When it comes to traveling, there are many ways to go about it. Sometimes you’re on an eight hour layover and you’ve only got half a day to check out a city. Sometimes you’ve got a weeklong vacation. And sometimes you’re on a complete hiatus from the world and you’re spending months at a time in various countries. It all depends on circumstance, but it also begs the question: how long do you really need to explore a city?
The Surface
Honestly, if we’re talking about what’s on the surface, you can probably explore a big city in a few days. If it’s not such an important city without too many landmarks, you can probably do it even in a half day layover. With the advent of hop-on hop-off busses, as well as rental cars, you can whiz through all the major things to see no questions asked.
Digging Deep
The thing is, you might be able to see all the important landmarks in a few days’ time—but have you really gotten to know the city? There are many who would argue that you didn’t. Beyond all of the fancy historical artifacts, there’s a wealth of wisdom to be gleaned from living in a foreign place for weeks, months, and even years at a time. It’s not always about seeing things, but also about feeling the culture from within. This kind of learning can only be done after living there for longer periods of time.