Don't waste a day.

Skip the fountains and the queues. Grandpa Trully knows every city like a local: the fado tavern, the jazz cellar, the Sunday market, and his own route for a day out. He'll show you where to go.

Get lifetime access$29.99

Pay once. No subscription. Founding price for our first supporters, only until launch.

What you get right now

Grandpa's secret places and day routes in 5 cities: Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, London
New cities every week
Lifetime access to the app when it launches in December 2026

Poke the turtle. He has opinions.

14 days to change your mind, no questions asked. And if the app isn't in the App Store and Google Play by 31 December 2026, we refund everyone in full. No need to ask.

Trully

Hmph. A visitor.

I'm Trully. Old turtle, many miles.

So. What brings you here?

I'm planning a trip I'm already there Who are you, grandpa?Just looking

Get lifetime access$29.99

This is a little taste of the app. Tap things. Grandpa will comment, he can't help it.

What Trully does

A grandpa who knows every city like a local, in your pocket.

Grandpa's secret places
The corners locals keep for themselves, not the top-ten list: a garden on the hill, a museum nobody queues for, a lane of tiled houses. City by city, checked and dated.
Things to do, not things to stare at
Bars with live music, markets, dances, a workshop where you paint your own tile. Grandpa tells you when to go, what it costs and what to skip.
A day out with grandpa
A free day in the city? Take his route: stop by stop, the walk in between, a long lunch somewhere good. Don't like it? He'll grumble, then give you another.
New cities every week
We start with Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and London, then add more cities and more unusual corners of the world, every week.

You know this feeling

Half a day gone, forty tabs open, and you still don't know where to go.

The endless search

You read ten lists that all say the same thing, and none says what to skip.

The same ten places

Every list sends you to the same fountain, and the same crowd is already standing there.

The empty afternoon

You are in the city, the clock is ticking, and the phone offers a hundred pins and no plan.

Grandpa knows where the locals go. He tells you, in a few words, and you go.

Grandpa's travel album

I did not learn this from a screen. Some of my tips come from tall tales and some from hard lessons, and every one of them sends you somewhere worth the walk.

Founding Traveler

Founding price for our first supporters - only until launch.

$29.99one-time

Lifetime access to the Trully app, launching December 2026
Instant access to Grandpa's city guides: Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, London
New cities every week
Pay once. No subscription.

The app is not out yet. That is why the price is low: you are one of the first, and you help it get built. Today you get the web guide at once, and the app follows in December 2026. If it is not in the App Store and Google Play by 31 December 2026, we refund everyone in full. No need to ask.

Changed your mind? Write to us within 14 days and we send the money back. No form, no questions.

Get lifetime access$29.99

Secure checkout by Paddle. Read the refund policy

What you get

The guide, today. Instant access to Grandpa's web guide to Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and London.
New cities every week. The guide keeps growing. You get every new city, at no extra cost.
The app, for life. Lifetime access when Trully launches on iPhone and Android in December 2026.

Card refused?Write to us at litaui100@gmail.com and we will sort it out with you.

Grandpa's secret places

No fountains, no statues, no queues. The corners locals keep for themselves, and things to do there: a fado tavern, a jazz cellar, a Sunday market. Pick a city.

New cities every week.

Lisbon

Santana / Avenida da Liberdade hill
Jardim do Torel
A small hilltop garden with a grassy terrace, a kiosk with outdoor seats and a wide view over Baixa and the river.
Sunset here? Pah. Bring cheese, bring a coat, and walk up like a Christian. The funicular is asleep, same as me after lunch.
Time
1–2 h
Price
Free
Best
Late afternoon, an hour before sunset
Thing to do: Live music
Graca
Tasca do Jaime: weekend fado vadio
A tiny family tavern where, every weekend afternoon, neighbours and regulars take turns singing amateur fado over red wine and cod fritters.
Fado? In my day we sang it to the soup. Go on Sunday, order the cod fritters, and for the love of cheese, do not talk while Dona Pimpona sings.
Time
2–3 h
Price
No entry fee
Best
Saturday, Sunday or holiday, from about 17:30
Alfama / Se
Museu do Aljube - Resistance and Freedom
A small museum inside the former political prison of the dictatorship, with the barred cells still in place and testimonies of the people held here.
A prison turned museum. I remember when the jailer was my cousin. Or was that a cheese shop? Four euros, and the cells are free of rent.
Time
1.5–2 h
Price
EUR 4
Best
Tuesday–Friday morning
Thing to do: Live music
Alvalade
Tavola Jazz Club
A 50-seat jazz bar tucked up two flights of concrete steps in a quiet Alvalade street, with live jazz five nights a week and almost no amplification.
A jazz club behind two sets of stairs. Naturally I knew it before it opened. Sit by the drums, drink slowly, and clap only when the fish is done swimming.
Time
2 h
Price
About EUR 12.50
Best
Wed–Sat, music from about 22:00
Ajuda
Jardim Botanico da Ajuda
Portugal's oldest botanical garden (1768): clipped box hedges, baroque fountains, terraces over the river and a few free-roaming peacocks.
Oldest garden in the country. I planted half of it, mostly by sitting still. Mind the peacocks.
Time
1–1.5 h
Price
EUR 2
Best
Weekday morning
Thing to do: Live music
Graca / Intendente edge
Damas
A former neighbourhood bakery turned bar, restaurant and tiny concert room where the old ovens still sit in the wall and a different band plays almost every night.
A bakery that sells music instead of bread. Still hot at midnight. I approve, though the ovens used to be bigger.
Time
2–3 h
Price
Concerts free to about EUR 10
Best
Thursday to Saturday from 22:00
Campolide / Alcantara valley
Aguas Livres Aqueduct walk
A walk along the top of the 18th-century stone aqueduct that survived the great earthquake, 65 m above the Alcantara valley.
Walk across if you dare. The big arch? I held it up personally during the earthquake. Allegedly. Four euros, and the view is better than my knees.
Time
1 h
Price
EUR 4 self-guided
Best
Morning, dry and clear day
Thing to do: By the river
Cacilhas / Almada (across the Tagus)
Ferry to Cacilhas and the Jardim do Rio sunset
A 10-minute public ferry to the other bank, then a riverside walk to a grassy garden facing the 25 de Abril bridge, with a free glass lift up the cliff.
You cross the river for lunch like a sensible person. Take the ferry back at sunset and tell nobody. The bridge looks better when it is not crowded.
Time
3 h
Price
Ferry about EUR 2
Best
2–3 hours before sunset
Baixa / Restauradores
Casa do Alentejo
A plain doorway off a busy street opens into a Moorish-style palace courtyard with tiles, palms and carved balconies.
Looks like a palace in Marrakech, smells like migas. The door is plain. Humble people hide good things.
Time
30–60 min
Price
Free to enter the courtyard
Best
Late morning
Thing to do: Workshop
Graca
Hand-painted azulejo workshop in Graca
A small workshop in a corner shop where you paint your own tile by hand with mineral pigments, then collect it kiln-fired the next day.
Blue tiles, steady hand. I painted a tile once in 1743 and it is still on a wall. Do not copy the wobble, copy the patience.
Time
1.5 h
Price
About EUR 45 a tile
Best
10:30 or 15:00 slot, booked ahead

Grandpa's own route

Grandpa's Graca Saturday: tiles, a long lunch, a ginja and fado

About 7 hours, on foot with one short tram or walk back uphill. Best on a Saturday or Sunday so the fado is on.

10:30
Hand-painted azulejo workshop, Graca
Start by making something with your hands. Paint one tile with a patient local artist (book the 10:30 slot) and leave it to be fired for tomorrow.
Then: 5 minutes on foot downhill to Rua do Sol a Graca.
12:15
Vila Berta
A quiet 20-minute stroll through a tiny 1900s workers' lane of tiled walls and iron balconies. Keep your voice low, people live here, and do not photograph into windows.
Then: 15 minutes on foot downhill into Mouraria (or bus 734 from Graca).
12:45
Ze da Mouraria
Lunch where the queue forms at the door and the menu is in Portuguese. Share one giant plate (bifinhos ao alhinho, garlic steak, or the bacalhau) between two. Cash only, lunch only, queue from about 12:45.
Then: 15 minutes on foot via Martim Moniz and Rossio to Rua das Portas de Santo Antao, or metro Martim Moniz to Rossio, 3 minutes.
14:30
Ginjinha Sem Rival and the Casa do Alentejo courtyard
Drink a standing shot of ginja (sour cherry liqueur, about EUR 2) at Ginjinha Sem Rival, number 7 on the same street, with the cherry. Then climb the plain door at number 58 and look down on the Moorish courtyard for 20 minutes. It is free.
Then: Walk 10 minutes to Martim Moniz, then tram 28 about 12 minutes up to Graca (queues are long, or walk 25 minutes uphill through Mouraria).
16:30
Tasca do Jaime
Order an imperial (small draught beer), the cod fritters with tomato rice (about EUR 10) and stand or sit wherever there is room. The singing starts at 16:00 but gets warm from 17:30. Stay until the sun goes, and be silent while anyone sings.
Then: Finish. The Graca viewpoint is 5 minutes on foot if you want a last look at the river; tram 28 or bus back down to the city.

Paris

5th arr., Latin Quarter
Arènes de Lutèce
A Roman amphitheatre hidden behind apartment blocks, where locals play pétanque on the old arena floor.
Gladiators fought here. Now old men throw metal balls. Honestly, progress is overrated.
Time
30–45 min
Price
Free
Best
Late afternoon
Thing to do: Live music
4th arr., Marais
38Riv jazz cellar jam session
A 12th-century vaulted cellar where musicians of every level jam until after midnight for the price of a coffee and a beer.
Stone cellar, loud musicians, cheap beer. Finally a place that makes sense.
Time
2–3 h
Price
Jam sessions EUR 9 full
Best
Thursday 23:00
9th arr., South Pigalle
Musée de la Vie Romantique
A small green-shuttered 1830 mansion on a cobbled courtyard, with free collections and a tea garden.
Pretty little house, free to enter. Suspicious. Nobody gives anything away in Paris. Go.
Time
1–1.5 h
Price
Free permanent collection
Best
Weekday late morning, tea in the garden
Thing to do: Live music
5th arr., Latin Quarter
Le Piano Vache (free gypsy jazz Mondays)
A poster-covered student bar behind the Pantheon, open since 1969, with free gypsy jazz every Monday and blues on Tuesday.
Free music, old posters, a dog under the table. If this is a trap, I walk into it every Monday.
Time
2–3 h
Price
Free concerts
Best
Monday from 21:00
13th arr., Butte-aux-Cailles
Cité Florale
A tiny quarter of cobbled lanes named after flowers, lined with ivy-covered cottages from 1928.
Streets named after flowers. In my day streets were named after generals. Flowers smell better.
Time
30–45 min
Price
Free
Best
Morning or late afternoon in spring
Thing to do: Market
12th arr., Bastille-Aligre
Marche d'Aligre (open-air market, covered hall and flea stalls)
The market where Parisians do their real shopping: street stalls, a 19th-century covered hall and a flea market on one square.
Go early, bring cash, argue about the tomatoes. That is how you know it is real.
Time
1–1.5 h
Price
Free to enter
Best
Saturday or Sunday morning
20th arr., Belleville
Parc de Belleville viewpoint
The hilltop park where Belleville locals bring wine, bread and friends for sunset over the whole city.
Climb the hill, look down. The whole city looks smaller. Same as my problems.
Time
1–2 h
Price
Free
Best
Sunset
Thing to do: Join in
19th arr., Stalingrad-Riquet
Bal Pop' at CENTQUATRE (free dance night)
A free dance party in a former funeral-parlour hall, with live bands and DJs and a crowd of neighbours aged 6 to 76.
Free dancing with strangers of all ages. I will stand by the wall and tap my foot. Do not tell anyone.
Time
2–4 h
Price
Free entry
Best
Sat 31 Oct 2026, 18:30–23:00
19th arr., Buttes-Chaumont
Butte Bergeyre
A car-light hilltop hamlet with its own vineyard, beehives, and a view to Sacré-Cœur.
Stairs up, no shops, no crowds. A village for people who hate small talk. My kind of place.
Time
45–60 min
Price
Free
Best
Sunset

Grandpa's own route

Grandpa's Left Bank day: market, ruins and free jazz

half a day to evening (about 7 hours with a long break; start 10:00, bar from 17:00)

10:00
Marche d'Aligre (outdoor stalls)
Start with coffee and a pastry, then walk the stalls. Buy cheese, bread and fruit for lunch. Do it Tue-Sun; the market is closed on Monday.
Then: 3 min on foot to the covered hall on the same square.
11:15
Marche Beauvau (covered hall, Aligre)
Pick up lunch: cheese, ham, a baguette, something sweet. Browse the flea stalls in rue d'Aligre on the way out.
Then: About 35 min on foot via Pont d'Austerlitz and the Jardin des Plantes, or about 25 min by metro (change likely); walking is better.
12:45
Arenes de Lutece
Picnic on the old stone terraces, watch the petanque game on the arena floor, stay a while.
Then: About 10 min on foot via rue Monge and rue Laplace to the Pantheon side.
17:00
Le Piano Vache
Happy hour from 17:00 (drinks). Tuesday blues from 19:30 or Monday gypsy jazz from 21:00, both free. Eat from the kitchen if hungry. Note: Monday means the market is closed, so use Tuesday for the whole route.
Then: End of route. Metro Cardinal Lemoine (line 10) is 2 min away.

Rome

Ostiense / Garbatella
Centrale Montemartini
Rome's first public power plant, now a museum where ancient marble statues stand between giant black diesel engines and boilers.
Gods and diesel engines, kid. I told Caesar to plug in the turbine himself. He wouldn't listen.
Time
1.5–2 h
Price
EUR 11
Best
Tuesday–Friday right at 9:00 opening
Thing to do: Market
Testaccio
Mercato di Testaccio
A covered neighbourhood market where Romans eat lunch standing up: fresh pasta, supplì, panini and wine between the produce stalls.
Pasta for eight euros and nobody holding a flag. Eat first, look at the ruins under your feet after.
Time
1–1.5 h
Price
Free to enter
Best
Tuesday–Saturday, arrive 11:30–13:00
Garbatella (south, Municipio VIII)
Garbatella
A 1920s garden-city neighbourhood of courtyards, arches and small lots, with honest Roman trattorias.
No tour buses here. Just washing lines and gossip. Ninety years of it, I counted.
Time
2–3 h
Price
Free
Best
Late morning into lunch
Thing to do: Market
Trastevere
Porta Portese Sunday market
Rome's giant Sunday flea market, a weekly ritual for Romans: vinyl, books, vintage clothes, junk and the occasional treasure along a two-kilometre maze of streets.
Everything from pills to jumbo jets, they say. I sold Gino a clock here once. He still owes me.
Time
1.5–3 h
Price
Free to enter
Best
Sunday 7:30–9:30
Appio-Latino / Tuscolano (south-east)
Parco degli Acquedotti
A big grassy park crossed by long ruined arcades of ancient Roman aqueducts, with pines and sheep country feel.
The Romans carried water here before you carried phones. Slowly, like me. Take a sandwich.
Time
1.5–3 h
Price
Free
Best
Late afternoon for golden light on the arches
Thing to do: Live music
Monti
Charity Cafe (live jazz and blues)
A tiny cellar bar on Via Panisperna where live jazz or blues plays almost every night, with benches a few steps from the band.
A cellar, a sax and eleven musicians who never met. Buy one drink, kid, and sit still. That is the whole trick.
Time
1.5–3 h
Price
First drink about EUR 8–10
Best
Wednesday–Saturday, music from about 22:00
Celio / Monti, near the Colosseum
Basilica di San Clemente (the layers below)
A 12th-century church built on a 4th-century church built on a Roman house with a Mithras temple and a running underground stream.
Three churches in one, plus a bull-killing god. Stairs, kid. Always stairs. Mind your shell.
Time
1–1.5 h
Price
Church free, excavations EUR 10
Best
Weekday around 15:00
Thing to do: Evening out
Pigneto / Prenestino
Pigneto after dark
A former working-class quarter of low houses, murals and a pedestrian street where Romans have an aperitivo and stay out late.
No monuments. Just murals, bad parking and good company. Come hungry, leave late, mind the bicycles.
Time
2–4 h
Price
Free to walk
Best
Thursday–Saturday, from 18:30 for aperitivo into the night
Thing to do: Day out
Appia Antica Regional Park (south)
Via Appia Antica on a Sunday
Walk or ride the original Roman road between tombs, umbrella pines and farm fields, when Romans take it over on foot and bike.
Two thousand years of cobbles, kid. I walked them in sandals. Wear proper shoes, I will not carry you.
Time
3–5 h
Price
Road is free
Best
Sunday, from morning

Grandpa's own route

Grandpa's Roman day: lots, engines, lunch and jazz

About 6 hours on foot from 10:30, then a free gap before the jazz at 19:00. Tuesday to Saturday only (Montemartini is closed Monday, the market closed Sunday).

10:30
Garbatella
Metro B to Garbatella. Coffee on Piazza Brin, then wander the courtyards, the Pincetto lookout and the arch on Piazza Sant'Eurosia. Keep your voice down, people live here.
Then: 12 minutes on foot down to Via Ostiense.
11:45
Centrale Montemartini
Marble gods between black diesel engines. An hour is enough. EUR 11.
Then: Bus or metro B to Piramide (about 6 minutes), then 10 minutes on foot to the market; or 25 minutes walking along Via Ostiense.
13:00
Mercato di Testaccio
Lunch standing up: fresh pasta, a supplì, a panino from Mordi e Vai, a glass of wine at the central tables. Arrive before 14:00, stalls close early.
Then: Walk 5 minutes to Piramide, metro B two stops to Colosseo, then 5 minutes on foot to Piazza San Clemente (about 20 minutes).
15:30
Basilica di San Clemente
Go down through three layers of Rome to the Mithras temple and the underground stream. Book the EUR 10 excavation slot online first.
Then: Free gap: stroll Monti (15 minutes on foot to Via Panisperna 68) and have a coffee or an early drink.
19:00
Charity Cafe
Happy hour first, then live jazz or blues from about 22:00 (Sunday early concert 19:00-21:30). One drink covers the music. Finish with a glass of wine and stay as long as the band does.
Then: Metro B from Cavour is 5 minutes on foot; last metro around 23:30, night bus or taxi after.

Barcelona

Montjuïc (Poble-sec), Sants-Montjuïc
Mossèn Costa i Llobera Cactus Gardens
A free hillside garden of about 800 cactus and succulent species facing the port, on the sunny seaward slope of Montjuïc.
Cactus garden? I planted half of these myself, back when the port was a puddle. Mind the spines, kid.
Time
45–60 min
Price
Free
Best
Morning or late afternoon light
Thing to do: Eat & drink
Barceloneta, Ciutat Vella
La Cova Fumada
A sign-less family tavern from 1944 behind the Barceloneta market, where the bomba was invented and the menu is still on a chalkboard.
No sign on the door. If you need a sign to find good food, kid, you're lost already. Eat the bomba.
Time
45–60 min
Price
About EUR 20–30 a person
Best
Weekday, before 11:00
Poble-sec, Sants-Montjuïc
Refugi 307 Air-Raid Shelter
A Spanish Civil War bomb shelter with about 400 m of tunnels dug by neighbours, visited only on a short guided tour.
Hid in a shelter like this once, waiting out a storm. Three years, nobody noticed. Turtles are patient.
Time
1 h
Price
EUR 3.50
Best
Sat–Sun only, book the tour
Thing to do: Join in
Poble-sec, Sants-Montjuïc
Castellers del Poble-sec open rehearsal
Watch a neighbourhood team practise human towers in their own clubhouse, free, any Tuesday or Friday evening.
Humans standing on humans. In my day we just stood on our own two feet. All four of them.
Time
45–90 min
Price
Free
Best
Tuesday or Friday evening, arrive about 20:00
Horta, Horta-Guinardó
Carrer d'Aiguafreda (the Laundresses' Street)
A tiny village lane of eight low whitewashed houses with their old wells and washing basins, once home to Horta's laundresses.
Laundresses here washed my shell twice a week. Cleanest turtle in Catalonia. Still waiting for the bill.
Time
20–30 min
Price
Free
Best
Morning
Thing to do: Live music
El Raval, Ciutat Vella
23 Robadors
A 30-seat hole-in-the-wall bar where flamenco and jazz musicians play for about EUR 10, with the audience mostly locals and music students.
Thirty seats and a guitar. I once sang here. They asked me to stop. Still the best review I ever got.
Time
1–2 h
Price
EUR 10
Best
Sets at 20:00 and 22:00
Thing to do: Market
Sant Antoni, Eixample
Sant Antoni Sunday market
Since 1937, every Sunday morning, stalls of second-hand books, comics, vinyl, stamps and coins fill and surround the old iron market hall.
Old books, old coins, old men arguing about both. Finally, my kind of crowd.
Time
1–1.5 h
Price
Free
Best
Sunday 09:00–11:00
Thing to do: Eat & drink
Sant Antoni, Eixample
Bar Calders (Sunday vermut)
A neighbourhood terrace on a tiny pedestrian passage where Sant Antoni does l'hora del vermut, draught vermouth and tapas, on Sundays.
Vermouth before lunch. Eight hundred years and nobody has ever told me to go home early. Another round.
Time
1–2 h
Price
About EUR 10–25 a person
Best
Sunday 12:00–13:30

Grandpa's own route

Grandpa's lazy Sunday in Sant Antoni and Poble-sec

about 6 hours (08:45-14:45), on foot

08:45
Sant Antoni Sunday market
Start early with the collectors. Walk the stalls, dig through old comics and vinyl, buy one book you cannot read.
Then: Walk about 14 min south to Carrer Nou de la Rambla 175 (about 1 km, flat, via Carrer de Manso and Poble Sec).
10:20
Refugi 307 air-raid shelter
The 10:30 English tour walks the real tunnels the neighbours dug in the Civil War. Book ahead for EUR 3.50.
Then: Walk about 10 min back north to Carrer del Parlament 25.
11:45
Bar Calders
Vermouth hour. Order the house vermut from the tap with anchovies and tapas, sit on the terrace and do nothing for an hour.
Then: Walk about 25 min up to Montjuïc, via Poble Sec and Carretera de Miramar (uphill); take a taxi if your legs complain, about 6 min.
13:45
Mossèn Costa i Llobera Cactus Gardens
End in the desert pocket above the port. Sit under the palms and look at the harbour. Leave by 14:45; the gardeners work until 14:30.
Then: End of route. Evening idea: 23 Robadors in El Raval, 20:00 or 22:00 set, EUR 10 (Metro L3 Paral·lel to Drassanes).

London

City of London (near Monument / Tower Hill)
St Dunstan in the East
The ruined walls and tower of a Wren church, bombed in the Blitz and turned into a leafy public garden.
Bombs knocked the roof off, ivy moved in. Honestly, the ivy has better manners than the tenants before it.
Time
15–30 min
Price
Free
Best
Morning or late afternoon
Thing to do: Eat & drink
Hatton Garden / Holborn (EC1)
Ye Olde Mitre
A tiny wood-panelled pub from 1546 hidden down an alley between two buildings, with a cherry-tree trunk built into the bar.
Hidden in an alley so only the thirsty find it. Bishops, thieves, me, same stool. Mind the cherry tree, it was here first.
Time
1–2 h
Price
Pay as you go
Best
Weekday late afternoon or Saturday early afternoon
Walthamstow, E17 (north-east London)
God's Own Junkyard
A warehouse on an industrial estate crammed with thousands of salvaged and handmade neon signs, with a cafe-bar inside.
Sign says junkyard, but I've seen less glow in a lighthouse. Go Friday, bring sunglasses, leave the big camera.
Time
45–90 min
Price
Free entry
Best
Friday or Saturday evening
Thing to do: Live music
Dalston, Hackney (N16)
Vortex Jazz Club
A volunteer-run 100-seat jazz club on a Dalston square, with live music six nights a week and tickets from GBP 6.
Hundred seats, a pillar in the middle, and the best trumpet in London. I sat behind the pillar. Heard everything.
Time
2–3 h
Price
GBP 6-25 per gig
Best
Any evening Tue-Sun
Leamouth / Docklands, E14 (east London)
Trinity Buoy Wharf Lighthouse (Longplayer)
London's only lighthouse, an experimental one from the 1860s where a 1,000-year-long piece of music plays on weekends.
The song here started in 1999 and ends in 2999. I plan to hear the ending. Slowly.
Time
1–2 h
Price
Free
Best
Weekend afternoon
Thing to do: Market
Bermondsey (SE1)
Maltby Street Market
A cobbled alley under railway arches where about 30 traders cook raclette, steaks and doughnuts and the crowd is thin enough to think.
Borough's little brother has better manners. Doughnut first, opinions after.
Time
1.5–2.5 h
Price
Free entry
Best
Saturday 10am-noon
Thing to do: Join in
Primrose Hill / Camden (NW1)
London Ceilidh Club at Cecil Sharp House
A three-hour Scottish folk dance night with a live band and a caller, for people who have never danced a step.
Eighty percent of the room doesn't know the steps. That's the charm. I step on toes, everyone apologises. Very British.
Time
3 h
Price
GBP 27
Best
Friday or Saturday night
Thing to do: Steam & swim
Bayswater (W2)
Porchester Spa
London's oldest public Turkish bath, a 1929 art deco building with three hot rooms, steam rooms and a cold plunge pool, at a local-council price.
Steam, marble and no phones. Finally a room as warm as my shell. Bring your own towel, I'm not lending mine.
Time
2–3 h
Price
GBP 31.95 adult
Best
Weekday morning

Grandpa's own route

Grandpa's Saturday: arches, ruins, a 1546 pub and a dance

About 4.5 hours by day (11:00-17:30), plus an optional ceilidh evening (doors 19:00, ends 23:00)

11:00
Maltby Street Market
Breakfast and an early lunch under the railway arches: a doughnut and coffee first, then a hot dish from a stall (raclette, steak or dumplings). Eat standing on the cobbles, be gone before the noon crowd.
Then: 30 minutes on foot across Tower Bridge to Monument.
13:15
St Dunstan in the East
Sit on a bench inside the ivy-covered ruins of a Wren church. Quiet, free, 20 to 30 minutes. Digest.
Then: About 30 minutes: walk 8 minutes to Bank, Central line two stops to Chancery Lane, 8-minute walk to Ely Court.
14:45
Ye Olde Mitre
Drink: a pint of real ale and a toastie in a 1546 pub hidden in an alley (kitchen closes at 4pm on Saturday). Find the cherry-tree trunk in the front bar and the six-by-ten-foot snug. Stay until about 17:00.
Then: About 30 minutes: Chancery Lane to Tottenham Court Road (Central), Northern line to Camden Town, 10-minute walk.
17:30
Early dinner near Camden Town
Eat something warm before the dance; pick any independent place away from Camden Lock (not checked by us, so no named recommendation).
Then: 10 minutes on foot to Cecil Sharp House.
19:30
London Ceilidh Club at Cecil Sharp House
End the day dancing with strangers: doors 19:00, dancing 20:00-23:00, caller teaches every dance. Only on ceilidh dates (next listed: Sat 7 Nov 2026), so book first; otherwise end at the pub.
Then: Camden Town tube, 10-minute walk, night buses and the Northern line home.

Photos are AI illustrations, not snapshots. The places, hours and prices are real, checked in October 2026.

Where grandpa's tips come from

No guessing and no copied top-ten lists.

Locals first
Places come from people who live there: city forums, Reddit threads, local blogs. Then the hours and prices are checked against the place's own website, where it has one.
Checked, and dated
Every place in the guide shows when we last checked it, and links to where it came from.
Grandpa's opinion
The facts come from the sources. The advice on when to go and what to skip is his, and he is stubborn about it.

Hours and rules change. Always check the official website before you go.

Why not just Google Maps, TripAdvisor or ChatGPT?

They are good at what they do. Here is what Trully adds. Today you get the web guide; the app follows in December 2026.

Question	Google Maps	TripAdvisor	ChatGPT	Trully app (Dec 2026)
What it is known for	A map with places and reviews	Ratings and a crowd of reviews	Answers to anything you ask	Secret places and day routes from a grumpy, kind old turtle
Where the facts come from	Places, photos and reviews from many people	Reviews from many travelers	General knowledge, so check the details yourself	Locals on forums and Reddit, then checked against each place's own website, with a date
Your free day	Directions between places you pick	Lists of top attractions	A plan if you ask, check the details	Grandpa's own day route, stop by stop
The voice	Neutral	Neutral	Whatever you ask for	One consistent grandpa who tells you what to skip

Based on what these services are generally known for. Trully's web guide is open today; the app launches in December 2026.

Read this far? Grandpa approves.

One payment, grandpa's places and routes in five cities today, and the app for life when it launches. No subscription.

Get lifetime access$29.99

14-day refund, no questions. Secure checkout by Paddle.

Not ready to pay? Fair enough.

Leave your email and Grandpa will let you know when Trully is out. One short note, no nagging.

You're on the list. Grandpa will write.

Something went wrong on our side and your email didn't reach us. Please type it once more.

Pre-orders open in a few days. Leave your email and Grandpa will write the moment you can lock in the $29.99 founding price.

What works today, what comes next

If the app is not in the App Store and Google Play by 31 December 2026, we refund everyone in full. No need to ask.

Today
The web guide
Grandpa's secret places and routes in 5 cities: Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, London. Open right after you pay.
Every week
New cities
More cities, then more unusual corners of the world. New cities every week.
December 2026
The app
Trully on iPhone and Android: grandpa's places, his routes, a map and his tips. Your lifetime access is already waiting.

Questions, answered grumpily

What is Trully?

A travel app with a grandpa turtle who knows each city like a local. He shows you authentic, little-known places and things to do there (bars with live music, markets, dances), and walks you through his own day routes. Planning a trip or already there, it helps either way.

When does it come out?

December 2026. If the app is not available for download in the App Store and Google Play by 31 December 2026, we refund everyone in full. No need to ask.

What do I get right after paying?

Instant access to Grandpa's web guides for Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and London: his secret places and his day routes. Plus a lifetime spot in the app when it launches. We also email you the guide link so you don't lose it.

What if I change my mind?

Within 14 days of paying, you can get your money back, no questions asked. And if the app isn't in the App Store and Google Play by 31 December 2026, we refund everyone in full. No need to ask. See the refund policy for the details.

Is it on iPhone and Android?

Yes, both iPhone and Android. We count it as launched when the app can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.

Which cities are covered?

The guides start with Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and London. The app aims for 15-20 cities at the start, then adds more unusual places around the world every week.

Is the price really one-time?

Yes. $29.99 once, lifetime access. It is a founding price for our first supporters and is only available until launch.

Don't waste a day.

What Trully does

Grandpa's secret places

Things to do, not things to stare at

A day out with grandpa

New cities every week

You know this feeling

The endless search

The same ten places

The empty afternoon

Grandpa's travel album

Founding Traveler

What you get

Grandpa's secret places

Lisbon

Jardim do Torel

Tasca do Jaime: weekend fado vadio

Museu do Aljube - Resistance and Freedom

Tavola Jazz Club

Jardim Botanico da Ajuda

Damas

Aguas Livres Aqueduct walk

Ferry to Cacilhas and the Jardim do Rio sunset

Casa do Alentejo

Hand-painted azulejo workshop in Graca

Hand-painted azulejo workshop, Graca

Vila Berta

Ze da Mouraria

Ginjinha Sem Rival and the Casa do Alentejo courtyard

Tasca do Jaime

Paris

Arènes de Lutèce

38Riv jazz cellar jam session

Musée de la Vie Romantique

Le Piano Vache (free gypsy jazz Mondays)

Cité Florale

Marche d'Aligre (open-air market, covered hall and flea stalls)

Parc de Belleville viewpoint

Bal Pop' at CENTQUATRE (free dance night)

Butte Bergeyre

Marche d'Aligre (outdoor stalls)

Marche Beauvau (covered hall, Aligre)

Arenes de Lutece

Le Piano Vache

Rome

Centrale Montemartini

Mercato di Testaccio

Garbatella

Porta Portese Sunday market

Parco degli Acquedotti

Charity Cafe (live jazz and blues)

Basilica di San Clemente (the layers below)

Pigneto after dark

Via Appia Antica on a Sunday

Garbatella

Centrale Montemartini

Mercato di Testaccio

Basilica di San Clemente

Charity Cafe

Barcelona

Mossèn Costa i Llobera Cactus Gardens

La Cova Fumada

Refugi 307 Air-Raid Shelter

Castellers del Poble-sec open rehearsal

Carrer d'Aiguafreda (the Laundresses' Street)

23 Robadors

Sant Antoni Sunday market

Bar Calders (Sunday vermut)

Sant Antoni Sunday market

Refugi 307 air-raid shelter

Bar Calders

Mossèn Costa i Llobera Cactus Gardens

London

St Dunstan in the East

Ye Olde Mitre

God's Own Junkyard

Vortex Jazz Club

Trinity Buoy Wharf Lighthouse (Longplayer)

Maltby Street Market

London Ceilidh Club at Cecil Sharp House