How to Experience a New City

I just got back from spending the weekend in downtown Mumbai. I live north of Mumbai in a suburb called Virar. There is a train that goes directly from Virar to downtown Mumbai, with different stops in the city starting after about an hour. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the furthest downtown point. As such, I found a cheap hostel and spent the whole weekend exploring and checking out some good restaurants and museums.

After spending lots of time in lots of different cities, there are a few things that I have found that allow me to better understand the city and make the most of my time there.

1. Learn about the city from locals: This can take shape in several forms, but I have found two to be particularly useful. The first is by visiting a museum about the city. I have done this in Shanghai and Mumbai. In both cases, it gave perspective to development, and helped explained certain cultural elements. The second is by taking a walking tour. These will be given by locals who are usually younger and grew up in the city. I took two in Hong Kong. It was great to have someone to ask questions to. It was also super interesting to observe the differences in how my two tour guides viewed and spoke about China. One of my guides identified as being Hong Kongese, whereas the other identified as being Chinese; an important dispute about the Hong Kong people.

2. Use forms of transport that expose you to the city: This one can be hard depending on your budget and the city you are but can be one of the most useful. If you are going a short distance, try to walk and find a route that exposes you to backstreets; these can tell you so much about the culture of a city. Google Maps is a great way to get walking directions, and they usually have routes that include alleyways and backroads. If you are going a longer distance, then try taking an uber or taxi. While the metro is great, it is usually below distance and doesn’t allow you to see your surroundings. Public buses can be great but tend to be a little less dependable in regard to timing and route. Being able to look out the window can help you identify neighborhoods that you want to explore.

3. Put effort into finding good restaurants beforehand: This is something that I hold close to my heart. If you only have a few days in a city, you might only get to have a handful of meals, so you want to make sure they are good. Lack of planning can lead you to find something close and miss out on a specialty or just a damn good meal. In Hong Kong, I ate at three different Michelin starred restaurants (all under $15 a meal). I had an incredibly time there and would largely associate that with the delicious food I had. Eating local food is an easy way to experience the culture and finding the right restaurant can allow you to do it alongside locals.

4. Do some research: It doesn’t matter if this involves doing a quick google search or buying the Lonely Planet guide, it’s going to help you out. Most people visit a city with the intention that they won’t come back, or at least not for a while. As such, you want to make sure that you don’t miss out on anything. When planning a trip, one of the first things I do is search “ # day itinerary for (insert city name).” What will pop up are hundreds of sample plans for how to spend your time there. Look through a few and figure out which attractions are close to each other and which are worth visiting. You are going to prefer to spend time planning beforehand, rather than while you’re there, so do yourself a favor and put the time in in advance, and then explore and enjoy while you are there.

While every trip should be unique and specific to the location that you are visiting, keeping these things in mind has allowed me to have a number of great trips with very little regrets in each place.