Adelphos

For leisure travel, many of us seek out destinations that will have a lively atmosphere - full restaurants/bars, social interaction at museums and other attractions, etc. As people try to figure out whether to keep prior travel plans intact during this Covid-19 situation, information on the "mood on the ground" at various destinations can be as important as information on Covid-19 cases and travel restrictions. If we can, maybe this thread can be an active and ongoing status report on how full and active various global cities and popular resort destinations are day-to-day during the epidemic. Obviously residents of global cities and travelers both can contribute.

I am personally interested in major European cities (London, Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin) outside of Italy - are people still out and about?

As a New York resident I can tell you there is, as of now, no discernible impact on day to day street traffic, attendance at events, etc. I went to a sold-out sporting event yesterday, subways are full, etc. The one exception is that restaurants in Chinatown are apparently less busy than normal - NYC officials are starting a campaign to get residents to go out and eat there. Outside of that if you have a trip planned to New York, you will find the typical scene here

jsl_313

I wouldn't expect that people in major European cities just stopped living their lives because of COVID-19. Fewer tourists, sure. But I'm sure people are still going out to eat, drink, etc. in the places you listed.

Well this aged poorly. Things changed quick.

GetSetJetSet

disagree, also a NY'er, went to a popular restaurant last night that was noticeably empty and the staff confirmed they have been getting crushed since the virus settled in. On the way home passed by many normally packed places that were ghost towns.

Adelphos

Hmm. I didn't notice this yesterday. I guess I will see this weekend. It also could be due to fewer tourists

Care to name the restaurant (always looking for new ideas)

IceHunter

Although Antwerp wasn't mentioned , things seem normal here for the most part. Can't find mask ,hand sanitizer gels and some in the International business community here might be feeling the heat but other then that resto/bars/ shops operating as usual .

JHunter

I'm visiting NYC in a few weeks, and for some restaurants I still had to jump online immediately when reservations (T-30 days, usually) became available. For example, within 10 minutes of being "turned on", Rezdora typically has nothing left between 5:30-10PM at best. Other restaurants (ex: Carbone) had every dinner slot snapped up literally within 2-3 minutes.

Admiral Ackbar

I'm in Paris right now, every restaurant I have been in is full. Streets are bustling, the metro is busy, etc. People are aware but going on with their lives.

Pubs that rely on tourists (and Six Nations Rugby games) are hurting.

My head hurts imagining what a real crisis would do if people are panicking over this.

FlyerStef

Certainly not Europe - but am returning from a 2 week trip to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Maldives.

Abu Dhabi was business as usual, however, the day after we left they found the virus in multiple people associated with the bike tour & quarantined their hotels/shut down schools. So I suspect things may be a bit different now.

dubai - largely business as usual, maybe some more face masks on people in places like the mall.

Maldives - occupancy slightly down due to countries not being allowed in, but also lots of people there who had switched travel plans from elsewhere & went specifically because of how remote it was. (Including a pregnant er Doctor - she didn’t want to go to tokyo, but had no worries going to the Maldives, and is on her way to Germany now). Maldivian schools are still open but have canceled all after school activities as a precaution.

There were temperature checks at every non US airport (including entering the Maldives) except for Doha. we were just transiting, we only transited Columbo and they checked us there too.

oh and my husband is American born Chinese and got pulled for a fairly noticeable number of “random” checks. He gets ssss regularly as well...did this trip too.

So at least where we were things were calm, and we have no regrets still taking the trip - lots of conversations about coronavirus, but nothing inhibiting travel yet. I honestly think the biggest issue was our own mental state - reacting funny when people cough, seeing the line of folks in face masks waiting for a flight to Guangzhou, that kind of thing.

Honie

We were in Boston earlier in the week and everything seemed to be normal city bustle, busy restaurants and bars. People were talking about the virus but it seemed business as usual.

Can anyone advise on New Orleans? We're flying across from the UK this week for our 20th anniversary, I am immunocompromised so will have to avoid large gatherings but with good hand washing etc I can still enjoy as general things like restaurants etc.

I'm in Canterbury, UK, and things are still busy, UK seems to be seeing less shoppers out and about but everything else is as usual. I imagine there are slightly less people eating out etc but everything still open.

bobbytables

Everywhere I’ve been in Europe recently seems normal and as busy as ever. In Asia most places seem pretty normal in terms of “vibe” but have far fewer tourists. It’s a great time to visit many places.

GetSetJetSet

Skipping Carbone should be considered a win. The ultimate Emperor's New Clothes restaurant. It's typical red sauce italian fare, granted SLIGHTLY better than you'd find at a normal red sauce Italian but at like 10x the price. Oh $125 for veal parm! Sweet! $40 for 3 meatballs? What a steal!

JHunter

Agreed - been there, enjoyed the food but it is vastly overpriced. As a one-off, it's worth the experience IMO - but I've had my one-off and was using it as a gauge of general tourist demand in the current travel environment. Given that it's far from new, I'm awed by how fast it still books and it would indicate that NYC at least is not yet overly impacted by Covid-19.

I got my main two hard-to-reserve "targets" - Rezdora and Le Bernardin; abc V was wide open but is probably not as good an indicator of tourist travel. Others TBD.

Edit: wait, the veal parm is $125 now? Holy crap! When I went a few years ago, it might've been a third of that, and still overpriced (but tasty).

Marambio

Agreed that Paris is pretty much business as usual except that there aren’t many tourists. I walk past Trocadéro every morning and where lots of Asian couples would be taking wedding photographs now it is mostly locals on their way to work. It is also quite difficult, but not completely impossible, to find hand sanitiser. Masks I didn’t try.

We were in London last weekend and you’ve got to admire the Brits for their keep calm and carry on vibe – while here people are somewhat concerned, over there it seemed they couldn’t care less.

Wong Jnr

It's a really diverse situation here in Singapore currently.
This weekend has finally brought out the locals and it's been very busy in the main eating/drinking areas. Like nothing has happened, far cry from the last few weeks.
Is it that complacency has crept in or just finally realising that life needs to go on, I hope it's the later.

The main tourist areas though are still devoid of any crowds. It's a really marked contrast between local haunts and the tourist spots.

Adelphos

I’m now hearing it is a bit slower at NYC restaurants and such. Grocery stores are selling out of dry food.. The city is looking a bit thinned out, but nothing is closed or anything yet