Destinations

Lead with bonjour, keep your voice down, and do not treat the waiter like a servant.

French · 5 stories today

Quiet, precise, cash-aware. Tokyo rewards travelers who notice the rules before they break them.

Japanese · 4 stories today

Smile, negotiate cleanly, and respect temples. Bangkok is easy when you do the basics right.

Thai · 2 stories today

Late meals, busy streets, sharp pickpockets. Barcelona is better when you slow down and watch your pockets.

Spanish / Catalan · 2 stories today

Order confidently, cover shoulders in churches, and do not expect speed where ritual matters.

Italian · 5 stories today

Polished, strict, and service-heavy. Dubai is easy if you respect public rules and heat reality.

Arabic / English · 5 stories today

Huge, layered, and generous. Learn the basics, carry pesos, and do not treat traffic like a small inconvenience.

Spanish · 2 stories today

The words are familiar. The queues, pub rules, and transport rhythm still need learning.

English · 5 stories today

Markets move fast. Be polite, negotiate clearly, and do not confuse attention with obligation.

Moroccan Arabic / French · 2 stories today

Temple rules, scooter reality, and quiet respect matter more than beach confidence.

Indonesian / Balinese · 3 stories today

Carry your trash, queue like it's sacred, and never stick your chopsticks upright in the rice.

Japanese · city guide

Accept the tea with your right hand, haggle at the bazaar with a smile, and never place the bread upside down.

Uzbek · city guide

Greet with a cheerful bonġu, dress properly for the church door, and treat the bus timetable as a polite suggestion.

Maltese · city guide

Don't jaywalk, don't eat on the MRT, and never take a hawker table reserved with a packet of tissues.

English · city guide

Dinner starts at ten, mate is shared rather than sipped solo, and nobody — nobody — rushes the sobremesa.

Spanish · city guide

Greet before you ask for anything, fuel up at every town, and never drive a gravel road after dark.

English · city guide

Never wave off the coffee you're offered, and at the table let the toastmaster speak before you touch your glass.

Armenian · city guide

The bread and olives on your table are not free, coffee is a bica taken standing, and nobody here is in a hurry — neither should you be.

Portuguese · city guide

Shower naked before the pool, never pay for bottled water, and don't honk at the sheep.

Icelandic · city guide

Eat with your right hand only, walk clockwise around every stupa, and let namaste do the heavy lifting.

Nepali · city guide

Park in the lots below and walk up, pay the few euros for the passport stamp, and dress like you're meeting someone's nonna.

Italian · city guide

Say dobrý den walking into every shop, never wave down a waiter, and respect the beer — the foam belongs there.

Czech · city guide

When an Iranian refuses your money, offer it twice more — taarof is a dance, and you're expected to know the steps.

Persian · city guide

Greet hikers on the trail, drink the tap water with pride, and never call it 'basically Croatia.'

Slovene · city guide

Never clink beer glasses, greet everyone with jó napot, and check the bill for a service charge before you tip.

Hungarian · city guide

Cover shoulders and knees or the Basilica guards will turn you away — and the line is shortest at seven in the morning.

Italian · city guide

At a supra the tamada decides when you drink — wait for the toast, and never raise a beer for it.

Georgian · city guide

Ask before photographing anyone in traditional dress, haggle gently, and keep small bills for everything.

Spanish · city guide

Greet with Grüß Gott, never jaywalk in Vienna, and remember that Herr Doktor's title is not optional.

German · city guide

Say buenas to everyone, dance when you're invited, and never admit you don't drink coffee.

Spanish · city guide

Take your shoes off at the door, never sit on a table, and a quiet 'cheers, mate' lands better than a loud compliment.

English · city guide

Lunch at two, dinner at ten — show up earlier and you'll dine alone with the staff.

Spanish · city guide

Take your shoes off indoors, bring an odd number of flowers, and never shake hands across a threshold.

Ukrainian · city guide

Cross the street at a steady pace and let the scooters flow around you — hesitate and you break the system.

Vietnamese · city guide

Greet elders with shikamoo, use your right hand for everything, and accept that pole pole — slowly, slowly — is a way of life.

Swahili · city guide

Coffee is a two-hour sit, not a takeaway — order one and stay; nobody is rushing you out.

Croatian · city guide

Cappuccino after 11am marks you instantly — take your espresso standing at the bar, and never ask for parmesan on seafood pasta.

Italian · city guide

Small talk reads as suspicious here — speak when you have something to say, and Estonians warm up surprisingly fast.

Estonian · city guide

It's Britain with an Andalusian accent — queue properly, pay in pounds, and never feed the macaques unless you fancy a £4,000 fine.

English · city guide

Pour drinks for others, never for yourself, and accept anything from an elder with both hands.

Korean · city guide

Keep your cool — the first person to raise their voice loses, and never touch anyone's head or point your feet at a Buddha.

Thai · city guide

Sit in the front seat of the cab, shout your round at the pub, and keep the bragging to yourself — tall-poppy modesty is real.

English · city guide

Dinner starts at ten, the open-palm moutza is a serious insult, and the toilet paper goes in the bin — the pipes mean it.

Greek · city guide

Take Cusco slow for two days, drink the coca tea, and never street-hail a taxi after dark.

Spanish · city guide

Shoes off at the door, eye contact on the vodka toast, and clear your plate — leaving food at someone's home wounds the host.

Polish · city guide

Lunch is the big meal, dinner barely exists before nine, and 'once' at 6pm is bread and tea — not eleven of anything.

Spanish · city guide

Greet in French, switch to English freely, and save the bikini for the sand — the village shop is not the beach.

Mauritian Creole · city guide

Wait for the green man even on an empty street, and never, ever stand in the bike lane.

Danish · city guide

Never shake hands across a threshold — it's bad luck — and bring an odd number of flowers; even counts are for funerals.

Lithuanian · city guide

Reserved isn't rude here — Latvians warm up slowly, and they'll respect you for not forcing the small talk.

Latvian · city guide

Be five minutes early, greet the shopkeeper with Grüezi, and keep quiet after ten — Sunday lawn-mowing is genuinely against the rules.

German · city guide

Directness isn't rudeness here — haggle in the shuk, expect blunt questions, and plan around everything closing for Shabbat.

Hebrew · city guide

Never skip your round at the pub, and know that 'ah sure you're grand' is doing far more work than the words suggest.

English · city guide

Bring every euro in cash, book casas particulares over state hotels, and let the wifi go — it wasn't coming anyway.

Spanish · city guide

Accept the tea — refusing çay closes doors that no amount of bargaining will reopen.

Turkish · city guide

Don't sit next to a stranger on a half-empty bus, and brace for the bar tab — alcohol prices here will recalibrate your soul.

Norwegian · city guide

Refuse the food once, accept it the second time — and never compare the cooking to anywhere else in the Levant.

Arabic · city guide

The red asphalt is a bike lane, not a sidewalk — stand in it and the bell you hear is for you.

Dutch · city guide

Braai is a verb, a noun, and a religion — don't touch another man's fire, and 'now now' means anything but now.

Zulu · city guide

Lead with bonjour, keep your voice down, and do not treat the waiter like a servant.

French · city guide

Greet with buenos dias before asking for anything, eat tacos with your hands, and never rush the sobremesa.

Spanish · city guide

Accept cards and gifts with both hands, fight for the bill at least once, and never stick your chopsticks upright in the rice.

Mandarin Chinese · city guide

Dress modestly outside the resort, accept the coffee and dates with your right hand, and always ask before photographing people.

Arabic · city guide

Stand on the right of the escalator, keep your receipt because it doubles as a lottery ticket, and never eat on the metro.

Mandarin Chinese · city guide

Treat Bosnian coffee as a slow ritual not a takeaway, and let locals raise the war before you ever do.

Bosnian · city guide

Eat rice and curry with your right hand, read the head wobble as a yes, and never pose with your back to a Buddha statue.

Sinhala · city guide

Keep your voice low, your shoulders covered at temples, and never touch anyone on the head — calm is the local currency.

Lao · city guide

Save smiles for friends not strangers, never shake hands across a doorway, and bring an odd number of flowers — even is for funerals.

Russian · city guide

Answer everything with pura vida, navigate by landmarks because street addresses barely exist, and never honk — tico time is real.

Spanish · city guide

Stand on the right of the Tube escalator, treat the queue as sacred, and say sorry even when it was clearly their fault.

English · city guide

Carry small bills because nobody can change a twenty, and walk Quito slowly — 2,850 meters humbles everyone on day one.

Spanish · city guide

Lead with bonjour or expect frost, dress sharp even for coffee, and put the camera away inside the Casino.

French · city guide

Say sorry when someone bumps into you, tip like an American, and never tell a Canadian their country is basically the States.

English and French · city guide

Greet with a sampeah, keep your feet pointed away from Buddhas, and pay in dollars knowing your change comes back in riel.

Khmer · city guide

Order one coffee and stay an hour — rushing a kafana is the only real faux pas — and respect the cliff roads more than the locals seem to.

Montenegrin · city guide

Greet everyone individually, keep your phone in your pocket on the street, and yes — Brazilians really do eat pizza with a fork.

Portuguese · city guide

Never refuse the tea, take your shoes off at the door, and let your host overfeed you — protesting is part of the ritual.

Azerbaijani · city guide

Eat with your right hand, point with your thumb instead of a finger, and never bring up race or royalty at the dinner table.

Malay · city guide

Add po to soften any sentence, take the karaoke mic when offered, and never grab the last piece of food without offering it around first.

Filipino · city guide

Open with moien anywhere, switch to French in the shops, and plan around Sunday because almost everything is shut.

Luxembourgish · city guide

Say buenas when you walk into any room, take baleada advice from whoever is in line, and fly or shuttle between regions instead of busing at night.

Spanish · city guide

Haggle hard but with a smile, accept the mint tea before talking business, and keep your left hand out of the shared tagine.

Arabic · city guide

Greet the whole room when you enter, accept that merengue volume is the baseline, and keep small peso notes for everything outside the resort.

Spanish · city guide

Tip 20 percent or brace for the stare, expect sales tax to appear at the register, and know that small talk from strangers is friendliness, not an angle.

English · city guide

Greet properly before asking for anything, pay with M-Pesa like everyone else, and haggle in the market but never in the supermarket.

Swahili · city guide

Accept the rakija when it is offered, never rush a kafana night, and split nothing down the middle.

Serbian · city guide

Silence is comfort here, so skip the small talk, take the sauna invitation, and leave your shoes at the door.

Finnish · city guide

Carry crisp cash, keep your camera away from anything in uniform, and let your host do the toasting.

Belarusian · city guide

Accept the third offer of tea even if you refused the first two, and dress for the souk, not the beach.

Arabic · city guide

Hand things over with your right hand, smile through every negotiation, and never touch anyone's head.

Indonesian · city guide

A nod means no and a head shake means yes, so confirm with words before you order a second rakia.

Bulgarian · city guide

Never stir the mate, wait your turn in the circle, and do not say gracias unless you want it to stop coming.

Spanish · city guide

Coffee is a two-hour commitment, hospitality is non-negotiable, and yes can look exactly like a head shake.

Albanian · city guide

Bring an odd number of flowers, never an even one, and hold eye contact through every toast.

Romanian · city guide

Be five minutes early, never jaywalk in front of children, and carry cash because half of Berlin still refuses cards.

German · city guide

Take a queue number at every counter, never sit next to a stranger on an empty bus, and protect the fika hour.

Swedish · city guide

Keep affection private, save your left hand for nothing important, and never turn down the dates and coffee.

Arabic · city guide

A coffee invitation is never just coffee, a meze cannot be rushed, and remember they drive on the left.

Greek · city guide

A half-full cup of tea means stay and talk; a full one means your host is done with you, so sip accordingly.

Kazakh · city guide

Say dobrý deň the moment you enter any shop, take your shoes off at the door, and never toast with water.

Slovak · city guide

Lead with Catalan, not Spanish; a bon dia opens more doors here than any duty-free bargain.

Catalan · city guide

Dress conservatively, eat with your right hand, and let your host insist three times before you accept.

Arabic · city guide

Sip the coca tea, climb stairs slowly on day one, and always ask before photographing anyone in the markets.

Spanish · city guide

Order your frites with mayo, never call them French, and pick your language lane: Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia.

Dutch · city guide

Greet before you ask for anything, take the long chat at the shop, and accept that soon come means whenever it comes.

English · city guide

Coffee is a sit-down ritual, not a takeaway cup, and whatever you do, don't call the salad Greek in Skopje.

Macedonian · city guide

Greet everyone when you walk in the room, take island time as gospel, and tip in cash even when service is on the bill.

English · city guide

Haggle hard but smile harder, keep small notes for baksheesh, and a firm la shukran while walking works wonders.

Arabic · city guide

Open every transaction with a buenas, carry small US bills, and never schedule anything tight around lunch.

Spanish · city guide

Cover up off the resort islands, skip alcohol on local islands entirely, and swim only at designated bikini beaches.

Dhivehi · city guide