When you start to think about swapping homes there are a lot of cities and neighborhoods to choose from. Most of us gravitate to well-known tourist destinations, at least when we get started in home exchange. And most tourists stay in just a few neighborhoods in each town.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE TOURISTS GONE?
Tourist neighborhoods come about for many reasons. Primary among those factors is zoning. Most cities have rules about where hotels can be located. Other towns have land available in certain areas at times when new hotels are being built. The result is plentiful tourist lodging in specific areas and residential development in other neighborhoods.
TOURIST AREAS AREN'T SO HOT
During college and graduate school I spent a decade in San Francisco. In that time I visited San Francisco's most famous tourist destination, Fisherman's Wharf, twice. There is nothing to recommend it, unless you need to visit the same wax museum or Believe It or Not exhibit you can see in any other tourist area in the entire industrialized world.
In the United States' best restaurant city the eateries at Fisherman's Wharf are always over-priced and almost uniformly awful. Why not? The clientele is leaving for home tomorrow and won't be back.
Tourist traps also draw pick-pockets and hustlers. They know that the new-comers there are unfamiliar with the area, distracted by seeing new things and carrying money. There are lots of hotels near Fisherman's Wharf. I would never stay there.
REAL NEIGHBORHOODS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF
The most wonderful places to stay in San Francisco are residential neighborhoods that tourists rarely visit. Noe Valley, Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights, all contain restaurants and shops that are secret treasures enjoyed by real San Franciscans and missed by most tourists. But not by home exchangers. Home exchangers are living in the same areas as the city's residents, and enjoying the authentic lifestyle of the region.
HOME EXCHANGE: THE POWER OF CHOICE
As a home exchanger you are not forced to stay in a residential neighborhood. Lots of apartments are located in the Marina District, many just across the street from Fisherman's Wharf.
But remember, just because you associate a particular neighborhood with your destination city doesn't mean you want to stay there. And if the exchangers live somewhere you've never heard don't fret. In Paris we stayed in a neighborhood called La Butte Aux Cailles. It was on a little hill far from the hustle and bustle but filled with wonderful restaurants and just a few blocks from the Metro train.
Home exchange lets you live like a local. That means staying where locals really live. You won't find many exchange homes in tourist traps. And that's why your home swap vacation will be richer than those trapped tourists.
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