out because I remembered that Mexican food in Europe is never a good idea.

Stroll along the river Dnieper

One of my favorite things about Kyiv is that it is a city on a river – and a big, impressive river no less.

I recommend taking a walk from Podil past the St. Nicolas Wondermaker on the Water Church, stopping at Poshtova Ploshcha.

It’s got beautiful views and you end in a cute square with a carousel and plenty of people out and enjoying the square.

Many people don’t know that Kyiv has beaches, but it’s true!

It was pissing down rain nearly my entire stay in Kyiv, but I’ve been told Hidropark is the place to be in the summer when it’s sunny.

You won’t find many locals actually in the water — it looks quite polluted, to be honest — but it has a proper sandy beach and would make a fine place for reading a book and having a picnic on a summery day.

Admire St. Andrew’s Church, the jewel of Kyiv

If there is one building more beautiful than all the others in Kyiv, it’s St. Andrew’s.

Perched high atop a hill (as it should be), the church is easily visible from many parts of the Kyiv skyline.

I love it for quite a silly reason – it’s the exact shade of my favorite Crayola crayon when I was a kid (robin’s egg blue, naturally).

But it’s lovable for more reasons than just that, obviously. It’s one of the most exemplary pieces of Baroque architecture in Kyiv.

As gorgeous as the exterior is, the inside is just as lovely, with a red wall of saints and icons displayed prominently in the center.

Whereas many Orthodox churches are a bit round and plain for my taste, I love the gaudiness and ostentation of St. Andrew’s Church, which looks almost a bit like a crown on the top of Kyiv’s Andriyivska hill.

Explore the other blue church

Not far from St. Andrew’s Church, my favorite in Kyiv, there is another blue church that makes pretty much every list of things to do in Kyiv — the St. Michael’s Gold-Domed Monastery.

A functioning monastery, this blue-toned church was actually demolished by Soviets in the 1930s, but was restored in 1999, 8 years after Ukraine’s independence.

Similar to St. Andrew’s, St. Michael’s exterior is done in a Baroque style, but what I find even more interesting is the reconstructed yet traditional Byzantine interior including gold-plated mosaics of beloved Orthodox icons.

Because of the walls surrounding the monastery, it is actually quite difficult to photograph St. Michael’s without a proper wide angle lens on a full-frame camera… but a great hack is heading to the St. Sophia bell tower, w here you can get amazing photos of not only St. Michael’s but lovely St. Andrew’s as well.

Check out the quirky One Street Museum

Located on Andriyivskyy Descent, which is colloquially referred to as “Kyiv’s Montmartre” for all the galleries and artists on this street, it’s easy to bypass One Street Museum.

But I recommend not giving it a pass if you’re a fan of vintage oddities!

This odd museum – more of a collection, really – is home to lots of interesting antiques, including odd vintage postcards and pages from books from the Pechersk Lavra back in the 17th century.

It’s also home to a strange collection of death masks, apparently, but when I visited in July 2018 these were no longer on display (perhaps on loan to another museum?)

Like most museums in Kyiv, it is small, easily manageable to see in under 30 minutes, and affordable (about the equivalent of $1 USD). So if you’re nearby, I recommend giving it a peek.

Peruse the open air markets of Andriyivskyy Descent

If you’re already on this famous street to see the One Street Museum or St. Andrew’s Church, you should definitely stop to check out the open air vintage markets along Andriyivskyy Descent.

You’ll find all sorts of wares, from used books to vintage tableware and glassware, small pins from the Soviet era, and more.

Ride the funicular or walk up Volodymyrska Hill

The funicular was closed for construction when I was visiting Kyiv in July 2018 (I’m not sure if it’s finished yet), but the best views of the city are up here.

I wasn’t about to climb the steps up to Volodymyrska Hill in 90 F/ 32 C temperatures, to be honest, but those who visit when the funicular is open or are less exercise-averse than I am will surely enjoy this beautiful view.

Here’s a photo taken by someone less lazy than me:

Marvel at beautiful frescos at St. Sophia

St. Sophia, alongside the Pechersk Lavra complex, makes up a joint UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kyiv, and with good reason. St. Sophia the church is lovely itself, but the real beauty is inside.

The frescoes inside are truly incredible, though it should be noted that you are not allowed to take photos inside due to the risk of damaging them.

When purchasing your ticket, I recommend that just purchase a ticket to the grounds plus entry to the cathedral, and maybe add on the bell tower if you want to climb up for a great view over Kyiv. I bought the ticket that included everything, and I found a lot of the “extras” to not be worth the price.

The Bell Tower views were worth the extra 60 or so hryvnia, in my opinion: just look at those views!

Catch an opera (if you’re there in the right season)

I think I’m a bit cursed and I always go to cities with a vibrant opera culture during their summer seasons an never end up getting to see performances.

Which is a shame, because I actually really love opera and ballet…. especially in Eastern Europe, where seeing shows are insanely affordable.

As in, in Kyiv, the cheapest tickets to the opera cost about $2 USD.

Even if you go outside the opera season like I did (I visited in July), you should still stop and admire the amazing architecture of the opera house.

See Kyiv’s version of the Golden Gate

Kyiv’s “Golden Gate” is nothing like San Francisco’s, so forgive me if I’m a bit biased (and unimpressed).

However, it is nearby several important sites (and my favorite Vietnamese restaurant) so I ended up passing by the Golden Gate twice during my time in Kyiv.

I think it’s worth stopping by if you are in the neighborhood, but not necessarily going out of your way to see.

As with many of Kyiv’s historical points, its original integrity has been damaged during the Soviet era.

The gate was completely rebuilt by Soviets in 1982 – supposedly to celebrate Kyiv’s 1500 years of existence. There are no exact images of the previous gate to reference for authenticity.

Still, it’s an important point of reference in Kyiv throughout history.

It was essentially used as a victory arch, modeled after the victory arch of former Constantinople, an arch the likes of which you see in Paris, Barcelona, and other cities around the world for centuries.

Now it’s an oddly thrown-together tourist oddity.

It’s not one of my top things to do in Kyiv, but it’s worth a quick stop by if you are in the area (and you likely will be).

Stroll around hipster Podil

I based myself in Podil for my two weeks in Kyiv and it was a great decision, as it quickly became one of my favorite neighborhoods in Kyiv.

There is just so much going on here – there are countless bars and restaurants and cafés all around the neighborhood. It truly has a bohemian, revivalist feel that really resonated with me.

I don’t want to give too much directions here as I think part of the joy of discovering Podil is wandering around without any specific purpose, with camera in tow. Here are just a few shots of my favorite parts of Podil. However, if you prefer a more structured exploration of the neighborhood, you can sign up for a guided walking tour of Podil.

Check out the odd, interactive Chernobyl Museum

I personally decided not to go to Chernobyl during my time in Kyiv but I couldn’t miss the Chernobyl Museum…

Especially considering it was two blocks away from where I was staying in Podil.

I didn’t get the audio guide because I didn’t have enough cash on me to cover the rental fee plus deposit (some 150 hyrvnia or so, more or less) and that was a big mistake.

The museum had very little information in English so all I could do was wander around the exhibits and look at the different artifacts. It was interesting for sure, but it would have meant a lot more to me with context, I’m sure.

However, what I found especially interesting about the Chernobyl Museum was all the art installations. It is a bit surreal to see the way that Ukrainian artists have chosen to represent the disaster. To characterize it, I’d say that it’s a little gaudy, totally quirky, but ultimately a very symbolic and introspective endeavor.

Or actually visit Chernobyl itself

Photo Credit: Stephanie Craig

I personally opted not to visit Chernobyl, preferring to get to know Kyiv as a city during my stay.

While I’m sure I’ll go in the future, I opted to spend my time getting to know the living, breathing Kyiv without the aura of Chernobyl’s destruction clouding my perception of it.

However, if you think that this is the one and only time you’ll visit Ukraine, I think you should try to go to Chernobyl if it interests you. I personally know I’ll be back to Kyiv time and again, so not going wasn’t a big miss for me.

Here’s the best-rated day tour of Chernobyl – you can check for reviews & availability here. Keep in mind that you need to book several days in advance because of the permitting required to visit Chernobyl.
The more adventurous amongst us may opt for a 2-day tour of Chernoybl including an overnight stay.

Check out the Ukrainian-flag-colored St Volodymyr’s Cathedral

It’s surprising that many tourists skip St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral as this is actually one of the more important cathedrals in Kyiv – it’s the mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in fact.

The church narrowly avoided damage during the Soviet era, and in fact it was  one of the very few places in the USSR where tourists were permitted to visit a working Orthodox church.

I’ve heard there are beautiful mosaics on the inside, commissioned by top Venetian artists, but there was a wedding taking place when I arrived at the cathedral so I wasn’t able to take a peek inside.

Cruise down the Dnipro River

The river Dnieper (also written Dnipro) passes through Kyiv, bisecting it into its central, touristy side where most travelers stay and its more industrial-looking side on the other half of the river.

One of the best ways to see the immensity of Kyiv is by taking a river sightseeing cruise down the Dnipro river.

Check out tours and availability here.

Explore the so-called ‘Museum of Corruption’

The Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 ended with the ouster of pro-Russian, ultra-corrupt Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia amidst bloody protests. He left behind the Mezhyhirya Residence, which has become representative of his profligate spending.

Now, it’s a common place to visit for people who are curious to learn more about Yanukovych and his corruption to visit. You need to visit with a tour guide, however, although if you simply want to visit the grounds without entering the house that is possible without a guide.

Check private tours of Mezhyhirya here or you can join a group tour of the residence here.

Where to Stay in Kyiv

Kyiv has a great range of accommodation options, from super budget-friendly to luxury. Better yet, the prices are quite affordable for tourists from the US or Western Europe due to a favorable exchange rate with the hryvnia.

I personally stayed in an Airbnb in Podil for my two weeks. I don’t really recommend the Airbnb I stayed in as I had constant struggles with the hot water and electricity, and even though the host tried his best to fix the issues, it was still a huge pain in the ass over a two-week stay. However, I’ve listed a few recommendations from budget, mid-range, and luxury price brackets for those who prefer a hostel or hotel.

Budget: I very nearly stayed in Sky Hostel before realizing that me in a dorm for two weeks was a recipe for murder.  I loved the airy décor of this place (so many hostels feel cramped and dingy, with zero attention paid to aesthetics). The prime Podil location can’t be beat, either! Prices are very reasonable for Ukraine – not the cheapest, but definitely a very good deal. Check prices, reviews, and availability here.

Mid-range: Kyiv has plenty of affordable boutique hotels that offer a comfortable, trendy stay at a decent price. The Live Here Hotel  (let’s pause to quickly LOL at the name) has a great look and excellent reviews. The bedroom decor is super modern and spacious, with great leather detailing, comfortable beds, amenities like a desk you can easily work from, etc. Plus you can’t beat the location! Check prices, reviews, and availability here. 

For something truly different, you can stay in Hotel Salut, the Soviet-era hotel pictured above! A friend who organizes tours in Ukraine actually uses this hotel for his guests every time they visit, because while the exterior is a bit cold and Soviet-esque, the rooms are comfortable, the staff is friendly, and it’s easy walking distance to the Lavra and several other monuments. Plus, who doesn’t want to be able to say they stayed in a true Soviet hotel? Check prices, reviews, and availability here. 

Luxury: Kyiv is a modern city that caters a lot to business clientele and as a result, you will see tons of luxury, business-oriented hotels in the city. For something luxurious but less stuffy, I recommend the funky MaNNa Boutique Hotel located in my favorite neighborhood, Podil. The rooms are huge and beautifully quirky, with fun and interesting décor in each room – whether it’s an artful tumble of books, a pop art poster of a pug, or a more traditionally artsy room. Each room is very different so be sure to look through the photos of each room to ensure you’re getting the style you like! Check prices, rooms, and availability here. 

I personally love this kind of quirky-chic aesthetic, but if you prefer something more traditionally luxe, I would definitely recommend the Hyatt Regency, which will surely not disappoint. Ultra-luxurious with epic views over Kyiv, a gorgeous rooftop bar with views over St. Michael’s, spacious clean white rooms, enormous bathrooms I’d happily consider an apartment in NYC — it’s the most luxurious place in town. Check prices, reviews, and availability here – sometimes the prices are surprisingly affordable!

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Nakhchivan Travel Guide: What to Do in Azerbaijan’s Peculiar Landlocked Exclave

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Geography nerd though I am, I will readily admit that I had no idea that Nakhchivan even existed at all until a few months ago.

I was talking to a friend about my travel plans to Azerbaijan and she told me about the exclave of Nakhchivan, geographically separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by its neighbor and enemy, Armenia, with whom they’re still at war.

Due to the border with Armenia being closed, the only way to get to Nakhchivan from “mainland” Azerbaijan is an hourlong flight from the capital, Baku.

Overland routes from Baku are theoretically possible via Iran, but as an American, that’s a no-go, as Americans cannot travel without a guided tour in Iran.

As someone who finds geopolitics endlessly interesting, I was instantly fascinated with visiting this strange chunk of Azerbaijan that virtually no one travels to.

However, I mostly wanted to go for bragging rights – to say that I visited a strange, little-known exclave that sees tourism as an oddity, not a reality. I thought I’d stay for a night or two and leave having checked it off my never-ending list. Instead, we ended up staying a full four nights and five days, seeing so much than we imagined along the way.

Figuring out what to do in Nakhchivan wasn’t easy – the one proper blog post I found about Nakhchivan never even left Nakhchivan City. A puzzling VICE article called Nakhchivan the “San Francisco of the Caucasus,” which became the theme of several jokes over the course of our trip – everything was the “[blank] of the Caucasus.” We pieced together our Nakhchivan itinerary from a few hyper-niche ex-Soviet tour companies, bringing a wishlist each morning to our helpful hotel staff and arranging a taxi for the day.

Speaking little Russian and virtually no Azeri, traveling in a region that sees so few tourists, I was surprised by how easy it actually ended up being to see Nakhchivan. Despite how off the beaten path it is,  its small size combined with the helpfulness of the people we encountered meant that we got a great overview of the republic in a matter of days.

Getting to Nakhchivan

Getting to Nakhchivan seems daunting, but it’s rather easy in actuality. When we arrived in Baku, we walked over from the modern Terminal 1, which proudly displayed its 5 star bona fides on the entrance, to the more time-worn Terminal 2. We wandered through a series of metal detectors, eliciting strange looks when we asked where we could purchase tickets for Nakhchivan. Eventually we found the ticket counter tucked away in a corner of the second floor of Terminal 2.

Having come of travel-age in the 2000s, buying an airline ticket felt completely anachronistic, even a bit illegitimate. I felt that even more acutely when our credit cards were declined (a common occurrence when using an American card in Azerbaijan) and we had to go back through the metal detectors to withdraw some manat from the ATM. 70 manat and 20 minutes later, we each brandished a ticket voucher for a flight to Nakhchivan in four days’ time.

Fast forward to departure day, after our legs had clocked several miles around Baku and our cameras had logged thousands of photos, we got to the airport early – we had been told to arrive two hours and 20 minutes before our flight. Check-in took all of about 5 minutes, inclusive of checking our baggage (35 kilos of luggage are included in the 70 manat ticket price). So we sat in the only restaurant in the airport, and I ate the most delicious borscht of my life as an airport cat curled himself around my legs hoping to shame me into sharing.

I fully expected to fly in a small beater plane – after all, this was getting me my off the beaten path travel street cred. So I was almost disappointed when boarding for the plane led me to a giant jet bridge (a foreign concept to me after so many times being bussed to the airplane when flying budget airlines, one of my biggest travel annoyances), which led in turn to a giant jet plane.

Speaking in English to my friend Stephanie, we garnered a few glances, and my curious seatmate tried to ask me a few questions. “Odkuda vy?” ended up being one of the few phrases the Duolingo owl was able to teach me in Russian; I answered that I was from America, confident in my Russian skills… and then promptly exhausted the extent of my language skills and fell into silence.

When we started to land in Nakhchivan, we saw some of the most stunning landscapes, just as the sun was setting. We had spent the day of our flight driving through the outskirts of Baku, through oil fields which had torn up a landscape, leaving it pockmarked and brutalized. Seeing the untouched mountains of Nakhchivan lifted me up before our wheels even touched down.

After paying a reasonable 6 manat to get to our hotel, Hotel Tabriz, we arrived at our hotel and promptly flopped onto our comfortable beds.

Where to Stay in Nakhchivan

There aren’t a lot of places to stay in Nakhchivan, which made the choice exceedingly easy!

We opted to stay in the 5-star Hotel Tebriz because it was the best option…. in that it was the only option we could find. The only other hotel we could find online was Hotel Duzdag, which is not even located in Nakhchivan City, but close to the Duzdag sanatorium and salt mine. We booked two nights at first at Hotel Tebriz but upon checking in we quickly decided to extend that to four nights there, especially since we found the price really reasonable for the quality of the hotel.

While our room was clean and spacious, what we loved most about our stay at Hotel Tebriz was the super helpful staff who helped arrange reasonably priced drivers every day that we needed them. Oh, and the included breakfast was also always excellent – I still dream of eating toast with sweet Nakhchivani cream and honey for breakfast there. The lunch buffets were good, but our a la carte dinner was less impressive (though not quite bad  per se – just thoroughly mediocre). Still, I suspect not too many people visit Nakhchivan expecting a foodie dream world, so it does the trick at keeping you fed at very reasonable prices.

But the best thing: Hotel Tebriz has an excellent hammam and sauna and indoor pool in the basement that was surprisingly luxurious, and we had good, affordable, though slightly gruff massages from the in-house masseuse. A one-hour massage cost about 45 manat, if I recall correctly, a little less than 25 euros. There are male and female hours, as well as co-ed hours. Unfortunately, the female hours also seem to be family hours (naturally) so I didn’t actually find the female-only time very relaxing as I was surrounded by screaming kids. I had a much better time going during the co-ed hours, so if you don’t mind sharing rooms with people of other genders, I suggest going then. Everyone is wearing swimsuits, anyway.

If this Nakhchivan travel guide is helpful, please consider booking your Nakhchivan hotel through my affiliate link below to support this free content!

Check rates, prices, and availability at Hotel Tebriz and other options in Nakhchivan here. 

Nakhchivan City

For a capital of an autonomous republic, the streets of Nakhchivan City are puzzlingly sedate. Meanwhile, the apartments of Nakhchivan City look like lacquered Lego toys, tidily stacked in OCD-like perfection. Nakhchivan is almost Swiss in its cleanness. Every courtyard is meticulously manicured. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more rosebushes than people in the city of Nakhchivan, population 75,000.

The streets are wider than necessary, as if expecting some big traffic jam that has simply never materialized. After the all-day bustle of Baku, walking around in Nakhchivan is eerily quiet. The streets were often so empty that I almost felt like I was walking around jet-lagged abnormally early, despite being the sun directly overhead in the sky.

Nakhchivan’s population has stagnated due to its geographic and economic isolation, much of its population moving to Turkey. While things look a little rosier now, tensions are still high, and Nakhchivan hasn’t seen an easy few decades.

Nakhchivan was the first part of the former USSR to claim independence, in January of 1990, yet the ease with which it gained independence would belie what was to come. The Nagorno-Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia claimed tens of thousands of lives, displacing over a million. It was during this war that Nakhchivan was blockaded for a year, which has made the exclave a bit obsessed with self-reliance.

Despite an ever-increasing quality of life, including a Human Development Index higher than that of “mainland” Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan is still stunted from its years of turmoil and continued border tensions. While you can’t see it from the well-maintained streets or tidy parks, you can see it in the sense of quiet that pervades everything: the eerily calm hotel, the width of the unfilled streets, the bemused smiles on the face of locals when they see a tourist with a camera.

We left our hotel, easily the tallest building in Nakhchivan, to stroll aimlessly around the city. Needless to say, TripAdvisor has no Nakhchivan top 10. We ended up in a park filled to bursting with roses. I live in Bulgaria, a country that proudly calls itself the Land of Roses. Well, I hate to burst Bulgaria’s petal-scented bubble, but Azerbaijan — and Nakhchivan in particular — could wrestle it for the title. Their annual rose budget must be in the millions.

The crown of a mausoleum peeked out from the bed of roses, and we meandered our way over, passing an open air museum along the way.

Momina Khatun Mausoleum

To the extent that Nakhchivan has a skyline, mausoleums feature heavily in it. There are numerous scattered around the autonomous republic, and several within Nakhchivan City itself. By accident, we stumbled across two in our first 10 minutes of walking in the city.

The mausoleum of Momina Khatun is tall and rather impressive, a monument to honor a 12th-century noblewoman who passed. It likely was once part of a madrassa (Islamic school) that has long since disappeared. The mausoleum, however, still stands tall after having been refurbished over the years. Its understated brickwork, enameled turquoise tiles, and Islamic calligraphy are all emblematic of the Nakhchivan mausoleum style.

Not far away from the Mausoleum is the Khan’s House, once a royal residence, now apparently a carpet museum. An official-looking guard patrolled the garden of the Khan’s House, and the emptiness made me think it was closed. It probably wasn’t.

I snapped a few photos of the Khan’s house and walked to the other end of the park in search of something to eat.

Cuma Mosque

Following the line of the park, we reached a pond with one lone paddleboat out on the water and a short time after, a mosque. It was a Friday, the holiest day of the week, during Ramadan, the holiest month of a year. This, all in a city that sees next to no non-Muslim tourists. It seemed like it would have been rude to try to enter so we didn’t.

However, having spent a lot of time in Azerbaijani mosques by now, I’ve found that they usually have a headscarf for visitors to borrow and they are usually really friendly with non-Muslims visiting. Just follow basic etiquette rules (take off your shoes, don’t speak loudly, etc.) and try not to interfere with people praying.

The local market

Just across the street from the mosque, a vibrant produce market takes up about two city blocks. I went on a Friday afternoon but I presume it’s a daily market. We were still a bit wandering about in a daze, taking in all the sights of Nakhchivan City, so we didn’t buy much save for the world’s strangest gyro.

We stopped at a UFO-looking rotunda straight out of the Communist era, hoping for lunch. Ordering was a charade of broken Russian (basically, me repeating “obyed” over and over and hoping it meant lunch like I thought it did) and gesturing to my mouth. We settled on tea and an adopted Nakhchivani grandmother who cooed over us like we were her own.

Noah’s Tomb

Yet another mausoleum, Noah’s Tomb is a mausoleum dedicated to the prophet Noah (the same Noah that shows up in Christian and Jewish scripture as well). It’s interesting, in the U.S., people talk about “Judeo-Christian values” – basically excluding Islam from sharing those values despite sharing the same prophets, golden rules, and many of the same stories.

After a lifetime of absorbing information through my country’s lens, it’s interesting to see a mausoleum dedicated to Noah – a figure I associate so strongly with Christianity – expressed through a traditional Islamic funeral art.

My musings aside, it’s a gorgeous building that is emblematic of Nakhchivani architectural style while also celebrating Nakhchivan’s self-proclaimed status as the original land of Noah.

Other things to do and see in Nakhchivan City

Only in Nakhchivan can you charter a private train around the city for 5 euros. And so we did just that, forking over 10 manat to cover the minimum of 10 people who need to sign up in order to have the sightseeing train run around the city for about an hour and a half.

Our “private train” stopped at the Heydar Aliyev Museum, went past Nakhchivan University, down past countless interesting buildings including an old hammam, before stopping on a hill courtyard with great views of the city, the nearby lake (with Iran just on the other side of the border), and Noah’s Mausoleum.

Alinja

After being told about the “Machu Picchu of the Caucasus” by the lone other traveler in the hotel, I’ll admit my curiosity was piqued. Later that afternoon, we hired a taxi to take us out to Alinja, wait for us, and drive us back for 45 manat (a bit more than 20 euro).

For some reason, the “Machu Picchu” moniker didn’t seem to tip me off that there would be stairs: some 1,600 of them, to be precise.

My cab driver decided to accompany me part of the way up the mountain, gregarious in a way that my extremely limited Russian vocabulary did not accommodate. “Very sport,” I’d remark over and over again each time I got out of breath, to which he would agree. He stopped for a cigarette about halfway up the mountain and I went onwards, the only person on the seemingly never-ending stairway to heaven.

I stopped mid-step when I noticed an emerald green snake stretched across one of the stairs, basking in the sun. I searched for a rock to throw in its vicinity to scare it off the path. My stomach lurched as it made its sinewy way off the stairs and made a mental note to keep my eyes on my feet on the way back down. I had no idea if snakes were venomous in Nakhchivan and had no intention of finding out.

I huffed and puffed my way up the remaining stairs only to arrive at Alinja about an hour after we arrived in the parking lot. Unfortunately, the Machu Picchu similarities stopped after the stairs: pretty much all of Alinja had been paved over in an oddly modern fashion that more closely resembled some strange urban courtyard than actual fortress ruins.

Luckily, my disappointment in the “castle ruins” themselves was outweighed by the sumptuousness of the Nakhchivani landscape around me.

I marveled at views of the Ilhan Dağ mountain, which Nakhchivanis proclaim is dented from Noah’s ark landing there (a claim they make probably just to stick it to Armenia). The lake next to Nakhchivan City glinted in the late afternoon sun as I peered into Northern Iran. Behind me, snow-capped mountains were fringed by clouds.

I met my guide a quarter of the way down, who had stopped by the water fountain I had avoided on the way up. He insisted it was safe to drink from; desperate with thirst and willing to roll the dice, I later found he was right. He then insisted I take off my shoes on the walk down as he had, repeating “massage” over and over again. He wasn’t wrong: it was actually quite pleasant to walk down without shoes.

Despite the strange choices made when reconstructing Alinja, it’s definitely worth a visit, especially for its gorgeous surroundings.

Batabat

Easily the most beautiful place in Nakhchivan, the road to Lake Batabat tallies up some 2500 meters above sea level on surprisingly smooth roads in little less than an hour and a half. Along the way, you can watch as the landscape shfits from resembling the American Southwest to the lush mountains of Colorado.

I’ve written a full guide to Lake Batabat here, so I won’t go into excessive detail on this post, but I’ll leave with you some photos to try to tempt you into visiting this gorgeous part of Nakhchivan.

Qarabağlar

The most beautiful mausoleum in Nakhchivan, a title I feel entitled to bestow having seen five of them in as many days, Qarabağlar is undoubtedly worth a detour during your time in Nakhchivan.

Composed of 12 semi-cylinders, the mausoleum glitters with blue tile against the standard brick. Next to the mausoleum is a mosque with two minarets, seemingly in disuse or in the middle of renovations.

Duzdag

Billed as a Soviet sanatorium for people who had breathing difficulties, I wasn’t sure what Duzdag would offer the tourist besides a strange glimpse into the past. Turns out that Duzdag is not some relic of the past but an active part of today’s Nakhchivan.

Nakhchivan sees huge potential for itself in the areas of religious tourism and health/wellness tourism, and Duzdag is the jewel in the crown of that vision. Apparently, you can stay at the Duzdag Physiotherapy Center with a note from your doctor, and it can even cure asthma and other bronchial diseases. It has room for 300 patients, some who stay for as long as a month in hopes of curing themselves.

I spent only 30 minutes in the salt mountain, not wanting to make my driver wait for us too long. Even in 30 minutes, I was breathing better for days to come. If you have time, there is a small room where you can order tea and spent some time in the salt mine without being a patient at the center.

Ashabi-Kahf Caves

I mentioned before how Nakhchivan is trying to reinvent itself as a religious tourism destination – fairly effectively, I should add, given that it was selected to be one of the Islamic Capitals of Culture for 2018.

While the mausoleums and its tenuous connection to Noah are what Nakhchivan is most known for, another important Islamic pilgrimage site is the Ashabi-Kahf caves, which were mentioned in the Qu’ran and are now a popular tourist destination in Nakhchivan.

You’ll have to walk up many flights of stairs to get to a small mosque and the main cave area. Entry is free (as it is virtually everywhere in Nakhchivan – I actually don’t recall paying one single admission fee anywhere in the republic).

The caves themselves aren’t too spectacular, to be honest, but their religious significance is palpable by the way locals treat the caves, offering prayers and pilgrimage.

Ordubad

Ordubad is the second largest town in Nakhchivan and theoretically is famous for its super expensive lemons. Unfortunately we didn’t give Ordubad nearly as much time as I’m sure it warrants, stopping by for about two hours on our last day in Nakhchivan. The road to Ordubad is one of the most spectacular in Nakhchivan – the drive alone warrants the trip.

During that time, we ventured into the Cuma Mosque (Cuma appears to mean “Friday” and virtually every town in Nakhchivan has their own Cuma Mosque), which was one of the most unique I’ve seen on my travels. While not a religious person, I do love places of worship and mosques are my favorite in terms of architecture and aesthetics.

The mosques in Nakhchivan are much less ornamental than their cousins in, say, Turkey or Morocco. Whereas the mausoleums are tiled and calligraphy-ed to ornate levels, the mosques are almost nondescript on the outside.

That belies the beautiful, colorful interiors – the brightly painted walls, the mishmash layerings of carpet after carpet, the restrained decoration of the mihrabs that help Muslims orient to Mecca when they pray.

  

Besides the mosque, we visited the Qeyyseriye, a historic building (I never quite understood the purpose of it) dating back to the 1600s, which is now an ethnography museum.

It’s located across the street from the Cuma Mosque and is worth a brief visit, if only to please the women who work there who will insist you sign their guestbook.

Finally, we stopped briefly at a small park that also functioned as a memorial to victims from Orbubad who died during two wars: World War II (1941-1945 monuments are virtually everywhere in the post-Soviet world) and the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

In a country that has tried and succeeded at shedding much of its Soviet art and architecture, these WWII monuments and the occasional apartment block are the only looks back into the past.

Leaving Nakhchivan

We purchased our tickets back to Baku at a small ticket sales office in town, the same 70 manat it cost to get there. The woman helping us didn’t speak English but someone was around who could translate. We found out that the plane to Ganja was no longer operating (the explanation why was unclear) so we had to go back to Baku and then take a bus to Ganja.

The following day we arrived at the airport and were told we had to stop by the security desk for them to check our passports – a fun little extra step for foreigners, it seems. We received a very tiny slip of paper, the size of a fortune from a fortune cookie, that seemed essential to basically every step of the check-in process from there on out. We dropped off our bags (after our tiny paper was examined) and then made our way to baggage control. I had left my fortune-sized paper at the check-in desk so I had to backtrack and get it back to proceed. The baggage check was thorough but quick, leaving us far too much time to hang out at the airport.

The power plugs don’t appear to work anywhere but the bathroom, nor is there WiFi. The “restaurant” photos are ornamental, not informative: you can only buy chips, sodas, candy, and the like. Reading between the lines: there’s not a lot to do at the airport, so I’d arrive with only an hour or maybe an hour and a half before your flight or risk being bored to near tears.

Leaving Nakhchivan, I felt a bit of an ache in my heart to be leaving a place so unique, so special that I can think of no other analogue in the world. A place of isolation, resilience, and beauty. A place with a dark past and the potential for a bright future, if it doesn’t get in its own way.

The politics of the Caucasus are complicated. Deciphering what is fake news and who wronged who is hard. The answer is usually somewhere in between all the shades of gray. The situation in Nakhchivan is delicate and likely to change. A few days ago, Azerbaijan seized 10,000 hectares of land from Armenia to add to Nakhchivan – in their Orwellian words, “liberating [it] from Armenian occupation.”

The situation may – likely, will – change in the future. Who knows in what direction, and whether that will be for good or for ill. But one thing is certain: Nakhchivan is worth a visit in the here and now, in its complications and in its beauty.