Rich, captivating, and memorable vacations — these are not only about sunbathing, swimming in warm seas and oceans, delicious food, sports, shopping, and dancing. A holiday is also a reason to broaden your horizons, learn something new, touch history, study architecture, culture, traditions, and feel cities and countries in all their colors, notes, and aromas.
You can plan the program yourself, trusting the Internet and guidebooks, but there is a huge risk of missing something important, walking past something unadvertised yet therefore even more valuable and authentic. The alternative is group tours: sprints over short and long distances with a crowd eager to tick as many boxes as possible on the “must-see” list, mostly hectic, clichéd, and monotonous. And finally, the least obvious option, but one that is rapidly gaining popularity — walks with private guides, those who know locations from the inside and are ready to share secrets with a narrow circle of aficionados.
1. It’s more efficient
What eats up almost half the time on a standard group tour? No, not the sights at all: the lion’s share of precious minutes and even hours is consumed by gatherings, waiting, queues, attempts to round everyone up, and other delays. Moreover, tourist buses are clumsy on city streets, stand idle in traffic jams for long periods, and search for parking spots. All this seriously limits choice: having somehow managed to see the shrines of Jerusalem, tourists are unlikely to be able to haggle with excitement at oriental bazaars, and after a long day at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, it is hardly possible to appreciate the grandeur of the squares of Rome.
Private guides are virtuosos of time management: they select the highlights and design the route so that the traveler discovers the city in comfort, at their own pace, without adjusting to anyone. Most individual tours are walking tours, with breaks for rest and meals in the best cafes, or car tours, with minimal time spent on transfers.
Accompanied by a licensed guide, you can get into even the most popular museums in the world without a queue.
2. It’s more interesting
Tour routes often include the most famous tourist sites, which have long turned into clichés: if Paris — then the Champs-Élysées, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower, if London — then Big Ben, if Prague — then Charles Bridge. In a crowd, there is no opportunity to move away from the center, peek into alleys, enjoy the coziness of coffee shops, or discern little-known yet important symbols.
However, private tours are built around details, giving a unique experience of discovering the unknown. To try the Portuguese favorite “ginjinha” from the hands of an old lady treating passersby on a graffiti-adorned street of Lisbon? To walk through the quirkiest ruin bars of Budapest? To decipher the secret messages of the architects of Riga? With a personal guide, nothing is impossible, and even top locations, with personal presentation and deep knowledge of the material, reveal themselves from new, unexpected angles.
A city walk resembles not a marathon from point A to point B, but a continuous conversation, a lively dialogue both at the monuments themselves and on the way to them, with questions and answers, clarifications and details, constant contact with the guide.
3. It’s more individualized
A guide working with large groups of tourists learns the text by heart and repeats it monotonously, only occasionally distracted by communication with those interested. The route is refined down to the smallest detail, every minute is precisely timed, and the slightest deviation provokes polite but persistent reminders about the schedule.
A private guide is focused on the surrounding world and their companions; they themselves are interested in what is happening, because this profession is chosen by those who are in love with cities. Each walk is unlike the previous one, a little spontaneous, despite the approximate scenario. The guide adapts to the traveler’s pace, catches their preferences, and adjusts the plan on the go.
The choice of individual tours is incomparably richer: modernist buildings of Barcelona, fairy tales of the Vienna Woods, castles of Styria, mystical places of Munich — the flight of imagination is boundless.
4. It’s cheaper
And now — a surprise! A walk with a private guide can cost less than a standard tour package. The secret lies in proper planning: individual tours are most often designed for groups of 4-10 people, so traveling with relatives, friends, or colleagues allows you to split the costs and save significantly. Even if the vacation is spent alone or as a couple, suitable company can easily be found on Internet forums and social networks; you just need to discuss the conditions, preferences, and route in advance.
The average cost of private tours in Paris — from 100-120 EUR, in London — from 120-140 EUR, in Amsterdam — from 80 EUR, in Helsinki — from 60 EUR for a group of several people. The prices on the page are as of April 2019.
5. It’s more promising for the future
If after a group tour, at best, photos in an album and a couple of interesting facts remain in your memory, then a walk with a private guide is always an investment in your tourist future. You can ask an enthusiastic expert any questions: at which market in Goa are the most colorful trinkets found, in which bakery in Marseille are the crispiest baguettes, on which rooftops of the German capital did Wim Wenders film “Wings of Desire” (Sky over Berlin). All this will surely come in handy when the time comes to be alone with the city. And if you’re lucky, the communication with the guide can grow into a friendship — what better reason to return!
