World Destinations

Underrated Alternatives to Overtouristed Destinations in 2026: Swap the Crowd for Its Quieter Twin

Skip the ticketed queues at Venice, Santorini, Bali and Dubrovnik. Here are the quieter, cheaper equals — from Bologna and Naxos to Kotor, the Faroes…

By Anjali Shrestha · Sep 1, 2026

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The best swap you can make in 2026 is not a cheaper flight or a smarter hotel — it is a quieter destination. Almost every crowded icon has a lesser-known twin a short hop away: the same coastline, the same old-town stone, the same mountain air, minus the…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Seven swaps that keep the magic, drop the crowd

None of these alternatives is a consolation prize. Each one is famous in its own right — often for the exact quality that made its crowded neighbour a bucket-list name.

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Europe's water cities, minus the front-door fee

Venice is the reason "overtourism" entered the language, so start there. Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, gives you medieval architecture, kilometres of covered porticoes and the world's oldest continuously operating university — a…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Islands and walled cities

Santorini's whitewashed-cliff silhouette has a whole family of stand-ins. Naxos is the largest island in the Cyclades, with Mount Zeus, real farming villages like Filoti and Apeiranthos, and long beaches — an island that lives its own life rather than…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The Nepal version of the same idea

The Himalaya works exactly this way. Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna Circuit are the household names, and their main trails fill up in peak season. Step sideways and the mountains are just as big and far quieter. The Manaslu Circuit loops around the…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

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