The best hidden gems to visit in summer tourist hot spots, from someone who's been to every European country
Lee Abbamonte is a banker turned travel blogger who has visited every country in Europe.
He calls Spain, Italy, France, and Greece Europe's "Big Four" because of how popular they are.
If you're visiting one of the "Big Four," here are Abbamonte's off-the-beaten-path tips.
Traveling to Europe this summer? If so, we'll take a wild guess that you're visiting either Spain, Italy, France, or Greece.
These countries, nearly all of which are in the southern or Mediterranean regions, are what travel blogger Lee Abbamonte dubs Europe's "Big Four" because of their popularity among American tourists.
Abbamonte, 45, knows a thing or two about travel. He's not only visited every state in the US but every country in the world, as well as the North and South Poles.
Across the pond, Abbamonte prefers exploring underrated European countries, but he gets why people gravitate to the "Big Four."
"If you don't like it, you're the problem," he said. "They're all good."
Still, he's a fan of venturing off the beaten path.
Here, Abbamonte shares a few alternatives to popular tourist hot spots that anyone visiting Spain, Italy, France, and Greece should check out.
In Spain, forget Barcelona or Madrid and explore the cliffside city of Ronda
"Everyone knows Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Ibiza, Majorca," Abbamonte said. But not many Americans are familiar with the historic city of Ronda, perched atop a deep rocky gorge covered in lush greenery in the Andalucia region.
"If you're in Marbella, or if you're in Sevilla or Gibraltar, you can go out there and check out this awesome little town," Abbamonte said.
He also can't speak highly enough of northern Spain. One highlight is the seaside town of A Coruña, which is close to the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrimage routes leading to a holy site in the city of Santiago de Compostela.
"I've done a lot of road trips around the north of Spain," Abbamonte said. "It's just an awesome little slice of Europe that nobody ever goes to."
If you're planning to island-hop in Greece, Abbamonte has recommendations that aren't Mykonos or Santorini
Mykonos and Santorini are two of the most well-known islands in Greece. Naturally, they're also two of the most overcrowded.
People familiar with Greece, like Abbamonte, often advise against visiting Mykonos and Santorini in favor of smaller islands that are quieter but just as beautiful, such as Aegina, Poros, and Hydra.
Abbamonte said Hydra, in particular, is worth seeing.
"There are no cars, and it's just goats and donkeys and walking. It's a very cool place to go."
On the mainland, he'd also advise stopping by Meteora in Thessaly, known for its "otherworldly" monasteries built atop towering rock formations.
In Italy, there are places just as beautiful as Lake Como and Florence that are far less crowded
According to Abbamonte, "With Italy, you can just throw a dart at a map, and you're in the coolest place you've ever been to."
Even so, some of Abbamonte's favorite spots in Italy don't get the love he believes they deserve. In the region of Tuscany for example, he says people tend to prioritize Florence, Pisa, or Siena.
All three are definitely worth seeing at least once, Abbamonte said, but he'd also recommend exploring smaller villages nestled between Tuscany's rolling hills, such as San Gimignano, Montalcino, and Montepulciano — all known for their endless vineyards and wines.
"Those are actually really awesome little villages and well worth checking out," he said.
Up in the north, Abbamonte said he'd skip Lake Como for any of the other Italian lakes close to the Dolomite mountains.
"It's my favorite place to road trip, probably, in all of Europe," he said.
Vacation like a local in France and visit Biarritz instead of Paris or Nice
Abbamonte cited Paris and Nice as examples of some of France's best-known vacation spots.
However, he said they are mostly hot spots for tourists rather than French locals, who tend to vacation in places "completely overlooked" by outsiders.
One of his favorites is Biarritz, a seaside hub known for its surfing culture in the Basque region of France. It's north of San Sebastian, a coastal Spanish city popular with tourists that is about a half-hour drive from the French border.
"Everyone knows San Sebastian now. Not a lot of people know Biarritz except for French people," he said. "But that's why I like it because it has a real, local kind of old money, Grace Kelly feel."
Other spots in France that he recommends checking out are the medieval town of Saint Paul De Vence on the French Riviera, beloved by generations of artists and poets, and the riverside city of Avignon in the southeast, one of his "favorite towns in all of Europe."
Correction: June 4, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the location of A Coruña. It's in northwestern Spain, not in Spain's Basque region. The story also misstated the location of Monte Carlo, which is in Monaco, not France.
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