How to Travel Like a Local

By: Colleen Lanin, The Travel Mama
May 26th, 2009

Sure, I can (and do) use guidebooks, travel magazines, and review sites to plan my family trips. But asking the locals where to go feels so much more fun, immediate, and real. Here are some ways to find local favorites in your destination.

Bed & Breakfasts
Part of the charm of staying at B&Bs is the access they provide to real-live locals. Bed & Breakfast owners are typically more than willing to share their favorite joints for good eats and path-less-taken activities.

Visitors Centers
Most towns have a visitors center with friendly, knowledgeable volunteers and staff who can direct you to a plethora of sites based on your family’s specifications. When I asked where I could take my young children to run around outdoors, the 20-something gal working at the Sonoma Valley Visitors Center in the town’s central plaza suggested we tour the gardens at CornerStone Sonoma. There are 22 unique gardens at CornerStone, each designed by a different landscape architect. Samples include a children’s garden and a miniature golf course garden. Cornerstone was the perfect place for my family to stretch its legs (and play some mini golf!), free of charge. The attraction also offers shops, a café, and wine tastings.

Hotel Concierges
It is a hotel concierge’s job to know where to go for good food and entertainment. They provide useful opinions, directions, and even coupons. A concierge may secure reservations for you at a popular restaurant that would be booked up if you placed the call yourself. Beware, however, some concierges may base their recommendations more on relationships with local businesses than on quality or appropriateness for your family.

Friends and Family
Ask acquaintances, business associates, and relatives who reside in (or often visit) your destination city. People love showing off “their town” and spreading the word about their local favorite restaurants, shops, and attractions. I asked two acquaintances where to go for dinner in San Francisco’s Chinatown and both pointed my family to the House of Nanking. Thanks to their suggestion, we dined on sublime salt and pepper prawns with mushrooms and the world’s best sizzling rice soup.

Strangers on the Street
The simplest and most adventurous approach is to ask locals on the street or at the next table for their tips. In La Spezia, Italy my husband approached a group of Italian business men and asked them where they would go to eat if they had just one day in town. We followed their directions to a nearly unmarked restaurant far from the main strip. We were the only tourists in the small, sparsely decorated restaurant. It was our last day in Italy so we ordered a gluttonous amount of food – an antipasto plate of meats and cheeses plus three plates of pasta for the two of us. We also ordered a penne marinara for our sleeping toddler. Since she slept through the whole meal, we somehow found space in our crowded stomachs to eat her dish as well! We still talk about this meal longingly and I often order ravioli ragout, hoping in vain to recapture the flavors of that unforgettable meal. I wish I could tell you the name and location of this rustic little gem, but I can’t. You’ll just have travel to La Spezia yourself and ask the locals where to find the best pasta in town.

 

What’s the best travel tip you have ever received from a local? Do you have a tip on your hometown you’d like to share? Leave a comment below! 

For more information on this topic see:

• Travel Planning, Booking & Reviews Resources

• Trip Reports & Destinations

* * * *

Tags: , , ,

 Subscribe in a reader - or - Subscribe to Travel Mamas by RSS Email

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Family Vacations, Grown-Up Getaways, Travel Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.