All the Reasons to Stay in Small Towns Near Large Cities

Save Your Budget by Staying in Smaller Towns

As you may know by now, I love traveling, but it comes with obstacles. One of the traveling’s biggest issues often turns out to be accommodation in popular travel destinations. In the past, I’ve had numerous situations when booking a hotel or renting an apartment in the large city wanted to visit was just impossible. Obviously, major towns are often booked months in advance, while the available accommodation is usually extra expensive. 

This actually happened to me during my last trip to Germany, when we made a last-minute decision to go to Oktoberfest. You guessed it – it was impossible to find anything in Munich within our price range. Yes, we could’ve just canceled the trip and prepare beforehand for next year. Yes, we could’ve just decided to spend much more than planned and book a luxury hotel. However, we didn’t really want to do any of those things and went for a third alternative, which turned out much better than expected.

We chose to stay in a small town near the large city we wanted to visit and that’s exactly one of the top travel tips I’d give to anyone! If you’re not sure why I’m saying that – check out several pros of booking small town accommodation below.

Save Money

The first obvious reason is saving money. As I mentioned, during my last trip in Germany, I booked accommodation in Memmingen instead of staying someplace in Munich. The result was excellent as we ended up having a spacious two-bedroom apartment, parking in front of the building and a wonderful yard for a much lower price.

Plus, when it comes to overall spending, smaller towns are much cheaper in general in terms of groceries, restaurants etc. Thus, after spending lots of cash in Munich during the days spent there, it was a real pleasure to have a tasty and rich dinner in Memmingen for a reasonable price. Plus, Memmingen has a small airport nearby i.e. the Allgau Airport that offers extremely cheap connections and therefore saves you even more cash.

Explore More

Well, being 20, 50 or even 100 kilometers from the place you first intended to be it means you’ll have at least one unplanned destination to explore. For example, when I was having a holiday in Sicily, I decided to stay in Trappeto rather than other top tourist spots like Cefalu.

Therefore, not only we got to see Trappeto, but also all the surrounding towns, i.e. Balestrate and Castellammare del Golfo. So, instead of staying at one place for ten days we were exploring as much as we could simply because we had to be on the move to get to the popular spots.

Experience Local Lifestyle

Sure, San Vito lo Capo in Sicily or Munich in Germany are wonderful tourist destinations. Visiting is a must and pretty much awesome. However, what all these top spots have in common is lots of tourists and therefore their lifestyle is often aligned with the role they need to play as good hosts.

This, on the other hand, is not found in smaller towns where locals are enjoying their regular lifestyle ignoring the few tourists that have come their way. In other words, if you want to experience local lifestyle it’s always smarter to stay in small towns rather than busy cities.

Mingle with Locals

Similar to the previous point of staying in a small town, mingling with locals is a great way of enjoying your trip. This actually happened to me in Memmingen last fall; after days in Nuremberg and Munich where people are just busy with their lives, we went for a drink in a local Memmingen bar and made friends within 15 minutes.

A lady and a gentleman sitting on a table next to ours were wondering what two English-speaking ladies were doing in a Memmingen bar and started a conversation. Soon, we were sharing life stories and lifestyle details that made our trip much more interesting and insightful than just photographing buildings.

Avoid Crowds

You expect crowds when going to a top tourist destination. However, you don’t necessarily have to be stuck in those crowds every minute of your trip. The beauty of staying in a small town is being able to escape the crowds and enjoy a good night’s sleep in a quiet place.

Don’t Worry About Parking

Well, parking may be a problem only for those traveling by car; nonetheless, it deserves to be mentioned. Huge cities often have issues with parking, which is either unavailable or pretty expensive. This rarely happens in small towns where you can usually park the car along streets or far from crowded public parking lots.

Conclusion

Well, guys, I hope that I managed to provide you with at least a few good reasons why staying in a small town is much better than staying in the middle of chaotic large cities. If saving money or experiencing local lifestyle isn’t enough, at least I hope that avoiding crowds and solving parking issues did the trick of persuading you to accept some of these travel tips I share with my readers.