Not only had I visited Paris many times throughout my life, I was also living in La Ville Lumière when I took my first guided walking tour of the city. I had long dismissed walking tours after hurried experiences elsewhere — clustered with tourists, straining to hear a guide under an umbrella, and spending too much time in lines or at souvenir stops. I believed my careful research and love of wandering would be enough to navigate Paris on my own, so I initially avoided booking any tours when I moved there.
PHOTOS: © KRISTY ALPERT
Everything changed when I discovered the app Le Walk, a free AI-powered walking guide that delivers real-time tours created by locals and content creators. With my phone in my pocket and earbuds in place, I listened to Paris expert Jay Swanson recommending his favorite restaurants and pointing out lesser-known Space Invaders mosaics across the city. Later, guidebook author Lily Heise shared quiet secrets about Pigalle’s romantic corners. I stopped mid-tour for coffee at a cafe I’d wanted to try, then resumed the audio when I was ready. The experience convinced me of the value of a good walking tour: they can be flexible, personal, and full of discoveries you might otherwise miss.
“Taking a walking tour with a local guide offers a richer, more layered experience that adds tremendously to your independent exploring,” said Lisa Chen, CEO of ToursByLocals. “Guides bring depth of knowledge that’s hard to match. They connect landmarks, neighborhoods and history in ways that make a city’s story come alive. Often, they’ll point out details people walk right past — an architectural flourish, a little-known historical site, or a local business with an interesting backstory.”
Walking tours have evolved to suit modern travelers, adopting more curated and theme-driven approaches. Today’s best tours are led by informed locals who love sharing their city beyond typical tourist routes. Context Travel, for example, built a network of scholars and specialists to lead immersive tours that reveal the real heart of a place. More than 80 percent of Context’s guides hold advanced degrees, and their expertise is available across more than 60 cities worldwide. Their offerings range from guided visits to Arlington National Cemetery with a historian to private market tours in Paris led by chefs and architectural walks in Kyoto guided by specialists.
Walks City Experiences focuses on providing skip-the-line and out-of-hours access to major attractions, pairing knowledgeable guides — described as storytellers — with exclusive experiences. Their storytellers can reveal hidden corners of the Vatican or share eerie tales from Paris’s Catacombs, offering context and anecdotes that make familiar sights feel new.
Booking a walking tour early in your trip is a smart move. It gives you insider perspective from the start, helping you decide which places to revisit on your own or which new discoveries to follow up on. Morning tours are ideal for getting acquainted with a city’s layout when streets are quieter. Afternoon tours often focus on themes like food or history, while evening tours can expose you to local nightlife, cocktail scenes, or even private museum access after closing hours for a more intimate experience.
Context Travel was among the first to offer prerecorded, pre-trip lectures by local experts to inspire travelers and deepen their curiosity. ToursByLocals expanded on this idea with live virtual tours using video conferencing, allowing people to explore destinations from home before they travel. These virtual options let travelers preview highlights with an art historian at the Louvre or follow Caravaggio’s footsteps in Rome. Many use these sessions to form a connection with a guide who can answer questions and help shape an on-the-ground itinerary.
“It’s not just about seeing a city,” Chen added, “but about truly immersing yourself in a new place. A good guide doesn’t merely show sights; they help you understand and connect with what you’re seeing.”
PHOTOS: © KRISTY ALPERT
Private walking tours have grown in popularity alongside a broader shift toward immersive, authentic travel. “Travelers increasingly seek connections with the heart of a destination, and walking tours provide an intimate and engaging way to do that,” Chen said. She noted a steady rise in older travelers booking walking tours as many remain active into their 70s and 80s and want to include walking in their vacations.
European cities remain the most popular destinations for walking tours, offering compact, pedestrian-friendly centers rich with history and varied themes. ToursByLocals identified Rome, Paris, London, Athens and Barcelona as the top five European cities for walking tours in the summer of 2025. Meanwhile, interest in off-the-beaten-path locations is growing, with increased bookings for smaller destinations like Bath, Bilbao, Bari and Caen.
PHOTOS: © KRISTY ALPERT
Chen emphasized the deeper value of guided walks: “When we spend a couple of hours exploring on foot with a local guide, we gain not only knowledge about a city but also a richer understanding of the people who live there. Conversations that unfold while walking can lead to meaningful connections and fresh perspectives. In a time when civil, friendly discourse is needed, a walking tour can be a simple but powerful way to bring people together.”