We were recently tagged by some friends we’ve never met who are cycling from Alaska to the tip of Argentina with their twin boys to contribute to a project called “3 Hidden Gems.”  Family on Bikes is their blog site, and is well worth a read.  The point of the project is for travelers to contribute their top three and a master list is being compiled, somewhere out there.  For what it’s worth, here are ours:

Cabanas at Paamul

1. Paamul, Mexico

I first visited Paamul with my parents at eight years old.  We spent a good month camped on the coast, sipping coconuts, diving for the lobster that were plentiful at that time, and sailing our glass bottomed sailboat that my Dad had built the previous winter in the upstairs of our half finished house, around the big sandy bay.  We returned for a second winter when I was 13 and I’ve since been back with my children.  When we first found Paamul it was a family run campsite with few visitors and the “Riviera Maya” as that strip of land along the gulf is now called didn’t even exist.

Playa Paamul

Why do I love Paamul so much?  The memories, partly; there is nothing like seeing your babies play in the same surf you played in as a child.  It’s still the best, most secluded piece of beach between Cancun and Chetumal if you’re looking to be OFF the beaten tourist track.  The cabanas to rent are a little piece of heaven, if you don’t mind the odd cucaracha.  Or, you can camp.  The coral has died, just like most along that coast, so the snorkeling is not nearly as nice as it was twenty five years ago, but it’s still better than most and the Scuba Mex dive shop that operates out of Paamul is, hands down, the best scuba diving to be had on the coast.  The guys who run it are a hoot and they know their stuff.

Kids at Paamul

I love walking the sand and volcanic coast for a mile or so and rediscovering the unexcavated pyramid looming out of the jungle, picking through the rubble for a leisurely hour hoping for bits of pottery, filling my bucket with the fat black snails that line the crevasses in the rock at the water’s edge to serve steamed caracols with butter for dinner.  They have a website:  Paamul but it’s best to call, or better yet, just show up.

Freiland Museum

2. Bad Windsheim, Germany

It’s not in any guidebook that we’ve seen, which is precisely why it’s not to be missed.  We happened upon this little town quite by accident, while visiting friends in Illesheim, and fell in  love.  All of the very best things about Germany rolled into one quaint little town, complete with a cobbler who still works out of the main floor of his house, sausage shops to DIE for and an Alstadt fest that is worth making time for.

Old German Architecture

The highlight of Bad Windsheim, for us, was the Frieland Museum .  A mock up of a historical German town, complete with homes, stores, a brewery, orchards, fields, a working farm and more.  It is very much in the vein of the Plymoth Plantation in Massachusetts or Connor Prairie in Indiana, only with better beer and bread!

There are cycle paths in and around town that connect with the Euro Velo routes, making it a very easy place to get to by bicycle.  If you go in summer, be sure to spend a day at the local pool and visit the tea shop downtown… try the chili spiced tea and tell the lovely lady who runs the shop we said, “Hi.”

Camel Racer

3.  Douz, Tunisia (Festival du Sahara)

Douz would be fabulous anytime of year, so if you find yourselves in Tunisia, be sure to make the trip.  Take a train to Gabes and then a louage to Douz… or if you’re really adventurous, drive!  Over Christmas, however, Douz comes alive and transforms itself into a colour plate from The Arabian Nights as the population swells with Bedouins converging for the cultural festival of the year:  Festival du Sahara.

Local girls

It was one of the highlights of our year to camp at the edge of the Sahara, under a pale yellow moon, and listen to the drum beats and the trilling accompanying the dancing late into the desert night.  To rise with the call of the muezzin and warm frosty fingers around mugs of Tunisian tea, tasting slightly of camel, and then walk the mile or so through date groves to cheer on Arab horsemen and camel racers of epic proportion.  Only a handful of westerners make it on a given year.  It isn’t easy to get there.  The dates are harder to nail down than a set price from a Tunisian cab driver, and it definitely requires a certain level of travel “zen” to accompany the adventure, but it is, quite certainly, the coolest thing we’ve ever done.

So that’s it:  Those are our top three!  Thanks very much to Family on Bikes for tagging us!  In return, we’ll tag another traveling family as well:

The Cooney World Adventure