When you first arrive somewhere, depending on how far you have traveled, you might feel jet lagged and tired, or you might feel too excited to sit still. But either way, I think there is great value in booking some sort of tour on your first day or so. It is definitely something to consider when planning for a city or destination that you’ll spend a few days in.
1. A tour helps you to get the lay of the land. Many tours involve walking, biking, even riding public transportation around an area. When you do these things, you’re figuring out a little more about how to get around, what areas are great to check out, and how each area might feel. Depending on where you are, this may be very helpful to let you know which areas are safe and/or more appealing for tourists. In some places, like very large cities, it just might help you to navigate all that is before you. One example is Barcelona, which is a huge city. There are many neighborhoods and places to explore, so we did a biking tour here. It was a great way to get some quick ideas of specific areas we liked and wanted to revisit on our own. Another great example is Valparasio, Chile. We knew that this city had some safety concerns, so we started right out with a walking tour to see the safe, touristy areas that we could explore more deeply on our own afterwards.
2. Get a taste of the food. This could involve a food tour, or a cooking class! We have found in the past that if we wait too long to do a food tour, we sometimes miss out on some incredible things we should have eaten. We now front load our food tours so that we know what to be looking for all throughout our travels! We especially love that many food tours will have you move about town a bit too, which checks off box #1 of finding the lay of the land. A good food tour can really get you set up for the rest of your trip. For example, when we were in Vietnam, we likely would have been nervous to walk into a market and just start tasting or ordering things. But, once we did a food tour and learned all about what was going on and what kinds of things we should try, we felt a lot more confident entering other markets after that! We started off our trip to Peru with a cooking class. This was another great way to find out what things to look for that are the most delicious on menus throughout your travels. Many times food tours introduce you to some great beverages as well!
3. A wine tasting, beer tour, pub crawl, cocktail class, coffee tours etc. Finding a way to learn about the local versions of beverages you enjoy is also a great way to get introduced to a city. Whatever your favorite type of drink is, you can likely find a tour for it! Again, this helps you to know what you like when ordering at a cafe, or out at dinner as the trip goes on. We discovered one of our favorite wines in Chile on our very first wine tour! We were in love with the Carmenere, which is a wine we never tried before. We were so thankful we figured that out early, so we could give it a try everywhere we went throughout our trip!
4. One tour might lead to another, or to another activity, museum, restaurant, etc. that you may want to try. When on a tour, even if it is a food tour, a drink tour, or a history tour, etc. guides will often point out other awesome things to do and see as you’re moving around. Make sure to take note of these things and then plan accordingly as you go!
5. Advice from locals and other tourists! As you go around on tours, not only will your guide likely give you advice about the place you’re visiting, but other locals along the way might do so as well. If you’re tasting something in a cafe, they may suggest another place you should try. Other tourists may also have gotten to a place a few days before you and have ideas or experiences to recommend that they really enjoyed.
6. Exercise! We love to work out and move our bodies when we’re home, so active tours are a great way to get to do that on vacation! We’ve taken walking tours, biking tours, kayak tours, hiking tours, etc. Get out there on a tour that gets you moving at the same time!
Plan for me dani 