City insiders' hidden gems on new site

Gone are the days of lugging around an outdated, dog-eared and coffee-stained copy of Lonely Planet. With new website, I Like Locals, expatriates and travelers alike can experience the city through the eyes of the people who live here, either by the insights they put up on the user-driven site or by connecting and meeting them.

Founder, Mikkel Rathje, got the idea when he ran into two German tourists who were in Copenhagen for just 24 hours, “They said they had seen Strøget and some churches and I couldn’t help but think, that sounds super boring. I had some extra bikes and a couple of hours, so I offered to show them around.”

But we aren’t all as lucky to run into a local-turned-tour-guide when we travel to a new city, which made Mikkel come up with the idea: “Immediately, I began scaling up the idea and thought it would be cool if we could have a lot of different locals show their city, based on their own interests.”

Connect with locals on and offline

“Cities are so much better with local knowledge and that’s why I Like Locals is great – you can browse through local hangouts but you also have the chance to connect and even meet with the local who posted the spot” says Sophia Skinbjerg, a keen user of the site.

You can peruse the many splendid sights and become a user to share your favourite cafés, bars or picnic-spots. The platform makes it easy for locals to create a profile by connecting to Facebook and Instagram. The Discover tab shares curated hot spots and you can add favourite users who match your interests and save place.

What makes the site differ from other user-driven sites like Tripadvisor or the Lonely Planet thorn three forum is that you can connect with locals in real life. Exchange student, Sophie Zebst, finds it difficult to meet Danes in Denmark. While her exchange program plans lots of social activities, it’s often other exchange students you meet. While she admits this is great, meeting locals and discovering cool places would be a huge plus.

Where to next?

I Like Locals is still in the start-up phase, but the founders plan on taking the platform to the next level and include not only other Danish cities but also other countries.

“We have bootstrapped long enough and have to get investment now to take it to the next level,” says Mikkel.

If you like what you see, you can even make an invest in their current Funded By Me campaign and help bring I Like Locals to more cities across the globe.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

Like us on Facebook for features, guides and tips on upcoming events. Follow us on Twitter for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories. Sign up for the University Post weekly newsletter here.