The top places in which to find love on the road
Since time immemorial, the excitement of a holiday romance (or at least a seedy drunken fling in a hotel room) has added the icing on the cake to a great trip abroad. We may go for the culture, scenery and weather, but for the single traveller, a bit of action rarely goes unwelcomed. There are, of course, some places that are a little better than others for finding ‘love’. So, if the romantic/ permanently horny are heading to Europe, then there are some spots that should probably be on the checklist.
The tour bus
Most of the tour companies try and downplay the stereotyped image of their thoughtfully planned-out cultural jaunts being one great swirling mass of hormones and bodily fluids, but let’s be honest here. It’s simple maths: if you put a mixed group of young people together on a trip of a lifetime and allow them to go off and explore the nightlife every evening, at least two of them are going to hook up. Youthful, single, on holiday and drunk are the major ingredients needed for Love On The Road Stew, and most try and convince themselves that they’re experiencing other cultures by sleeping with the cute Canadian guy/ girl.
Numerous tour companies operate trips throughout Europe, although for those hoping for a bit of action, it’s best to pick one aimed at the right age group. 18-35 year olds may get plenty of attention on a Saga trip for coffin-dodgers, but it’s unlikely to be all that welcome.
The hostel
This acts largely as an extension of the tour bus. Again, there’s a delightful melange of lissom young bodies from around the world herded into close proximity. There’s also that common traveller’s bond, providing instant chat up material.
Those with the true pulling power, however, are temporary workers in the hostels. Many doing the whole backpacking thing take a job in return for accommodation and a bit of extra cash. They instantly get a position of authority, a ready excuse to talk to anyone under the veil of friendly professionalism and the experience that comes from knowing the city a little better than the newbie in town.
Barcelona, Spain
The Catalan capital has long been regarded as party central for travellers in Europe. It’s a pretty much essential stop on all the round-Europe bus tours, and it’s often the last one, so there’s a final fling element to it.
It also has an absolutely cracking nightlife, and a stay out late culture. That helps, as does the multi-national outlook. Barca is not one of those cities with a homogenous population that keeps to itself while the tourists all go to a few certain bars – it’s all very mixed in, there’s a big ex-pat community, and not much of that insularity that can affect other destinations. All good news for those on the hunt.
Newcastle, England
There are many cities with a justifiable claim to being Britain’s party capital – London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester are all great for going out in. But for sheer unpretentious fun, it has to be Newcastle.
The northern English city has very little of that too cool for school attitude that can affect the nightlife in other cities – the locals just want to drink (a lot), dance and have a good time.
Providing you can make out the often incomprehensible Geordie accent, there’s obviously no language barrier if you go out and join them. And, as long as you’ve got a bit of chat and don’t look like you’ve been repeatedly hit with a spade, there’s a high chance of getting lucky.
Faliraki, Rhodes, Greece
There are certain resort towns in Europe (Kavos in Corfu is another) that have an appalling reputation in the British media. Come summer time, they get besieged by hordes of young British tourists intent on having a lovely time in the sunshine. Oh, alright then, they come to binge drink their way into near oblivion and sleep with anything that moves.
And there’s only one way to discover whether there’s any truth in such an appalling stereotype, isn’t there?
Interlaken, Switzerland
Ski resorts are often big, white, thinly-disguised pick up joints, as much about the après-ski as the piste conditions. Generally, any resort that caters particularly well for snowboarders is going to be one that has a good nightlife, but Interlaken has extra strings to its bow.
One of them is that a lot of the 18-35 tour buses pass through, but it is also Switzerland’s adventure sports capital. As such it follows the steadfast rule that applies around the world: wherever people are doing exhilarating, adrenalin-inducing activities, they are more likely to be on a high afterwards. And yes, that often translates into a willingness to indulge in other energetic activities later at night.
In Interlaken, travellers can go skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, white-water rafting, canyoning, bungee jumping, abseiling and rock climbing (amongst others). Enough said.
Adriatic Coast, Croatia
In the last few years, budget cruises around Croatia’s islands have taken off massively, and the love potential is huge. Like a tour bus, everyone is huddled together in a close environment for a few days, but this time they’re in swimwear.
There’s also more of a tendency to let it go when there are limited shower facilities, which means the moment that everyone hits dry land again and dolls up for a big night out, they suddenly look three times as good. Guess what happens next.
This article was originally written for Ninemsn.
Copyright David Whitley
