Reddit replaces the guidebook for travellers seeking genuine local advice. Photo / Unsplash
THE FACTS
Reddit was founded in June 2005 and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications in 2006.
As of 2026, Reddit has an estimated 1.2 billion active users every month, and approximately 443.8 million weekly active users.
Reddit users submit content. This is then ranked by an algorithm which analyses user upvotes and downvotes.
When it comes to travel planning, Ash Jurberg doesn’t trust an algorithm, or use a tried-and-tested guidebook; he’s an advocate for local intel. Specifically, the discussion platform Reddit.
We walk past the long line of tourists snapping photos outside the original Pike Place Starbucks, and past the next Starbucks, to reach a small cafe tucked into a side street. No queue. A barista with a sleeve tattoo and a band T-shirt I don’t recognise makes my flat white. Most customers look like they belong in a grunge band, which in Seattle is entirely possible. I find this place thanks to Reddit. The coffee is extraordinary.
The week before our trip, I search the Seattle community on Reddit for the best local coffee. Not the tourist pilgrimage to the original Starbucks, but the places Seattle locals actually go. Within minutes, I find locals arguing passionately about their favourite cafes. The same few names come up again and again, so I add them to my list.
Reddit is the best travel research tool I’ve found. It connects you with people who live in the place you’re visiting and who have strong opinions on where to go and what to skip.
If you haven’t come across it, Reddit is the sixth-biggest website in the world. Think of it as a giant collection of online forums. There are forums for everything from sports to politics to cooking to parenting. In travel, the forums that matter most are the city-specific ones. Reddit calls these forums “subreddits” and they’re usually named with an r/ followed by the city or topic.
The subreddit r/london has 1.5 million members debating everything from pub recommendations to which tube lines to avoid. Many cities also have dedicated food communities for restaurants and bars that never make the guidebooks. And r/solotravel, with 1.8 million members, is built around people sharing what they’ve discovered on the road alone.
The key difference between Reddit and TripAdvisor is who’s answering. TripAdvisor reviews mostly come from people who have visited a place once. Reddit communities are mostly locals sharing their favourite spots. That matters if you want to eat where locals eat, not where tourists send other tourists.
Reddit is also useful before you’ve even chosen where to go. Post in r/australiatravel asking which beach towns to visit along the Gold Coast and you get honest, varied answers from people who know the coast well.
When my son plans a trip to Disneyland Paris, I search r/disneylandparis for advice on beating the long queues. The advice is unanimous. Get there 45 minutes before opening and follow the ride order regulars swear by. He follows it exactly and gets through his six most-wanted rides in 90 minutes. That’s rare at Disney.
You can get a lot from simply searching.
Type your question into the subreddit’s search bar and you’ll usually find threads that cover exactly what you need. Just check the dates. A recommendation from three years ago might be outdated. You don’t need to create an account to browse, as you can read everything as a visitor.
If you can’t find what you need, post your own question. You’ll need to register for a free account to do so. The more detail you include, the better the replies. “I’m going to London, what should I do?” will get you generic answers. But “my wife and I are in our sixties, we have four days in London, we love live music and street food and hate museums”, will get you something far more useful. Age matters. Someone in their thirties gets different suggestions than someone in their seventies, and locals adjust their recommendations accordingly.
Be polite. These are real people giving up their time. Thank them, reply to follow-ups, and you’ll often get bonus suggestions.
Locals have strong opinions, and not all of them are gospel. Before visiting Portland, every local on Reddit tells me Voodoo Doughnuts is a tourist trap not worth the queue. They aren’t entirely wrong. I go anyway because I want to see what the fuss is about. It’s fine. There are better doughnuts elsewhere. But I walk in knowing exactly what to expect.
Never use Reddit for visas, legal matters, or medical advice. Always check official sources for those. For everything else, weigh up responses, note dates, and use your judgment.
Every trend report says AI is the future of trip planning. I’ve tested it extensively. It still schedules me to arrive at the airport after my flight has left. Reddit connects me with people who know better.
Before your next trip, spend 30 minutes on Reddit. Search your destination, read what the locals are arguing about, and post a question if you need to. The best travel advice doesn’t come from an algorithm. It comes from someone who lives there and takes the time to help a stranger.
That’s how you find extraordinary coffee and skip the queue of tourists outside Starbucks.