Finding your way around a city when you are travelling can be an exciting experience for sure. Every city has a bit of a different flavour as to what there is to see and do. There is how to get around small towns and big cities. While some cities you need to try and identify just what is worth visiting. In all cases taking some time to research tours before leaving home can be of great value to your trip.
In many cases, there are some options to research the tours that you may like to consider when travelling. Researching a tour in a city does not mean that you have to take that tour, but can help you in planning what you want to see. With another great benefit of researching tours to give you an idea if your plans are realistic.
Getting Around
Potentially one of the biggest benefits of tours, when you are travelling, is that it saves you finding your way from place to place. Of course, this all depends on how long you are spending at a particular destination.
If you are spending a couple of weeks in a city, finding your way around to the places you want to visit is no problem. However, if you are in a city for just a couple of days and have a lot of places you want to visit, a tour can be a very good idea.
In the same way, if you are in a big spread out city like London can help to save you a lot of time. You could spend your time learning the public transport and working out how to get between places. But I think you could save some hassle by taking a tour that will visit the key places that you want to see.
Consider What You Want To See
Everyone that travels has a slightly different slant on what they want to see as part of their trip. Of course, this is the beauty of travelling that there is just so many different options available. You can visit a museum, gallery, shops, parks, amusement park, zoo, or aquarium just to name a few.
Some cities have very specific sights that everyone knows and wants to see. Things like the Eifel Tower in Paris or The Statue Of Liberty in New York. Whereas other cities might have numerous lesser known spots that may interest you.
The act of researching tours can help you identify if there are any particular places that you would like to visit. As many tours will list off the main spots or sights that they will visit. In this way, you can start to identify if one tour will cover everything that you want to see or if you might be better to work out your plan.
Where To Find Tours
There are some options for how you can find information on tours all of which are most often free. Below are a couple of choices, but there is also options to get creative here as well.
Travel Brochures
A great place to start is a visit to travel agent to check if they have brochures available for the area you are visiting. Often the best travel brochures are the ones that are more generic to a city or country. These brochures will cover a range of areas including the main sights, accommodation, and often include some tour information.
The biggest downfall in travel brochures is that everything is competing for page space. So while they may offer some information about tours, it will be far from comprehensive. Often meaning that this is a good place to start, but will need to be supplemented with one of the other options.
Web Search
The next best place to find out about tours is a search of the internet. There are some different search terms that you can try depending on what information you already have.
- If you have found tour information in a travel brochure, start by searching for the name of the tour listed in the brochure.
- Your next option is to search for the city you are visiting. Consider search terms such as “Tours in *city*” or “*city* tour options”. For example “New York tour options.”
- If you have a particular place that you want to see, try searching for that combined with the word tour. For example “Stone Henge Tour.”
Viator
A website that I used when preparing for my last trip to Europe was Viator. They bring together thousands of tours in cities all over the world. You can book the tours directly through their website in one of eight different currencies.
For my trip, I booked around 12 different tours, with a mixture of half day and full day options. Every single tour turned out just as described, and there were no issues in any of the bookings. As mentioned above I was able to book in my currency. I avoided having to carry so much money with me to pay for tours and the hassle of finding a tour with space. Along with not having to try booking in a foreign language.
The below banner is an affiliate link, and by clicking this link and booking tours you will be helping to support this website.
Know Before You Go And Save Time
Having my tours booked and paid for before leaving home was the perfect option for me. Being a person that likes to plan and organise in advance rather than on a just in time basis.
It can save you a lot of time and hassle trying to find tours and get a good price once you arrive into a city. Giving you the opportunity to plan a mixture of tours and time to organise your other activities.
If you have any tips or suggestions for researching or booking tours when travelling, I would love to hear them. Just scroll down a little and leave a comment with your tip or story. You can connect with me on social media, pick your favourite social network below.
