GROUPON GUIDE TO COLUMBUS

Best of Groupon's Top Non-Touristy Things to Do in 5 Major US Cities

BY: Groupon Editors |Mar 17, 2017

What do the Empire State Building, the Space Needle, and Willis Tower have in common? They’re all places only tourists visit. If you want to really get to know a city, you have to step off the well-worn path and head to spots frequented by locals. This might mean flowing through asanas during a morning yoga class in one of Chicago’s trendiest neighborhoods or riding a bike to a cycling-themed microbrewery in Seattle. In New Orleans, oddly enough, it means going to hotels to try some of the city’s best coffee and cocktails.

But these are all things that locals actually do, and things you can do too with the help of our three-day itineraries of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New Orleans. To make sure we were getting a true local perspective, we surveyed people who live in each metropolis—owners and employees of some of our Best of Groupon businesses. Click the (non-touristy!) city guides below to see what they had to say about their hometowns.

Fun Facts from our panel of New Yorkers:

They rated their city's quality of entertainment as a perfect 10 out of 10, an unsurprising score for the city that never sleeps.

They primarily get around two ways: taking public transportation and walking.

From a list of style icons, they gravitate towards Marlene Deitrich: ultra cool, a bit of a tomboy, may or may not be a spy.

Despite the high density of world-class restaurants, they love cheap eats best—especially bagels and pizza.

Read more in our guide to experiencing New York like a local.

Fun Facts from our panel of Chicagoans:

All agreed that locals actually do eat Chicago-style hot dogs loaded up with very specific toppings: onions, tomatoes, an unnaturally green relish, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, celery salt, and yellow mustard—no ketchup ever!
They rated the city's weather no higher than 4 out of 10, yet gave its walkability rating an average of 9 out of 10. What can we say? They're tough.

2/3 of the panel classifies the city's official drink as beer, though a few respondents admitted to having a soft spot for Malört, an extremely bitter local spirit many have affectionately called “disgusting.”

Read more in our guide to experiencing Chicago like a local.

Fun Facts from our panel of Angelenos:

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a city deemed the “most gridlocked in the world,” only 20% of our LA panel gave the city a high walkability rating.
...Yet in spite of all that gridlock and questionable walkability, the friendliness rating received a perfect 10 out of 10.
Coffee was dubbed the city's official drink of choice.

Read more in our guide to experiencing Los Angeles like a local.

Fun Facts from our panel of Seattleites:

Responses were split 60/40 on city's official drink; coffee just edged out beer.

On average, the dining scene rated at least 8 out of 10. 100% of the panel said that they eat fresh seafood whenever they can, especially salmon. 40% also said that they eat pho, which they declared particularly great on cold, rainy days.
Our panel classified the city's style as "casual"; nearly all of the respondents agreed that visitors dressed in fleece, flannel, comfy shoes, and Gortex gear would blend in seamlessly with the locals.
They named both the Ballard neighborhood, a foodie haven, and Capitol Hill neighborhood, a trendy artists’ enclave, must-sees.

Read more in our guide to experiencing Seattle like a local.

Fun Facts from our panel of New Orleanians:

The consensus is that locals actually do eat beignets, which might be more surprising if they weren’t hot morsels of fried dough covered in sugar.
Despite the popularity of local brews such as NOLA Brewing Co.’s blonde ale, 100% of our panel said that cocktails should be the city’s official drink of choice.
Overall, the city won high ratings for walkability—at least 8 out of 10. (We suspect this might be a factor in their lively funeral march traditions.)