Ask HN: When you go to a new city where do you find what to do?

[rrmdp]

When you visit a new city, do you google what to do and follow what you find there?

For me is so time consuming and you end up going to the tipical places for turists.

Do you know a better way to find better places to visit?

Edit: I live in a super tourist place, around 4 millions tourist per year, and I know that 95% of tourist don't go to the best places but a few do. I'm curious about how these 5% manage to find it out!

[bombcar]

Tourists go to tourist places because they’re usually the most interesting for some generic value of interesting.

If you want things off the beaten path, start off the path. I find local restaurants at off-peak times a good place to begin - anyplace with a counter or bar should work. Ask, and ask again for what they find interesting.

[an_aparallel → bombcar]

agreed :)

i travelled to tokyo a while back, tried to save money by staying @ a business district instead of the cool places like shibuya and shinjuku.

before i left i walked into a bar @ 4pm - empty - and had free drinks with the owner. He used to be a kawasaki bike repairer. I tried speaking to him in his broken english - was so cool he tried with me! He then opened up this bar for businessmen.

i also recommend looking at google earth in aerial view. Looking for interesting looking places - and just giving them a go! i found an incredible spot in Kauai, Hawaii near Lihue...wild coast on one side, a shrine on the other, airplanes taking off on the other. I had to drive past a military satelite installation kinda off road to get to it....zero tourists...was pure magic. I stayed there for 3+ hours all alone :)

[CephalopodMD]

My approach is to make sure to schedule 1, and preferably only 1, touristy thing to do for the day. It should consume no more than half the day. On the way to or from that excursion, allow yourself to wander and go with the flow. This framework has really amped up my vacations. See a cool building? Check it out. Want some grub? Open Google maps for whatever's nearby or look for street food. Hear about something from a local? Sure, you've got time. Want to rest on a beach? Do that as long as feels necessary. Buy something cheap at a market or thrift shop. Try to do groceries or ask for directions in another language. Pull off on the side of the road and explore something undeveloped.

Having the one thing to do gives you structure and a guarantee that you don't waste the day. The rest gives you novelty and a chance to actually relax if you want to.

[hayst4ck]

Stay in a high rating hostel found on hostelworld. The vast majority of (good) hostels have custom guide books and quite often the staff is happy to to talk to you about whatever you want. I would estimate 10-20% of the staff is receptive to hanging out. The other people who are staying at the hostel are happy to be instant adventure buddies. Through talking to people you can hear what's good and what's overrated from people who are actively looking to do stuff/have just done the stuff you're considering.

Google maps "attractions" feature is surprisingly good once you learn to use it (of course google maps could be way better if google had any interest in making a great product instead of an ad platform product).

Culture Trip and Atlas Obscura/Gastro Obscura are pretty OK. Eater is pretty good for food.

Yelp and TripAdvisor are trash.

It's hard to walk 20km without running into something interesting. Aimless walking is underrated.

Going to the same establishment every day for 2 weeks will likely get the owner/staff talking to you, particularly if it is small and not busy. This has been the genesis of a few of my favorite travel memories.

As far as the question you asked, I've found the activities themselves aren't all that memorable compared to who you experienced them with. Good people make lame activities great.

So again, hostels are good ways to meet people. I always look for hostels that have the best looking common room. If you spot a place with a common room that you wouldn't mind hanging out in for 30 minutes-1 hour, and the rating is good, that is probably a quality hostel.

For what it's worth I don't think your question was asked in good faith. It's super disappointing to see this question asked without disclosure that you work in the industry.

> Full stack web developer with 14 years of experience in the hospitality industry.

> Founder: JobBoardSearch.com TouristItinerary.com VillasMediterranean.com

[mikewarot]

Atlas Obscura has lots of interesting oddities, and they put them on a map.[1]

[1] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-places-in-the-atla...

[simonhfrost]

Watch youtube videos of alternative travellers visiting that city, free walking tours, https://www.atlasobscura.com/

[muzani]

Tour guides are mandatory IMO if you plan on sightseeing.

Otherwise, I like just walking in a direction. I'm not sure if it's the best approach. There are places that are incredibly welcoming to tourists - youth hostels, museums, religious buildings, the occasional barber. I try to visit a barber or some grungy restaurant in every new town, outside a tourist district. It's a good sample of the locals.

[yuppie_scum]

Get a guided bike tour, or failing that take a hop-on-hop-off tour bus. Ask the guides for further recommendations. Ask your baristas/bartenders.

[rrmdp → yuppie_scum]

Yeah, when I visit a place for only a few days I always go straight the hop-on-hop-off buses.

[tmaly]

There use to be this great forum virtualtourist.com that had all the great tips and things to avoid. But then it was sold and became a glorified hotel ad site.

These days, I have had good luck with ChatGPT giving me a top level view. Then I supplement with travel books from my local library.

[stop50]

Wikipedia, it usually has an good list of the most interesting places in a city. Otherwise i use openstreetmap to find specific types of stores i want to visit(cinemas, theaters, ...) and random strolling.

[LarryMade2]

Phone book is one of my go tos, great for finding museums, bookstores and other shops...

This is a problem I've been working on in my area with doplaces.com but even a small area is a lot of work to maintain.

[parentheses]

Pick some landmarks. Visit. Talk to locals and formulate other plans based on that.

[downboots]

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