How To Travel More In Your Local Area

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One of the biggest pieces of advice we give to those wanting to travel more but don’t have the funds for a big trip, is to simply travel in your own backyard.

Traveling in your local area is a kind of travel that’s often overlooked because you think “I can go anytime,” which, let’s be honest, means you never end up going.

Traveling locally is a great way to make your travel budget go further, and we’re firm believers that travel doesn’t have to be far away.

In this guide, we’ll share our top tips for how to travel locally so you can explore the best of your home country.

What does travelling locally mean?

Explore your own backyard
Our hometown backyard on the Central Coast

When I say your “own backyard,” I mean travelling locally. Travelling locally means exploring places that you haven’t been before in your home state, county, or region.

For example, you could live in New York City, but never venture to New York State. Or live in London and taking a trip out to see the surrounding countryside such as in Oxfordshire or The Cotswolds.

There isn’t an exact quantifier to describe what local means, but to make it easier for you, we would class local travel as exploring anywhere within a 1-2 hour radius from your home by car.

It can simply be somewhere you explore on a day trip or a quick weekend getaway.

Benefits of Local Travel

view of ocean with burleigh skyscrapers in background and reflected in water
Our Burleigh Heads backyard

The benefits of “staying local” and exploring your own backyard are numerous. Here are some of the top reasons why you would want to explore locally:

  • Cheap Travel it costs a lot less than going on an extended trip. You don’t have to pay much in fuel, accommodation, spending money and certainly not on flights.
  • Less Planning – no stressful planning in advance. You can pack and go the night before or even that day. And you don’t have to research flights, or keep up to speed on political events overseas.
  • Less Packing – at most you will need a day pack or a small suitcase.
  • Less Time Away – if you have a busy life or heavy work commitments, you don’t have to worry about getting time off.
  • New Appreciation – by getting out and experiencing new things in your own backyard, you will get to see your place in a new light and be more grateful for where you live.
  • No Burnout – having to constantly pack and unpack, deal with airports, border crossings and visa issues can lead to burnout.
  • Get Refreshed – travel, no matter how long we go for, enables us to get away from the normality of life. By rewarding yourself and getting away you will feel refreshed come Monday.

How to Be a Tourist in Your Own Backyard

family in paddle board in pullen park

Now you know what it means to travel locally, it’s time to put the travel glasses on and explore your own hometown and region. Our other website is now all about exploring our backyard of Raleigh North Carolina.

Here are some ways you can discover your own town:

  • Discover new walking trails
  • Explore new beaches
  • Enjoy a picnic in a new park
  • Shop at local markets
  • Go horse riding
  • Go for random drives
  • Participate in local festivals
  • Hire kayaks on the lake
  • Bike different cycling trails
  • Eat at a new cafe
  • Climb a new mountain

If you feel like you’ve got your home town covered, below are some of my top tips and resources to use for finding ways to travel locally

1. Check Your Local Tourist Board Website

Your local tourist board website usually has events and programs in your home town and surrounding areas.

The are a resource often forgotten about because of the rise in social media, but they are still in use and can be a great resource for creating a list of things to do.

If you were a tourist coming to visit your home town, think about where they might look for events. What things do you think they would like to do?

2. Use Social Media

Not only is Instagram good for inspiration, but most photos have a geotag so you know where they’ve been taken. Search for your home city e.g. #Sydney and check out the stream.

This is my favorite way of discovering hidden gems. When you see a cool photo, click on the geotag to see related photos and a map showing you the location.

You can also search for “Tags”. Here you can type in every keyword you’re looking for and it will show you every Instagram picture tagged with this keyword.

For example, you might choose to search for “nature” and “Utah” and see what hidden gem nature spots come up.

If you prefer using Twitter, follow the #hashtag of your city and see what events come up. Also follow your local tourism boards twitter feed for information, deals and inspiration.

Facebook is another great social media platform to find things to do. You can join Facebook groups for your local area, and see what other local members are sharing.

Get inspired to visit places your friends share. And again, follow your tourism board and favourite places to learn about deals and events.

Pinterest is a great resource for travel planning as well, though I admit that it’s better for international travel than local travel.

3. Use Foursquare

Foursquare is a location based check-in social network which has become a good resource of getting tips and suggestions from locals.

It works by users leaving feedback on where they’ve eaten, had a drink, chilled out at a cafe etc.

It’s another top way to tap into the suggestions from locals and other travellers in your area.

4. Talk With Your Friends (And Other Locals)

Locals hold all the secrets to where the best places to eat, drink, sleep, shop and stay are.

We love getting travel advice from other locals. They can tell you when specials are on, where to find deals and the best times to visit certain places.

Seek out conversations with taxi drivers, police officers, college students, hotel concierges, receptionists, and other travellers.

5. Choose One (Or Two) Weekends A Month & Drive

wrightsville beach family travel
Wrightsville Beach – the closest to Raleigh

We make a plan to do at least one new activity a month that’s outside of our hometown in Raleigh.

It doesn’t mean driving for miles, we may simply visit the neighboring cities, but it allows us to explore more of what’s nearby without having to travel far.

You can use the strategies above and discover some hidden gems in those areas before you hit the road.

Before you know it your eyes have opened up and you’ve started your new travel habit.

6. Do The Familiar With A New Twist

Go somewhere you have been to before but explore it in a different way. Travel isn’t always about discovering somewhere new, you can go back to places you love and still call it travel.

If you have a favourite beach, next time you go, try stand up paddle boarding or learn to surf there.

7. Stay At A Local Resort Or Hotel / Staycation

coffee on a table
This staycation was 5 mins from our Burleigh apartment.

Choose a special place you’ve always wanted to go for a weekend getaway and have a staycation.

We did this at the Crowne Plaza in Terrigal, a favourite place of ours to hang out as a young adult. We loved being able to stay the night and experience it, even though we lived down the road.

Sometimes we all just need a little bit of pampering, so staying at a nice hotel in your own town is a great way to do just that.

8. Hire Out An Apartment With A View For Your Next Party

Reunion Resort 460, by Top Villas Orlando

We hired an apartment to celebrate my 40th birthday, and for our going away party for our one year road trip around Australia.

Having a new location to explore while you have a party is a great way to feel like you’ve traveled when you haven’t.

We all spoke of how it felt like we were already on holidays. And we rented this luxury villa in Orlando with friends!

9. Have A Family Photo Shoot

people on the beach
Photo shoot at Lake Blackshear

Choose a favourite place and use it for a family photo shoot. Snap the kids playing and the family having fun. You’ll feel like you’re on holidays, and it will look like you are too.

So from now on when you think about how to travel in your own backyard, just develop that travel mentality and I can guarantee you’ll start to find ways to create the adventures.

Start by taking day trips, then short breaks. You don’t have to have oodles of money to travel. Begin in your own backyard!

Final Thoughts

family hugging with views of lake lure and the mountains
Showing off our Lake Lure backyard to my parents

When we think of travel, we often look to far-flung places. We don’t think of stopping to view what’s offered in our own streets, or neighboring towns.

Travel doesn’t have to mean a trip to Bali or hiking in Nepal. It’s a mindset, and you can carry that mindset wherever you go, even if it is just down the road .

Over the years, we explored much of our local area as we have internationally.

We come from the scenically beautiful Central Coast area on the east coast of Australia, which happens to be only one hour from the sights of Sydney and the great town of Newcastle.

Combing those three areas we have enough activities and attractions to satisfy most people for a very long time.

How do you travel in your own backyard? What’s one new thing you want to do in your home town? Let us know in the comments.

26 thoughts on “How To Travel More In Your Local Area”

  1. Great article! Seeing your home town through the eyes of a traveller is such a good way to try new things, live life to the full and appreciate what you’ve got even when money and time are short.

    This is something I know all too well, because I’ve gone back to being a student after several years of working. I love to travel, but it’s been so hard to find the time and money to get away.

    At the moment I’m living in Sydney, but won’t be here forever so am trying to really make the most of it while I’m here. My favourite thing is to go on a random drive or ferry ride to somewhere new then go for a walk. Sydney is great for walking because there are so many beautiful views and pockets of nature where it’s hard to believe you’re in a city of 4 million! Not to mention all the cafes, bars, restaurants, shops and unique inner city suburbs to explore!

    I’ve also been surprised by how many good snorkeling spots there are on Sydney’s coast, my favourite being Shelly Beach in Manly.

    Still haven’t been kayaking here yet, so really want to give that a go!

    1. Hey Bonny,

      You’re lucky, and we were too, to have Sydney at your disposal for a “backyard” 🙂 Even though it’s expensive, there are many activities at your fingertips, and some of the best things are free.

      I actually had my first, and only, scuba diving lesson at Shelly beach in Manly. Such a great little beach that many visitors wouldn’t know about.

      If you haven’t read it already, you may like our “18 Free things to do in Sydney” post: https://www.ytravelblog.com/free-things-to-do-in-sydney/

  2. Well said. We live in Melbourne and we normally go away for a weekend or a day trip before my second was born. We haven’t been doing it for almost 2 years. We recently travel in our ‘backyard’ again and this time we are having camping instead staying in B&B or apartment or house. The kids having so much fun. We walked to the beach, bush, nearby town, boat rowing, star gaze etc. One thing that we didn’t do is taking family photo. we have lots of photos that kids playing and with one of us. I shall remember to do it next time.

    1. Hi May,

      Well Melbourne is another “backyard” I would be happy to play in for a long time. Such a great city and endless neighbourhoods to explore. You would never run out of places to eat and drink. And with nearby destinations like Philip Island, Mornington Peninsula, Marysville and Wilsons Promontary you are spoilt for choice 🙂

  3. Thanks for the amazing tips… my fiancé and me hardly had the time to plan out, coz we used to associate “Travel” with going on long trips days together, but then one weekend out of a spur we just took our SUV and spun a ride, that was possibly one of the best weekends we’ve ever had!! We never discovered we had so many lovely places to visit in our own backyard! We tried new cuisines! Jet skiing! Hitch-hiking and almost anything we could give a shot at! It was a wonderful experience which refreshed us and our relationship! It was a perfectly-unplanned trip with no burnouts!! Just some change, a big bottle of water, some sunscreen, a local map and a ride did the trick! Wherever you are there is still so many things you haven’t explored! I for two 🙂 would recommend traveling in your own backyard to anyone! Happy traveling…

  4. Couldn’t agree more! Travelling in my own backyard is my goal for the next year. I’ve lived in the same area nearly all my life, and think it is so silly that there are still so many things I haven’t seen or done, yet I’ll spend thousands travelling to the other side of the world to do them!

  5. I don’t do this nearly enough, and my excuse is that from Perth there aren’t that many options (all of “down south” of course – well, a bit of it, most of it is 3 to 5 hours’ drive which is a bit much for an overnighter with small kids) but my real reason is I get lazy and feel like travel is only “real” when it involves an aeroplane! So this post is a good reminder to get back out there and enjoy my own backyard in between bigger trips – thank you!

    1. Hi Amanda, I’m also from Perth, so I know what you mean!! Day trips to the wheat belt don’t tend to be the most exciting 😉 It’s a shame that Rottnest is so expensive and Margaret River just a bit too far for a day trip.

      But even in Perth it’s easy to take for granted the good things that travellers notice. For instance, for over 20 years of my life I lived 10 minutes walk from Kings Park, but it was only after talking to travellers and reading travel blogs that I realised it was something special! Also living away from Perth I really miss the hot dry summer and being able to zip down to an uncrowded beach for a 10 minute swim after work without worrying about traffic or paying for parking.

      1. I live in Perth as well so many great options for day trips here. Don’t get bogged down with you have to go down south. There are wineries and other fun activities in the Swan Valley, we have some of the best beaches in the world or you can go bush walking and a picnic in the hills. The maze has just opened a water park or go to the city and cycle the river, visit the various playgrounds in Kings Park.

    2. Hey Amanda,

      Yeah, Perth and surrounds is a tough one. I guess if you seek out free things to do like new beaches, new walks, new parks, markets etc and trying different cafes or even just going for random drives is always “something” good as well.

  6. These are all great ideas. I love to discover new places and things to do in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I like the idea of doing something new every month and I’m adding it to my goals for 2014!

    I would also recommend reading your local paper or checking out meetup.com to discover events happening in your area. For example, I recently went to an open house at a glass blowing shop and got to make a glass pumpkin. It was a fun day out and I discovered something new that I normally wouldn’t do at home!

  7. Fantastic post! There are definitely different means of travel and exploring the area we live in more often is one of my favorites. Having lived in a few different states in the US, it wasn’t until I left that I realized how much I hadn’t seen. I’m trying to travel more locally to make sure I’ve seen as much as I can in my backyard!

  8. One of the great things about local travel is it can be so spur of the moment. You don’t have to spend months or even weeks planning. You can just wake up and decide to go. Plus there are so many websites to help you book your last minute accommodation.

  9. Thank you for this! My husband’s daughters live in another state (we live in California USA) and we are about to embark upon a road trip up to the California Coast, through Southern Oregon and back down to San Diego on an interior road. Very true to travel and explore right where you live! So much I’ve seen, but so much new that I haven’t. Appreciate the resources. Great blog! Look forward to following your family’s adventures!

    1. That’s great Heather. We loved our road trip up to the California Coast between San Francisco and San Diego. Would love to visit Oregon. Yep, keep exploring that BIG backyard of yours!

  10. Lots of great tips. I love taking short trips outside the city. It helps if you live in a culturally or geographically interesting area.

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