You have decided on an optional tour as a way to explore the city. Great! You'll have fun admiring the sights, learning about the local culture and making friends in a new place. Local tour guides have compiled some tips to make your optional tour truly memorable - for all the right reasons.

Optional tours with a local guide, share your expectations

One of the best things about an optional tour is the ability to customize it! Take the opportunity to communicate with your local tour guide in advance, even weeks before your trip. So as to set your expectations and his/her capabilities before the tour. This is your time and your tour guide wants you to be interested in what he/she has to show you. The local tour guide wants to please you and your loved ones. He knows well that one very well served tourist is the possibility of getting many more tourists. Share your interests, what you like and don't like - this will help your local tour guide prepare and customize an optional tour for you.

Optional tours with a local guide, be prepared for the unexpected

Be prepared for bad weather and don't let it catch you by surprise! You know very well that unfortunately, not every day will be sunny. But bad weather is actually a great time for a local tour guide. Optional tours by big buses have a hard time changing the itinerary, but your local guide can change the plan of the day or even your whole holiday at any time. A local tour guide always has plenty of ideas on hand to make the most of your time in the city, even when it's raining or inclement weather. He is sure to show you something fascinating that you would otherwise miss.

Optional tours with a local guide, dress comfortably

Wear comfortable shoes, dress appropriately for the weather, type and extent of activity. Ask a local tour guide for a recommendation. Living in your holiday destination, he knows all types of weather well. He can suggest you how to dress to comfortably explore the city and the surrounding attractions. Remember that we are different, we have our own customs, ways of communicating, behaviour. Remember to respect local customs. Use the knowledge and experience of a local tour guide. They can advise you on appropriate clothing for the places you are visiting and the weather. Remember that there is no bad weather, only badly dressed people for the right weather.

Optional tours with a local guide, open up to others

Be open-minded and respect the local culture. After all, this is what you came here for. That is the purpose of your holiday, to experience more. To experience and live what you do not have in your own country, where you live. What does it mean to respect local customs and culture? We hear a lot about it, but what does it actually mean? In a nutshell, it means understanding that things will probably be different from home - and that's okay. Enjoy the diversity. Take the time and commit to learning about the local culture, customs, tastes or cuisine. Experience more by being able to appreciate what the local community has achieved. Don't measure yourself by everyone else's standard. Maybe people who live here have different values. Something else is important and valuable to them.

Optional tours with a local guide, experience the new

You are on holiday. Let yourself be tempted. Maybe you are in this place for the first and last time in your life. Do everything you dream of and maybe more, so that when you return home you have no regrets. Make the most of your time here. Learn about customs from a local tour guide. Try something new! Whether it's a new food, drink or activity. Challenge yourself to do one little thing on your trip that you've never done before. After all, you're crazy ...

Optional tours with a local guide, be prepared for the unexpected

Before your trip, take your time and read a blog, a travel guide about the place you are going to. Maybe one of your friends has already been there. They can share their experience with you. Learn about the history of the country, region, city you are going to. Take the time to research where you are going. Inform a local tour guide about places of particular interest to you and your loved ones. Places and events you want to see that may not be of interest to everyone. Check the internet to see if anyone has written an interesting book set in the city you are going to. In Stockholm, local tours in the footsteps of characters from crime novels are very popular: Millenium or in the footsteps of Annika Bengtzon, the journalist main character of Liza Marklund's novel. A local tour guide will help you learn about the local culture and inspire you to see the places you read about in the book!

Optional tours with a local guide, prepare your questions

Once you know your local tour guide, prepare and ask questions. So that the guide knows that you are genuinely and sincerely interested in the information and knowledge he has to share. Meeting your local tour guide is not going to a lecture or a radio play, but a conversation, a dialogue. Your local tour guide has a lot of knowledge to share, this is a person who knows how to and likes to talk. The local tour is then more enjoyable and it is more natural to learn through conversation. Your local tour guide will certainly appreciate your knowledge and interest in the knowledge and experience he has and shares with you.

Optional tours with a local guide, prepare your camera and camcorder

Immortalise your trip. Make sure you have a few photos that you can refer back to when talking about your successful holiday. Be open and communicative, local tour guides are used to tourists asking them to take photos. Recommend and guide to places with beautiful or very famous views. Ask the guide to take photos of you and the whole group so that everyone is on the lookout. It is important for the local tour guide to ask you to share a photo with him. Share this photo on your social media profile. Also let the guide take a photo of you and your group. So that he can publish the photo of a satisfied tourist on his profile. Take a photo with your local tour guide to help him find new clients.

Optional tours with a local guide, get physically prepared to explore the city

A successful holiday is not just about getting around by car or bus. Take care of your fitness before your holiday. Be physically prepared for a walk of a few kilometres or more. Sometimes up and down as well. For many tourists, this kind of physical activity can be difficult. Only on foot are you able to feel the city, understand its people. Most European cities are designed to be explored on foot, by bike or on scooters. Cars are being pushed out of city centres in favour of public transport.

Optional tours with a local guide, experience more on holiday

Take advantage of your local tour guide's knowledge of the city, region and surrounding area. Ask about additional places, restaurants, events that you can see in the following days, once you have explored the city on your own, at your own pace. Hire a local tour guide at the beginning of your stay in the city. So that you have the opportunity and time to visit interesting places in the following days of your holiday. A local tour guide, apart from the knowledge about the city, the region, will certainly have knowledge about interesting events, which can be interesting also for you.

Optional tours with a local guide, appreciate the tour guide

One final remark. Share positive feedback about your local tour guide. Just as you found your guide, in our tour guide database, checked the opinion about him/her, other people are looking for knowledge about guides. Your positive opinion about the services of a local tour guide is important especially for other tourists and also for him.