The Roavi Blog
Stories from people who live there.
Travel tips, city guides, and local insights from the Roavi team.
1173 articles
Travel Tips · Los Angeles
Where to Stay in Los Angeles: Santa Monica and Venice for the Beach, Hollywood and West Hollywood for the Middle, Downtown for Metro and Nightlife, Koreatown for Value and Food, Silver Lake for the Eastside, Pasadena for Families, With or Without a Car, With 2026 Prices (2026)
Los Angeles is forty cities pretending to be one, and where you sleep decides which of them you actually see, because the drive between the beach, the hills and downtown eats an hour each way at the wrong time of day. Here is each area, what works without a car, where not to stay, and 2026 prices.
Oscar Garcia··6 min read
Safety · Los Angeles
Is Los Angeles Safe? Yes, in the Areas Visitors Go, With a Few City Rules: Which Neighbourhoods, Downtown Block by Block, the Metro at Night, Car Break-ins, Hollywood Boulevard, Venice After Dark, and What Angelenos Actually Do (2026)
Is Los Angeles safe? Yes, in the areas visitors go to, with a few city rules that Angelenos follow without thinking about them. The risks that actually reach visitors are car break-ins, phone theft on Hollywood Boulevard and Venice, the wrong block of downtown, and the roads. Here is the real guide, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
Oscar Garcia··6 min read
Travel Tips · Los Angeles
Los Angeles Nightlife: Koreatown Until Two, the Sunset Strip's Clubs, Downtown's Rooftops and the Arts District, Silver Lake's Bars, Comedy, the Hollywood Bowl, a Dodgers Game, Taco Trucks at Midnight, Last Call at 2am, Prices and Getting Home (2026)
Los Angeles closes at two, is spread over forty miles, and still has one of the best nights in America if you pick a zone and stay in it: Koreatown's barbecue, karaoke and bars, the Sunset Strip's clubs, downtown's rooftops and the Arts District, Silver Lake's bars with music, the comedy rooms, the Hollywood Bowl in summer, a Dodgers game, and the taco trucks at midnight. Here is each one, the hours, 2026 prices and how to get home.
Oscar Garcia··5 min read
Travel Tips · Cali
Cali Nightlife: Salsa Done Properly, the Melómano Bars of San Antonio, the Salsotecas of Menga, Juanchito Until Dawn, Granada's Bars, Which Night Is Which, 2026 Prices and Getting Home (2026)
Cali's night is salsa, and the city has three versions of it: the melómano bars of San Antonio where people listen as much as they dance, the salsotecas of Menga where the city dances from Thursday to Saturday, and Juanchito across the river, where the night ends at dawn. Here is which is which, which night of the week, what it costs in 2026, and how to get home.
Oscar Garcia··5 min read
Travel Tips · Cali
Where to Stay in Cali, Colombia: San Antonio for Most Visitors, Granada for the Night, El Peñón for Quiet, Ciudad Jardín and the South for Families and Long Stays, and Where Not, With 2026 Prices (2026)
Cali is hot, flat and spread out, and the neighbourhood you sleep in matters more for safety and for the night than in Medellín or Bogotá. Four areas cover almost every visitor: San Antonio, Granada, El Peñón and Ciudad Jardín with the south. Here is each one, where not to stay, and 2026 prices.
Oscar Garcia··5 min read
Travel Tips · New York
Where to Stay in New York: Midtown, Chelsea and the Village, the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Long Island City or Harlem, by the Trip You Are Making, With 2026 Prices (2026)
New York hotel prices are the highest in the country, and the neighbourhood you pick decides how much of the city you see and how much of your trip you spend on the subway. Here is the honest breakdown: Midtown, Chelsea and the Village, the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Long Island City and Harlem, with 2026 prices and the hotels to avoid.
Oscar Garcia··6 min read
Travel Tips · New York
New York Nightlife: Where New Yorkers Actually Go Out, by Neighbourhood (the Lower East Side, the East Village, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Harlem, Queens), the Hours, the Prices, Comedy, Jazz and the Subway Home (2026)
New York's night is not in Times Square and not on a rooftop with a cover charge. It is in bars with no sign on the Lower East Side, in Bushwick warehouses, in a jazz basement in the Village, a comedy cellar for the price of a drink, and a diner at four in the morning. Here is where New Yorkers go out, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, with hours, 2026 prices and the subway home.
Oscar Garcia··6 min read
Travel Tips · Santiago
Where to Stay in Santiago de los Caballeros: Los Jardines, the Centro Histórico, Cerros de Gurabo or Near the Monumento, With 2026 Prices and the Two Things to Ask (2026)
Santiago de los Caballeros is the Dominican Republic's second city and nobody's resort town, so choosing where to sleep works like a normal city: by neighbourhood, by what you will do most, and by how you want to get home at night. Los Jardines, the Centro Histórico, Cerros de Gurabo and the streets around the Monumento, with 2026 prices.
Oscar Garcia··5 min read
Travel Tips · Santiago
Santiago de los Caballeros Nightlife: the Bars Around the Monumento, the Discotecas on the Estrella Sadhalá, Merengue Típico on Saturdays, the Car-Wash Bars and an Águilas Game, With Prices and How to Get Home (2026)
Santiago is the capital of the Cibao, of tobacco, of the Águilas and of merengue típico, and its night is the most Dominican one you can have without a single tourist strip. Where it happens, which night of the week, what it costs in 2026, and how to get home.
Oscar Garcia··5 min read
Travel Tips · Los Angeles
Things to Do in Los Angeles: Santa Monica to Venice, the Getty, Griffith and the Sign, East LA Tacos, Downtown, Koreatown at Night, a Dodgers Game, Free, With Kids, Without a Car, and How to Split It Over 2, 3 or 4 Days (2026)
Los Angeles is forty cities pretending to be one, and the visitor's problem is never what to see but how to get between it. Here is what you cannot miss, what you can skip, what it costs in 2026, what works without a car, and how to split it by the days you have, ordered by zone, which is the only order that works here.
Oscar Garcia··9 min read
Travel Tips · Puerto Plata
Things to Do in Puerto Plata: the Cable Car Early, the Fort and the Amber Museum, the 27 Waterfalls, Sosúa, Cabarete, Free, With Kids, From the Cruise Port, and How to Split It Over 1, 2 or 3 Days (2026)
Puerto Plata was the Dominican Republic's first tourist coast, decades before Punta Cana existed, and that left it something resort zones never have: a real city underneath, with a Victorian centre, a 16th-century fort and the Caribbean's only cable car. Here is what to do, what it costs in 2026, and how to split it by the days you have, including one day off a cruise ship.
Oscar Garcia··8 min read
Travel Tips · Cali
Things to Do in Cali, Colombia: Salsa Done Properly, San Antonio at Sunset, Cristo Rey, the Pance River, the Zoo, Free, at Night, With Kids, and How to Split It Over 2 or 3 Days (2026)
Cali is not a city you visit to see things. You visit it to be somewhere: on a hill at sunset, in a cold river, on a dance floor at two in the morning. Here is what to do, what it costs in 2026, which salsa night is which, and how to split it over two or three days.
Oscar Garcia··6 min read