Especially in a major city. Usually I’ll pick a place based on one event/location then figure out the rest once I’m there. Then I typically talk to locals, service workers and general internet to find more interesting things to do. What about all of you?
Check reddit, read blogs, watch youtube videos. I’m looking for the best touristy stuff that’s popular for a reason, and I’m also looking for what to look out for/avoid.
We’re in the beginning phases of planning a trip to Mexico City, and right now the list is looking like:
Definitely Doing:
- Movie at the national movie theater
- Lucha Libre
- Anthropology Museum and Castle
- Teotihuacan
- Soccer game
- Vegan food tour
Considering:
- Sunday Xochimilco boat rental
- Zinco Jazz club
- The Ballet
- Volcano bus tour (I really want to do this, but it’s probably out of the budget)
I did the hot air balloon tour over Teotihuacan and it was pretty amazing. I didn’t even have it on the list, but I found a blog post (with a 2022 post date) about Museums in Roma Norte and the hot air balloon post was the next one.
It’s so pretty that I took one of the pictures from my phone and had it canvas printed.
Atlas Obscura, though some countries (or just my specific cities) don’t have many entries. Neat to see some alternative, often non-commercial attractions. If I had a shilling for every scale solar system walk it’s led me to, I’d have two shillings. Sometimes it’s just a recommendation for a good view. Sometimes it’s a secret vampire bar. Sometimes it’s a famous grave. Sometimes it’s a little plaque that even the locals forgot about. It’s not like these things are really life changing they’re just very unique memories tied to only those locations.
Aside from that, if it’s a chain restaraunt I have at home, I avoid it entirely. If it’s novel to me, I might go for it, but it’s usually not worth repeat visits. I don’t spend much either, so I try to see what’s rated well and locally busy. If a city is known for a cuisine, I’ll probably try a different version of it each night - and they’re usually all great because they wouldn’t still be open if they weren’t. This extends to local beer, though again, most countries just don’t do artisan beer. I used to log them all in an app, but I never actually seek out my past favorites, so I’ve successfully converted to just living in the moment on that one.
I’m big on astronomy, even if it’s just looking at the sky. If I’m traveling somewhere near dark skies, I’ll do a night excursion and spend maybe 2hrs out there. If you check some light pollution maps, class 2 or lower is something I’ll travel an hour to go see. The closest class 2 sky to my home is currently 3 hours away. Obviously, weather-depending.
I hate the touristy bullshit surrounding them (and the prices), but I do have a hard time resisting rooftop bars. It’s OK to be a tourist, but I wish they’d stop lying abouthow classy their fried mozzarella is.
Pretty much all of my vacations are going camping to hunt/fish. So what I’m going to do is already decided!
Amazing! How is hunting in major urban centres? What do you hunt? Any cultural issues?
It’s fantastic! It’s almost hot moms in your area season! No, no cultural issues!
A cougar hunter I see. A low challenge hunt to be sure, but a fruitful one and one of the few where you are both predator and prey.
Walking tour. Get your bearings, insider knowledge and always some fascinating history I definitely was never going to know.
+1 if it is a food tour. That’s my go-to for a new country.
(I’m talking about international travel mainly, although my process also works for longer domestic trips.)
My longer answer is “it depends on what sort of traveller you are and how long you’ve got.” Want to catch the main sights quickly? A hop on hop off bus loop can get you past the big ones with commentary in an hour or two and help you orient yourself in a new city, which can be a good way to fill a layover. For a longer visit, I like to start with a food tour, as you tend to pick up all sorts of local knowledge. For example, visiting Hanoi a few years ago we did a food tour on the first night there and our guide got us comfortable crossing the road on foot.
When we do a walking tour we look for the slightly oddball or themed ones because we’re not that much into mass market tourism and prefer to get more of a local experience that way. I find sites like Viator, GetYourGuide or WithLocals good places to start.
For longer stays in a single place I’ll research the main attractions and build an itinerary around those I want to visit. I’m old enough that I prefer buying some old fashioned guide books and starting there with highlighters and post-it notes before heading online to dive deeper. Mainly I value someone collating and editing the content and I find the blogs, forums and travel sites a little too hyper focused or promotional when I’m broad brushing at first. Sometimes I find gems that I add to the list.
I plot what I want to see on a map, then work out how and when based on transport links and proximity where appropriate. When we did a lap of France it started with a big old paper map pinned on the wall, when we did Singapore and Malaysia I used a list in Google maps.
Once I have the rough outline done I dive into the details online and build myself a detailed run sheet, with the hard points, like flights and hotels and booked tours, useful stuff, like currency and time conversions, reminders for things like e visa applications due, and pick lists of possibilities for filling up in between. About once a week or so I include a do nothing day.
I am not a sit on the beach doing nothing traveller, so that process works for me. I find if I don’t have at the very least a list of things to pick from then we tend to procrastinate and end up doing absolutely nothing, which to me always feels like a waste after paying for the airfare and accommodation. YMMV
I wing it. There might be some big ticket things I know I’m going to do, but even those, I know I’m going to do them, but I organise it on the fly when I’m there.
i look at the surrounding walkable area on maps, then look at all the reviews on the places i am interested in going. once i am there, i may or may not end up where i planned to go :) more fun without a plan for me personally
I look at blogs and travel sites like TripAdvisor for ideas. Larger or more popular destinations will have books like Frommer’s or Fodor’s guides.
Then I typically talk to locals, service workers
BWAHAHAHAHAH this is complete horseshit… Jesus Christ this is just such bullshit.
Last time I went to the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria specifically, I had no reservations for anything except a rental car. As soon as I exited towards the main airport area, I asked one of the people with a brightly colored jacket, obviously a worker, where did personnel usually go for coffee or their breaks. I was directed to a small bar at the very end of the airport. There I got a beer and chatted up a middle aged lady bartender. I asked her where the locals usually went to the beach on holidays and stuff. She pointed me to a town which was at not far from the airport. I drove there, and asked at another bar about accommodations for rent. She gave me a number of a guy that had a small rental business. Being mid season, there plenty of available apartments. I got a second row, no view to the beach, apartment for 60€ a day, 2 bedroom. I had breakfast at another place, right on the shore (Coffee and toast, 3,60€, I kid you not!), chatted up another server, and she gave me a few pointers. I didn’t set foot on any of the main tourist attractions, except the Roque Nublo, astounding, and well worth it.
I’ve done similar things in the past. Not hard and usually great results.
Why do you think that? It’s as easy as striking up a short conversation with a waiter at a restaurant or someone at a coffee shop.
If someone chooses one tent pole thing to check out and otherwise just putzes around it doesn’t seem all that strange.
Because the OP is regurgitating the stupid go where the locals go bullshit that he read on reddit.
If you go to an area and ask some local where to sights see the local will tell you all the tourist spots. Why? Because those ares are the tourists spots for a reason…
Sounds more like you’re the one spending too much time on reddit lmao. Social interactions do really happen out in the world. Especially if you’re a friendly person that’s pleasant to be around.
Bud, how well I socialize with strangers is exactly why I recognize reddit bullshit when I see it.
My hobby is jet skiing around the chesapeake bay. About a month ago me and two friends did 140 miles on the bay and stopped at many cool sights. I have logged over 100 hours on my ski cruising around the bay this summer.
I am that local you want to interact with to find what to do if you are visiting the Chesapeake bay for the first time with your boat or jet ski.
Want to know my advice on where to go on the bay when on your boat in the bay for the first time? Stay in the high traffic area because the last place you want to be is alone on the Chesapeake Bay, until you learn your way around. It is a good way to wind up dead.
I don’t wear a badge that or T-shirt that says this.
One of my buddies who rides almost as much as I, just started dating a women who waitresses at one of the dock side spots we frequent. She has worked there three years and just this past weekend, when she came with us, was the first time she had been boating on the bay.
Seems like you’d be a tough hang lol. Very aggressive and upset.
Dude, if you ever spend a weekend that has good weather and wind with me and my crew on the Bay… you will never spend another summer anywhere else.
I just shouldn’t ask you about other things I should do around town? Because that would be unbelievable and make me a Reddit phony…
You’ve never talked to your waitress/hotel worker/bartender/Airbnb host? Or gone to a bar and talked to people there? The best restaurant recommendation I got on my last trip was from a guy who owned an antique shop my girl and I were at.
Not at all…
One of the best nights out in my life was in Havana. My now wife and I booked a fancy holiday shortly after my dad died. Anyway we’re in this ridiculously fancy hotel in the centre of the city in our mid twenties and it’s not our vibe at all, so we get chatting with the barman and explain this to him and ask him where’s good. He understands perfectly what we’re after.
He directs us to a tiny jazz club in a basement in a slightly dingier part of town but within walking distance, tells us not to order individual drinks, to get a bottle of rum and make sure it arrives unopened then just buy mixers.
Place was fucking amazing. Only one other foreigner there, a nice french lady who was dating a local. By 10pm you could barely move. When the band ended the DJ started. Lots of the locals were keen to practice their English so we had a blast chatting all night.
Edit: I see your other comment about Chesapeake bay and that makes more sense but in a city insider knowledge is far more valuable and more likely to get you a gem that you otherwise wouldn’t have.