Why It's Time To Start Travelling Like A Local

From Brazil's underrated cities to making more of the journey itself, perhaps the secret to a better holiday is looking beyond the destinations everyone keeps recommending.

There's something slightly depressing about spending months looking forward to a holiday, travelling halfway across the world and discovering that everyone else seems to have had exactly the same idea.

The same beaches appear on Instagram, the same restaurants dominate TikTok and the same 'hidden gems' are recommended by every travel guide. Even asking ChatGPT where to go can produce a remarkably familiar selection of destinations. Somehow, despite having more travel inspiration at our fingertips than ever before, we're all being pointed towards the same places.

I started thinking about this while researching a trip to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro was the obvious starting point, followed by São Paulo and perhaps somewhere along the coast. All beautiful, all worth visiting, but I couldn't help wondering whether I was planning the Brazil I actually wanted to experience or simply the version I'd seen a hundred times online.

Then I came across some interesting research from Dragonpass, the global travel experiences platform, looking at where people based in Brazil actually travel themselves. It got me thinking about whether the best holiday recommendations might come from the people who know a destination well enough not to need a travel guide.

What If We Started Following The Locals Instead?

There's something rather appealing about travelling somewhere because the people who live nearby genuinely enjoy going there, rather than because a particular beach has become the latest social media obsession.

Dragonpass's Travel Like A Local research looks at anonymised travel activity to understand the destinations and routes favoured by Brazil-based travellers. One of the more interesting findings was that 69% of Brazilian member activity took place within Brazil itself.

And while Rio and São Paulo inevitably feature, so do places such as Belo Horizonte and Brasília, cities that rarely seem to make the first draft of an international holiday itinerary.

Belo Horizonte, in particular, caught my attention. It's a city where food is a serious part of the culture, with bustling markets, traditional Minas Gerais cooking and the sort of neighbourhood bars where you can spend an entire afternoon without feeling the need to rush off to another attraction.

Then there's Recife, where colourful historic streets meet the tropical coastline of northeastern Brazil, offering a completely different atmosphere from the beaches most international visitors associate with the country.

Neither is exactly a secret, of course, and that's rather the point. Travelling like a local doesn't have to mean finding somewhere nobody has heard of. Sometimes it simply means choosing somewhere that hasn't been packaged and repackaged for the same international audience.

Perhaps It's Our Travel Habits That Need A Refresh

The more I looked into it, the more I realised how predictable our holiday planning has become.

We choose a destination, search for its most popular attractions, save a handful of restaurants and try to fit everything into a few days. Then we come home feeling as though we've seen the place, when often we've experienced the same small corner as thousands of other visitors.

What happens if we reverse that process?

Instead of asking where tourists should go in Brazil, why not ask where Brazilians go for a long weekend? Where do people from São Paulo escape to when they want a change of scenery? Which cities are worth visiting for their food rather than their famous landmarks?

It's the kind of curiosity that can take a holiday in an entirely different direction.

The research also offered some unexpected seasonal inspiration. Dragonpass found that lounge activity associated with Santiago increased by 61.7% between June and July 2025, coinciding with the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Suddenly, the idea of combining Brazil with a few days in Chile, wandering around Santiago before heading towards the snow-covered Andes, feels far more exciting than automatically booking another beach resort.

You can explore the wider findings in Dragonpass's Travel Like A Local series at https://www.dragonpass.com/insights/travel-like-a-local-where-to-go-in-brazil-and-when-to-visit.

It's not about copying someone else's itinerary exactly. It's about borrowing a little of their perspective.

There's a certain romance to arriving somewhere without feeling as though you already know what every street corner looks like.

To discovering a restaurant because someone local recommended it, wandering into a neighbourhood you hadn't bookmarked or changing your plans because you found somewhere you'd rather spend the afternoon.

That's harder to achieve when our travel itineraries are increasingly shaped by the same algorithms and recommendations, all encouraging us towards a relatively small collection of destinations.

And perhaps that's why the idea of travelling like a local feels so refreshing.

It encourages a little more curiosity, a little less obsession with ticking off landmarks and a willingness to explore the places that aren't necessarily enjoying their moment in the social media spotlight.

Brazil is a wonderful example, but the principle could apply almost anywhere. Instead of heading straight for the destinations everyone is talking about, look at where residents spend their weekends, where they go to celebrate and which places they return to year after year.

Because the best travel recommendation might not come from an influencer, an algorithm or even a beautifully curated guide.

It might come from someone who has lived there all their life.

And isn't that a rather lovely way to discover the world?