Going to a conference is fun and rewarding for a lot of reasons – not least because you get to explore a new place! Conferences are usually held in major cities, which makes travelling to them easier and means that there will be plenty of tourists destinations for you to visit. Taking a bit of time away from the conference to explore the place where you're staying is a good way to de-stress from a busy conference and lets you see places that you otherwise might not.

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Surely one of the best things about travelling is getting to try out new foods and visit different sorts of restaurants and eateries. When you're at a conference, it's actually very helpful to have some ideas about restaurants that you could visit, so that you have a head start on making plans. And being able to chat about food and local restaurants is a great way to make small talk with other attendees at a conference.

Of course, if you haven't visited an area before then you probably don't have any ideas about what kinds of food is available nearby, so you'll need to do a little bit of research before you leave home. Today, we're going to share a list of five websites that you can use to help you find restaurants to visit during a conference.

Trip Advisor and Yelp

Every tourist knows Trip Advisor and Yelp, two of the biggest review sites on the internet. You'll find reviews here for restaurants, cafes, food trucks, and takeaway places, as well as reviews and information on tourist attractions like museums, art galleries, local sites of interest, and more. These sites tends to be tourist-focused, so they will have listings of mainstream places – you're unlikely to find an underground gem here and the recommended spots will be more full of tourists than of locals. But, if you want a recommendation for a restaurant that is 'good enough' and is likely to offer service in English and be broadly pleasing, then either Trip Advisor or Yelp will steer you well.

Google Maps

You probably use Google Maps all the time for navigation on your phone, but don't forget that it has listings and reviews available too. You can browse any local area for restaurants and cafes, and see a star rating and reviews for each place too. The number of reviews is lower than on other sites and varies widely between different cities. However, when you want a quick recommendation for a nearby coffee shop or similar, then Google Maps is perfect.

Open Table

If you prefer a higher end dining experience, then you might want to try Open Table. The site is best known as a reservations system for restaurants, but it also allows you to browse for information about restaurants in a particular area. You can find information on pricing as well as reviews from Open Table users. The restaurants on this site tend to be on the fancier side, so if you're looking for white tablecloths and well-chosen wine lists then this site will help you.

Eater

If you're the kind of person who wants to eat street food everywhere, or who loves to try out local and unique food items, then you won't be that well served by the tourist-focused sites which generally promote places which won't offend anyone. Instead, you want a site focused on foodies and celebrating regional variations of food. Eater is a food website that has news, recipes, and so on. But they also have Eater Guides for specific cities all around the world. These guides provide a snapshot of each city's food scene, recommending places covering everything from cheap takeaway to Michelin starred dining. If there's a guide for the city you're visiting, you'll find that it's full of great recommendations from passionate foodies. 

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