Vacation where you wish you would have spent more time as a "local"

For me it was Chicago, I tried to do everything in a weekend and felt missed a lot of what I wanted or should have done. Luckily it is a cheaper vacation so I've been able to go back and just enjoy it since.

As a personal preference, when I hear people going on honeymoons that are full of activities (i.e. busy, busy, consecutive tour-days of Italy or Disney on 5 of their 6 honeymoon days)..

.. I am glad we went to St. John and mostly just relaxed, snorkeled (a few feet out of our cabana), sunbathed, enjoyed the "surf" at Caneel Bay, and ate some wonderful local meals. I did rent a jeep one day, and we did do a day-hike in the natl. park. And we went out to local bars too. But not much else (that I can type here, in good taste).

So, to each their own, for sure... but my answer to your interesting Q is a not a location, but an event... the honeymoon.

Slovenia. By a mile. Beautiful scenery. Cheap. Friendly people. Rich in history.

The Azores. I only got to spend time on Pico, Sao Miguel, Terceira, and Faial, but I feel sure that I would love to move to and live on Flores, the most remote island. Actually, I'd love to live on any of those islands.

It is how I vacation now, however, when I was younger and exploring the US I was essentially a go and see the sights guy. Didn't care about actually learning or understanding

I’m a slow traveler all the way. I would always rather hang out, make time to people watch and chat, and be relaxed. Checking off the sights is not for me. I figure not seeing them all just gives me a reason to go back.

I always laugh when I read threads on this board claiming that Place X can be “done” in just a few days. Those people are not my ideal travel companions.

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I was able to see some sights that don't appear on travel advisor or at least in the top 10 that I found better than some in the top 10.

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This is how to travel.

Recs are fine but we are all different. I find things the locals do is far better than touristy stuff of most popular travel sites recommend. For the most part they are shams

Bangkok. I went to some really clean and nice suburb (away from all the crazy trashy stuff) near the King's palace that had these streams and bridges and coffee shops and clean, nice architecture and I just had a feeling like when I lived in Japan that I wanted to stay there for months/years. I was calculating in my mind how I could pull that off. Alas...

I've felt some kind of weird pull in Ireland and Barcelona as well. But SE Asia has some kind of primal attraction for me. The tentative plan is retire to Mrs. Pimp's childhood seaside village of Ha Tien, Vietnam on the Cambodian border. And just melt into the local culture.

Maybe not “as a local” but I was disappointed in myself for not planning a weekend to bar Harbor better.

Vietnam. I stayed for only 11 days, touring the country. Lots of fun. But I wish I would have grabbed a place in Hoi An (amazing town) for a couple weeks and just chilled and lived.