Forget Keychains—Here’s How to Find the Best Souvenirs on Every Trip
- Shopping for souvenirs in local grocery store aisles while traveling can provide unique and affordable items that offer a sense of the culture of the country or city visited.
One of the best things about traveling to new places is shopping for souvenirs. Whether you're buying them for yourself or for your loved ones, it's a ton of fun to pick out things to bring back home. Some people love to splurge and buy expensive clothing or accessories, while others like to opt for more simple things like a magnet with the city's name on it.
My collection of souvenir magnets
I am constantly traveling, and have even spent over 30 months of my life living on cruise ships as an entertainer onboard. While working on ships, I would go to sleep and wake up in a new country or city every single day. It was absolutely incredible to see so much of the world, and I always made sure to get souvenirs in my favorite cities so that I had something to remember them by.
While I do think it's fun to buy a unique magnet to add to my refrigerator at home, having something more useful to remember the city by as fun, too. Plus, I know that my family doesn't necessarily want something with the name of a city that they've never been to on it, so I avoid those types of souvenirs for them. When trying to figure out what to get my loved ones without breaking the bank, I realized a major souvenir hack that is going to change your vacation shopping ways.
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You Can Get The Best Souvenirs In The Grocery Store Aisles
In a secret travel hack round up, Brent And Michael Are Going Places on Substack shared an extremely useful tip. They said that they believe the absolute best spot for souvenirs is the local grocery store in another country. They go on to explain that these aisles offer many things that locals are used to, however for people who are visiting, many of these items are exciting and a rarity.
Photo by Judah Wester on Unsplash
The options are truly limitless with this tip. While browsing the aisles, keep your eyes peeled for things like spices that are specific to that part of the world, or unique blends that you don't see at home. Many countries have different types of infused olive oils that are incredibly cheap, especially compared to the prices in the US, and are often available in both large and small bottles. You can also look for interesting types of candy, packaged desserts, or even chips that are unique to where you're visiting.
You don't have to only look for edible things at the grocery store, either. Other things to look out for are various types of soaps , lotions, body oils, balms and skincare. If you come across these items in a tourist shop or popular street market, they may be sold for much more than the price you'd find at the local grocery store. These types of souvenirs tend to be small, are easy to fit in your luggage, don't cost an arm and a leg, and actually give you a sense of the culture of the country or city that you were visiting.
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Look For Items That Can Be Everyday Memories
In my experience, the hallmark of a good souvenir is something that you use every so often, and whenever you do, it reminds you of either the place that you visited or the person who got the souvenir for you. While it can seem that a souvenir from a grocery store might not be special, that's definitely not the case.
While I was visiting Crete, Greece, I stopped into a local grocery store. I bought myself as well as my parents a small bottle of oregano and lemon infused olive oil. This olive oil was unlike any olive oil I've had in the states, and now I keep the bottle for when I want to treat myself to a nice meal. I keep the olive oil on display in my kitchen, so I see it often, and when I make a meal with the oil, the taste reminds me of my positive memories in Crete.
Another great grocery store souvenir I got was a bottle of lotion in Madeira, Portugal. The bottle itself was beautiful, and I loved that everything was written in Portuguese. It had a very unique scent to it, and was very luxurious in texture. Whenever I used the lotion, I was reminded of my time in Madeira, and it always made me smile.
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This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 27, 2025, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
