Hippie tourist attractions
Nimbin, Australia:
A tiny village located in the state of New South Wales, Nimbin saw a counterculture revolution in the 1970’s which has survived till date. Of significant cultural importance to Aborigines, you can experience the first rays of sunlight on Mt. Warning and incidentally, on Australia. The town itself was the site of the Aquarius festival in 1973 and it seems that many of the visitors relish the amnesia which exists. The citizens of this tiny enclave established a Hemp Embassy whose aim is to disseminate information regarding the use of marijuana as well as provide essential paraphernalia for the same.
Arembepe, Brazilia
There is something about a peaceful tropical paradise with a groovy beat. In Brazil’s Bahia state is Arembepe, once the favorite getaway of rock stars Mick Jagger and Janis Joplin. Brazil’s own cultural icons, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil are said to have taken quite a liking to this seaside village and if it’s good enough for them, you should have no problem settling down. A short distance away is the village of Caratingui, Brazil’s first hippie community.
Chefchaouen, Maroc
With a name as exotic as that, it’s no wonder that hippies have found this place captivating. Luckily for them, it has lived up to the aura it so easily creates. The blue colored city with the magnificent Rif Mountains as a background and a delightful medina, Chefchaouen may be overshadowed by the more illustrious Marrakech or Tangiers, but it has developed a reputation of its own as an artisan’s city. You might be offered Kif, and if you are into mind altering substances, you might end up staying for more than one session of ‘Kif on the Rif’.
Vancouver, Canada
San Francisco may receive all the attention when it comes to the hippie movement, but Vancouver has many charms. Besides, a city with some of the most liberal marijuana policies and a distinctly multicultural vibe deserves to be on the list. There is a lost of nostalgia here about the 1970’s, and it is readily apparent in the groovy Kitsilano district where tie-dye is ubiquitous and old hippies with long hair and ponchos still wander about the streets. It’s also the birthplace of Greenpeace.
