Living Like a Local: Lodging

To be a traveler who actively seeks experiences rather than a tourist who is primarily there to see the sights, the best way to start your trip planning is thinking outside the box when it comes to lodging. If you stay in a well known hotel chain, chances are that you will be living in the tourist area. Without extra efforts, many of your experiences will be typical tourist experiences, likely expensive and in crowded areas. And if you are traveling with children, big hotels are not usually the most family friendly lodging option.

By expanding your focus when it comes to lodging options, you increase the chance you will have a traveler’s experience, complete with interesting and unique things to do and eat; meeting people you would never encounter at the main tourist sites; feeling the heartbeat of your destination in a much different way. After all, as Henry Miller put it, ” One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

Party of Five

When we first started traveling as a family, we quickly came to realize that as a family of five with a budget, hotels were not a very logical or economical choice for us. Instead, we were forced to explore more family friendly lodging alternatives. This turned out to be such a blessing in disguise that even now, traveling mostly with just two of us, we still choose off the beaten path lodging. By going a little outside the mainstream options, we have stayed at places like:

• an apartment in Venice in a residential neighborhood, on a canal of course, where fruits and vegetables could be bought from a boat, children played games in the main square and the gelato was out of this world. Only minutes away from St. Mark’s square but it felt like a different world. We could wander, get lost in the back streets and feel transported back to the 1400s rather than fight our way through the crowds buying trinkets from stands at the Rialto Bridge.

• a carriage house on a lake front residence in County Clare, Ireland where we had access to the rowboats and kayaks, a kitchen where we could cook breakfast so we could sleep in as late as we wanted and most importantly for the kids, a place that had a trampoline to jump on! Day trips to Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Galway were easy. And having a place to spread out and play in when we came back made traveling with 3 children so much easier!

• an 2 bedroom apartment in a lovely neighborhood on a typical Parisian street, just a few steps away from a traditional bakery, grocery stores, great restaurants and Rue Cler, an open air market. All with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

• A traditional croft on the Isle of Skye in a small remote village that not only had amazing views but was minutes from a Michelin starred restaurant. The advice from our Scottish host on places to eat and how to get the most out of our time in Skye was priceless, as was the conversation every morning as we ate breakfast together.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Convinced? Then you may be wondering, how do you find these amazing places? If you are going to a city, the best thing to do before even looking at lodging sites is to get to know the general neighborhoods. Sometimes these are called districts or, in Paris, arrondissements . You can start by searching “neighborhoods in Paris”. Look at a mix of travel sites and “living” sites to get a real feel for what fits your travel style. “Ex-pat” sites tend to be very informative.

Personally I look for neighborhoods that tend to be a little quieter at night but are walking distance or an easy public transport ride from the main sites I want to visit. Bonus points if there is a park or two or if it has an open air market! Accommodations in these neighborhoods tend to be cheaper, have more space and usually have a kitchen or come with breakfast.

These neighborhoods allow you the opportunity to see a lot more of the actual destination. We love to walk so are willing to be up to a couple miles away from main sites if the walk is an interesting one. In Edinburgh, we stayed in the historic village of Stockbridge and had a lovely river walk up to the main attractions in the city.

Below are words I look for in neighborhood descriptions. Yours may differ so I suggest coming up with your own list if your tastes are different. For example, tranquil may go on your “Words that make me pause” list and lively on your “Words I like” if you like sleeping where there is a bustling nightlife.

Cast a Wide Net

Although I use Airbnb while looking for lodging, it is far from the only platform I have used. In fact only one of the lodgings I show above was from Airbnb. Some additional sites I have used are:

• Booking.com: Good for accommodations in Europe particularly small family owned B&Bs and many apartment/home rentals as well. Filter by Show Homes First to see vacation rentals prominently.
• FlipKey: This is now owned by TripAdvisor but is a different website. I find it easier to navigate than the main TripAdvisor site for vacation rentals. Many of our great finds came from this site including an apartment in former 12th century convent located in a small Tuscan hill village.
• TripAdvisor: To get some of the unique options, you can filter by the categories of B&Bs/Inns and Specialty Lodging. Or go to the Vacation Rentals section for apartments/houses.
• VRBO and Homeaway: Vacation Rentals By Owner. Here you are dealing directly with the owner of the apartment or home. Better for longer term stays. Two different websites operating under the same company.
• ClickStay: Formerly Villarenters. Good if you want a larger place for a longer period of time. Not a huge inventory but some pretty unique places.

Zoom In. . . and Zoom Out

Most booking sites have a map function which can be very useful to finding the perfect place to stay. If you have picked a couple neighborhoods to look at, focus your attention in those areas. Not all properties are always shown on the map view. By zooming in, you may see more options that don’t reveal themselves right away.

When I am not finding what I want in the neighborhoods or cities I have selected, I zoom out to see what is nearby. Having an open mind while planning can lead to really worthwhile finds. When I wasn’t finding anything I liked for lodging in Split, Croatia, I found a property with a huge balcony with wonderful view in the charming nearby town of Trogir. Not only was that small town a perfect place to explore in its own right, but the owner also ran a boat touring company. We had one of our best days out on the crystal clear blue/green Adriatic around Trogir and still got to see everything we wanted to in Split.

When is a 5 star not a 5 star?

When it is on Airbnb…just kidding…well, not really. Because Airbnb has a rating system that goes both ways, you will find that the ratings there are sometimes higher than justified. Really anything under 4 stars on Airbnb is questionable in my opinion. On other platforms, this can also true although not many seem to have the same ratings inflation you find on Airbnb. There are also reports of scammers on some of these platforms (see this USA today article to inform yourself). So how to know when you really have a winner?

The secret is not just to look at star ratings, not just to read a couple reviews but rather read lots of reviews and read them with a discerning eye. Takes a little bit of logic, some time and a quite bit of intuition. But well worth the effort! For detailed guidelines for how to evaluate reviews, check out The Art of Reading Reviews.

While I won’t say every place we have ever stayed in is perfect, many have been amazing and a great value. And the ones that weren’t everything we wanted, we generally went into with the knowledge that they would work for us but may have something that wasn’t ideal like a tiny bathroom or 5 floor walk-up. So we weren’t upset or disappointed with that “feature” when we got there.

Go for a (Virtual) Walkabout

Once you find the place you think is perfect, do a virtual walk about the neighborhood to make sure it is all you are hoping it will be. You can do this using the street view on Google Maps. If you need help doing this, this article gives you step by step tutorial. Don’t just look at the front of the building, walk down the block, over a street or two to get a real sense of the area.

This has been a great tool that has actually helped stop me from booking a place that we wouldn’t have been happy with more than once. In Vienna I had picked out a neighborhood and found a beautiful place. But when I walked the street, it was very industrial around that particular part of the neighborhood. We went with a different option and had a charming apartment in a more historic looking area of Vienna.

Virtual walks are also great for helping orient you so when you get there, you already know your way around a little. And for finding the nearby bakeries and coffee shops!

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