Destinations
5 Cities Worth Knowing Right Now (And the Insiders Who Know Them)
Every city on The Standing List has an Insider behind it. That is not a marketing line — it is the structural fact that makes the guides work. Without someone who actually lives there, a city guide is just a list. With the right person, it becomes something you can actually use.
Here are five cities currently on The Standing List, and a brief introduction to the people who know them best.
Bangkok
Bangkok is one of those cities that rewards the traveller who goes beyond the obvious. The temples and the street food are real — but so is everything else: the rooftop bars that do not show up in any guide, the neighbourhoods that have been changing for the last decade, the restaurants that locals actually eat at on a weeknight.
Our Bangkok Insider has lived in the city long enough to know the difference between what is worth your time and what is worth skipping. The guide reflects that.
What the guide covers: Neighbourhoods, food, nightlife, the things that are genuinely worth the trip.
Tokyo
Tokyo is a city that takes time to understand. It is enormous, it is layered, and it operates on a logic that is not immediately obvious to someone arriving for the first time. The best way to navigate it is with someone who has already done the work.
Our Tokyo Insider knows the city at the level of detail that most visitors never reach — the specific izakayas, the right time to visit certain neighbourhoods, the things that are genuinely worth the early morning.
What the guide covers: Food, culture, nightlife, and the kind of specificity that makes Tokyo make sense.
Ibiza
Ibiza has a reputation that is both accurate and incomplete. Yes, the clubs are real. Yes, the sunsets are real. But there is a version of Ibiza that most visitors never see — quieter, more local, more interesting than the version that shows up in every travel feature.
Our Ibiza Insider knows both versions. The guide reflects the full picture.
What the guide covers: The club scene, the quieter side of the island, food, and where to actually stay.
Mexico City
Mexico City is one of the most underrated cities in the world for food. It is also one of the most complex — a city of neighbourhoods, each with its own character, its own pace, its own reasons to visit.
Our Mexico City Insider has the kind of knowledge that takes years to accumulate: the taquerias that do not have signs, the mezcal bars that open late, the colonias that are worth the detour.
What the guide covers: Food (in depth), neighbourhoods, nightlife, and the cultural context that makes the city make sense.
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires rewards the traveller who slows down. It is a city built for long meals, late nights, and the kind of wandering that does not have a destination. It is also a city that is changing — faster than most people realise.
Our Buenos Aires Insider is embedded in the city's cultural life in a way that shows in the guide. The recommendations are specific, the context is real, and the result is something that reads differently from anything else you will find about the city.
What the guide covers: Food, culture, the neighbourhoods worth knowing, and the things that make Buenos Aires worth the flight.
What all five have in common
Each of these cities has an Insider who knows it at a level that most travel content never reaches. That is the premise of The Standing List: that the best guide to a city is the person who lives there, not the person who visited once and filed a list.
The guides are available now. The itineraries are available now. If you are planning a trip to any of these cities — or just curious about what the Insider has to say — the guides are the place to start.