ToursByLocals Blog Posts
How to search by tour type
Sep 11 2024
The guides on ToursByLocals are immensely creative. They love the places they live, and have figured out all sorts of ways to share their favourite parts of their cities, towns and regions with travellers. This means there are many options for you when it comes to choosing a tour! In particularly popular destinations like Rome or Paris, you’ll see upwards of 1000 tours you could book. That’s a lot of choice!
To make it easier for you to narrow down all those options, we’ve introduced quick filters at the top of the search results page for every destination. You can quickly narrow down results by your interests, the type of transportation involved (for instance, a walking tour, or driving) and the price range you’re comfortable with.
Today we’re going to delve a bit deeper into the “interests” section, because - well, it really is the most interesting! The screenshot below shows you how to access these filters on the search results page in any destination.
All the tours on ToursByLocals are categorized into different types, so you’ll be able to find the tour that best suits your interests, whether that’s history, art, nature, food, photography, or two dozen other options.
Here are a few of the more popular types of tours you can search for, along with a brief description of the sort of tour you could find in each:
City Highlights: far and away our most popular category, this is a great option for first time visitors to a new city, who want an overview of the city’s most popular attractions. Don’t think this is going to be a run of the mill touristy tour, though - your guide will always take the time to share some of their off the beaten track local knowledge.
Day Trip: Typically, this is a day trip out of the city that requires transportation of some sort. If we search for “Day Trips” in Rome, for example, we’ll see full day tours that go to Pompeii and back in a day, or to ancient Ostia, or Hadrian’s Villa, or a day in the Roman countryside. These are the tours that get you out of the city, and exploring nearby attractions.
Adventure: This is a category for those for whom a walking tour just doesn’t provide the adrenalin fix they’re looking for! Our active travellers can find activities like rafting, hiking, kayaking, cycling, snorkelling and other outdoors pursuits here.
Off the Beaten Path: This category is for those in search of a true local experience. Perhaps you’re visiting for a second time, or are in a city long enough to want to go beyond the major attractions, and delve deeper into more of what it’s like to live there, rather than just visit as a tourist. Guides love delivering these types of tours, where they give you a window into their lives, and the lives of other locals, away from the tourist crowds.
Genealogy: Hiring a local guide doesn’t mean you only have access to that person while you’re on tour: they can also help you with research and trip planning in advance! Booking a genealogy tour to uncover your family history is a fabulous way to use a local guide’s knowledge and translation skills to help you plan an unforgettable day connecting to your family roots.
Classes and workshops: Immersive experiences create extremely memorable tour experiences! Filtering for this type of tour means you’ll uncover hands-on activities that add to the enjoyment and understanding of the place you’re visiting. To stick with the Rome example, this sort of tour could involve learning to create your own flavour of gelato, or make fresh pasta, or learn how to craft leather products at a traditional workshop.
Other categories, like history, food and drink, photography, bird watching, architecture, etc are pretty self explanatory!
We hope you enjoy browsing, and searching for the perfect tour for you and your friends and family. There really is an experience for everyone. And remember: if you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, there’s an easy solution: work with any guide to create a create a custom tour.
To make it easier for you to narrow down all those options, we’ve introduced quick filters at the top of the search results page for every destination. You can quickly narrow down results by your interests, the type of transportation involved (for instance, a walking tour, or driving) and the price range you’re comfortable with.
Today we’re going to delve a bit deeper into the “interests” section, because - well, it really is the most interesting! The screenshot below shows you how to access these filters on the search results page in any destination.
All the tours on ToursByLocals are categorized into different types, so you’ll be able to find the tour that best suits your interests, whether that’s history, art, nature, food, photography, or two dozen other options.
Here are a few of the more popular types of tours you can search for, along with a brief description of the sort of tour you could find in each:
City Highlights: far and away our most popular category, this is a great option for first time visitors to a new city, who want an overview of the city’s most popular attractions. Don’t think this is going to be a run of the mill touristy tour, though - your guide will always take the time to share some of their off the beaten track local knowledge.
Day Trip: Typically, this is a day trip out of the city that requires transportation of some sort. If we search for “Day Trips” in Rome, for example, we’ll see full day tours that go to Pompeii and back in a day, or to ancient Ostia, or Hadrian’s Villa, or a day in the Roman countryside. These are the tours that get you out of the city, and exploring nearby attractions.
Adventure: This is a category for those for whom a walking tour just doesn’t provide the adrenalin fix they’re looking for! Our active travellers can find activities like rafting, hiking, kayaking, cycling, snorkelling and other outdoors pursuits here.
Off the Beaten Path: This category is for those in search of a true local experience. Perhaps you’re visiting for a second time, or are in a city long enough to want to go beyond the major attractions, and delve deeper into more of what it’s like to live there, rather than just visit as a tourist. Guides love delivering these types of tours, where they give you a window into their lives, and the lives of other locals, away from the tourist crowds.
Genealogy: Hiring a local guide doesn’t mean you only have access to that person while you’re on tour: they can also help you with research and trip planning in advance! Booking a genealogy tour to uncover your family history is a fabulous way to use a local guide’s knowledge and translation skills to help you plan an unforgettable day connecting to your family roots.
Classes and workshops: Immersive experiences create extremely memorable tour experiences! Filtering for this type of tour means you’ll uncover hands-on activities that add to the enjoyment and understanding of the place you’re visiting. To stick with the Rome example, this sort of tour could involve learning to create your own flavour of gelato, or make fresh pasta, or learn how to craft leather products at a traditional workshop.
Other categories, like history, food and drink, photography, bird watching, architecture, etc are pretty self explanatory!
We hope you enjoy browsing, and searching for the perfect tour for you and your friends and family. There really is an experience for everyone. And remember: if you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, there’s an easy solution: work with any guide to create a create a custom tour.