Within the topic related to culture, tourism and sustainable development, this paper focuses on the notion of tourist translation of local cultures. In particular, it analyses some of the cultural processes tourism development can trigger in those territories the European Commission (2003) has defined as "no‐traditional tourist destinations". In this definition it is meant to include those places that: (a) were not interested by mainstream tourism in the past (b) remained peripheral compared to industrialised urban areas (c) are usually characterised by micro communities and sparse population. Most of these realities are often part of a protected area. That is why the considerations here made can be referred to eco‐tourism1 in general and in particular to that kind of tourism that looks to both natural and cultural patrimonies (that is to local heritage), in order to experiment with new models of fair development. In analysing the social changes this type of tourism requires, the article reviews theoretical concepts of authenticity and cultural sustainability, as to propose an ideal‐typical process of intelligent tourist translation of local heritages(...)