Hidden gems, and how locals actually find them

Every city has two maps. The first is the one visitors use — main streets, big signs, places with marketing budgets. The second is the one locals carry in their heads: the bakery with no name on the door, the track that starts behind the car park, the kitchen that only does one thing and does it perfectly.

You can’t buy the second map, but you can learn to read for it. Queues at odd hours are a good sign. So are handwritten menus, single-page websites last updated years ago, and places locals describe by giving directions rather than a name.

Ask the right question

Don’t ask locals what’s good — everyone politely names the famous places. Ask where they went last week. The answer is almost always somewhere you haven’t heard of, and almost always better.

Follow the reviews that read like directions

On JustFindMe, we show every review — the raves and the gripes — and the hidden-gem tell is a review that reads like a secret being handed over reluctantly. When someone writes “please don’t tell everyone about this place”, that’s the place.