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CONTENTS CONTENTS ARTS & CULTURE ARTS & CULTURE SPORTS & LEISURE MUSIC & FILM FOOD & DRINK SPORTS & LEISURE ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVALS & EVENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS Singapore 56 Geneva 102 Reykjavik 152 Las Vegas 192 Free spectator sports Buenos Aires 274 Tokyo 62 Helsinki 104 Europe’s best tours by Los Angeles 196 in the USA 232 Wine tasting on a Europe’s best public transport 156 Miami 200 Vancouver 234 shoestring in CONTENTS EUROPE 68 free museums Rome 158 New Orleans 202 Washington, DC 238 South America 280 Amsterdam 70 and galleries 106 Stockholm 164 North America’s Lima 282 INTRODUCTION 4 Beijing 26 Athens 72 İstanbul 108 Venice 166 best free OCEANIA 244 Rio de Janeiro 284 Beirut 32 Barcelona 74 Lisbon 112 Vienna 168 movie nights 204 Brisbane 246 How to party at AFRICA 6 Asia’s best sunsets Europe’s best London 116 New York City 206 Melbourne 248 Carnival in Rio 290 Cape Town 8 without the national parks 78 Europe’s best city NORTH AMERICA 172 Portland, OR 212 North Island, NZ 252 San Salvador 292 Africa’s wildest pricetag 34 Berlin 80 walking tours 122 Austin 174 San Diego 214 Australia & New Sao Paulo 296 experiences 12 Delhi 36 Bruges 86 Madrid 124 Boston 176 San Francisco 218 Zealand’s best Marrakesh 14 Dubai 38 Budapest 88 Milan 130 The Caribbean 180 Top 10 free-range free walks 256 Safari without Hong Kong 44 Copenhagen 90 Moscow 134 Chicago 184 adventures in South Island, NZ 258 PRICE INDEX 298 the big bucks 18 Mumbai 50 Europe’s best Stinge Henge 138 Detroit 188 America’s Sydney 264 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 300 Asia’s best cheap wild swimming 94 Oslo 140 Top 10 free-wheelin’ national parks 224 INDEX 302 ASIA 20 gourmet grub 52 Dublin 96 Paris 142 all-American Seattle 226 SOUTH AMERICA 270 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 304 Bangkok 22 Shanghai 54 Edinburgh 100 Prague 148 | Getty Images Quirke © Gavin Davies, © Lottie © Matt Munro, © Deric Olschner | 500px, Harvey | Getty Images, © Philip Lee © Jack Vartoogian © Matt Munro, adventures 190 Toronto 230 Bogotá 272 2 - THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE - 3 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Last year, while taking our children on their first cheap can mean much, much better. No Roman foray into Africa we visited Marrakesh in Morocco. dinner will ever match the bread and cheese picnic in On our first evening we walked into the Djemaa Villa Celimontana, a short walk from the Colosseum, el-Fna (page 16), the city’s world famous open on my first visit to the Eternal City. And if we’re talking square. It was like walking into another world. The life lessons, there are few better insights into the smoke and smells from food stalls, the sound of human condition than sharing a dorm room with a drummers and the clamour of people shouting, dozen others from around the world. INTRODUCTION singing and hawking their wares. Everyone’s eyes Nations all around the world recognise the value were out on stalks, senses in overdrive. I had been of making the wonders under their stewardship worried it would be too much, but the kids asked accessible. 5000 years of Chinese history? Free to go again the following night. One of the most (National Museum of China, page 28). 19 museums memorable moments I’ve had travelling cost and galleries in Washington DC? Free (Smithsonian nothing beyond the gumption to walk into the Institution, page 242). Britain’s national parks? All square that night. free. Donations always welcome, of course. And if The monetary value implied in the term free can you want to experience all those popular places at misrepresent what’s on offer within these pages. The their best then get up early and get their before the quality of an experience, after all, is not attached to crowds arrive. The priceless calm of early mornings a price tag. Many of the suggestions here involve doesn’t come with a price tag either, by the way. unearthing the world’s secret wonders, whether that’s It’s an exaggeration to say that everything good swimming around Sydney’s ocean pools (page 267) is free, so you’ll find plenty of excellent value cheap or strolling the tombs and monuments of Delhi’s Lodi things to experience throughout this book. Dip into Gardens (page 37). Walkers tackling the great tracks your spare change for classy street food like of New Zealand (page 260) will find themselves close a choripán (chorizo sandwich) in Buenos Aires (page to the soul of those beautiful islands. 277), the best views of Hong Kong’s skyline from the For many of us, when we take our first steps Star Ferry (page 48) and a Boston brewery tour (page travelling free things are not only appealing but 179). Great memories, a happier you and a grateful essential if we’re to make our backpacking days last wallet; one glance through these pages and you as long as possible. And it’s not just formative forays - may never aspire to the indulgences of top-end many unforgettable blasts of freedom and discovery travel again. © Michael Heffernan tend to be budget affairs. You quickly realise that Tom Hall THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE - 5 AFRICA © Mark Read | Lonely Planet Images AFRICA sheltered False Bay’s Muizenberg (5e) and St James (5f) are family friendly, IZIKO with water warmed by Indian Ocean MUSEUMS currents. All are free, except Simons Town’s Boulders Beach (5g; 8am-6.30pm, longer in Dec-Jan; R60) with its 3000 The Iziko Museums endangered African penguins. of South Africa 03 (iziko.org.za) is an 11-strong collection 06 Bo-Kaap of Cape Town’s On the side of Signal Hill, Bo-Kaap, top museums the former Malay Quarter, is famous for and attractions, its streetscapes, mosques and cuisine- including the Bo-Kaap Museum, based tourism. Wander freely around the the South African streets, visit the cheap Bo-Kaap Museum National Gallery (6a; bokaap.co.za/museum; 71 Wale St; (Government 11 10am-5pm Mon-Sat; R20) or do a cooking Ave, Company’s Garden; 10am- course/tour (bokaapcookingtour.co.za; 5pm), South R700, including dinner). Nearby is Long African Museum R21) with diving boards, splash puddles B&B (10b; Khayelitsha Township), St (6b), home of the city’s underground and Planetarium and two Olympic-size lap pools. complete with Xhosa-style home cooking. entertainment scene, alongside second- (25 Queen Victoria St; 10am-5pm), hand bookshops and boho boutiques. Maritime Centre 09 Victoria & Alfred Waterfront 11 Wine tasting (Union-Castle A former wharf transformed into a South Africa produces some of the CAPE TOWN 07 Howl at the lion House, Dock Rd, swanky waterfront entertainment, eating planet’s best palate-pleasing plonk and it Table Mountain National Park (7a) V&A Waterfront; and shopping arena, the V&A offers would be criminal not to try a few drops. 10am-5pm) and has hundreds of trails, wending around Groot Constantia everything from free wi-fi to meetings Lucky then, that Wine Concepts (11a; the Twelve Apostles, Devil’s Peak, Signal Manor House with freedom fighters Nelson Mandela wineconcepts.co.za; 50 Kloof St) offers Hill and Table Mountain. Most are free- (Groot Constantia and Desmond Tutu – albeit in bronze complimentary wine tasting six days access, but there are four pay points. Estate; 10am-5pm), form. Selfie-snappers shouldn’t pose too a week (4-7pm Mon-Fri, noon-3pm Sat). the oldest wine- Various routes scale the vertical kilometre producing estate long next to the seals, though – they’re Tjing Tjing Rooftop Bar (11b; tjingtjing. to Devil’s Peak, but if you’re here during a in the country. the real deal. Street performers provide co.za; 165 Longmarket St) also offers full moon, join locals trekking with beers These museums entertainment, and free events take place free wine tasting from 5pm to 7pm on 07 to Lion’s Head (7b) to watch moonrise typically charge year-round. Robben Island tours depart Wednesdays. about R30, but for over the Hottentots Holland Mountains. eight or nine days here. waterfront.co.za; 9am-9pm; free. each year, typically 12 Cape Town Carnival 08 Sea Point promenade public holidays, 10 Going downtown Born on Long St amid the orgy of Loved by everyone from runners they all throw their Visiting a Township is an essential euphoria and energy that surrounded doors open for SA’s hosting of the 2010 Football World and skaters to hand-holding couples and free. Check the Cape Town experience; combine it with kids, this 11km-long, wave-splattered, website for up-to- a budget feed at Mzoli’s (10a; Gugulethu; Cup, this carnival has since grown into careless and car-free coastal stretch is date details. 9am-6pm; meals R50–100). Buy meat at a massive annual gathering to celebrate full of playgrounds and amazing outdoor this Gugs butcher and get it cooked on a South Africa’s diversity. Some 50,000 artwork. You can swim for free in the wild traditional braai (barbecue), while supping people watch and participate in festivities Atlantic, or seek sanctuary in one of the beer and bouncing to Kwaito beats. that engulf Green Point, with floats, world’s finest public pools, the open-air Excellent tours (laurastownshiptours. music, dancing and after-partying. 06 09 Sea Point Pavilion (www.capetown.gov. co.za; R400) can be done, and shack capetowncarnival.com; Fanwalk, za; 7am-7pm summer, 9am-5pm winter; Planet Images | Lonely | Getty Images, © jenburgis © THEGIFT777 Gimas | 500px, Hoolwerff; © Ilonde van © Inti St Clair | Getty Images accommodation is available at Vicky’s Green Point; Mar; free.