Every young child knows that it’s nice to share. But grown-up travelers find it fun, cost-effective, and educational, too.
One of my favorite travel splurges is hiring a local guide to show me their hometown. I find that a private guide helps me make the most of my time while enhancing my appreciation of a place. I recommend the best of these guides in my books. But I realize that not everybody can afford to hire their own guide for the day.
That’s why, a few years ago, I had the brainstorm to work with great guides to assemble “shared tours” for groups of my readers — letting good travelers split the cost of a great tour, and giving a great guide more work.
The first place I tried this was in Sevilla, Spain, where Concepción Delgao and I worked together to come up with the perfect two-hour walking tour. For the last several years, Rick Steves readers have been happy to show up each morning at 10:30 (except Sundays…Concepción’s day off) and chip €15 apiece into the communal hat in exchange for a top-notch tour. Thousands of my readers have taken advantage of this…and Concepción couldn’t be happier.
Later, I teamed up with Annie Adair — an American expat married to an Italian — in the Tuscan hill town of Volterra. We created a similar tour that lets Annie and her colleague Claudia show off the best one-hour walk of Volterra for just €10 a head (meets Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m., and Wednesday mornings at 12:30).When I was in Volterra last summer, I just had to check out how the tour was working. I met up with Claudia, as we explain in our book. It was a slow night, so we waited to see if the required-minimum three Rick Steves travelers would show up. Sure enough, at the stroke of 6, a family arrived for the tour…and we all enjoyed a great guided walk together.
Vincenzo, an ambitious entrepreneur based in Naples, runs Mondo Guide. I have long regretted that Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast — three of Southern Italy’s best experiences — were so challenging to see on your own, but so expensive to do with a private guide. Vincenzo and I hatched a plan to offer shared tours, tailored for my readers, for these three itineraries. Vincenzo designed a website to make signing up easy, and for the last two years, thousands of my readers have had a better (and more cost-effective) experience in this part of Italy. New for 2016, Mondo has added two more shared tours for my readers: A private boat trip from Sorrento to the Isle of Capri (a romantic and efficient alternative to the crowded public ferries); and thoughtfully designed shore excursions for cruise passengers arriving in Naples and Salerno.
In each of these cases, shared tours are a win-win-win. My readers are happy because they get to split the cost of a talented local guide’s personal attention. The guides are happy because they get more business (and, they tell me, they find my readers great to work with). And I’m happy because everyone else is happy.
Helping travelers maximize their experience in Europe, while minimizing the cost, is our mission. Shared tours like these are just one of many ways we enjoy our work at Rick Steves’ Europe. Happy travels!