Website Watch – Spotted by Locals

Which website is the best for getting information about European cities? There are certainly plenty to choose from, but SpottedbyLocals is one of the more interesting. When I looked at vtravelled recently, I found it hard to describe what it does in a sentence or two. There are no such problems with Spotted by Locals. The site feature 21 cities with locals writing about their “spots”.

Founded by Bart and Sanne van Poll, the site has become an interesting and useful resource with well-written articles on places that are not always on the tourist map. Much as I like sites such as qype, the comments of those with an axe to grind can become a bit wearying.

Spotted by Locals, is written by local residents who have been selected by Bart and Sanne and it results in a refreshingly enthusiastic and upbeat look at a city from an insider’s viewpoint. The site also has an individual Twitter feed for each of its 21 featured cities, which it smartly uses to bring travellers to the site. Coming very shortly, the site will feature a customised mobile version of all their 21 cityblogs, and Rotterdam is to be added as a new city.

Bart estimates that around a quarter of the site’s traffic comes from residents of the cities, but the emphasis is still on travellers. From a usability point of view, it would be nice to be able to search by postcode and possibly have a map highlighting all spots local to an area. But overall the site is nicely designed and an entertaining and informative read for anyone visiting or living in any of the featured cities.

Spotted by Locals on Twitter