Local culture and markets
The best places for local culture and markets are Ketchikan, Aruba, Nassau, Athens, Roatan and Santorini. Ketchikan offers Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian art and totem poles, Aruba has the Tuesday evening Bon Bini Festival at Fort Zoutman, and Nassau has the fish stalls at Potters' Cay and the Junkanoo tradition.
Where it's best
Totem poles stand throughout town, in designated totem parks and at the Totem Heritage Center, which keeps Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian crafts alive through year-round classes. At Totem Bight State Historical Park you can walk among the poles and learn about efforts to keep traditional art alive.
The Bon Bini Festival runs Tuesday evenings at Fort Zoutman in Oranjestad, with folkloric music, dance, local food and crafts for a small admission fee. Markets, local crafts and cultural workshops give more insight into daily island life.
Potters' Cay, under the Paradise Island bridge, is known for its fish market and stalls selling fresh conch salad and conch fritters. Junkanoo, the national street parade, is the big cultural event, and the Junkanoo Edu-Culture Museum explains the tradition.
Plaka's pedestrian lanes mix souvenir stalls with small local businesses, and Monastiraki shows craftspeople and shopkeepers at work. An Athens with a Local program pairs visitors with an Athenian for a walk beyond the guidebooks.
Punta Gorda is a Garifuna village with traditional dance, music and storytelling at cultural events, and a market on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday selling locally grown produce, homemade chocolate and copal incense. Oak Ridge, called the Venice of Roatan, can be explored by water taxi.
On Therasia, visitors stroll cobblestone alleys and traditional villages and eat at a seaside tavern. Panagia Katefiani is a small hillside chapel above Perissa, with a cave and fountain that locals regard as healing.
Ano Mera has a central square lined with tavernas and the Panagia Tourliani monastery, with its church museum and Byzantine church. Live lute and tsampouna music is performed on one village tour.
Lindos village has the free-to-enter Church of the Assumption, covered in ornate icons, with lanes to browse around it. Rhodes also has hidden villages to explore, and one tour stops at a pottery factory to watch ceramics being made.
Şirince is a village whose houses keep their original outside look, with a restored Orthodox church and narrow streets where women sell handcrafts and olive oil.
A local fruit market offers tropical fruit tastings and the role of fruit in Belizean cuisine, and a bakery stop adds fresh pastries. Fort Street Tourism Village often has live local entertainment in its courtyards, and the Belize House of Culture is on the half-day cultural tour.
Kapani and Modiano Markets are where visitors stop for Greek coffee and local bites while trade and crafts go on around them. A tour also visits local craftsmen who keep traditional art alive, and the Museum of Byzantine Culture shows icons, seals and everyday objects.
Mallory Square and the Old Town and Duval area offer shopping and street life on foot. The Key West Art & Historical Society museums show local folk art and the story of island life.
Cozumel is the home of Ixchel, the Maya goddess, and some of the oldest Mayan traditions can be seen here. Downtown San Miguel centers on its square, with local restaurants and bars.
Downtown Juneau has an arts center and the Kootéeyaa Deiyí totem pole trail along the seawalk, with public art. The Farmer's Market sells syrups and fresh vegetables.
George Town is the place to try Caymanian food and buy local crafts, and turtle stew, the national dish, is served at restaurants in town. The Cayman Turtle Centre has exhibitions on the history and culture of the Cayman Islands, and one tour serves Caymanian staples such as Cassava Cake and Swanky at the Mission House.
Vendor's Plaza is a working open-air market where local vendors sell everyday souvenirs and haggling is part of the exchange. Virgin Islands National Park interprets the stories of the Taino people, enslaved and free Africans, and local island culture.
A local guide leads a history tour through Rincón, the island's oldest village. Kralendijk shows everyday life along its waterfront and has a cultural museum.
Broadway shops in the historic district sell native and local crafts and jewelry. The Skagway Museum and Archives shows a Tlingit canoe, Bering Sea kayaks and beadwork.
Tours to book
Prices are per person, booked with our partner, Shore Excursions Group.
Saxman Native Village and Ketchikan City Tour
Private Lindos Village and Kallithea with Panoramic Highlights
