What's the best way to see a city without going there?

[HakkaMex]

Just wondering what the best way is to view how a city is like and I don't just mean the tourist attractions. If I google Krakow or Melbourne or Bangalore or Edmonton or whatever then I'll just get images of buildings/downtowns/tourist attractions.

I'd love to be able to see them at a street level (and no not through google streetsview lol that's very tedious), see how people move there, etc. I would love if there was a good series of travel videos but again, most of them just cover tourist spots.

 

[Kemosloby]

Have you tried calling random people who live there and asking them to skype?

 

[bobhikes]

Just wondering what the best way is to view how a city is like and I don't just mean the tourist attractions. If I google Krakow or Melbourne or Bangalore or Edmonton or whatever then I'll just get images of buildings/downtowns/tourist attractions.

I'd love to be able to see them at a street level (and no not through google streetsview lol that's very tedious), see how people move there, etc. I would love if there was a good series of travel videos but again, most of them just cover tourist spots.

The best way to experience anything is to talk with people that were there. You can always google the sites as you converse of discuss. As a side there are lots of world travelers on the RF and many probably live in the area's you want to see. The people on the RF seem to like to share their words with others.

 

[SomeRandom]

Google Maps/Earth?

 

[Vinayaka]

TripAdvisor has individual city forums where you can discuss, ask questions, post pictures, etc.

But let's face it, nothing beats a real visit.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Google Maps/Earth?

^This. Google Earth has virtual tours if I recall correctly.

 

[SomeRandom]

^This. Google Earth has virtual tours if I recall correctly.

Yeah, the marvels of technology ehh.
Personally, I like traveling (except the actual travel part lol) so I'd try to save to go places.