Hidden Gems. Such an overused travel word. Honestly many so called ‘hidden gems’ are pretty well known. But how can you find your own unique insider experiences?  First of all, what are you looking for?  Perhaps you want to visit a small museum with unusually famous art? A festival that matches your hobby or a gourmet street market? Here is how you find ‘hidden gems’ when you are a woman traveling who does her own homework.

First make the list of essential sites to visit. Let’s use Paris, since our group is going on a May Seine River cruise in Paris. Louvre is the most famous museum, then The Orsay, then let’s add in Orangerie. (Closed temporarily for renovation). For a special museum experiences, search under keyword ‘private home museums’.  Private homes of the wealthy often hold major pieces of art in magnificent settings. In Paris, there is the Nissim de Camondo- I won’s share its disastrous history-go yourself. There are the Jacquemart Andre, and Rodin Museums.  These private home museums are usually in fashionable neighborhoods. Some like Jacquemart Andre have charming restaurants. Some like the Nissim de Camondo leave you shocked.

Another way to find hidden goodies is to search for business fairs usually held in convention centers.   On one of The Women’s Travel Group trips to Colombia, we uncovered a gigantic wholesale crafts fair in Bogota. We had hunted into business and event planing on line. Another example: go to www.eventseye.com and look under industry fairs. In that site, we found the Florence Gastronomy Fair.  It is geared to the food industry but the public can attend. Years ago, we attended a major wholesale craft fair in Delhi- it was held in a suburb. To make it convenient, we booked hotel rooms near the event. Clearly you need to check up front that the public can shop for less than wholesale  amounts.

International fairs and festivals are published with venues and dates years in advance. Some of the well-known fairs cater to the elite.  Example: Art Basel in Switzerland and Miami. Some are kooky and zany like Comic Con in New York where the crowd dresses as their favorite comic book characters. In tourist filled cities like Paris, Rome, Florence, there are street fairs- some less crowded than others. Even if vendors are selling mainly food, you will likely find adjacent stores with fun kitchenware.

Festivals: if you want to attend a Day of the Dead event in Mexico, try a smaller town like Ixtapan de la Sal with us Oct 27-Nov.3. There you see local parades and visit the cemetery to witness intimate rites. The Day of the Dead is not a sad holiday; but one during which family decorate the graves of their loved ones. They gather as a sort of joyous reunion. A daughter might put ribbons or sewing items on a grave if her mom was a seamstress. In a smaller town like Ixtapan de la Sal, you feel more like family, less like a gawker.

Individual city tourist boards like the one for Athens list music, film, religious, national holiday events. A local saint is celebrated in the official Assisi Tourist Board site with concerts,  history re-enactments, local foot races through medieval streets and olive oil- food related events.

Should you go to special events? Will you be in an overcrowded situation? Here is where you need to be careful and clever. Check English language e-zines and newspapers. Examples are for Paris Gault & Millau or Michelin on line. Scan ex pat publications for safety notes or articles about street crime. Make triply sure your hotel reservation is secure and that you have tickets from the official site ahead of time. Expect some inflated prices for meals, taxis, souvenirs. Scan articles and especially photos of the event from last year to find any uncomfortable information. Bring your own water. Expect bathrooms to have long lines. Watch your wallets.

Check out this Michelin Guide to Street Markets.