I am sure that I’m not alone when, upon planning a city break, my desire is to experience the destination as a local would. “I just want to ‘live’ in this city for the duration of my stay. I’ll avoid the tourist traps and just lead life as a local… I’ll blend in… I am not going to be a tourist.”
Nice idea, but it’s a tricky one to pull off. In my experience behaving like a local requires a little more than the smattering of local knowledge that can be gleaned from the guidebook.
An Englishman In New York
The first few hours in a foreign city is when I get that real culture shock feeling – well outside of my comfort zone, everything is alien and I start to crave a shred of normality… It’s at times like this that I find myself not in the local independent coffee shop but around the corner in a familiar feeling Starbucks. Baby steps… Starbucks today, that weird looking coffee shop (is it a coffee shop? I can’t quite tell from the sign ouside) tomorrow.
I hate myself a bit for admitting this but when in Prague a few months back, on my own and craving a coffee that’s what I did. I knew that in Starbucks I’d be able to order a black coffee, get it in a takeaway cup (with my name on it – cute) and be able to check my emails on the complimentary wifi while my beverage was brewed. Convenient yes, acting like a local? No.
Fast forward a few weeks and I find myself on a press trip in Lisbon, Portugal. I know! Check me out – quite the jet-setter… My first appointment was a sight-seeing tour of the city. Could this be any more touristy? Well, as it turns out the tour was the highlight of my trip. More about that in a moment but first let me try and explain how the most touristy of all the tourist things (a tour guide) made me feel more like a local than I ever had before.
Bica & Nata
“Order a Bica and a Nata at the counter” That is what my guidebook said I should do if I wanted to “be a local” when ordering coffee in a Lisbon coffee shop. Ok, fine in principle but where’s the counter? What’s a Bica (straight coffee apparently) and what’s a Nata? (it’s a custard cream). I’m just a bit too much of a scaredy cat to walk up to what I believe to be the counter in a random coffee shop in a city I don’t know, in a country where I do not speak the language and mouth off about my desire for a Bica and Nata… Especially when there are some brits sat at a table across the way enjoying what looks to be a lovely latte and a green tea.
I was spared this potential ordeal as my personal guide took me to a coffee shop as part of my tour of Lisbon – we stood at the counter and I observed as he ordered the traditional Portuguese Bica Nata combo and we stood, drank and ate and I experienced Lisbon as a local. Later on I would order my own Bica and Nata confident in how the system worked and also reassured that when a tiny espresso arrives I haven’t accidentally ordered the wrong thing. For the Portugese espresso is the norm. Big coffees are for tourists.
See The Sights First
My sight seeing tour of Lisbon went a bit above and beyond the norm. There was no guide holding a red umbrella, reciting a familiar script as the group trudge around major tourist traps. I had a personal tour guide with a motorcycle. He drove and I was on side car detail. As we navigated the hilly streets of Lisbon, dodging trams, Tuk Tuks and vendors barbecuing sardines in the street I was given a one-on-one tour of the city from the point of view of a local. When he needed re-fuelling we stopped for a coffee (sorry, a Bica) and I learnt more about Lisbon in three hours than I had learnt about Prague in three days. My point is that in order to be able to act like a local you need to get ‘being a tourist’ done and out of the way. Embrace the fact that you know nothing about the place in which you find yourself and enlist the help of a local to help you find your feet. It doesn’t take long to get acclimatised if you get help from the people in the know.
My personal motorcycle tour was a bespoke package organised through Four Seasons Lisbon but you can go direct to the tour company Sidecar Tour Co and arrange your own bespoke sight seeing experience. They desperately need a new website (maybe I’ll drop them an email!) but don’t let that put you off, they are well organised, extremely helpful and operate throughout Portugal. It was so much fun, entertaining and really informative – from now on I’ll always be seeking out an alternative and personal tour guide of some description to help me act like a local in my destination of choice.
I’m off to Paris next – any suggestions for a similar experience?
In Tokyo we arrived at our hotel hot, sweaty, tired (and I was full of cold!) and almost two hours too early for check in. Luckily we dumped our bags in the lobby but had a lot of time to kill and I’m sorry to admit that we ended up in Starbucks! It was right outside our hotel and we were desperate for a drink and something to eat and too tired to pore over our city map and explore properly, so I’ll let us off! I know what you mean though, wanting to have authentic experiences but being too worried about making a social error or unintentionally being rude by not knowing what to do somewhere new!
Hi Kitty, I’ve been to Tokyo too… The initial culture shock is quite overwhelming. I tried (and failed) to get food in a cafe where you had to place your order via an interactive table and then heat your own meal in a built in vending machine/microwave device… I think!
I wish I’d persevered longer or asked for help but in the end, after not being able to work the table and feeling the heat of embarrassment rise though my face, I left and found somewhere less intimidating to eat (not a Starbucks on this occasion I hasten to add).
I definitely missed out on a unique Japanese experience there.
We saw a pram full of cats in Harajuku. Can’t get more authentically Japanese than that??
I hate that initial feeling where you wish you had just stayed in this country so everyone understood you and you knew your way or could find it easily and you didn’t look enormously odd in your holiday clothes when they are all getting on with their lives! But then after a day I become ok with it. We have just been to Paris! I was obsessed with bistros and patisseries I almost killed my Instagram with pics of them! There are so many things to do I really recommend the lonely planet books for advice on how to get places and places to see/eat. We found lots of cool foodie markets etc whic we wouldn’t have found as they are tucked away but the book and maps help you find it! It was great but really want to go back cos so much more to see. I love France generally though. Have a great time! People try super hard to speak English but I speak French anyway so it was good to get back into it! X
Alex it’s true – a place can look so different when you’ve just arrived, travel weary and slightly anxious.
I got these really bad vibes in L.A last year as I was driving around late at night trying to find my motel – I ended up pulling over in this really dodgy looking parking lot to try and look up where I was and check directions. It was pretty intense.
Next morning the scary parking lot turned out to belong to the local supermarket and the area it was in could not have looked less intimidating in the cold light of day, after a good sleep!
When we went to Barcelona as part of our honeymoon trip around Spain, we had a tapas and wine tour recommended to us by a work colleague. He’d said how fantastic it was so we booked it and hoped for the best. The company “Taste Barcelona” is owned by husband and wife team Paul and Marta. Paul is orginally from Australia but moved to Barcelona for work, met Marta, got married and is now settled there. The tours are small groups of around 6 people and they take you around the different parts of the city, showing you some of the sights along the way and talking you through some of the history of Barcelona. I found it fascinating as I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the Spanish civil war and the implications this has had on Barcelona so I learnt a lot! During the tour, you are taken to 4 different tapas bars, in 4 different areas. A selection of tapas and a bottle of wine is ordered in each place based on their specialities. It was absolutely great as the tapas bars were all so different from one another and there were a couple that we would never have gone in otherwise (one was particularly dark and unwelcoming from the outside but was full of amazing Iberico ham). The tour starts about 5pm so it’s a great evening and really good value for money. I think what was great about it was how passionate Paul and Marta were about the city. It really felt like you were experiencing the city from a local’s perspective. If anyone is planning a trip to Barcelona I’d highly recommend it! Here’s the website: http://www.taste-barcelona.com/
Jess, this sounds absolutely perfect… I’m definitely bookmarking that link for the future… I love Barcelona, Tapas and especially wine so if I learn something in the process then Bonus!
Hilarious image there of trying to order a meal through an interactive table! WTF…?
We are planning a trip to Madrid and Seville in September and luckily know some people who have lived/from there so hoping to get some top tips but you we must accept we are tourists sometimes. If you’re only in a place for a few days then these open top tour buses can be the best way to get your geography of the place and see some of the important stuff. Saying that I haven’t done an open top bus tour for about a decade and even then it was in my home city of Edinburgh with friends who were visiting for the first time. I got quite excited when we went past where I lived!! haha
Not only are open top bus tours a great way to acclimatise – but if you get a 48hr hop on hop off ticket your travel expense is sorted for the duration of your stay! This saved me loads of money when I visited L.A last year – there were three separate tour routes that you could use with your ticket and they ran all day and into the night. I just used the buses to get where I wanted to go and as a bonus I learnt something along the way 🙂
I LOVE Paris. Have been several times, most recently for our mini-moon 🙂 We went a bit mental in terms of basically planning our trip around eating and places that sold food/cake/handmade chocolates etc etc.
Places I would thoroughly recommend are:-
L’as Du Fallafel – 32-34 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris
– set in the Marais (kind of Jewish quarter), best fallafel in Paris and reasonably priced. Don’t be surprised by a queue out the door. You can either take away and find a bench, or wait to eat inside. Either way, its brilliant!
Jacques Genin – 133 Rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris
– this place is amazing…in every sense of the word. The shop is Parisian Minimalist and filled with the most amazing handmade chocolates and patisserie. There is an area for tea/coffee and cakes and you can buy the various chocolates and toffees which are made in store. If you go anywhere Adam, PLEASE go here. It will truly be the best chocolate you have EVER tasted.
1000 and 1 Signs – 42 Rue Rodier, 75009 Paris, France
– Now this little place my husband discovered on Tripadvisor when looking for good Paris restaurants. It comes very highly rated so we thought we’d give it a go. It is a tiny little place so I would recommend booking in advance, thankfully we went within our first couple of days so we’re able to get a table the following evening. The food is very simple but beautifully cooked Moroccan style. One of the things, besides the food, that sets this place apart is…all the staff are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (hence 1000 and 1 Signs – as in Sign Language!). This doesn’t mean its difficult to order or be understood or make yourself understood. The staff are lovely and extremely accommodating, just make sure you face them when talking as they lip read quite a lot. Well worth a visit, a real hidden gem. As a side note, we found all this very funny – the one restaurant we research and make the effort to go to is run by the Deaf Community…I work with Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in my job…can’t escape my job, even on honeymoon!!
If you feel the need to do something touristy…I would actually avoid the Eiffel Tour, in favor of the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs-Élysées (Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris). The view is lovely from the top (costs 8 €) plus you get to have a lovely stroll along the Champs-Élysées. Visit during the day or at night, either time is lovely.
Take a walk starting from The Louvre Museum to end up at the Champs-Élysées – you walk through The Tuileries and Carrousel gardens and all along the Champs-Élysées until the Arc de Triomphe. One of my favorite things to do it Paris and there are plenty little places to stop for coffee or icecream.
For traveling around I would recommend a Paris Visite, basically a day card for the Metro. You can buy it by the number of days and zones you need to travel ( 1-5 consecutive days, and zones 1-3 or 1-5 – cost starts @ 12,00 € for 1 day, zones 1-3). This can also include the airport zones so you don’t have to worry about taxis etc. I use this every time I go to Paris, would thoroughly recommend them for ease of use.
I do apologize for the long post but as you may have guessed…I LOVE Paris! Have a marvelous time Adam 🙂
L’as Du Fallafel is amazing. Fact.
Annie, thank you so much for this extensive itinerary of things to do!
Rest assured the Eiffel Tower is not on the list (I think you do have to do it once but we;ve both been to Paris before so no need for a return visit!)
I’ll let you know how I get on!
Hmm I can see a RMS resource shaping here before our very eyes…like the Love Lust List over on sister site but for travel tour recommendations? I know finding good tours can often be the hardest part of arranging any trip…I’m not one for the big coach load tours. The few times I’ve been on one of those they’ve always felt really rushed and we always end up near the back and not able to see/hear the guide very well. Problem is the smaller tour companies often don’t have great websites so are harder to find and you sometimes only hear about them by word of mouth!
[…] in the city for the first time ultimately made him feel less like a tourist (you can read it here if you missed it). I was curious to see if going on a guided tour in my home city, in an area I […]