The most common advice that travelers hear is: do the same thing that locals do. This is fantastic advice: it's easier to say about it than to do it. Fortunately, after spending a certain amount of time and Googling information about the place where you are going in advance, you have every chance to act like locals in some situations. That is, do not overpay where it is not necessary and do not get into stupid situations that unprepared tourists usually get into, see a little further and know a little more.
Getting to a new place for you, it is important to be familiar with its language and customs, as well as to know what the locals do here, where they go and how, for example, they organize their leisure time. And, of course, most likely you will be interested in finding non-standard places and attractions that you will not find in guidebooks.
Let's start with the simplest.
To begin with, it is necessary to determine what you want from the area of residence. To have a lot of restaurants and clubs there? Or do you want to live near the beach to be able to get to it quickly? Once you decide on your desires, it will be easier for you to choose the part of the city or area that satisfies them.
Since you will spend a fairly large amount of time in the chosen place, it would be good to scout out what is in your neighborhood. Services such as TripAdvisor and SrteetAdvisor will help you with this. On them you will find information about local shops, restaurants, attractions (TripAdvisor), as well as how clean or safe your area is (SrteetAdvisor). Of course, not in all cities you will find hotels in the areas you need, but at least you will be able to get closer to your ideal.
However, locals do not sleep in hotels. So why would you do that? If you are ready for an easy risk, then the Airbnb service, which helps in renting apartments and houses from local residents, is what you need. If you are going to rent a house for a long time, then VRBO or HomeAway services will be useful to you.
If things are going very badly with the search for the ideal area, then try to write about your problem on Twitter or on Facebook*. Perhaps your friends can help you with advice. If you are still not sure in which area exactly you want to stay, detail your plans and wishes further: what events you want to visit, which restaurants and bars to go to, and so on. Then book a hotel or apartment in the place you need based on these data.
A little preliminary research has helped you get to the area of the city you need. Now the main goal is to get new great and wonderful impressions and experiences.
During a good rest, you usually eat a lot. As a rule, there is some uncertainty and an element of spontaneity in the choice of food places. But if you want to eat delicious food and if you don't have much time to search, and if you are limited by some budget limits, then a little research will be required. It's simple!
There are always a lot of options where to go to eat. The choice of location depends on what exactly you are looking for. If you want to taste the local food and dishes that your place of stay is famous for, use the Eat Your World service. Of course, sites such as Urbanspoon, Yelp, Chowhound and Local Eats will also help you. On each of them you will find information about restaurants, professional opinions, comments and user ratings.
Another option is to look at local blogs. You can also search for information about various culinary competitions. If you are a big fan of coffee, look for the phrase "World Barista Championship". Thus, you will find the cities and names of cafes in this city that are very "serious" and know a lot about their business. The same goes for breweries, restaurants and even DJ parties and clubs.
If you want to occupy yourself with interesting events in a new place, then act as the locals would do: look for information about events on the same websites and in the same newspapers. In major newspapers you will find information about such events as theater tours, orchestra performances, parades, events in local parks. In local small weekly magazines, you can find information about the opening of a nightclub or special promotions in restaurants.
If you are interested in unusual and strange places, then sites such as Atlas Obscura will help. The site lists places with strange restaurants, unusual architecture, small museums and many others.
In addition, you will find many interesting places and events in the Triposo catalog. It has everything from dance lessons to art gallery openings. This is the best starting point for finding places and events you want to visit.
Every country and every city has its own local habits, customs, jargon, and sometimes a specific dialect or dialect. Even if you are familiar with the language, keep in mind that it will be different in each place. There is a great TripLingo app for iPhone, because it will teach you live phrases that you will use, not phrases from a textbook. For Android phones, Google Translate remains the best option at the moment (other options: Speaklip for Android, Talking Phrasebooks for iOS and Android).
As for customs, there is a special online etiquette guide for most countries of the world, which gives a good overview of customs, etiquette and standards for the size of tips around the world. If nothing helps, follow the example of others.
As soon as you start walking around a new place, the most interesting time begins to find what you are looking for. Perhaps you will find the place you are looking for using the tips above, but there are also places about which very little or no one writes on the Internet.
To find such places, you need to ask the locals. One way is to use the free iPhone app Asknative. Type the name of the city and ask a question. Perhaps someone from the locals will answer you.
Local forums are simple or thematic — one of the places where they will be happy to advise you where to go or answer your questions. Even such a traditional tourist forum as Fodors can be a great place to communicate with people who have already visited the place where you came or live there.
In any case, we live in a world of people, and there is nothing shameful in approaching a stranger and asking him a question you are interested in. Of course, the stranger does not know your interests, but at least he will be able to advise you something new.
Have a nice trip.
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