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Open Travel Guide

Culture guides

Cultural travel guides by destination

Destination guides to the arts, traditions, festivals and everyday customs that shape how a place feels.

Culture is the part of travel that rewards preparation most and is planned for least. A small amount of reading before arrival, covering what the region produced, who ruled it and which language is spoken at home rather than in official settings, changes what is visible on the ground. Museums, architecture and food all become easier to read once the underlying history is roughly in place.

Calendars matter. Festivals, religious observances and public holidays can be the reason to visit or the reason a city is closed and full, and in many places both are true at once. Consider whether a festival is a participatory civic event or a performance staged for visitors, whether attendance requires tickets released months ahead, and what the accommodation market does around it. Ramadan, Lunar New Year, Holy Week and harvest festivals reshape opening hours across whole regions.

Etiquette varies more than it appears. Dress expectations at religious sites, rules on photographing people, tipping conventions, greeting customs and attitudes to punctuality differ between neighbouring countries and sometimes between city and countryside. Where communities host visitors directly, the useful question is who receives the money and who decided the visit could happen. Learning a handful of phrases is disproportionately effective, less for communication than for what it signals.

Culture guides by destination

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua And Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

North Korea

North Macedonia

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Kitts And Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

Sao Tome And Principe

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Taiwan

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Timor Leste

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad And Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Vatican City

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe