Travel Recommendations for Novelty-Seekers Like Me [Live Post]

recs

I thought it would be cool to share some of the cool spots/hidden gems from all the countries I’ve visited. I try to select spots that are really unique, especially in their vibe, experience, or culture ‒ the farther it is from anything I’ve experienced before, the higher it’ll be on this list. I’ll also try to list the “best” versions of things I’ve tried, like food types or libraries. I usually care much less about historical significance or aesthetics, and there are plenty of lists for that already. The best adventures will always be the unplanned spontaneous outings you risk yourself, so definitely don’t lean too much on this list :)

These are surprisingly hard to surface ‒ Atlas Obscura is alright but seems more geared to places than experiences, and TikTok #hiddengems and Reddit are also just alright, but often prioritize instagrammable places (I assign very low weight to that in contrast). Personal recommendations seem to be the only way that really works for me – apps like Fever purport to systematize this (I haven’t tried it), but it seems potentially promising.

This alive document will be updated every time I travel.

  • USA
    • Seattle, WA
      • Food
        • U:Don: Chipotle for udon ‒ build your own udon bowl. Incredibly tasty, best low-price meal I had in Seattle. Possibly ties with Yume for best udon I’ve ever had.
      • To-do
        • Twice Sold Tales: This is a very tight space with cats, rare books, and a lot of really fun lore about all of the books and knicknacks.
        • The Gorge: Rave style experiences in a naturally-formed amphitheatre in the rock.
    • Cambridge, MA
      • Food
        • Yume Wo Katare: This isn’t just a ramen shop ‒ they brand themselves as a shop of dreams. You say a dream you have for yourself before your meal with everyone else, in the intimate 15 person setting. Very affordable (maybe $15/person), but make sure to get there just before they open to avoid waiting in a long line.
        • Yume Ga Agakura: Sister shop, the best udon in MA. They shout a rating for your meal at the end, based on the amount of the Udon you were able to finish. Also affordable ($15/per).
        • Life Alive: The best vegetarian food I’ve ever eaten ‒ I hate vegetarian food and still really enjoy this place.
        • Jules’ Jamaican Pop Up: This secret tent only appears on weekend afternoons in Central, and serves huge and tasty portions of jerk chicken.
      • Experiences
        • Next Haunt at MIT: An interactive, horror escape room with actors, built by students inside a dorm. If you have a friend going here able to get you a ticket, it’s definitely one of the most unique experiences I’ve had.
        • Level99: This is my favorite arcade-style place in the world; only about a 30 minute drive from Boston. There are 40ish puzzle rooms, each with one minigame in it (walk the plank, the floor is lava, timed jenga for maximum height, etc), and fun little electronic bands that track the number of stars you have so far. Everyone I’ve told about it has loved it.
        • Hacking at MIT: This is a secret, orally-passed down tradition where students take each other to hidden spots on campus, like a dusty vent with a videogame lounge in it. Ask any MIT student (or me) and they’ll be able to take you!
        • The Viz Lab at Harvard: I haven’t been, but apparently this lab has a set of goggles and projectors that let you see any image as a “hologram” in a room on a massive curved screen. That sounds completely nuts to me, and I’d love to make a trip over and check it out.
        • Beginner DnD Night at Pandemonium: Haven’t been yet, but it seems like fun.
        • lxm.house: If you have a fun project you’d like to work on, our house would likely be down to host you for free! If you’ve gotten this far in this post, we’d probably get along. Happy to play play crazy cool VR videogames with you (my favorites are beatsaber, games with crazy realistic physics, and space exploration games like No Mans Sky!)
    • New York City, NY
      • Food
        • Genki Omakase: It’s the most affordable omakase I’ve ever eaten at, for the same quality – $70-100/person. There’s a fun challenge where 5 social media likes gets you a free sushi too.
        • Action Burger: I haven’t been here, but it looks interesting ‒- it has a sci-fi theme and a bunch of videogames setup for patrons.
        • Ichiran Ramen: I haven’t been here, but it seems interesting – there’s only one dish available, and you eat in solo booths.
      • Experiences
        • Wonderville NYC: I don’t usually like bars or clubs too much, but this queer club had a fantastic live-coded algorave performance on the night I went. The dance floor is lined with locally-created bespoke arcade machines, and the bar had a hacking CTF going on at the same time – I couldn’t get enough.
        • Sleep No More: Haven’t been yet, but I really want to go. It’s a play where you move around a space and see different parts of the play as characters act in real time in different nooks and crannies of a mansion. NYT article here.
        • Union Square Cyphers: On Friday nights 8pm-midnight, a group assembles to do spontaneous rap battles on the Southeast corner. Really fun energy, and definitely a goal to one day be good enough to join in :)
        • Nitehawk Cinema: This was a small indie theatre, where the fun part was that they served dinner to your seat and showed really quirky films. All theatres should have seat service like this, it was a lot of fun.
        • Subway shows: On the longer segments (i.e. across the bridges), performers often do a little speech or rap or dance bit, and it’s usually strange enough to be entertaining. Hard to plan, but you’ll inevitably run into a few if you take the long subway segments often.
        • Immersive Gamebox: Haven’t been, but this place claims full immersive tech-enabled rooms.
        • Hyprov: Haven’t been yet, but hypnosis with improv sounds pretty interesting.
    • California
      • Bay Area
        • Neogenesis House: In SF, haven’t been. Seems cool, was one of the many houses that inspired our own lxm.house.
        • Noisebridge: Haven’t been yet, an open hackerspace that seems interesting.
        • SF Commons: A very cozy third space in SF with beautiful decor, free weekly public hours, and individual work-focus vibe during the day.
      • South California
        • Mars College: Haven’t been yet. One of my close friends’ favorite alternative communes.
        • B Sweeet: Haven’t been yet. In LA, a bread pudding shop with 40 flavors.

    • Other

      • McKamey Manor in Summertown, Tennessee: I haven’t been, and wouldn’t recommend it. It’s a real-life torture haunted house, where you say a 40 page waiver document out loud and then the guy running it tortures you. It’s definitely toeing the line of sadistic and illegal (though reportedly there is a safe word that works most of the time), but it is novel nevertheless and thus makes the cut here.
      • Akron Ohio Haunted Schoolhouse: I haven’t been, but this looks interesting ‒ much more benign than a real-life torture chamber, but the online reviews rave about the quality of scares and actors.
  • Maldives
    • Experiences
      • Bodu Beru dancing: This is a traditional dance where the drum beat puts dancers into a psychadelic state. The hotels tone it down a decent bit -**I recommend trying to find a spontaneous one on the smaller islands, and jump in yourself! Mentioned in Impro.
      • Undersea restaurant: Food isn’t worth the price, but being in a giant tube underwater while eating was pretty sick.
  • Singapore
    • Food
      • Labyrinth: This chef takes you through a Michelin-starred whirlwind story of his childhood – including street food, candles made of lard that you eat with the meal, and a custom printed cereal box. Felt very personal in a way that no other meal ever has.
  • Seoul, South Korea
    • Food
      • Shin Migyeong Hongdae Dakgalbi: Dakgalbi is incredible, and ths was the place I happened to stumble upon: the best chicken I’ve ever eaten.
    • Experiences
      • Meerkat and Friends: Play with meerkats, racoons, wallabies, and foxes ‒ the only place I know where you can really get up close to them. Alternatively, Zoo in the City seems new and equally as good.
      • Teacup Animals Store: A shop that breeds very miniscule pets, and ships them across the world. Absolutely adorable tiny cats and dogs that fit in your hand.
  • London
    • Food
      • Formal Dinner at Trinity/Cambridge: If you’re lucky enough to have a friend at a university, chances are they have dress-up formals where they serve you an incredible 5 course meal for $13 in a Harry Potter-style dinner hall. An old man even rings a gong and mumbles 20 seconds of unintelligible Latin!
      • Camden Market: I love Smorgasburg markets like these – I ate here every day for like a week and never got sick of it.
    • Experiences
      • Immersive Gatsby: I haven’t been, but it looks interesting. A real life great gatsby party, where you dress like it’s prohibition and actors act the play amongst you.
  • Berlin
    • Trust: Haven’t been yet but know some people. Coordination gaming collective who ran the game that we ran a cult in.
    • Kitkatclub: Haven’t been. Famous alt club.
    • Sisyphus: Haven’t been. Famous 6 story themed club.
    • About:Blank: Haven’t been. Well reputed club.
    • Berghain: Haven’t been. Most famous club, much higher chance of getting in at odd midday times on non-Saturdays. Need to dress alternatively/preferably black to get past Sven, and speak a bit of German.
  • Thailand
    • Food
      • 100 Mahaseth: Really incredible Thai-inspired meats, sauces, and dishes. Recommended by a local, only like $15/person.
  • Japan
    • Food
      • Theres a number of extremely tasty Soba places, noodle spots, and curry restaurants that were tasty and cheap – it’s hard to list them all here but any place with homemade noodles will probably be really good, even if it’s a chain.
      • Dipping Ramen: I find noodles in ordinary ramen a bit too thin, but the noodles at Menya Ramen were thick and had body, and the black sauce was super tasty.
      • Minatoya: This place in Ameyoko is known for its Takoyaki, but I actually preferred the $10 seafood bowls with small scallop, small shrimp, roe, echinoid (think lower quality Uni), and so on – it’s filling and cheap.
      • Akau: This udon place north of Ueno has the criss cross pillows to sit on, and the homemade noodles come with quail egg and ume. Order an extra large, the portions are small.
      • Gomi Pit Bar: Haven’t been yet. They serve creative meals with things that are usually thrown away (like Yuzu peels), and there’s a massive window while you eat to watch a huge trash crane.
    • Experiences
      • Space Nekoana: Haven’t been yet, but is my #1 want to go. This quirky izakaya is inside a chef’s messy home, and has mostly regulars. Found via this video about Kyoto.
      • Ryokan/Akiya: Haven’t been yet, offers more authentic stays.
      • Metal Gear Solid escape room: Haven’t been yet; there are physical guards you have to sneak around apparently, which sounds really cool.
      • Studio Ghibli Museum: Haven’t been yet. Is booked out a month in advance – make sure to book on the 9th of the month for seeing spots during the next month.
      • Kojima Studio tour: Haven’t been yet. The guy that made Death Stranding has a cool office.
      • Pachinko Parlor: Super intense gambling phenomenon in Japan. Went briefly and got overwhelmed in 10 minutes, but it’s interesting to see at least once.
      • Shimokitazawa: Haven’t been yet, reportedly good thrift shopping district.
      • Maid Cafe: Some of them (we went to maidreamin) have more unique gimmicks like dancing and singing too.
      • Ueno Cat Van: Haven’t been yet. Apparently in Ueno at night, outside the Monument to Kushibuchi Nobumoto around 9-11pm, there is a van labeled the cat van that parks there, and a ton of cats just wander around the temple grounds.
      • Replica Food Experience: I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m obsessed with how all the restaurants have realistic 3D plastic clones of their meals. Apparently you can make some of your own at places like this near Asakusa.
      • Nara Deer Park: Haven’t been yet, apparently you can hang out with hundreds of deer here that bow back to you. Thanks to this random video for the rec.
      • Zauo Fishing Restaurant: Haven’t been yet, apparently you fish your own fish and hand it to the server to cook.
      • Henn Na Hotel: Haven’t been yet, apparently animatronic dinos and robots check you in?? They have branches all over Japan and in NY too.
      • Moomin Cafe: Haven’t been yet; if there’s an empty seat at your cafe table, you fill it with a giant plushie. Honestly I don’t know why all cafes don’t do this.
      • Red Tokyo Tower: Haven’t been yet. A Level 99 reminiscent place with games where you have to use your whole body to play everything.
      • Yunessun Baths: Haven’t been yet. Red wine baths, sake baths, coffee baths, and dozens of others.
      • Tecchan Yakitori Bar in Kichijoji by Kengo Kuma: Haven’t been yet. This is a bar where the seats look like they’re straight out of an acrylic jungle.
      • Muraya: A quirky Kyoto bar chaotically decorated with scraps, with lots of cool lighting all over. Found via this video.
  • Egypt
    • Overall, my trip was pretty lacking: there wasn’t a ton of super fun or unique stuff beyond the Pyramids.
    • Food/Experiences
      • This Specific Luxor Airbnb: This Airbnb I stayed in had incredible homemade food, the best food I had in Egypt. The Airbnb was designed from sandstone by a French designer as well, and came with a cat! With plugin mosquito repellent, it was a great local stay.
  • Other International
    • Experiences
      • Phillipines: International Pyromusical Competition: Every year, there’s a massive series of musically choreographed fireworks shows here, where all the big companies come and show off.
      • France: French Red Wine Slides: Somewhere in Paris they claim to have humans ride down these mid-party…
      • Portugal: Waking Life: Burning Man style music festival in Portugal. No cameras, psychadelic vibe, near a lake.
      • India: Bunkd Hostel Anjuna: Hippie hostel recommended to me by a friend.
  • Anywhere
    • Experiences
      • Sensory Deprivation Tanks: Haven’t tried one yet, but looks fun as long as you have constant oversight/some type of safe word/short hair or very well tied long hair.
      • Scuba Diving Certification: Make sure to bring your own GoPro (I use this $70 budget one with this $8 chest strap, charged batteries, and a microSD). You can get a provisional 90 day, 12 meter deep license by finishing 2 dives and 3 modules of the Open Water e-course on PADI. If you do the introductory Discover Scuba course that everyone offers instead, make sure to still buy the open water course so you can get credit for your first dive.
      • Homestay.com: Stay with a host family for a short time for a similar price to an Airbnb. Get a more authentic, hosted experience.

© 2022-2023 Aayush Gupta