Most people arrive in a new city on a Friday night and spend two days trying to figure out which neighborhood they should have booked instead. There is a faster way.
We call it the Brunch Rule, and it works like this: on your first Sunday morning, walk the main street of your neighborhood at 11 AM. If every café has a queue of locals in workout clothes waiting for tables, you are in the right neighborhood. If every café is empty, or full of people taking photos of their avocado toast for Instagram, you are in the wrong one — move hotels.
That sounds glib, but it is remarkably diagnostic. Queues of locals in workout clothes mean: this neighborhood has people who live here, who care about their Sunday routine, who have opinions about which café makes the best flat white. It means the district works as a place to live, not just a place to visit.
Neighborhoods that pass the Brunch Rule around the world: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Mile End, Montreal. Fitzroy, Melbourne. Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Kreuzberg, Berlin. Notting Hill, London. Condesa, Mexico City. Nørrebro, Copenhagen. Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires.
Neighborhoods that fail: almost any central business district. Almost any stretch dominated by hotel chains. Almost any street where the shops close on Sundays. Beautiful but empty is the worst combination.
Use the rule. Book better.