First Contact With Local Transportation

The way you move around a city changes what you see of it. Cabbing everywhere insulates you. Walking everywhere shows you neighborhoods you wouldn't have found. Using the metro puts you next to whoever else uses the metro, and that alone is worth doing.

The first day in a new city, the temptation is to take a taxi from the airport and taxis for the rest of the day. It's easier, you don't need to think. It's also a missed opportunity. The good news is most major cities have transit apps that are now so good they've eliminated the anxiety of getting it wrong.

The airport-to-city question

This is the trip that sets your relationship with the city. Get it right and everything else feels easier.

The general rule is that the direct train from the airport, if it exists, is almost always the best choice. Fast, cheap, no traffic, drops you at a central station where you can figure out the last leg. This is true of Zurich, Vienna, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich, Copenhagen, London Gatwick, Stockholm Arlanda, Rome, Milan Malpensa, Barcelona, Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, and Singapore.

A few airports have famous exceptions. New York's AirTrain plus subway to JFK works but takes over an hour. Los Angeles has no real transit from LAX, though the new Metro connector is finally opening. Bali is taxi or scooter only. Buenos Aires' Ezeiza is really only served by cabs and buses, no train.

If there's no train, the ranking usually goes airport shuttle bus, then a legitimate ride-share, then a taxi from an official queue. Never take an offer from someone approaching you in the arrivals hall. They are always more expensive and sometimes much worse than that.

Buying transit tickets like a local

Once you're in the city, tickets are the small friction that eats time. Most cities have moved to contactless payment or a rechargeable card, and using them changes everything.

• London, tap any contactless card or phone directly on the reader. No Oyster card needed unless you want one.
• Tokyo, Suica or Pasmo, now available in Apple Wallet directly.
• Singapore, tap any Visa or Mastercard contactless directly.
• New York, OMNY works with contactless cards or phones.
• Paris, buy a Navigo Easy card and load a week pass or a carnet of tickets.

Some cities still require a specific physical card or a specific ticket for a specific journey. Berlin's zone system, for example, catches out first-timers because the same ticket does different things depending on where you validate it.

Google Maps and Apple Maps now support most major city transit systems, including real-time delays. Citymapper is often better where it works, especially London, New York, Paris, and Berlin. In Asia, local apps often beat the global ones. In Tokyo, use Japan Travel by NAVITIME. In Seoul, KakaoMap.

Taxis vs ride-share vs metered black cars

The safest general rule in a new city is to use whatever the locals with a phone use.

In most of Europe, that means metered taxis called through Free Now or a similar local app. Or in Estonia, Bolt. Or in France, G7 alongside Uber.

In North America, Uber and Lyft are the default and there's rarely a reason to hail a taxi except in Manhattan where they're often actually faster.

In Latin America, DiDi and Uber compete. Both work, DiDi is often cheaper. Local taxis in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Bogota can be a bit adventurous. App-based is usually better.

In Southeast Asia, Grab covers most of the region. In Vietnam, Xanh SM. In India, Ola and Uber.

In Japan, taxis are metered, expensive, and pristine. Ride-share is barely a thing. Just hail one on the street or use the GO app.

In Africa, Bolt in East Africa. Yango and Uber in South Africa. Careem in North Africa.

The one place where old-school metered taxis still beat everything is Singapore, where the fleet is huge, drivers are professional, and hailing is often faster than app-summoned.

Buses, the underrated hero

Buses are less obvious than the metro but often better. They run above ground so you actually see the city while moving through it. They reach neighborhoods the metro doesn't. And in many cities, dedicated bus lanes make them faster than cars.

Istanbul's ferries are functionally buses and are one of the great transit experiences anywhere. Same for Sydney's ferries, Hong Kong's Star Ferry, Vancouver's Seabus, Amsterdam's free IJ ferry, and Wellington's harbor ferries.

Trams are the joy category. Lisbon's tram 28, Prague's tram network, Vienna's ring tram, Melbourne's free city circle, and San Francisco's cable cars are all part transit part attraction.

Bikes and scooters

Bike-share programs have transformed a lot of cities for tourists. Paris' Velib, London's Santander cycles, Barcelona's Bicing, Berlin's Nextbike, Montreal's Bixi, Mexico City's Ecobici. Cheap, easy to figure out, and often faster than the metro for medium distances.

Electric scooters have had a rougher time. Lime and Bird still operate in some cities but many have banned them, especially in old European centers where they clogged sidewalks. Check before you count on them.

Cycling infrastructure varies enormously. Copenhagen and Amsterdam are the obvious world class examples. Berlin, Vienna, Utrecht, and increasingly Paris are excellent. Rome and Madrid are still hostile to cyclists. Most Asian megacities are dangerous for casual cycling, though Tokyo and Seoul have some good routes.

Walking as transit

The most underrated transportation choice is your own feet. Not for exercise but as a serious daily option.

Almost every historic city center is walkable end to end in under an hour. Once you understand this, entire neighborhoods that felt distant on the metro map turn out to be a 20 minute stroll apart.

Comfortable shoes matter. Water matters, especially in hot cities. So does giving yourself permission to be a little slow. A city walked at 4pm in July in southern Europe or the Middle East is a different city than the same one at 8am.

When to just get in a cab

There are moments to skip the local transit puzzle entirely. When you're carrying luggage, in the rain, running late for a train, or arriving late at night in an unfamiliar area. There's no medal for using the metro when a 15 dollar taxi is the right answer.

But the default, for the first day and every day after, should be feet, then local transit, then a cab as the exception. That's how you actually meet a city.