10 Authentic Ways to Travel Like a Local

Bahamas: Hop The Mail Boat

If you want to travel like a local in the Bahamas, skip the expensive island-hopping charters and take the slow boat to the Out Islands. Journeys by mail boat aren't quick or fancy, but for around $80 round-trip, you can share a bunkroom and swap stories with fellow Bahamian passengers.

Departing weekdays from Nassau, the 18 mail boats deliver livestock, crates of produce, pallets of toilet paper, and other supplies to several of the main Out Islands. The journey can take five to 15 hours. You might be in port for one night or up to six days before returning to Nassau.

If You Go: Contact the dockmaster's office in Nassau at (242) 393-1064 to confirm departures and arrivals. Head to Rum Cay for coral reefs and unspoiled beaches, Abacos for quaint colonial towns, and Ragged Island for great fishing. No matter where you land, look for local fish-fry shacks at the piers.

Vienna, Austria: Meet At A Coffeehouse

More than 300 years before you ever sat across from anyone sipping a grande triple-shot skinny cinnamon latte with extra whip, Vienna had already established a coffeehouse culture.

Taking a page from the days when Sigmund Freud and Gustav Klimt would meet acquaintances at Viennese cafes to debate and exchange ideas, the events ensure meaningful encounters among strangers. Participants are prompted by a menu of questions designed to share their views on travel, friendship, compassion, and inspiration. Conversation topics are arranged throughout a three-course Viennese meal and coffee, so there's plenty of time for oversharing between bites.

Panama: Help At A Preschool & Learn To Surf

See what life is like for preschoolers in a small indigenous village when you sign up for GoVoluntouring's Give & Surf project on the Bocas del Toro archipelago in Panama. As you help out in the classroom, take the kids on field trips, or install a rainwater catchment system or another construction project, you'll learn about local issues and make real connections with the Ngobe people of Bahia Honda.

Then there's a little incentive. Some of the Caribbean's best breaks are nearby, and Give & Surf (which was founded by a surfing fanatic) sets aside time for every volunteer to learn how to surf while they're here.

If You Go: Projects range from less than one week to more than three months. Costs start at around $500, and Go-Voluntouring has an online fundraising tool. Pick up a copy of The Volunteer Traveler's Handbook for tips on packing and cultural immersion.

Savannah, Georgia: Eat Collard Greens Family-Style

For a down-home Southern meal experience worth writing home about, line up for the $18 lunch from Monday through Friday at Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room in Savannah's moss-draped historic district. Here, you can dine family-style with locals, sitting around the dining-room table and passing platters of fried chicken, bowls of collard greens, and pitchers of sweet tea.

Since the early days in 1943, when Mrs. Wilkes herself served hungry workers, diners have sat down next to perfect strangers and, after extra helpings of home-cooked food, left as friends. Grandfathered in by the local health department, the restaurant is the only one in town still allowed to serve dishes family-style.

New York City: Take a Class

New York's size and nonstop energy can be overwhelming for an outsider, which is all the more reason to experience it like a local: Sign up for a class and try something new. You'll quickly discover just how down-to-earth the city's fast-talking, fashion-savvy residents really are when you (and your new BFF) are both bumbling first-timers at a $10 fencing lesson, a $75 screenprinting class, a $35 burlesque workshop, or an $89 intro DJ session. At Vimbly.com you can quickly compare prices and schedules for classes throughout NYC that start as soon as the same day you arrive and all but guarantee no tourists will be in attendance.

If You Go: Contact Big Apple Greeter at least three weeks before you arrive to arrange a free, informal, unscripted visit with a local. Greeters talk about what it's like to live in the city and can take you to neighborhoods they think you'd like, whether it's an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community or an offbeat architectural haven. Many greeters and visitors end up staying in touch.

Paris: Explore With A Local On A Vespa

Nothing beats the thrill of navigating Paris' treelined boulevards and curving cobblestoned streets the way locals do: on a Vespa. As you buzz through the open air, past bakery aromas and cafe-table chatter, it's easy to imagine your life as a local art student or even a food delivery guy.

Not sure you can manage the Place Charles de Gaulle roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe? Private guides (English-speaking but with fabulous accents) at 2 Wheel's Vespa Tours will lead you wherever you want to go—to see the city's top attractions, into lesser-known neighborhoods, or on a Versailles day trip across the countryside. Stop when and where you want to.

If You Go: Contact the VoulezVousDiner social network and arrange dinner at a local family's home in Paris. Learn more about the country's culture, wine, and cooking from your host in a beautiful home filled with French charm.

Italy: Take A Cooking Class

Need a lesson on slowing down and savoring life? Head for rural Italy and stay at a small family-run organic farm, inn, and cooking school in Le Marche. Set on 250 acres of rolling hills and farmland, La Tavola Marche gives you the chance to mingle with locals and Italians on holiday for an authentic farm-to-table experience.

Down in the garden, guests pick veggies for the day's class under the watchful eye of the Italian farmer, a lively character who also guides guests into the surrounding forest during the fall for mushroom hunting. Thursday is the inn's pizza night, when locals from the farming village (who speak little to no English) join guests around one long table for a family-style meal.

If You Go: You'll stay in the 300-year-old stone farmhouse with wood-beam ceilings and stone fireplaces. Five-course feasts are served either in the rustic kitchen, the dining room, or outdoors in the garden terrace.

California: Go On A Cattle Drive

It's dusty, tiring, and sometimes uncomfortable work moving 600 cows 60 miles to their winter range, but it's the quintessential Old West experience and a 104-year-old tradition at Hunewill Guest Ranch. Every November, dude-ranch guests join the Hunewill family to help with the cattle drive that leads from the ranch in Bridgeport, California, to Smith Valley, Nevada. Experienced riders will follow the historic Gold Rush-era stagecoach road near the foot of the Sierra Nevada range, returning to the ranch each night for a home-cooked meal, campfire stories, and a comfy bed.

If You Go: The ranch's horses and riding groups can accommodate any riding ability and age, even kids as young as six. Visit in the spring to assist with branding and doctoring or to work with the calves.

Jamaica: Meet Your Match

Spend the day with a local who's into the same things you are. With the Jamaica Tourist Board's free Meet the People program, you could be paired with a family, a fellow musician, a chef, or a doctor—one of the program's 700+ ambassadors who do more than show you around. They invite you into their homes for meals, take you to church, stop in at their children's schools, or make introductions at the local craft market.

"My match invited me up to her Stony Hill home just outside of Kingston with five of her closest friends," says travel writer April D. Thompson. "We ate, drank wine, chatted like old girlfriends, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the city lights from her verandah. The women were open and candid and cleared a lot of misconceptions about Jamaicans."

If You Go: After booking your travel, sign up online at VisitJamaica.com. A program coordinator will confirm your arrangements when you arrive.

Ireland: Hit The Pub Early

In Ireland you don't have to be the life of the party to make friends at the local pub, you just have to get there a bit early to snag a big table. As the night gets busier, people always ask to share the table. Travelers posting on Rick Steves' Europe Graffiti Wall who've tried it say it brings together a fun montage of great people. Buying everyone a round of Guinness doesn't hurt, either.

Want absolute assurance that you won't be sitting at the bar alone in Dublin? Contact the City of a Thousand Welcomes program and a local ambassador will take you out for a pint in a pub.

If You Go: Save on taxi fare and ride the Dublin DART train, catch the Dublin Bus' weekend Nitelink service, or opt for one of the more than 500 bikes at 44 self-serve Dublin Bikes stations, where the first 30 minutes are free.

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