Dear Atlas is Atlas Obscura’s travel advice column, answering the questions you won’t find in traditional guidebooks. Have a question for our experts? Submit it here.
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Dear Atlas,
I love meeting locals when I’m traveling, but I’m never quite sure how to go about it when I’m in a completely new destination. Do you have any tips?
We travelers all have the same fantasy. We arrive in a foreign city and head to a bar. Or maybe it’s a restaurant. Or a bookstore. It doesn’t matter where because the outcome we want is all the same. We strike up a conversation with a local who then invites us to hang with their friends/go to a party/meet the family. And, suddenly, we get to explore the nontouristy side of the destination, make new friends, learn culture—the kinds of experiences they literally make movies about.
It’s a great dream, right?
Except real life isn’t like the movies. On most trips, the only locals you meet are the ones in the tourism industry guiding you around or taking your order in a restaurant.
Yet there are plenty of ways to make that “meet a local” fantasy come true if you know where to look. But before I get to that, let me address the elephant in the room here: A lot of people worry about language barriers and rightfully so. After all, how are you supposed to communicate if all you have is rusty high-school Spanish?
For starters, basic English is spoken just about everywhere and there is usually one person in a friend group who can communicate and often will translate. Not speaking German didn’t stop me from going to that birthday and not speaking Ukrainian didn’t stop me from going to a party. For better or worse, English is the lingua franca of the world. Second, thanks to the Google Translate app, you can always pass a phone back and forth to communicate. It can lead to some funny moments, but that’s part of the charm.
So, with that out of the way, here are a few ways to meet locals when you travel:
First, Facebook Groups have become a really popular way to meet people internationally in the last couple of years. You find people of all ages and in all destinations that want to meet and even host travelers. I used this method twice last summer while I was traveling around Europe and once while in Peru over the winter. Two of my favorites are Find a Travel Buddy, Digital Nomads, and Girls Love Travel (for female travelers only). You can also find plenty of destination specific ones via the search function. Note that you’ll get a lot of spammy messages so you do have to search for the diamonds in the rough—but it’s worth the effort!
Second, try using Meetup.com or Eventbrite. No matter your interest, there is usually a local group on one of these websites. See if they are hosting a meet up while you are in town. Both sites make it easy to see what’s happening and are a stupendous way to meet people who love some of the things you also love. It makes it easier to connect with people because you already know you have shared interests.
Third, try something sporty. Around the world, there are tons of local sports leagues you can join. I’ve had friends join pick up volleyball games in Spain and I joined a pickleball game in Vienna. And run clubs have exploded in popularity so if you like to run, find some people to run with! Usually after the run, everyone goes out for a meal or drinks. And don’t worry if you aren’t a runner. They go at a slow pace. The best way to find run clubs or sports leagues is through SweatPals, Meetup.com, or through a simple Google search using a search query like “(sports league / run club) (destination).”
The Internet has made it a lot easier to meet locals when you travel. You don’t have to get lucky in a restaurant or buy a farm in Tuscany to meet locals. Use the resources above and you’ll find yourself hanging out with locals in a wide variety of settings in no time.
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Matthew Kepnes didn’t take his first trip overseas until he was 23. In 2005, he took a trip to Thailand that inspired him to come home, quit his job, and backpack around the world for a year. That trip ended up lasting 18 months. In 2008, he started his website, Nomadic Matt, to help others travel better, cheaper, and longer and has helped millions of people a year realize their own travel dreams. His new book, How to Travel the World on $75 a Day, helps people have incredible travel experiences on a budget. When he isn’t traveling, he resides in Austin and New York City. He can be found at his website as well as on Instagram at @nomadicmatt.
