What It Means to Live Like a Local

Living like a local is a genuine way to be up-close and personal with your destination and actively engage in the local lifestyle. 

Making like a local in your home away from home does not mean that you give up being a tourist. Rather, the live like a local travel lifestyle broadens your adventure by going beyond tourist activities to enjoy travel experiences that are truly authentic and deeply immersive, resulting in unforgettable, sometimes life-changing, memories.  

Another key benefit to adopting the live like a local travel style is that it positively affects your trip budget. Whether you travel luxuriously, moderately, or on a strict budget - whatever the level of comforts and amenities you prefer – this travel style yields better cost efficiencies when compared to typical tourist living expenses. Traveling like a local, rather than a tourist, you can choose to stay abroad longer for less, discover your destination’s lesser known “hidden gems” and engage in your host country’s lifestyle by mingling with locals.

Recommendations on how to live like the locals, and stay within budget, can be applied wherever you travel – even in Europe.  For example, the average cost for one person staying 3 months at a time per each destination (Florence, Barcelona, Nice) averages $1,300/month for a 1 bedroom city-center apartment, $550/month for restaurants, and $250/month for groceries.

Whether you’re an Independent Traveler, Boomer Adventurer, Part-time Retiree, Bucket-Lister, Solo Woman Traveler, Digital Nomad, or Globetrotter the live like a local travel style can turn your dream destinations into reality. 

Insider Tips: How to enjoy your destination like a local

At the top of the list for getting to know your neighborhood shops and eateries, is to pick a coffee shop or outdoor café for that first coffee or crusty croissant of the day - it may be as close as the patisserie right below your apartment.  Frequenting a local favorite restaurant, leads eventually to friendly banter with locals and store vendors who will inevitably give you their best tips on what to see, where to shop, and where to eat in their home town.  Over all, locals are more open to travelers who stay a while than tourists who are just passing through.  They’re glad that you’re interested enough to stay and get to know them, and vice versa.

Morning Discovery …

Slowly, a morning routine may evolve that includes a winding cobblestone street walk towards an iconic area like old town, strolling the town’s pedestrian boardwalk while gazing at a mesmerizing sea coastline, or people-watching at a popular city park.  You can opt to observe locals going about their day, join in the day’s activity with a coffee or full breakfast, or while away the morning, meandering city streets and scouting for future exploration-worthy hidden gems like a funky neighborhood, an off-the-beaten-track beach café, or a side-street pastry shop brimming with gorgeous mouth-watering pastries.

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A morning in Nice, France

A lovely morning walk in Nice, wandering through old town and the outdoor flower market lands you at the famous pedestrianized “Promenade des Anglais” where you can walk, skate, jog, or bicycle for miles while admiring the Mediterranean seascape and the cloud-misted surrounding hills hugging the Riviera town. Or, you can simply sit on one of the attractive wrought-iron benches, scattered along the Promenade, for reading newspapers, chatting with friends, munching a snack or just breathing in the spectacular seascape.

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A morning in Barcelona, Spain

In Barcelona, the beach boardwalk which stretches along 7 beaches, is a great choice for a morning jaunt. Popular with locals and tourists alike, it’s always buzzing with activity and is lined for miles with colorful sanded beach café’s serving pastries and breakfast sandwiches and, of course, coffee. Known as Barceloneta, the city’s beach area, it’s a fun and healthy choice for a brisk morning walk and beach encounter, especially when you walk along the less crowded beaches.

Lunchtime discovery…

Perhaps you’ll forge a pre-lunchtime habit of strolling around town seeking an outdoor café or restaurant near popular city sights that you want to explore later in the day, grab a ham and cheese baguette “to-go” and meet up with others in a park, or lunch at the beach to relax for an hour or two.

In many destinations, like Europe, lunch traditionally is the most important meal of the day.  Shops, some tourist sights, museums, schools, and government buildings usually close while restaurants open.  Long lunches are not just about eating - it’s a social event where family and friends break bread and catch up on the day. 

The second meal of the day can be an adventure in and of itself.  There’s an “art” to bobbing and weaving amongst restaurants and browsing the ubiquitous chalk boards heralding their “specials of the day”.  Often, the best quality meal will be the “menu of the day” or “plat du jour” offering a two to four course meal at an attractive price.

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Lunch in Florence, Italy

Thanks to the Arno River winding through Florence, there are two “sides” of Florence – one side with the more famous tourist attractions like the Duomo (Cathedral) and the “other side”, known as Oltrarno, where the vibe is more local-centric and less touristed.  Consequently, you can pick between two very different lunchtime experiences depending on whether or not you choose to cross one of the bridges.  In Oltrarno, the lesser known side of Florence, you can expect spontaneous after-lunch discovery as you wander the cobblestoned streets of the Renaissance period where Michelangelo and his peers walked and worked their craft.

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Lunch on the Riviera, France

For lunch in Nice, you can grab a pizza nicoise and head for the beach and lounge at a beachside café or lunch across the boulevard and enjoy the seascape from there while enjoying a “salade Nicoise” (typical Nice salad).  Another great option is to browse the outdoor cafés ringing the Cours Saleya (Nice’s famous covered outdoor market) and pick a fixed price “plat du jour” (two to three course special offering of the day).

Evening discovery …

Spending leisurely evenings at your home away destination, presents a variety of interesting food & drink discovery for dinner or for Happy Hour, as well as entertainment opportunities to take a cooking class or attend a theater performance. As the sun sets, locals either make a beeline for their favorite Happy Hour pub, tavern, or café or they head home to relax a bit before dinner which starts between 8 PM and 10 PM, depending on which country you’re visiting.

Of course, when renting a city apartment, you can choose to eat dinner at home - it’s easy enough to pick up a few groceries in your neighborhood or stop at a “take-out” eatery or bakery to pick up ready-made quiche, baguette sandwiches, roast chicken, salads, pizza or pasta. You may, however, want to sample some Happy Hour fun time at popular eateries and socialize with the locals. Expect beverages, hors d’oeuvres (both light & heavy), tapas, and/or regional small plates to be served and lively conversation to be heard. If staying in Spain or Italy, Happy Hour may suffice for a light dinner meal.

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Lisbon City Lights

Evenings in Lisbon’s old town are uniquely beautiful. At sunset, the cityscape dramatically changes as muted city lights reveal stone stairs climbing up gentle hills dotted with outdoor café’s straddling flights of stairs. Waiters deftly serve customers while they enjoy their perched position over the town and port, arguably the best spot in town for viewing the romantic night scene unfold below.

 

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Barcelona Happy Hour

Spain is known for its myriad variations of “tapas” and “small plates” that usually reflect regional traditional fare. Participating in Happy Hour in Barcelona is an art – you’ll find them everywhere – from the winding medieval cobblestoned alleys off the Ramblas (Barcelona’s central pedestrianized boulevard) to the “Gothic” barrio (neighborhood) where both locals and visitors flock.  Locals have their favorite few, and eventually you may also have faves.

Budget Tips:  Seven recommendations for living like a local

  1. Travel low-seasons to take advantage of lower costs on flights, accommodation, and daily living expenses while abroad. In off-seasons, tourists are few and locals reclaim their town.  Stores, museums, café’s, groceries, and other establishments reset prices from tourist rates back to local rates, resulting in a nice discount for everyone.
  2. Stay in a city-center rental apartment and spend less on your accommodation, transportation, and meals. Opting for an apartment rather than a hotel for weeks or months, usually results in significant savings with discounts sometimes up to 55% in off-seasons.  Additionally, when renting city-center, you’ll probably be able to walk to cafes, food stores, shops, banks, and entertainment. 
  3. Visit longer and gather more authentic and immersive experiences thanks to the freedom of having more time to explore and discover your destination. When staying longer, you can add-on spontaneous and off-the-beaten-track day trips or overnight side trips, to surrounding areas from your home base.
  4. Dine where the locals go for good value and (usually) tastier meals than the typical fare at most tourist spots. For some countries, lunch is the most important meal of the day and restaurants offer specials of the day (2 to 3 course meals) at reasonable prices.  Follow where the locals go for the best choices which often vary, depending on the “fresh catch” of the day at coastal destinations.  For breakfast and a light dinner, locals normally choose to prepare meals at home or hit Happy Hour to socialize and indulge in tasty small plated delicacies or tapas at special prices.
  5. Shop your neighborhood to spend less on groceries and household goods. Just a short walk away from your apartment, you’ll likely find grocery stores, wine shops, pastries, a pharmacy, and bakeries that the locals frequent.  It’s a good shopping and dining practice to stay away from tourist areas where costs are higher – just put 3 or 4 blocks between you and tourist spots for more reasonable pricing.
  6. Eliminate the need for a rental car by staying city-center so you don’t incur the unnecessary expense of a rental car. Usually, you can walk everywhere or opt to take public transportation into town and for day trips.
  7. Talk to shop keepers and neighbors to ask locals for tips on where to shop, the best way to get around town, their favorite restaurants, and when & where outdoor markets open.   


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Enjoy your destination like a local.

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