Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Walk away, go explore some side streets, and find a place where you don't hear a lot of English. It's
more challenging and more work, but the food is a lot better and you'll be paying the local price instead of
the tourist price. While in Barcelona, my friends and I wandered the city away from the touristy La Rambla
and found a tapas restaurant. We filled our stomachs for $12 USD each with what would have cost double
that on the tourist street La Rambla, where a single dish can be $20 USD.
If you are unsure of where to eat, try smartphone food apps like Yelp (yelp.com) or Urbanspoon (urban-
spoon.com). I use them often to find recommendations for food in the cities and towns I visit. If you don't
have a smartphone, ask the tourist office or the staff at your hostel/hotel or taxi drivers, who tend to eat at
cheaper ethnic stalls. They will have good recommendations. After all, the local staff isn't going to eat in
the tourist area.
More important, be sure to ask, “Where do you eat?” not “Where should I eat?” Most people will think
to send you to the popular restaurants tourists go to, so by asking where they eat, you will get recommenda-
tions for more local restaurants. Small word change, big results.
