Go One Neighborhood Deeper: Helping Clients Experience a Destination Beyond Its Icons

The Eiffel Tower may be what gets a client to Paris, but the neighborhood café, tucked-away market, or conversation with a local guide is what they remember most. The same goes for the Colosseum, Sydney Opera House, or New Zealand’s headline-making landscapes. Icons like these can be the beginning of a rich cultural experience rather than the entire focus of a trip. 

For travel advisors, the opportunity is to build outward from the bucket list, pairing iconic attractions with neighborhood walks, local markets, regional cuisine, Indigenous cultural discovery, lesser-known museums, and historic sites—all experiences led by people who know the destination intimately.  

We asked travel advisors how they help clients venture beyond the most popular highlights and create the kinds of unexpected encounters that often become the most memorable parts of a trip. And here are their top tips. 

1. Take Time to Qualify the Client 

The best itineraries begin with thoughtful questions that uncover not only where clients want to go, but how they want to experience a destination. 

“I travel extensively myself so I can experience destinations firsthand, but every itinerary still begins with qualifying the individual client,” says Tammy Cheatham, luxury travel advisor and global destinations manager, We Do the World Getaways. “I research based on how they like to travel, what interests them, their pace, and what they hope to take away from the trip.  

“That may lead me to a neighborhood, market, local restaurant, artisan, small museum, or experience that would never make a traditional ‘top ten’ list. Those are often the moments clients remember most.” 

2. Book the Icons but Leave Room for Discovery 

Must-see landmarks may anchor an itinerary, but leaving room for unexpected discoveries can turn a great trip into an unforgettable one. 

“Visit the famous sights because they’re famous for a reason but leave room in the itinerary for a little spontaneity and local flavor,” recommends Cathy Bancino, vacation travel consultant, Witte Travel & Tours. “Some of the best travel memories happen when you wander into a small café, find a local festival, discover a scenic overlook, or spend time in a neighborhood that isn’t listed in every guidebook.  

“I always encourage clients to check off the bucket-list items while also staying open to the unexpected things that you may come upon or often happen along the way. Those are the moments that make the best stories and memories for years to come.” 

3. Make Personal Connections 

Meaningful interactions with local people can give travelers a deeper sense of place and create special moments that last well beyond the trip. 

“I always start with what drew my clients to a destination in the first place. If they’ve dreamed of seeing the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, or the Amalfi Coast, those experiences absolutely belong in their itinerary,” reports Bancino. “Once we’ve covered the ‘must-sees,’ I like to look for opportunities that help them connect more personally with the destination.  

“That might be a neighborhood food tour, a local market, a family-owned winery, or simply spending an afternoon exploring an area where locals spend their time. Often those are the moments clients remember most because they feel less like tourists and more like travelers.” 

4. Arrange Immersive Experiences 

Hands-on, immersive experiences invite clients to engage with a destination’s culture, traditions, and everyday life. 

“Private guided experiences and experiences that create a genuine connection to the destination tend to generate the most memorable reactions,” says Cheatham. “Food tours, market visits, cooking classes, visits with local artisans, and experiences built around a client’s particular interests often become the stories they tell me about when they return home. 

“Clients may remember seeing the famous landmark, but they often talk most enthusiastically about the conversation they had with a local, the little restaurant they discovered, or an experience that made them feel like they were participating in the destination rather than simply observing it.” 

Bancino reports on the types of local experiences that have generated the most reflective reactions from her clients: “Cooking classes with local chefs, wine tastings at family run vineyards, market visits (especially the Christmas markets), learning local traditions, and private tours led by locals that are passionate about their hometown.” 

5. Book Small & Micro-Group Tours 

Smaller group tours are built around more intimate ways to explore, combining expert guidance with greater access, flexibility, and personal attention. 

“Small and micro-group tours offer a more personal, immersive environment. They allow for greater interaction with the guide, better opportunities to ask questions, and access to unique locations that cannot accommodate large groups, striking an ideal balance between expert guidance and intimacy,” advises Marchand. 

Cheatham adds an example of her approach: “I often include a two-hour walking orientation on a client’s first full morning in a new city. They see some of the highlights, but more importantly, they have direct access to a local guide who can explain how the city works, point out neighborhoods and places worth returning to, and offer recommendations based on their interests. Clients finish that first morning feeling much more confident about exploring independently. 

“With fewer people, there is more opportunity for the guide to respond to individual interests and for those spontaneous conversations and recommendations that can shape the rest of a client’s stay.” 

6. Leverage Trusted Local Connections 

Strong relationships with trusted partners on the ground can unlock special access, insider knowledge, and experiences travelers might never find on their own. 

“I leverage trusted local relationships and destination knowledge to uncover authentic neighborhoods, markets, and smaller museums,” says Kelly Marchand, CTA, luxury travel advisor, Shelton Travel Service Inc. “The goal is to balance major landmarks with a genuine local perspective.” 

7. Use Local Guides 

A knowledgeable local guide can bring a destination to life through stories, context, and insights that travelers simply can’t get from a guidebook or an online search for things to do. 

“A great local guide can completely change the way a traveler sees a destination,” recommends Cheatham. “The best guides do much more than recite history. They read the client, answer questions, share local perspective, and adjust the experience based on what captures the traveler’s interest. 

“I especially value the insight a local expert can provide—where they would eat, which market they actually shop at, what neighborhood is worth wandering through, or what they would do with a free afternoon. That kind of local perspective is something even the best research can’t fully replicate.”  

Ultimately, going beyond the icons doesn’t mean skipping the sights clients have dreamt of seeing. It means using those landmarks as a starting point, then adding the local connections, immersive experiences, and room for discovery that help travelers experience a destination more deeply—and return home with stories they never expected to tell. 

FROM THE SPONSOR:  
Independent travel specialist Avanti Destinations can help you create completely customizable, seamless international vacations tailored to the specific interests, budget, and timeframe of each client, whether they are traveling to Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, Latin America, North Africa, or the Middle East.   

Advisors can select from recommended itineraries that can be customized or create their own unique itinerary from thousands of three-, four-, and five-star accommodations, transfers, private or small group sightseeing tours and experiences, which can be focused on such interests as cooking, market visits, wine tasting, wildlife spotting, indigenous culture, hiking, cycling, history, and others.  

Recently the company launched its own Insider Walking Tours in eight major European cities for 1-8 clients with guaranteed departures every week. The London tour is focused on sites connected to the monarchy. In Venice, the tour is of Murano, the famous island known for its glass production. 

We sell exclusively through travel advisors, not directly to consumers, and provide an array of selling tools for advisors, including webinars, dedicated Destination Specialists for each country, e-brochures, regional microsites, and printed reference guides for each region (www.avantidestinations.com/orderbrochures ).  

Let us help you create unforgettable vacations that will have your clients coming back again and again.