Why booking a private tour guide on ToursByLocals is worth it for an authentic experience

I thought I knew West Fourth Street. As a New York University student back in the aughts, I walked up and down the Greenwich Village artery multiple times daily on my way to classes. TPG’s Manhattan offices aren’t too far away, so I often end up back in my old neighborhood to try new restaurants or see movies at the IFC Center.

Yet, in my 20 years in New York City, I had never considered the unassuming apartment building at 161 W. Fourth Street until last Saturday, when I learned Bob Dylan paid just $61 a month to rent a third-floor apartment there when he first moved to New York. I discovered this and more during a two-hour walking tour of Bob Dylan’s Greenwich Village with Jordan F., a guide I found through ToursByLocals.

Jordan is just one of over 5,000 guides in more than 170 countries ToursByLocals has vetted who offer custom private tours for half-day, full-day or multiday experiences.

Whether you are going somewhere new or just looking to reconnect with your hometown on a staycation, like I did, booking a fully customizable private tour through ToursByLocals is worth it. Here’s why.

Why private tour guides are worth it

Travelers who want to maximize their time and still have a more meaningful and authentic experience will benefit greatly from booking a private tour guide. But finding the best person to hire can be as daunting as creating a DIY itinerary. Thankfully, ToursByLocals takes the guesswork out of the process since it vets each tour guide.

On Jordan’s guide page, I could see that he’s lived in Greenwich Village for most of his 30 years in New York and received more than a dozen five-star reviews from previous customers, so I knew he could probably teach me something that I didn’t know about a neighborhood I knew fairly well.

A private guide’s flexibility allows you to see only what you want, and at your pace, since each tour is fully customized to your interests, like if “A Complete Unknown” rekindled your love of Bob Dylan’s music. Everyone will also have a comfortable experience since it’s much easier to accommodate mobility issues (or energetic children!) on a private tour.

Private guides can also offer an insider’s perspective on a destination by sharing their personal hidden gems, typically not found in guidebooks.

As overtourism continues to plague many vacation hot spots, if you book far enough in advance, a private tour guide can also try to secure skip-the-line tickets so travelers can bypass crowds and long lines at the most popular attractions.

Ultimately, you’ll make the most of your time and get a more intimate travel experience than on a large group tour with a fixed itinerary.

My Bob Dylan tour

Even though I’ve lived in New York for 20 years, I like playing tourist in my hometown now and again. Though I’ve lived in Greenwich Village previously, none of my classes at NYU covered the neighborhood’s history, so hiring a guide felt like it could add to my experience.

In addition to Dylan’s first apartment, Jordan took me to where the young musician performed in his early days at Cafe Wha?, the townhouse he bought on MacDougal Street once he made it big, and the exact spot on Jones Street where “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” album cover was shot. He even had arranged to show me the room at the Washington Square Hotel where Dylan and Joan Baez once lived together in the ‘60s. (Unfortunately, a guest had already checked in for the evening since we had to arrange our tour later in the afternoon due to rainstorms in New York City.)

Jordan was knowledgeable as a local, and I learned so many things about the neighborhood beyond Dylan. For example, I had no idea that Minetta Street is named after the creek that used to flow under Washington Square Park, along the curved path of this street, and out to the Hudson River until it was covered in the 19th century.

By the end of the tour, I felt like I had made a new friend. We connected over our shared interests and even swapped recommendations for our upcoming trips. The New York City-themed goodie bag filled with samples from local apothecary C.O. Bigelow he gave me as a parting token was a particularly nice touch.

Go where the tour buses don’t at your next cruise port

In addition to places like New York, ToursByLocals also has local guides in over 460 ports of call, so you can skip the cruise’s large group tours to access more intimate places buses can’t reach. Its shore excursion tool lets you search by the cruise line and ship to easily find a guide in port who can customize an itinerary to your needs, so you’re not hostage to anyone else’s schedule.

Just like I did with Jordan, you’ll see way more in a day than you would on a typical on-and-off bus tour, and you’ll have a different story to tell fellow passengers at dinner when you’re back on board that night.

While booking a ToursByLocals tour with just your immediate family members or friends is possible, many cruisers get more value from their tour by splitting the cost with other passengers they meet online via cruise ship forums and Facebook groups — or even passengers they meet on board.

And if booking a tour outside your cruise line makes you nervous, ToursByLocals has a “No One Left Behind” guarantee. It stipulates that ToursByLocals will make arrangements and cover any costs — including overnight accommodation and transportation to the next port of call — in the highly unlikely event you miss returning to your ship on time after a tour.

How to book a ToursByLocals tour

To book my recent tour, I plugged “New York City” into the toolbar on ToursByLocals’ homepage. After 300 tours popped up, I used the site’s filters to search by date, duration, style of transportation and price to narrow down the results to a more manageable list of 50 options.

You can also filter to search for specific interests like Jewish heritage or cycling, activity level, language, and kid-friendly tours. Have something even more specific in mind? You can also message guides through the ToursByLocals website before booking a tour to customize the itinerary of your dreams with personalized recommendations for things to do, places to eat and more to ensure you maximize your time in that destination.

Though a bird-watching tour of Central Park and a Lower East Side food tour I came across in the search results piqued my interest, I ultimately landed on Jordan’s Bob Dylan’s Greenwich Village tour for $295.

After filling in my party size, tour date and tour start time on the site, I clicked “Request Booking.” Within 15 minutes, I received an email from ToursByLocals confirming that my guide accepted my tour request. The email also included the guide’s phone number and information about where to meet.

(Tours can also be booked by phone with a ToursByLocals agent; guides will accept and confirm your tour within 24 hours.)

If anything does come up, ToursByLocals offers two cancellation policies, including a standard one and a more extensive “Any Reason” cancellation policy. The standard cancellation policy included in all tours lets you cancel up to 15 days before the start date of the tour and get a full refund, including all fees.

You can also pick the Any Reason cancellation policy during checkout when you book a tour for an additional fee. This policy stipulates you’ll get a full refund — minus any service fee — if you cancel the tour at any point before the tour start time. If you buy this cancellation policy and don’t use it, ToursByLocals will issue a credit equal to the amount you paid via a promo code that can be used to book another tour.

Top picks for tours

Convinced you want a private tour guide on your next trip, but aren’t going to New York City soon? Here are a few more memorable tours in other destinations you can book through ToursByLocals.

Frenchmen Street Live Music Pub Crawl, New Orleans

Book now: $254 for up to 10 people, toursbylocals.com

Go beyond Bourbon Street on this three-hour walking tour of the most famous street in New Orleans for live music. Your guide is Quay F., a working jazz saxophonist with a music history degree from the University of New Orleans. He weaves in local history lessons between stops at venues like Snug Harbor, The Spotted Cat and Cafe Negril.

Amazing Vatican Experience: Half Day Private Tour with Skip the Line tickets, Rome

Book now: $754 for up to eight people, toursbylocals.com

Your guide for this four-hour private tour is Patrizia S., who has been visiting the Vatican since she was a child. Her art history degree will be useful in the Vatican Museums if you have questions about anything in the Gallery of Maps, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Kyoto Night Food & Drink Tour From Gion to Pontocho, Kyoto, Japan

Book now: $199 for up to four people, toursbylocals.com

Over the course of four hours, your guide, Tess L., will show you where to find the most delicious food and drinks in the Gion Geisha district and the Pontocho entertainment district. This family-friendly walking tour is fully customizable to your food preferences, with choices to stop for conveyor-belt sushi, yakitori skewers, sukiyaki hot pot or Japanese whisky.

The Outlander Full Day Tour, Edinburgh

Book now: $1,205 for up to six people, toursbylocals.com

“Outlander” superfans will get to visit five of the most recognizable filming locations of the Starz historical drama on this nearly eight-hour tour led by James K., who, in addition to being a tour guide, also happened to be a supporting actor in the series. After being picked up in the morning at your hotel or cruise dock in a private van, you’ll explore places like the village of Culross, where Geillis Duncan lived; Doune Castle, the home of Colum MacKenzie; and Midhope Castle, which serves as Jamie Fraser’s family home, Lallybroch.

Bottom line

Booking a private tour with one of ToursByLocals’ vetted guides can offer more than just convenience. For travelers seeking a deeper understanding of a place, it’s a way to really see a destination through the eyes of someone who lives there. Rather than following a one-size-fits-all itinerary, you’ll have the chance to dive in and explore on your own terms, guided by local insight and expertise. Consider it a go-to experience, anywhere you travel.