We’ve all seen them: Gaggles–hordes, even–of travelers on foot, in a bus, mounting Segways, playing follow the leader through the streets of Prague, Tokyo, New York City. And usually, when Josh and I see those groups descending en mass toward the proverbial town square, we book it in the other direction. But there’s certainly something to be said for participating in guided tours when traveling, especially when you find yourself in historic locales like, well, every city in Europe. And private tours? That’s a whole other thing altogether! But how do you decide whether to tour or not to tour? Well, that depends on you.
Pro-Tour
There are plenty of good reasons to go on a tour in a foreign country or a new city. You’ll often learn far more about the destination than you would on your own and you’ll frequently get access to backrooms and limited-access spaces like on brewery tours and in museums. You’ll get informed by a local (hopefully) who will offer more than just facts and figures, but insights into the character and the vibe of the city. And private tours usually provide a no-fuss, no-public-bus-time-tables-required way to explore everywhere from Chichen Itza in Mexico to waterfall hikes and wallabies in Tasmania.
On private tours you can ask more questions, go at your own pace, focus on one aspect of a place or get a general overview, and make a new friend (or friends) while you’re at it. Most local guides are more than just a wealth of information, they’re personable and friendly, too!
Tour Detractors
Of course, there are those who prefer to go it alone, too. Generally speaking, we at Terradrift aren’t huge fans of most tours. Or we didn’t used to be. We’re warming up to them. Well, certain kinds of them. You would still have to pay us big bucks to hop on a scooter or Segway and follow around a helmeted guide with a little orange flag for a couple of reasons: 1.) Those people look ridiculous and we make fun of them from afar. 2.) Nothing pegs you as an intrusive tourist like loudly scooting around and displacing pedestrians or vehicular traffic.
We don’t like being pegged as tourists. It’s really just one of those little pet peeves. To us, tourist denotes someone who leaves home purely for personal pleasure. Traveler, meanwhile, connotes one who explores in order to engage with and better understand the world and their place in it. There’s nothing wrong with either type of travel and they’re not mutually exclusive. However, we may have thought for some time that tours were only something tourists did, but that’s just not true.
Benefits of Joining a Tour
There are definitely circumstances where it is absolutely beneficial to sign up for a tour: 1.) When it’s the only way to access a place like a sacred site or underground tomb. 2.) When a tour provides all-inclusive packages with transportation or equipment that would be complicated or costly to arrange yourself. 3.) When you want access to a very specific kind of information (like monastic breweries or Jewish history) And 4.) When you want a local to show you the ropes and haven’t made any friends yet.
We always prefer to have a Couchsurfing host or friend-of-a-friend show us around when abroad (preferably by tandem bicycle like when we couchsurfed in Cork, Ireland), but that’s not always possible. So if you want to learn a little something about the history or culture in the places you visit, a tour is the best way to do it. We discovered that you can find “free” walking tours in a plethora of places (I say “free” because it’s generally recommended that you tip afterward if the guide did a good job). We took a free walking tour in Berlin, Amsterdam, Prague, and Reykjavik, to name a few. And we’ve taken private or semi-private tours in places like Calgary, Canada and Yakima, Washington, which offer a hyper-focused and entertaining introduction to specific aspects of a place so you can really go in-depth with culture and history, which we love!
In Mexico City we only had a day so we bought a (very cheap) pass for a hop-on-hop-off bus that offered English audio commentary in between stops to some of the city’s most iconic sights and attractions. It was the best way to experience everything we wanted to experience without having to call an Uber every time we were ready to move on.
Tips for Tours
If you take a tour while traveling, make the most of it. Bring a notepad or journal and take notes as you go, jotting down interesting facts or tidbits you’d like to remember later or questions you’d like to ask the guide. Then ask the guide! The more engaged you are the more enthusiastic your guide is likely to be. Who doesn’t like people showing interest in a subject they care about? Also, write down restaurant or cultural recommendations that the guide mentions that you might want to check out later. If anyone knows where to get the best veggie burger, it’s a local.
If you happen to be taking a hop-on-hop-off type tour, map out additional stops along your route. Things like obscure museums, hole-in-the-wall bookstores, or vegan restaurants might be right around the corner from a stop on the route and there’s a good chance those hidden treasures won’t be flooded with other travelers. Make the most of the ride you’re being given around the city!
Tour Alternatives
If you’d still prefer to try alternative methods of exploring and learning about a new city before booking a tour, by all means, do! We often opt to find our own way to hidden hot springs, secluded swimming holes, ancient ruins, or picturesque overlooks instead of getting shuttled there with 30 other travelers. We hitchhike, study maps, ask locals, and rent cars, among other endeavors. But we love to do things the hard way, which we’ve become increasingly aware isn’t the norm. *lol*
Even if you’re not Couchsurfing, you can often reach out to members to see if any locals or fellow travelers want to hang and explore together. There are also sometimes audio apps or downloads available for cities popular with travelers that contain maps and commentary that guide you through a city’s history as it guides you through the city’s streets. If nothing else, there’s always Wikipedia! We have read entries as we wandered on multiple occasions, just so we felt like we knew a bit about what we were looking at!
When it’s Time for Tours…
But when you are ready to book, check out Tours by Locals. You can find any sort of tour you can imagine on the site, from museum tours in Paris to sandboarding tours in Nicaragua. Most of them are private tours offered by experienced local guides, so not only will you not be shuffled around like a pack of zombies, you can go at your own pace and often get door-to-door service from your Airbnb or hotel. So you can always feel more like a traveler and less like a tourist. You’re welcome.
Wander on.
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Alisha is a freelance outdoor journalist and photographer based in Ogden, UT. She loves backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and snowboarding (even though she’s terrible at it). She’s also pretty sure she’s addicted to coffee. alishamcdarris.com