How to Find Local Restaurants Instead of Tourist Traps
The Lucy Team
We're the team behind Ask Lucy — travellers, food lovers, and language enthusiasts building an AI companion that helps you explore the world with confidence.
Red Flags: How to Spot a Tourist Trap
Photos of food on the menu or in the window.
Staff standing outside trying to lure you in.
Menus in 6+ languages displayed prominently.
Location directly on the main tourist street or facing the cruise port.
Prices significantly higher than surrounding restaurants.
Green Flags: How to Find Where Locals Eat
Walk one street back. The best restaurants are almost always one street behind the tourist strip. Same neighborhood, half the price, twice the quality.
Follow the locals. A restaurant full of families at lunchtime is a safe bet. An empty restaurant with a tout outside is not.
Look for handwritten menus. If the menu is handwritten (especially in the local language only), the food is probably excellent and the prices are fair.
Check the lunch hour. Visit between 12-2pm and see which restaurants are packed with workers. That is where the food is good and affordable.
Ask at your hotel or a local shop. "Where do you eat lunch?" is the most powerful question in travel.
Lucy Finds the Good Food
Lucy translates the handwritten menus at local restaurants — the ones without English translations, the ones the tourists walk past. She turns the language barrier from a reason to avoid local places into a reason to embrace them.