Travel Like a Local

This year, leave the guidebook behind and enjoy a deeper relationship with your destination

Travelers the world over are searching for a different, more genuine encounter when visiting new places, moving beyond bucket-list sightseeing and instantly identifiable Instagram selfie souvenirs. What’s much more desirable is that intangible, immersive feeling of effortlessly blending in as a local, experiencing a city as if you live there.

So, how to break the tourist barrier and experience a slice of authentic local life? To begin opening these secret doors, try to learn a few basic words and phrases of the language or download an instant translation app on your phone. It will make a world of difference to how people accept and interact with you.

To get around town, eschew the easy but impersonal Uber, and ride around on the bus or subway, the perfect way to start mixing in. My golden rule when visiting a new place is to find a friendly-looking café or bar (no signs saying “English spoken” or “tourist menu”) and pop in daily so it becomes my local – a place where the waiters and customers get to know me, conversations spring up, and the journey to discover the authentic side of this new destination begins.

When friends come to visit me in Paris, my first advice is to check out a local street market. All around the world, the neighborhood market is where people meet to shop and gossip; the perfect spot to take the temperature. I always suggest looking beyond the celebrated Saint-Germain and Montmartre quarters, and explore under-the-radar Belleville, where Edith Piaf found fame. Today, Belleville is the face of vibrant, multicultural Paris, and the Friday morning market teems with Chinese, North African, and Jewish diasporas. Of course, you can experience it by signing up for a food tour and follow the commentary of a knowledgeable Parisian guide, but rest assured, it will not give the same buzz as doing it on your own, listening to the locals bargaining, and buying a juicy mango yourself from a stallholder.

Hidden away down a side street lies one of those quintessential Parisian bistrots everyone dreams of discovering. The wonderfully named Cantine des Hommes Libres boasts the classic zinc counter, checked tablecloths, and red leather banquettes. Tourists rarely make their way here, but the staff are friendly and I can highly recommend a traditional plat du jour (dish of the day), such as boeuf bourguignon or the famous North African couscous, which surprisingly has supplanted steak frites as the favorite French national dish.

I follow this same philosophy when I travel farther afield. In Brussels I abandon the crowds massing in the palatial Grand Place and head instead to the red-brick Marolles district, where the immense Jeu de Balle square hosts an irresistible flea market. Pop into one of the traditional estaminet café bars that are located around the square and order one of Belgium’s famous craft ales while enjoying the lively atmosphere as musicians sing traditional chansons in distinctive Bruxellois dialect.

Rather than navigate the pedestrian streets of Florence’s historic center, I leave the Uffizi, Duomo, and Michelangelo’s David to the sightseeing tours, and cross over Ponte Vecchio into the artisan Oltrarno neighborhood. This is where the real Florentines live and work, in narrow cobblestone streets lined with workshops where craftspeople fashion the Tuscan capital’s famed leather accessories, silk textiles, delicate gold jewelery, and handmade shoes. To really push the envelope, have lunch at the retro 1950s Trattoria Sabatino, a favorite haunt for artisans where instead of menu turistico (tourist menu), order the reasonably priced and filling menu del giorno (menu of the day), created each day for hungry local workers.

Istanbul is always a seductive destination, spanning the continents of both Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus. Although the European side has seemingly limitless attractions, from the Grand Bazaar to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, an intriguing local experience awaits the curious traveler across the waters on the little-visited Asian side. Jump aboard the ancient ferry that chugs across to Asia – join the Istanbullus sipping a scalding glass of Turkish tea on the deck – and then explore little-visited quarters like Ûskûdar, whose waterside cafés are the perfect place to watch the sun set over the mosques and palaces to the west.

My next trip is to glorious Naples, where as a first-time visitor, I plan to find a cozy coffee bar to sample the famous Napolitano espresso and hopefully make friends with the barista, who will share some insider secrets of his city. It’s a tip I’d recommend to anyone visiting somewhere for the first time. I’ve never regretted it.