Times Travel staff’s underrated places of the world

Carpinteria, Calif.

Why you shouldn’t: It’s a charming, affordable family getaway, where everyone can find something fun to do, less than 100 miles from Los Angeles.

The best place to start is a picnic table at the end of Linden Avenue, amid the dunes of Carpinteria State Beach. (Note: Tables under the two covered patios are often reserved for groups, so check with a ranger before you settle in.) Bring a picnic basket, fire up a grill or buy take-out cheeseburgers and shakes from the Spot, a longtime favorite.

Spend the day at the beach, where you can sunbathe, jog, build sand castles, gawk at sea lions (bring binoculars), collect shells, scan tide pools for sea anemones and starfish, boogie-board on gentle surf or just do nothing. You can also hike the bluffs.

Info: California State Parks, (805) 968-1033 (Channel Coast District), www.parks.ca.gov; City of Carpinteria, www.carpinteria.ca.us.

-- Jane Engle  (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

Sacramento

Why people ignore it: Just 80 miles from the breezy, self-consciously quaint tourist magnet of San Francisco, Sacramento is anything but. Saddled with hot summers, a dysfunctional legislature and, earlier this year, a Depression-style tent camp, California’s capital hardly seems like a weekend getaway.  (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Singapore

Why people ignore it: This former British trading colony south of the Malaysian peninsula has a repressive reputation based on news reports that it censors movies, executes drug smugglers and even bans chewing gum. And it’s not exactly around the corner.  (How Hwee Young / EPA)

Singapore

Why you shouldn’t: Well, for one thing, you can chew gum in Singapore if it has a higher purpose, such as teeth whitening.

But more importantly, for tourists at least, this international crossroads offers exotic food, lush scenery, diverse cultures, sophisticated shopping, world-class museums, an enthralling zoo and, of course, Raffles, arguably the world’s best-known hotel.

A 19th-century icon of colonial history, Raffles “stands for all the fables of the exotic East,” author-guest W. Somerset Maugham once wrote.

Generations of presidents and princes have slept at the ornate hotel or slipped into its Long Bar to sip its signature Singapore sling, a sweet, pink concoction. By day, the Tiffin Room also serves a delightful tea.

But you don’t need a king’s ransom to enjoy Singapore. Street food in city enclaves such as Little India is cheap and delicious. Most costs, including transit, are reasonable.

Thanks to the country’s mix of Malaysian, Indian, British and Chinese people and cultures, local restaurants are just the ticket to a trip around the world. Be sure to sample Peranakan dishes, a blend of Chinese and Malaysian cooking.

Info: Singapore Tourism Board, www.visitsingapore.com.

-- Jane Engle  (How Hwee Young / EPA)

Disneyland Resort / Walt Disney Studio Park, Paris

Why you shouldn’t: Now Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park (which opened in 2002) are the biggest tourist attractions in Europe, drawing 15.3 million visitors last year with such rides as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, starring Aerosmith, Space Mountain Mission 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean, many more modern than the versions at Disney parks in the U.S. There are seven places to stay (including Disney’s New York and Cheyenne hotels), the Disney Village shopping and entertainment center, and an 18-hole golf course.

A couple of days at Disneyland Paris might be a much-appreciated reward for little ones being dragged through European museums and historical sites. Some Americans like it better than the Disneys in Florida and California because of its relative newness.

The pair of Disney parks is in Marne-la-Vallée just east of Paris, linked to the city by the RER suburban train. Air France and Eurostar (from London) offer all-inclusive packages, as do the hotels in the park. Look for low-season rates mid-April to mid-July, mid-September to early December, and mid-January to late March.

Info:www.disneylandparis.co.uk/index.xhtml

-- Susan Spano   (Franck Fife / AFP/Getty Images)

Kansas Flint Hills

Why you shouldn’t: It’s a funny place, Kansas. A place people think should be driven through on the way to somewhere else, where miles and miles of wheat and milo fields are punctuated by the occasional house or barn but mostly tamped down by a whole lot of nothing.

But the Flint Hills -- they are not, as one of my colleagues tried to call them, the “Flat Hills”-- are different. In spring, they’re undulating carpets of green that stretch from northern Kansas to the Oklahoma border.

Millions of acres in numerous states were farmed that probably shouldn’t have been, leading to the environmental meltdown of the Dust Bowl years. But here, the land is pristine, the last stand of tallgrass in North America. You can take short hikes in the preserve and experience some of the delicious desolation.

It is more fun, I think, to drive from Emporia on U.S. 50, then to Kansas 150 and along U.S. 56 and find a safe stopping point. It is here, on a perfect spring day or a crisp autumn afternoon, that you know you have found the heart and soul of bluestem grass country. You will hear nothing but the pure strain of a meadowlark’s song or the sweep of the wind through the grass. You are alone in the quiet. It’s such a non-L.A. moment that you may wish it could last forever.

Info:www.nps.gov/tapr and www.travelks.com.

-- Catharine Hamm  (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

Naples, Italy

Why people ignore it: No city has such bad press as Naples, known for crime (petty and organized), toxic waste, poverty, unemployment and general dilapidation, not to mention last year’s trash crisis when months went by without garbage collection.  (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

Naples, Italy

Why they shouldn’t: You have to be careful, selective and stoical when visiting Naples. But to give it a pass would be to miss one of Italy’s most intense cities, cleaving to the coast under Mt. Vesuvius, gazing over one of the world’s most beautiful bays.

Sights in the historic center include the incomparable Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 17th century Palazzo Reale and teeming Spagnoli Quarter, home of the classic Neapolitan fresh mozzarella cheese pizza.

Commuter trains easily reach the archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and ferries ply the Bay of Naples between the city and the fabled islands of Capri and Ischia.

And you can expect rates for accommodations and meals somewhat lower than in more popular Italian destinations like Florence and Venice.

Info:www.italiantourism.com/campania.html.

-- Susan Spano  (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

Brussels

Why people ignore it: Blame it on the French. Say Brussels to one of them and the nose goes up. Non, non, non. Why would anyone ever want to go to such a hopeless backwater?  (Yves Logghe / Associated Press)

Brussels

Why they shouldn’t: Thanks partly to the fresh fish and cockles from the cold North Sea, Brussels has the edge over most bistros in Paris., thanks in part to fresh fish and cockles from the cold North Sea.

There’s also a marvelous medieval Grande Place, elegant Art Nouveau architecture and cool, funky neighborhoods downtown filled with cutting-edge art galleries and home-grown couture.

The Fine Arts Museum features works by the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte and the Royal Museum of Central Africa in the lush suburb of Tervuren has one of the best collections of African art outside Africa.

Also not to be missed: the Belgian Museum of Comic Strip Art (think Tintin, as in Steven Spielberg‘s “The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn,” due in 2011; glorious, Art Nouveau Victor Horta Museum; and the recently renovated Atomium, a mid-century modern gewgaw shaped like an iron crystal, built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.

And don’t miss the moules frites (mussels and fries).

Info: www.visitbelgium.com.

-- Susan Spano   (Robert Wielaard / Associated Press)

The Mississippi River

Why people ignore it: Maybe because the Midwest and the South can get beastly hot. In summer, even some locals edge toward the coasts.

Pictured: The St. Louis skyline  (James A. Finley / Associated Press)

The Mississippi River

Why you shouldn’t: This river, which touches 10 states and covers about 2,550 miles, might be the single most vital artery in the American character. Depending which stretch of the river you choose, this is where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born (Pepin, Wis.), where Mark Twain was raised (Hannibal, Mo.), where Louis Armstrong first picked up a trumpet (New Orleans). And if you make your visit in early July, you’re bound to run into summer and Independence Day fairs, festivals, fireworks and all manner of fried foods. It’s America, sweet and savory.

You could fly to Minneapolis, then drive up to Lake Itasca (headwaters of the Mississippi) or Bemidji (where statues of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, have stood since 1937). You could dip south to charming little Trempealeau, Wis., or browse the prosperous shops and brick buildings of Galena, Ill.

Or fly into Memphis, Tenn., pay respects at Graceland, listen to a tune on Beale Street and flock to the big old Peabody Hotel for the ritual daily procession of ducks through the lobby. Once you’ve done that, you could head south through about 400 miles of slow drawls, droopy trees and antebellum mansions, then pause for a little food and live music. You’ll be in New Orleans, a pretty good town for that.

Info: www.experiencemississippiriver.com; www.roadsideamerica.com.

-- Christopher Reynolds

Pictured: Burlington, Iowa  (John Lovretta / Associated Press / The Hawk Eye)

Valencia, Spain

Why people ignore it: Two reasons: Madrid and Barcelona.

Pictured: Spanish matador Enrique Ponce is carried out of the ring after his bullfight during Fiesta de las Fallas.  (Ramon Espinosa / Associated Press)

Valencia, Spain

Why they shouldn’t: Two reasons: paella and Fiesta de las Fallas, one of which you can get any time and the other of which you get only in the spring.

Valencia doesn’t have a Sagrada Familia as does Barcelona, 200 miles distant, or a Prado as does Madrid, also 200 miles away. But this eastern seaport city does have a Calatrava, which, to my mind, was the finishing touch on its transformation from a second-tier town to a world-class city. Architect Santiago Calatrava, born near Valencia, designed the City of Arts and Sciences, a complex that has given Valencia its signature work, finally making nice use of the dried-up beds of the Turia river.

But the real soul of the city is its food and its fiesta. Until you’ve had paella in Valencia, you can’t really claim to have eaten it.

The fiesta is a collision as well -- of artistry, music, political satire, fireworks, pageantry and history. The fallas are papier-mâché depictions of some aspect of society, many of them lampooning their subjects and all of them part of the March 15 to 19 celebration that ends in their burning. There is a slight letdown when it’s over, but know that you have fresas y nata season to look forward to -- strawberries and cream, sold in stores and on the street. They’re the punctuation on the surprise that is Valencia.

Info: www.aboutvalencia.com

-- Catharine Hamm

Pictured: Fiesta de las Fallas  (Ramon Espinosa / For The Times)

Cayucos, Calif.

Why people ignore it: Even though it’s right on the coast, 21 miles north of San Luis Obispo and 13 miles south of Cambria, you hardly notice it from Highway 1. Also, it’s little (population about 3,000) and it doesn’t have a university or a bunch of art galleries, or a hotel showcase street like Cambria’s Moonstone Beach Drive.

Pictured: Morro Rock  (Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times)

Cayucos, Calif.

Why you shouldn’t: Cayucos still feels like an old-fashioned, kid-friendly beach town, a place you’d rent bikes, or go all day without shoes. It has a pier and a broad sandy beach, and about 15 hotels, motels and B&Bs. It also has a bunch of rental houses because for decades, people from the San Joaquin Valley (Fresno and others) have come here in summer to escape the three-digit heat.

Cayucos is within easy range of Paso Robles wine tasting, Morro Bay kayaking or Hearst Castle wealth coveting, or maybe the Thursday-night farmers market in SLO. But you might just want to flop. Maybe have a casual lunch at Duckie’s Chowder House (55 Cayucos Drive, by the pier), or a fancy dinner at Hoppe’s Garden Bistro and Wine Shop (78 Ocean Ave.).

Info: www.cayucosbythesea.com.

-- Christopher Reynolds   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Kailua, Hawaii

Why people ignore it: How does a community compete with Waikiki, which is nearly a straight shot from the airport, boasts a host of glitz and glam stores and hotels and some top-drawer restaurants? It can’t.

Why they shouldn’t: The drive alone is worth it. You take Hawaii Highway 61 out of Honolulu, climbing gently upward. Above the tunnels is the lookout, and on a clear day, you can see Kaneohe and Kailua bays. On any day, you can recall the battle that Kamehameha I waged in 1795 as he fought to unify the islands; here, it’s said, about 400 of the enemy troops went over the cliffs -- the Pali -- to their death. It’s said that on some nights you can hear warriors chanting, although nonbelievers think it’s the wind blowing.

As you descend into Kailua town, you may be underwhelmed. It’s the anti-Waikiki. In fact, it’s so unglam that you’ll be tempted to turn around and go back.

Don’t. Drive to Kailua beach park and park yourself on the beach. Dip a toe or 10 into the ocean; it’s bathwater warm but the waves are generally gentle. Take a mental snapshot of the gently curving bay, the ironwood trees, the ocean lapping at the sand. It is a harmonic convergence of the senses, and as you drift off to sleep--and you will--you will know this is how Hawaii was meant to be experienced.

Info:www.kailuachamber.com.

-- Catharine Hamm  (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)