The terms “dupe cities” and “dupe destination” first gained prominence at the end of 2020.
Amid the continued border closures for the COVID-19 pandemic, people who were used to traveling were looking for alternative destinations to explore in their own country and, in some cases, just a few steps from home. The idea was to both stay local and promote the wonders that travelers that people often miss in their own backyards.
💰💸Presidents Day Sale: Get Free access to TheStreet Pro for 31 days – Claim your offer today! 💰💸
Looking for dupe cities? You may be missing the entire point of travel
Since then, the term has taken off and is now more commonly used to mean a smaller city that shares certain features with a larger or more popular one. Buenos Aires and Bucharest are often called the “Paris of South America” (or, in the latter case, of Eastern Europe) due to their large boulevards and Haussmann-style architecture. Greek islands such as Paros and Naxos are now often described as “dupes” to Mykonos and Santorini.
I have written about the absurdity of “duping” anything before but the reason the term gets under my skin so much ultimately comes down to our reason for travel. While the exact reasons will be unique for each specific person, plenty of people pay thousands of dollars and spend hours sitting in a plane for the distinctive experience that a place can offer. They want to experience something that cannot be found at home or, for that matter, anywhere else.
Related: I am a travel writer and consider these cities to be most unfairly maligned
The fact that two cities are port towns or have similar architecture or even a similar vibe does not make them interchangeable. People are drawn to Paris and Buenos Aires for very different reasons. No self-respecting traveler would say that since they’ve been to Paris, they may as well not bother with a South American metropolis of enormous cultural and historic importance.
If the point is to see something “almost the same” then you can stay at home and have almost the same experience looking at some photos on the internet.
Shutterstock
Dupe cities are often more expensive and difficult to get to
Sometimes these round-ups also name “dupes” for a larger city in the same country. But despite the fact that dupes are often positioned as cheaper due to the lower of accommodation (Liverpool vs. London and Perth vs. Sydney are two other common pairings for dupe round-ups), this would only work for those travelling domestically or from a nearby country.
For those coming from another continent, there are significantly fewer direct flight options.
More on travel:
- Another National Park just made it more difficult for you to visit
- Another airline strands passengers as it files bankruptcy
- The Airbnb/hotel debate is getting very tiresome
Remoteness (and even just distance from a major airport) is another privilege as the journey that one needs to complete by train, car or regional airline adds to the necessary time off — something that, for the average person, is already severely lacking.
You better believe that people pushing “Lyon instead of Paris” or “Lombok instead of Bali” are already hardened travelers who have been to the more popular place several times and are looking for variety. Getting to that point usually starts with that first trip — somewhere that, for some, may feel “overrated.”
Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
