WHILE holiday destinations in Spain and Portugal remain popular with Brits, one woman is on a mission to visit places a bit further afield.
Hannah Fry’s new series, The Infinite Explorer, sees her take a different approach to travel, looking at quirks of history and geography behind the locations of some of the world’s lesser-visited spots.
Hannah Fry, who is a traveller and professor, went around the world with National Geographic filming her new six-part series.
She headed to some off-the-beaten-track places within La Gomera in the Canary Islands, and an island off South Korea.
But one of the places she went to were first-time visits for her – and one spot that particularly impressed her was Vietnam.
She told Sun Travel: I wasn’t expecting to like Vietnam as much as I did. In my head, I haven’t really updated my opinion of it from like watching war movies, to be honest.
“So I think I was expecting somewhere that was really poor, that was like struggling quite a lot and actually, that’s not what you find.
“Once you get there, there’s like skyscrapers and really posh hotels.
“There’s bustling tourism. I was really surprised by how quickly they’ve managed to kind of turn the story around from what it was in the past.
“It’s an amazing country, really beautiful, and the people were so like almost ridiculously friendly.”
Vietnam is consistently ranked as one of the most affordable countries for holidays.
The Post Office declared Hoi An in Vietnam as the top best-value long-haul destination when looking at the price of items from a cup of coffee to local lager, a cocktail to a three course evening meal.
It’s also affordable when it comes to luxury accommodation – Which? analysed five-star listings on Hotels.com and found the cheapest in Vietnam.
The Emerald Bay Hotel and Spa in Nha Trang, Vietnam was priced at £22 per night.
It has sea views on a rooftop terrace, two pools, and complimentary access to a private beach.
Meanwhile back in the UK, the average cost for a luxury hotel in London is around £535 to £580 per night.
Or in the likes of the Maldives and Dubai ,luxury resorts can set you back thousands.
Hannah also found that in Vietnam you don’t need to spend a fortune to get great food.
She told us: “To be honest, in Vietnam, you don’t even really need to go anywhere to get nice food – you could stop off at like what is effectively a motorway service station.”
Authentic food in Vietnam can cost as little as £8 and beers around £1 as one Sun Writer discovered on his recent trip to the country.
Another spot that Hannah ventured to was South Korea’s largest island, Jeju.
Talking about it, Hannah explained: “Jeju is absolutely stunning. Imagine Thailand, right? That’s what Jeju is like.
“It’s where all of the Koreans go on holiday, so it’s full of really fancy hotels. It’s got a proper jungle, rainforests, and lush greenery.
“There are unbelievably beautiful white sandy beaches – it’s stunning. Like paradise vibes, and with good Wi-Fi.”
It wasn’t all long-haul destinations, Hannah went to one of the most popular tourist spots for Brits, the Canary Islands.
However, she did go to one of the lesser-visited islands, La Gomera.
“It’s definitely much lesser known, especially compared to Tenerife -it was so quiet and much less drunk tourists!
“I can’t explain how beautiful these landscapes were – absolutely stunning, and lovely beaches.”
Hannah revealed that her travels were slightly less glamorous than she hoped.
She confessed: “I was freezing for most of it. Naturally, I was excited when they said – you have an entire series get to travel the entire world.
“But we filmed it all in winter – I was freezing. The warmest place we probably filmed in was Ireland.”
Back in the UK, Hannah actually likes to embrace the cooler weather.
“I love going to Cornwall – and when it’s grey and drizzly with the leaves on the ground I can just turn the fire on, have a cup of hot chocolate and read a book under a blanket.”
The Infinite Explorer with Hannah Fry airs Thursdays at 8PM on National Geographic
Hannah’s adventures continue with her trip to South Korea, and you can catch up on previous episodes on National Geographic too.