Wikivoyage:Region article template/Large region template

Regions are somewhat nebulous organizational groupings we use on Wikivoyage to organize all the many cities in a country into some kind of navigable and comprehensible hierarchy. They can be sub-national political territories, like Minnesota or New South Wales, or more nebulous "tourist" regions like the French Riviera, or the American Southwest. Region articles tend to be more "soft", discussing the people, culture, climate, and cuisine in the region, rather than the legalistic stuff that's in a country article, or the addresses-and-phone-numbers stuff that's in a city article.

This template should be used regions with so many destinations that listing them all under "cities" and "other destinations" would result in a huge list. Dividing this region into sub-regions with their individual articles would only result in duplication of content and redundancy for the traveller. This template provides a happy middle path.

Before you plunge forward creating a region, keep in mind that we only add a new level of regions when there are too many cities or too much content in the existing breakdown. The regional hierarchy at Wikivoyage doesn't always follow the official breakdown—and frequently is much "flatter" than the official breakdown.

To quickly insert a complete blank region template, copy-and-paste the quick version into the edit box on the page you are editing, or simply use {{subst:region}}, which will expand into the region template on save.

Stuff in italics below is editorial comment, with suggestions for what should go in each section. You should plan on ruthlessly eliminating if you copy this code to a new region article.]

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The introduction to a region does not have a heading. This is the place for rhetorical flourish, not a list of dry facts; try to leave detailed information on history, culture, etc, for the Understand section. While some identifying information, rough borders, and links to the surrounding region – like New England in the Connecticut article – are helpful (so that the traveller has some idea what you're talking about), the main purpose of the lead paragraph is to hook the reader's interest.

Regions

Regions can have sub-regions, and those can have further sub-regions, and so on and so forth. List the sub-regions of this region here. In this type of region, sub-regions do not get their own articles. If they do, use the Huge region template, not this one.

If the sub-regions have specific names ("county", "state", "province", etc.) feel free to change the name of this header to "Counties", "States", etc.

• The South - warm and dry
• The North - cool and wet
• The Coast - beaches, great seafood
• Inland - agriculture and friendly people

Cities

As this type of region is likely to have a large number of cities, we divide this by sub-region. If calling the settlements in this region "cities" is a real stretch -- say, for remote or rural areas with only towns and/or villages -- it's OK to rename this section 'Towns' or 'Villages' or 'Settlements' or whatever. But if there are lots of different kinds and sizes of settlements, just leave it as "Cities".

Per Project:One-liner listings, cities should be listed in alphabetical order. If the sub-region corresponds to a political entity (such as a state or a province), always list its capital city first.

The South

• South City 1 - industrial city but a good starting point
• South City 2 - stuff about the city
• South City 3 - stuff about the city
• South City 4 - stuff about the city

The North

• North City 1 - fun and funky, great nightlife
• North City 2 - stuff about the city
• North City 3 - stuff about the city
• North City 4 - stuff about the city

The Coast

• Coast City 1 - port city, great nightlife
• Coast City 2 - warm beaches and slow lifestyle
• Coast City 3 - stuff about the city
• Coast City 4 - stuff about the city

Inland

• Inland City 1 - rural area, slow lifestyle
• Inland City 2 - stuff about the city
• Inland City 3 - stuff about the city
• Inland City 4 - stuff about the city

Other destinations

Sometimes a region has destinations that aren't really cities; for example, large national parks. List them separately here, with descriptions, if they exist. Otherwise, leave out this section. We divide this section by sub-regions as well. This section, too, can be renamed if all destinations fall into a nice category, eg. "Islands" or "Beaches".

The South

• South Park 1 - incredible mountainous park, great hiking
• South Park 2 - stuff about the park
• South Park 3 - stuff about the park
• South Park 4 - stuff about the park

The North

• North Park 1 - great rock formations and wildlife viewing
• North Park 2 - stuff about the park
• North Park 3 - stuff about the park
• North Park 4 - stuff about the park

The Coast

• Island - palm-frond huts on the beach and fantastic coral
• Coast Park 2 - warm beaches and slow lifestyle
• Coast Park 3 - stuff about the park
• Coast Park 4 - stuff about the park

Inland

• Inland Park 1 - rural area, slow lifestyle
• Inland Park 2 - stuff about the park
• Inland Park 3 - stuff about the park
• Inland Park 4 - stuff about the park

Understand

This is a more subjective description of the region -- what it's like, why someone would want to go there, the culture and atmosphere, the history, the weather, what makes it different and distinct from other regions.

Talk

If there are any language issues with the region that are different from the country as a whole, or the surrounding region, point them out here. Regional dialects of the national language, for example, are worth listing, as well as large local minority languages. Even local slang or sayings can be helpful to a first-time visitor. Consider linking to the phrasebook for the local language, if it's different from the country's language. If there really aren't any language issues, just leave this section out.

Get in

This is where you would note the best arrival points to start exploring this region from. For example, it would be worth listing Phoenix and Albuquerque as good starting points for the American Southwest. You can also give driving directions from large nearby cities that readers might be coming from. Save the nitty-gritty details of how to get to the main entry points for a region for their city pages, though.

Get around

This is where you'd give general information about how to get around the region once there. What are ways to see this region: by train, by car, by bus? Are there other options? This is also a good place to list regional travel discount passes or other purchasing options. Save point-to-point details for the individual city articles, though.

See

This is for an overview of the types of attractions as well as the principal attractions in the region. Don't give full details about each attraction; you should have that in the article for the city where the attraction is.

Itineraries

This is where you can list any relevant itineraries, giving suggested courses of travel through the region with tips of things to see and do.

• Along the River Q - visiting the communities along the River Q by submersible yak-drawn cart

Do

This is for a summary of activities in the region, that is, things that travellers will do themselves. More active participation is needed for Do things than for See things. For example, going to see a river goes under See; kayak trips down the river go under Do. Don't give full details about each activity; you should have that in the article for the city instead. Not every activity in the region needs to be mentioned -- just ones that are so important people expect them to be on the main page for the region.

Eat

This is a great place to describe the regional cuisine. Are there any specialties that travelers should try while they're in this region? Immigrant or minority populations with their own cuisine? Try to mention lots of types of food, and keep people on special diets -- like vegetarians or people eating kosher -- in mind. If one or a couple linked destinations have especially notable dining scenes, note that here, but don't mention individual restaurants or such in the region article -- save that for the individual city articles. Do mention, however, which cities or sub-regions have an especially notable dining scene.

Drink

This (kind of badly named) section is for all kinds of nightlife, not just drinking. Are there regional specialties for alcohol, wine, beer, etc.? What about music and entertainment, like honky tonks for Texas or folk music in the Atlantic Provinces? What is there to do in this region that makes it different? If nightlife is concentrated in one or only some of the linked destination articles, note that here.

Sleep

The sleep section is optional, and often left out to discourage spammers from adding their hotels here. If included in the article, this section should explain what to expect in terms of accommodations; it should highlight region-specific types of accommodations. It is sometimes appropriate to also explain which cities have the bulk of the accommodations options.

Stay safe

If there are any particular safety issues -- crime, weather, etc. -- for the region in general, describe them here. If one section of the region is much more dangerous than the rest, that is also a good thing to note.

Go next

Information about nearby destinations that would serve as a good "next stop." Provide a brief description of other nearby destination suggestions, neighboring cities or day-trip ideas. Don't duplicate information that's up in "Get in." For really large regions, if it makes no sense to suggest a day trip at such a high level, just leave the section out. But be careful - while California is a big region, it should still have a Go next because Las Vegas is indeed a popular weekend destination for all Californians.

At the end of the article, you may find various templates like {{outline}} and interwiki links like [[de:Vorgabe für Regionen]]. These have special functions, please do not change or delete them unless you understand what they mean.