These flexible walk-on walk-off walking tours just might change how you travel.
For every bit as enriching, inspiring and life-changing that travel can be, it can also be stressful. Terribly stressful….especially when you’re in a major city for a week. You think you have so much time to see everything until you start booking tours and tickets galore. Before you know it, you look at your itinerary and wonder where all the free time went.
Travel planning can be tedious, too. Let’s say you’re in Rome and you’re locked into a tour that requires you to be in Piazza Navona at 3pm on Thursday, which also happens to be the only day you can get a lunch reservation at Cesare al Casaletto in Monteverde. Now you’re stuck and something’s gotta give. There’s no way to enjoy a proper Italian-style pranzo out of the city center and make it to the tour on time. Especially with Rome’s traffic. You can’t push the tour back, so you opt out of the lunch.
Eventually, your forthcoming “vacation” starts to feel less vacationesque when notice that you have to fill all your vacant time slots schlepping from one appointment to another. You just wish you could see the city at your own pace and join whatever tour you want whenever you want, even if it’s last minute because you’re on vacation after all! In fact, you’re ready to rip your hair out and as it feels like you’ve relinquished control of your plans to the tourism gods. We know. We’ve been there, too.
Well, Walks has answered your travel-at-your-won-pace prayers thanks to their walk-on walk-off walking tours in Rome, London and San Francisco.
So, here’s how they work: You buy a ten-tour pass that’s valid for seven days which gives you the freedom to pick which tours you want to do when. With no need to confirm your spot on each tour in advance, all you have to do is just show up at the meeting point ten minutes before the start time. Many tours run daily at different times so you can join two, and even three hours in one day. Or you can just chill and skip a day or two. You are in complete control of your vacation….hallelujah!
Say thanks to the inherent conviviality of a London pub, one after-dinner beer turns into three. Perhaps, you’re not hurting too much the morning after, but you wish you could just face the day at your own pace. However, you can’t push that 9am Tower of London tour back a day. With the flexibility of a walk-on walk-off walking tour, you can! Here’s a look at what this pass offers in three different cities.
1. Rome
The three different options in the Eternal City offer seven days of access to ten different tour itineraries. You can choose the Roma Pass which includes Colosseum access, a pass with Vatican skip-the-line tickets, or a pass that includes both. Tours include Vatican City and St Peter’s Square; Circus Maximus to Aventine Keyhole Tour; Food & Markets Tour; Piazza Navona and Pantheon Tour; Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain Tour; Life and Times of Julius Caesar; Jewish Ghetto Tour; Trastevere Stroll; and the Ghost Tour. Price: From $105, $112 and $142 respectively. Book here: Tours plus Roma Pass (includes Colosseum/Ancient Rome ticket); tour plus skip-the-line Vatican tickets; tours plus Roma Pass and Vatican tickets
2) San Francisco
In the Golden Gate City, take your pick from eight different itineraries within the city’s vibrant neighborhoods. Tours include North Beach; Chinatown; Golden Gate Bridge; Fisherman’s Wharf; The Castro’ Haight-Ashbury; and Mission and its famous murals as well as a delicious taco food tour. Price: From $45.11 per person. Book here.
3) London
In the lovely British capital, you get access to 12 tours in seven days. These include Tower of London, London Bridge and Thames River; Changing of the Guard; Monument to St Paul’s: Westminster and Parliament Square; British Museum; The National Gallery and Trafalgar Square: Local London – Covent Garden, Soho, Chinatown and Carnaby St; Historic Pub Tour; The Beatles and Brit Rock Tour; Soho Murder Stories; and a Jack the Ripper tour. From $78 per person. Book here.