I hope this short film I made encourages you to do just as the title says, Travel More. Pass it along to all the people in your life you want to take a trip with or anyone who might need a little encouragement to start their next adventure.
The first Round of 64 cities in the Best City to Visit Travel Tournament are a crowded blur but since you’ve voted half of them away, contenders are starting to come into focus. Spain’s Seville might want to take the prize from 2018’s best Granada, New Orleans could be America’s first, and Istanbul is off to its annual strong start. And although there’s no possibility of a back-to-back winner, there might be another repeat – here’s a high-res image of the brackets shown above to guess where.
Your votes determine which of these 32 cities move on from here. Voting is open through this Sunday, March 10th, 5pm US EST (-5 GMT). Good luck to each of these cities!
Should any of the votes be tied at the end of a round, I’ll be the official tie-breaker. The Sweet 16 begins Tuesday, March 12th, when you can see if your favorite cities advanced or were eliminated. Thanks for participating!
Sitting along a winding, scenic, and out-of-the-way road cutting through the southwestern corner of Romania is Bigar Waterfall. An impressive sight but not one particularly worth going out of your way for – it’s not really close to any other major attraction. You may have seen the pictures and be asking, wait, doesn’t a glowing waterfall warrant a 3 hour drive from the nearest big city?
I’m sorry to disappoint you. The water isn’t illuminated in colorful hues using natural magic or artificial lights.
The main draw of Bigar is most certainly the highly colorized and edited photos of it floating online. I’m not going to link to them here, because this is what it will look like when you arrive. Not to say this isn’t impressive, however, if you were waiting for pulsating H2O radiating an alien blue – these images will gently refine your expectations.
Without a doubt many pictures (as these are) have corrections made to them, although where the spring water meets the stream below does not luminesce. There’s a massive artistic license being taken by photographers and clever tourism promoters so keep this in mind if you’re driving around Timisoara, former best cities Craiova and Targu Jiu, or even Belgrade nearby. The drive is beautiful, sights serene, yet Bigar Waterfall is actually water behind a lovely backdrop of green.
The Best City to Visit Travel Tournament has officially begun with this group of 64 cities you’ve selected. I’ll keep it short as it’s a long list below – all you have to do is scroll down and vote for your favorite cities in the match-ups below. The winning 32 cities will advance to the next Round of 32. (Here’s a large resolution version of the bracket above.)
You have until this Sunday, March 3rd 5:00pm US EST to scroll down and vote for your favorite cities. You can check back throughout the week for live vote updates.
Should any of the votes be tied at the end of a round, I’ll be the official tie-breaker. Cities were grouped roughly by geographic location. The next Round of 32 begins Tuesday, March 5th, when you can see if your favorite cities advanced or were eliminated. Thanks for participating!
The annual Best City To Visit Travel Tournament is back! To enter, all you have to do is nominate a city you love as the best to visit in 2019 in the comments below. The first 64 cities will be matched up and eliminated by weekly reader votes and the person who nominated the final remaining city will win $300 on either the Apple or Amazon online stores.
To enter, write your favorite city in the comments section of this post before Sunday, February 24th 12:00pm US EST.
The cities will then be placed in tournament brackets sorted by geographical region, with the first round of voting beginning on Tuesday, February 26th, 2019. Each week the number of cities will be halved by reader votes, until there is one left. Hopefully, the winning city is the one you picked.
Tournament Rules
Cities are first come first serve and several cities have already been chosen by my newsletter subscribers (who got the first picks). The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament is a round robin style competition, with voting every week during the month of March.
Important Dates
Once you enter a city, there’s nothing you have to do… but remember, voting for yourself isn’t a bad idea. These are the (Tues)days in the coming weeks to make note of:
Check back on this page every Tuesday for each new round. I’ll also post updates on Facebook and Twitter. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 9th and the prize will be delivered electronically by June 28th, 2019.
Prizes And Tips
In previous years, the winners have all generally used these tactics to their success which I recommend you read to advance far in the contest. Also, since there are quite a few dates to keep up with – the best way not to miss anything is to get my posts sent directly to your inbox or subscribe to my newsletter.
More retailers may also be added; or those above modified at any time before the end of the tournament – gift cards must be for the full $300 prize amount and cannot be split among stores, transferred into cash, and will be sent to the email you use in the comments section to choose your city. Best of luck to everyone and please let me know if you have any questions!
Much of Game of Thrones is filmed in Spain, even places you might assume were shot in Ireland like Dragonstone, can be found across the country. Although the Baratheon stronghold is in the north (of Spain) there are many easily accessible filming locations in Andalusia.
Whether or not you’re a Game of Thrones fan, these filming locations in and around the popular southern cities of Seville, Cordoba, and Granada are well worth seeing on their own – dragons or not. You can watch how to get to these sites in the video above or read on.
Starting Point
Those of you who are in or planning a trip to Seville, Cordoba, or Granada have several good choices for Game of Thrones (GoT) sites to visit. Keep in mind if you’re going to be in Granada, your best bet is two separate day trips toward Seville or Cordoba. Seville is roughly a 2 hour 45 minute drive and Cordoba about 20 minutes closer to Granada.
Go For The Closest
In Seville, there’s the Real de Alcazar where parts of Dorne were filmed. The palace is a major tourist attraction in the city and its gardens are well known to GoT fans. (The show’s first choice was the Alhambra but those plans fell through.) Be sure to get your tickets online otherwise you’ll be waiting up to 30 minutes or more to enter.
Since we’re already in Seville – a 15 minute drive just outside the city is the 2,000+ year old Roman Italica Amphitheatre Jon Snow would recognize as Dragonpit of King’s Landing. Further out, roughly an hour from Seville or 90 minutes from Cordoba or Granada, is the Osuna bullring. It’s no longer used for bullfighting but rather to attract tourists to this small town. The Plaza de Toros bullring isn’t open everyday so be sure to check the schedule before driving there.
Being Picky
In case you don’t have a lot of time and want to be selective of where you go, I would recommend setting aside a day and visiting Highgarden, er, Castillo de Almodovar del Rio, outside of Cordoba. It has to be one of the most picturesque places I’ve seen personally, beautifully perched on the top of a large hill overlooking the town below.
It doesn’t get a lot of tourists but what’s especially endearing is Almodovar know why you’re at the castle so to help you navigate, they’ve put up handy photos showing you what GoT scenes were filmed where.
Castillo de Almodovar del Rio is one of those places many would miss but you’ll be glad GoT brought you to this Moorish castle from the 8th century.
Tips On Getting Around
In theory you could do this all in one very, long day. Rather, I’d recommend splitting these up into two day trips, depending on which city you’re staying in. (Let me also add the Roman Bridge in Cordoba, the entrance to Volantis in GoT.) Rent a car, roughly 25-40 Euro per day, and you can save a lot of time on buses to get to all of these places. Renting a car also gives you the flexibility to move at your own schedule, plus pull over to catch some spectacular views along the way.
Hi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More 
