Many people travel for work or pleasure. Here are 5 reasons why you should ALWAYS devote some of your time to go geocaching when you travel.
1. Find hidden gems
I’ve lived in San Diego all my life. I grew up here. I’m a local. Still, because of geocaching, I’ve been led to many hidden gems that I didn’t know about. Hiking trails, unique parks, hidden coves in San Diego Bay, seaside cliffs and numerous nooks and crannies all around San Diego. You’ll be surprised where geocaching can take you. The same holds true when you travel. Hidden gems are everywhere and geocaching is famous for taking you to the best ones. In the photo above, geocaching led Sandy and her friends to an amazing trail above a beautiful bay in Mexico.
2. Locate the best attractions without a guidebook
The locals always know the best places in their hometown and the vast majority of the time, there will be a geocache nearby. Searching for geocaches with high-favorites, as well as the classic virtual caches can reveal a treasure-trove of fantastic not-to-be-missed locations without ever cracking open the guidebook. Geocache descriptions can often be a source of helpful and important information. In Spain, a geocache aptly named led us to some wonderful "churros con chocolate" at an open-air eatery on a beautiful plaza.
3. Save money on excursions and tours
Geocaching can take you to some iconic and interesting locations just like excursions and tours. However, geocaching costs a lot less and you get a much more customized and authentic experience if you take a bit of time, do your homework and put in a little planning. Geocaching can help you learn a lot more about an area in a fun, interactive way! On a high-school reunion cruise years ago, we stopped at Nassau in the Bahamas and used geocaching to take our group on a tour of the town. We ended up at all the great spots without the hassle (and expense!) of sticking with the tour bus schedule.
4. Meet local people
Local geocachers know about the good stuff, the best caches, best places to eat, interesting things to do and see. You should seek out local geocachers whenever you can. Kassimaja and his family were fantastic hosts for our time in Norway (above). Here are some simple steps for meeting local geocachers.
- See if there is an event scheduled for the time you plan to be there and go!
- Snoop at the logs of caches in the local area, be a detective and see if you can figure out who the active geocachers are.
- Contact a few of them through the geocaching website, let them know you’ll be visiting and see if you can connect. Ask them about any local Geocaching groups or clubs too! They might be willing to organize a simple event during your visit!
- Once you’ve met them, ask if they’d like to go caching later that day or the next day.
5. Fill out your geocaching map
Yes, we all know it's not about the numbers, but for some of us, it IS all about coloring in that map of the world!! When you travel to a new country or even just a new state or province, you have the opportunity to add that new location to your geocaching stats. It's really fun to watch your list grow over time.
Here’s a bonus TIP:
Search for geocaches in the area that have a lot of favorite points. Target these geocaches and make sure to find as many as possible during your visit.
Don't Go Yet!
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When Sandy went for her very first FTF, we didn’t expect this to happen …
However, it helps if cache owners would follow-up on DNF logs. I was in Alaska last month and many of the caches I attempt has a string of DNF logs. Made for a less than fun experience
Yes, that would be disappointing! especially in a place like Alaska!
My wife and I have been caching while we travel. We’ve gone to many places that are NOT high on the guidebook tours, but were great places to be. From seeing the feral goats in Maui (south of Makena) to the views 1/2 way up a vineyard in Germany to find a TB hotel in a stone wall. It’s also great for getting away from the crowds at the ‘tourist’ attractions.
Completely agree! Those sound like amazing places! (I was able to edit your comment to include your correction)
I “uncovered” another great reason for caching while traveling – converting your muggle family to the cause! Several years ago, we were visiting Bald Head Island, NC for the day, and after finding 5 virtuals on the island, my muggle husband stated that HE never would have known about these great locations if it weren’t for geocaching. I got so excited to hear him say that! He’s still a muggle, but at least now he’s almost depending on me to find the cool places when we travel, because he knows we can see some spectacular views or really interesting history. I try to concentrate on virtuals and earth caches for this very reason.
That’s awesome! It’s great when our muggle loved ones can see the value in geocaching!
My favorite is #4 – meeting local cachers!
You really get a feel for a place when you meet the locals. Attending an event or even hosting one is the best way. You have instant friends who will welcome you with open arms!
Totally agree! Thanks BGinTX
For me it is 1, 2, 4, and 5. One I’m missing is : if you like to hike in the forest you can take a tour that you will get from your hotel or campingsite. But is better to do a multi-cache. If it has been recently logged you know you can actually walk the trail and it is free!
Number 3 is my favourite also. You find amazing places that even no travel agency know about.
There’s another benefit also – exercising without even noticing it. We are now on two weeks vacation on Crete and yesterday walked almost 25km just to found a Earthcache:)
Sorry for late reply… I only just discovered your website.
I have to agree with all of the above. We recently went to Krakow in Poland and found a few caches there, mainly virtual caches but with a couple of traditional caches thrown in. If it hadn’t have been for the geocaches then we would never have seen some of the lovely sights we saw or learnt about the local facts and legends associated with the area. One example of this is at St Mary’s Basilica in the main square, there is a legend about the two brothers that built the towers. I won’t say any more but I found it really interesting when I delved further into the story. Another example is when we visited the Bridge of Love, it was our 7 year anniversary and we placed a padlock on the bridge (like so many others had done before) before finding a geocache there. If it wasn’t for this geocache we wouldn’t have any idea that the Bridge of Love existed!