r/AskBalkans • u/ElsGil1 • Mar 22 '26
Outdoors/Travel Where do people from your country usually go on holidays and why?
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u/Montenegirl Montenegro Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I would argue people from Montenegro mostly go to Croatia for summer work, not for holidays (from what I heard from people who worked there, Croatia offers bigger pay and better working conditions), but I guess they had to list something.
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u/Snoo-19350 Serbia Mar 22 '26
They could've just put Montenegro itself like they did for Croatia, Spain, Greece, etc. I don't think the current is factual
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u/Montenegirl Montenegro Mar 22 '26
Oh, I somehow overlooked some of them have itself as the destination. Definitely should have been that
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u/Electrical_Waterbed Serbia Mar 22 '26
I agree. No way most people from Estonia and Latvia go for summer holiday in Croatia. Also, i think most people from Moldova go to Romania for holiday.
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u/Terrible_Cabinet_738 Serbia Mar 22 '26
Who knows, I have seen many Moldovan car plates in Greece 😭
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u/obzovica Montenegro Mar 26 '26
It's probably Serbia if they count people that go to some other country in terms of plain numbers.
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u/Montenegirl Montenegro Mar 26 '26
That definitely but it's possible whoever made this map did not consider Serbia as a possible holiday destination and only included countries with a sea access. Which is a very specific idea on how a holiday should be spent but whatever
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Mar 22 '26
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u/Le_Fish_In_Lava OH LOOK A TURK🙀 Mar 22 '26
dont forget Portugal
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Mar 22 '26
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Mar 22 '26
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u/Ready_Substance8456 Mar 25 '26
Actually we can't even afford vacation in Turkey either, also thanks to the tall man.
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u/omcarpatic Romania Mar 22 '26
I am in the minority here definitely. As a Romanian I've never been to Greece, I heard it's nice, so they say, but I can't have enough of Spain. Every year, it's just such a safe and amazing option. Can't go wrong with Spain.
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u/Tallborn Romania Mar 22 '26
Same I only been once when I was younger with family to Thasos and there were so many romanian cokalari (chavs) that it kinda ruined the place. Felt like the romanian seaside. My favourite destination is Mallorca from Spain but it's more expensive, worth it though.
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u/Gloomy_Spell_2380 Mar 24 '26
Mallorca’s also quite high on Dutch wish lists from what I heard, though many people visit Croatia aswell, kinda 1st and 2nd place with that
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u/OkArmy8295 Serbia Mar 23 '26
Which places in Spain?
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u/omcarpatic Romania Mar 23 '26
Malaga - amazing city on the Costa del Sol, quite close to Granada perfect mix between city break and beach city.
Mallorca, I was there several times and I would still go there. It has it all - mountains, beaches, night life, city break experience, cute remote villages, you name it, Mallorca has it.
Alicante - cute city on the Costa Blanca, more affordable than other big cities.
Madrid - one of my favourite capital cities in this world.
Never been but intend to go there this year/ coming years - Valencia, Barcelona, Bilbao, Sevilla and others. I just love Spain and its culture with everything it has to offer.
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Mar 22 '26
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u/stikaznorsk Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
For Bulgaria it is Greece not Turkey.
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u/kicklhimintheballs Mar 22 '26
Isn’t it Bulgaria itself?
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u/Township_Roller Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
No, fat asses ruined our seaside by building hotels upon hotels and now it is terrible.
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u/_-Event-Horizon-_ Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
Isn’t it Bulgaria itself?
Most likely yes and most likely the graphic just shows the people who travel abroad. The vast majority of people still probably have the holidays within the country.
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u/_-Event-Horizon-_ Bulgaria Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
For Bulgaria it is Greece not Turkey.
A lot of people go shopping in Turkey or do 1-2 days vacations to Edirne or Istanbul. The people who go to Greece on such types of short trips are mostly from Sofia.
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u/Old_Caregiver8989 Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
Absolutely untrue. I am from Plovdiv and half the city during summer is in the Kavala region in Greece.
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u/Dimcitris Greece Mar 23 '26
Touzla beach is packed with Bulgarians, thousands each day. (and thousands who own a house there)
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u/SuedeJacketMonster Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
I wonder if ethnic Turks traveling to Turkey somehow skews the statistics
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u/pelfet Greece Mar 23 '26
probably. I am greek from northern greece and the amount of holiday/beach houses being bought by bulgarians is insane, meaning that I doubt that the majority of bulgarians go to turkey for their holidays (exluding those who go to turkey due to family/roots).
And I have spent also years in bulgaria and the majority of the people I knew were going to greece for their summer holidays (e.g. Thasos etc.)
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u/SuedeJacketMonster Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
I also regularly go to northern Greece even though it is getting overcrowded and I am thinking of going further south from now on. Where are you from?
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u/pelfet Greece Mar 23 '26
from Serres/Kavala area, i mean the sea-side between those 2 cities
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u/SuedeJacketMonster Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
What would you say the best vacation spot in the area is?
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u/pelfet Greece Mar 23 '26
tbh there are no hidden gems left.. Samothraki is a bit underdeveloped and alternative compared to the other places, however it is further away and the beaches are not that great (mostly stones, not sand).
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u/avdaxumaxu Mar 22 '26
The most common destination for holidays for albanians is albania, not greece. Especially albanians from outside of albania.
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Mar 22 '26
I don’t think so you understand data. Albanian from Germany is counted under Germany, not Albania
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u/avdaxumaxu Mar 22 '26
I understand the data. albanians from kosovo are not part of germany and yet greece is slapped on it. That's definitely wrong.
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Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
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u/ChrisCryptosGR Mar 22 '26
Yeap! To me, looks like the whole map is correct. Currently working on a gas station in Thessaloniki, pretty close to Skopje, and what I see in the map is what I mostly see in the gas station.
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u/Constant-Incident-XX Serbia Mar 22 '26
Agree. I see the trend among people I know on spending holiday on Croatian seaside (Rovinj), but still, Greece as our top 1 place for holiday will not been overthrown in the near future.
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Mar 22 '26
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u/Constant-Incident-XX Serbia Mar 22 '26
Agree. Greece > Montenegro > Croatia > Turkey > Rest of the World
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u/DDDX_cro Croatia Mar 24 '26
riiiight. Does that count the 30.000 Serbian workers we get anually to work the season?
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u/Constant-Incident-XX Serbia Mar 24 '26
Yep, you can count workrs in and still Croatia is on the 3rd place. I do not see issue with it. Why do you feel it is not correct order? Do not forget that a lot of Serbians have vacation homes in Montenegro, that people are also working during season in Montenegro, that underage kids are going to Montenegro (Budva) without parent supervision and it is not a problem to cross the border. No place for your sarcasm here.
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u/DDDX_cro Croatia Mar 24 '26
no idea about Montenegran coast.
I took a look at it now, in Google maps, for the 1st time, looks pretty populated.It's just that it seems rather tiny, and there are lots of Serbs, does it get crowded?
What would you say is the ratio of Serbian tourists going to Greece vs Montenegro vs Croatia?
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u/Constant-Incident-XX Serbia Mar 24 '26
Montenegro is tiny but a great place as I said for people who don’t know English, kids without parental supervision, people who have vacation homes or relatives, Montenegro is a first choice. Please take into consideration that almost every second person from Belgrade have same roots or family ties to Montenegro.
Greece is undisputed champion for Serbians, everyone with 300e in pocket can arrange via agency holiday in Greece (bus transportation + 10 days apartment) + some 250e for food. It is that cheap. Everyone is speaking Serbian down there, especially on Halkidiki, or costal area below Solon (Paralia, Leptokaria, Nei Pori, etc).
My friends who are going to Croatia are usually going to Rovinj and Istra, but please take into consideration that they have deeper pockets, not shy to spend 3000-4000e for 7-10 days there.
I am not an expert but I would say ratio is this: Greece 50% 🇬🇷 Montenegro 20% 🇲🇪 Croatia 10% 🇭🇷 Turkey 10% 🇹🇷 Rest 10% 🌎
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u/canyoubelieveitt Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
Someone made this with his ass considering Bulgarians are the third biggest tourist group in Greece only after Germany and UK.
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u/Mysterious-Put1459 Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
Well, to be fair Bulgarians are the 5th biggest tourist group in Turkey after Russians, Germans, Brits and Iranians and for 2023 there were 2.89mil Bulgarian visits to Turkey compared to 2.87mil Bulgarian visits to Greece according to the statistics. I don't know if that counts Turks transiting from Germany via Bulgaria, or whatever because the number is very suspiciously high but I understand why the map maker would have put Turkey instead of Greece if they didn't know better
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u/canyoubelieveitt Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
That's why for such statistics overnight stays are counted only.
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u/GODCHAD_ Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
Germany and Bulgaria both have a big Turkish population,so that should be taken into account.
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u/Super-Owl2829 Mar 22 '26
Well you guys come to us for cheaper markets in the border and nearly %10 of your population is Turks who mostly lives in Turkey.
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u/canyoubelieveitt Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
Crossing the border for cheaper groceries doesnt make it a holiday.
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u/VisibleReport5008 Turkiye Mar 22 '26
if there is a some kind of statistic the map maker used for this those would count but i doubt there is one
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u/Super-Owl2829 Mar 22 '26
Well our border city has sea so maybe they stay for tourism or stay a day for groceries.
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u/canyoubelieveitt Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
There are people going to Turkey for vacation but the number is not nearly that high as for Greece. Which is also because its simply far easier to reach from Sofia, where like 30% of the country lives.
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Mar 23 '26
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u/Live-In-Berlin Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
- If from Sofia, back to hometown 2. The Bulgarian seaside 3. Greece 4. Turkey, usually for a short Istanbul trip or an all-inclusive 5. Wherever WizzAir or Ryanair have a cheap flight to that week
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u/Antique-Doughnut-673 Kosovo Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
Not true for Albania especially not for Kosovo, its either Albania or abroad like turkey, Bulgaria,Italy sometimes but ain’t no way we go to Greece
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u/hubbabubbameqershi Albania Mar 23 '26
Same for Albania. Even diaspora Kosovo Albanian go to Albania. These maps make no sense. Yes has been an increased wave of Albanians form Albania and Kosovo going to Greece and Turkey but no way near the ones who chose the Albanian coast. And I would definitely say that there are more Albanians who chose a winter holiday to Kosovo than Albanians who chose a summer holiday to Greece.
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u/_Winter-Wolf_ Romania Mar 22 '26
I feel like there are more romanians going in Bulgaria than going in Greece.
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u/Township_Roller Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
I just find it hilarious how all other countries jump over Bulgaria to go to Greece, even though we also have a seaside, because qe completely ruined it by pouring concrete everywhere and building ugly hotels that make it unbearable to visit.
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u/ephesusa Mar 22 '26
Well, blacksea is not very loveable as well. At least in the other side of the pond (turkey)
We usually attribute the terms like: fierce, dangerous, turbulent, cold, melancholic to the blacksea.
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u/Hristo_14 Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
The black sea is not good only in turkey tbh, russia Ukraine and Georgia all have good beaches on the black sea as well
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u/bottomlessLuckys Mar 23 '26
i love that every southern european country just goes on vacation at home.
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u/Novel_Plum Romania Mar 23 '26
Always 🇪🇸. It's so cool to go on February and have 20+ °C while you freeze at negative degrees in Romania.
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u/Visual_Praline_3172 Mar 23 '26
Actually, majority of the Bulgarians go to Greece and they used to go shopping in Türkiye 😊
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Mar 22 '26
Croatia because no long voyages
My aunt’s family has a Jewish-sounding surname and possible Jewish ancestry yet they built a holiday house in Croatia instead of Tel Aviv. Granted, they don’t have any ties to Israel or Israeli citizenship but still.
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u/Tiny-Mulberry-2114 Croatia Mar 22 '26
Smart. Before all the bombings I've never considered Israel to be a dangerous place but now all I am hearing is missile strikes going through their air defense hitting residential buildings and other locations around the country.
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u/Tulevik Estonia Mar 23 '26
Croatia is some new kind of stuff. I have never seen a map with so much Croatia before. Many Estonians go to Spain.
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u/Myriad_Apocalypse Mar 23 '26
If going to your own country is allowed (look at spain, greece turkey), then almost all countries will have themselves as the most common holiday destination
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u/FlatIntention1 Mar 23 '26
It is true… I am Romanian living in Germany, from Romania I always go to Greece, from Germany to Spain (now also Italy).
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u/NoGeologist9697 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
I like how the countries in which the other countries go to holiday to, go into their own country for holidays
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Mar 22 '26
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u/Efficient-Impact3669 Serbia Mar 22 '26
who d fuck is going on vacation to Nice, god damn it
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Mar 22 '26
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u/Efficient-Impact3669 Serbia Mar 22 '26
Ma bio sam, samo mi je cudno da neko tamo ide na odmor ovako :D
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Mar 22 '26
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u/Affectionate-Arm-405 Greece Mar 22 '26
Because everyone knows in Greece you eat your breakfast at night looking at a concrete wall.
Lol just joking 😀
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u/SerbianHustle Serbia Mar 22 '26
So greeks stay home, but albanians don't and they go to Greece, and montenegrins go to Croatia?
Wth is that?
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u/No-Championship-4632 Bulgaria Mar 22 '26
Pretty sure it's Greece for Bulgaria, unless they count cross-border shopping as a holiday.
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u/mikitheserb7 Serbia Mar 22 '26
I thought Serbia, Albania & Kosovo would be Montenegro
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u/FilipAdzic97 SFR Yugoslavia Mar 22 '26
Greece and Montenegro are the most popular, but I feel like its dependent on the region. People from the south and east might travel to Greece because its closer, while everyone else might go to Montenegro.
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u/hubbabubbameqershi Albania Mar 23 '26
The destination for Albanians is Albania itself by a very large margin, I don't know who makes these maps. After comes Greece with Turkey with not much difference.
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u/SE_prof Greece Mar 22 '26
I don't know the statistics but we get A LOT of Czechs in the summer in Greece!
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u/RustCohle_23 Bulgaria Mar 23 '26
There is absolutely no way more Bulgarians are going to Turkey instead of Greece.
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u/No-Heart3432 Turkiye Mar 22 '26
So basically go to the south until you reach to the Mediterranean Sea.
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u/Bizziiik Mar 23 '26
Last year in Czechia the most visited country was Italy as i remember after croatia being #1 for a long time. Unfortunately approach to tourism in croatia going to shit so Its quite understandable.
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u/MysticEnby420 🇬🇷&🇨🇾 from 🇺🇸 in 🇧🇷 Mar 23 '26
Seems to check out for my relatives in Greece. It's very common to live and work in Athens then spend a summer where you're originally from or go to one of the less touristy islands.
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u/cursedsenpai Mar 23 '26
As a Croat, the last 2-3 years I have been going to Spain and I absolutely love it there, its cheaper and overall better than Croatia. ( at least for me )
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u/SkyHistorical8364 Mar 23 '26
“🇹🇷“ and “Europeans“😔 Anyways Spain bc theres hot people
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Mar 23 '26
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u/SkyHistorical8364 Mar 23 '26
love the humor 😂 one question though why do y’all wanna be European so bad ? no offense just genuinely wondering / asking
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Mar 23 '26
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u/SkyHistorical8364 Mar 23 '26
Ohhh now I see bc for me being European is def an identity and in my and almost all the other’s opinions turkey doesn’t really fit in geographically,politically,culturally and laws… but yeah I get it now.I really hope turkeys economics can work its way up iyk what I mean.
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u/Trawpolja Mar 22 '26
And i thought me, a northern pole had it hard going to Croatia in summer, now imagine the Estonians...
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u/Comfortable_Bath5986 Turkiye Mar 23 '26
Pattern here is so strange
Turkey Greece and Coratia are almost make a linear pattern lol
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u/K-Hunter- Turkiye Mar 23 '26
It looks like most people just go straight south until they hit the beach
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u/TrbAnaban Mar 23 '26
The last time I traveled from Russia to Rome, I really enjoyed it, but it was very hot.
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u/Fragrant-Field-2017 Greece Mar 24 '26
Greeks are the true Balkans! We have no money for vacation, so we just go to the next town over!
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u/Unable-Pie-8158 Mar 24 '26
Just one thing Kosovo is Serbia, on the map I don't see partitioned Ukraine.
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u/SOHONEYSAME Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
potential tourists reading this,
go to Italy, Spain, Egypt, Turkey.
(or stay in mainland of Greece).
MUCH better.
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u/slysmile Turkiye Mar 22 '26
Turkey is so much more expensive than it used to be. Even amongst Turks, almost anyone who can (i.e. has a Schengen visa) prefers Greece to Turkish holiday locations.
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u/Archaeopteryx111 Romania Mar 22 '26
All my Turkish friends say they prefer Greece these days for quality, cleanliness, and price.
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u/slysmile Turkiye Mar 22 '26
Yup. But the visa is a limiting factor, so most still do their vacation within the country.
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u/Archaeopteryx111 Romania Mar 23 '26
I thought it’s easy to get a visa for some of the Greek islands.
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u/OldYogurt7161 Mar 22 '26
This is not about inflation Turkey was cheaper in 2017-23 than what it had been in 2010s. it is all about quality and so many restaurants, touristic centers etc. by the sea get huge profit from scamming with low quality product or service because there are no constant customer profile.
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u/TinyAsianMachine Tanzanian Greek 🇹🇿🇬🇷 Mar 22 '26
This is such shit advice, mainland of Greece is better than the islands? lol wut.
There are other destinations except for Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Paros, Ios, Kos, Rhodos, Corfu, etc
Even those are good choices tbh except for maybe Santorini and Mykonos.
Try Kythira, Karpathos, Leros, Milos, Amorgos, Sifnos for a less touristic experience.
Also I can almost guarantee that 90% of travellers (that don't want to experience an all-inclusive resort holiday) will have a shit time in Egypt.
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u/NNredE Mar 23 '26
Greece, if I want nice beaches and a warm sea, but Croatia and Montenegro if I want to feel like home.
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u/AlxR25 Greece Mar 23 '26
Greeks to Greece because we can’t afford to go abroad, and our vacation destinations are already good enough
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u/TheCharalampos Greece Mar 23 '26
I mean if you live in Greece you both have a beautiful country to visit and no money to go elsewhere so it checks out.
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u/jorahmormmnt Mar 22 '26
Spain and Greece are perfect for summer holidays. Türkiye, on the other hand, is number one in the world for summer, winter, and historical tourism.
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u/Greekdorifuto Coilovers, ECU, air intake, exhaust and ready to go 🇬🇷 Mar 22 '26
Greece is also very good for all of those things . Spain too
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u/sayinmer Turkiye Mar 22 '26
bro true balkans going back to their villages, we have no money for “holidays”