10 Things To Do When It Rains on Your Vacation. Number 4 Won’t be in Guidebooks.

As much as we all hope for perfect weather on our vacation, Mother Nature is beyond our control and is bound to rain on our plans.  It seems like almost every trip we took last year included several unwanted rain storms.  It’s easy to get frustrated and allow the rain clouds to ruin our vacation.  I often tossed my hands up in anger.  But a little rain shouldn’t spoil your fun!  With a dash of creativity and some tweaks to your itinerary, it’s possible to enjoy a rainy afternoon as much as a sunny afternoon.  Below are some great suggestion!

1. Visit a Food Market / Super Market – What a great way to get introduced to the local food scene! Some food markets are outdoors – you’ll probably want to avoid those – but many are indoors like the one we visited in Chiang Mai.  We could have spent hours getting to know local produce and eating fried bugs.  If there isn’t an indoor food market, head to the grocery store for an equally as rich food experience.  Samantha Brown suggestions turning the excursion into a language lesson by learning new food words from the price placards.
   

   Rialto Market

2. Read a Book – Vacations are already a great time to catch up on reading. Use the rainy day to truly indulge in a good book.  On a recent trip to the Riviera Maya, a rainy afternoon forced us indoors.  We sat on our balcony lost in a story to the soothing sounds of splashing waves and sprinkling rain.  If you need out of your room, most hotels, B&Bs, etc have public space to curl up to a book in.  Our agriturismo in Tuscany had a quaint library in the old Tuscan farmhouse.  If you are out of reading material, see if your hotel has a guest library where you can take a book for free if you leave one behind.  What a great way to read something you wouldn’t normally pick up!
3. Find a Spa – I don’t know how many times I’ve been on vacation and find myself getting a msssage inside a spa on a sunny day. How ridiculous does that sound?  I’m travelling for the sun and beach, and yet spend an afternoon or morning indoors at a spa when there are plenty back home I could visit.  The last time I was at the beach, I chose to do a massage on a rainy morning beachside under a thatched hut.  With the crashing surf and piddling rain-drops, it was one of the most relaxing experiences of my life.
   

   Ocean Front Massage Under the Rain

4. Head to a Bar and Get Drunk – And not your lobby bar or a tourist trap like Harry’s Bar in Venice. Ask the hotel staff for a favorite local watering hole even if it’s across town or island.  Hop a cab then kick back with locals over pints or boat drinks and make new friends!
5. Play in the Rain – Whether we were fortunate or unfortunate to catch high water while in Venice has yet to be determined. However, as the canals flooded over into the streets, shops, restaurants, and squares, many tourists flocked to the streets to play in the rain.  Saint Mark’s square transitioned to a public swimming pool as revelers splashed around.
   

   Experiencing High Water in Saint Mark’s Square

6. Take a Bus / Tram Tour – Many of us already include city bus tours into our itineraries. Bump those to a day when rain is forecasted.  The view out the window will still be the same.  Or, in cities like Vienna with above ground public trains, hop on and take in the city sights.  Either way, be sure to note where you want to revisit when the weather clears.
7. Visit a Museum – If you’re in Europe, you’re going to a museum anyway. Just look ahead at the forecast and place the museum excursion on a day when it’s supposed to rain.  Save the sunny afternoon for a neighborhood walking tour.  Bonus points if you find an off-the-beaten path museum.  With all the famous museums in Rome like the Etruscan Museum, Galleria Borghese, and Museo Nazionale Romano, we ended up at Galleria Doria Pamphilj.  We toured the Doria Pamphilj families palace (which still smelled like the 17^th century) and viewed their private artwork collection with pieces from Caravaggio, Rapheal, and Titian.  Oh, and don’t miss the relic of the pope’s body in one of the family rooms.  Every rich Roman family has one!
8. Take a Cooking Class – You’ve savored the cuisine and wondered how you could somehow transport it back home to friends and family. Words won’t do justice to how awesome those stuffed grape leaves were.  How about learning to make them yourself?  With a little research, you’ll find that most tourist destinations have at least one cooking school catering to vacationers.  From Thailand to Italy, some of the most fun we have on vacation are in these cooking classes.
   

   Thai Cooking School

9. Catch the Theater– And I don’t mean movie theater. You can watch the latest Batman at home.  Indulge in the local theatre scene by finding a matinee of a play, musical, opera, choir, symphony, or (gasp!) ballet.
10. Go Shopping – As much as it pains me to say it as I detest shopping, especially on vacation when there are so many new cultural experiences I could be having, a rainy day is a great time to shop! And, if you can find a local market, it can be a fulfilling cultural experience as you bargain with vendors and check out local artisan wares.  Worst case scenario, if you end up at a drab shopping mall with chain stores, you can find a pub while the shoppers shop.

Now it’s your turn!  What would you add to this list?