Walking Tours
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A walking tour is a tour of a historical or cultural site undertaken on foot, frequently in an urban setting. Short tours can last under an hour, while longer ones can take in multiple sites and last a full day or more. A walk can be led by a
tour guide A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, religio ...
, as an escort.


Precursors

A
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
is a religious journey traditionally taken on foot, to a location of significance to the walker's faith. Chaucer's 14th-century narrative poem ''
Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus' ...
'' certainly indicates that a pilgrimage can involve pleasure. The
Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...
route to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain is a famous example, and remains popular today. In Iraq, the
Shia Muslim Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
20-day
Arba'een Pilgrimage The Arba'een Pilgrimage, or the Arba'een Walk or Karbala Walk, is the world's largest annual public gathering. It is held at Karbala, Iraq at the end of the 40-day mourning period following Ashura, the religious ritual for the commemoration ...
to
Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorat ...
attracts many millions of pilgrims each year. The
Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
, undertaken in Europe in the 17th through 19th centuries, as part of a wealthy young man's education, involved visits to cities, historic and cultural sites. There are also similarities between walking tours that involve long hikes and
backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...
.


Tours of cities and cultural sites


With guides

A walking tour is generally distinguished from an
escorted tour Escorted tours are a form of tourism in which travelers are escorted in a group to various destinations, versus a self-guided tour where the tourist is on their own. Escorted tours (in US English) are also known as ''Guided tours'' or '' Packa ...
by its length and the employment of
tour guides A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, religio ...
, and can be under 12 hours, or last for a week or more. They are led by guides that have knowledge of the sites, or the landscape, covered on the tour, and explanations and interpretations of the site can cover a range of subjects, including places with historical, cultural and artistic significance. Walking tours, of various kinds and length, are universally part of the tourism industry, and can be found around the world. Many walking tours involve a payment to the guide, although some operate on a
tip Tip commonly refers to: * Tip (gambling) * Tip (gratuity) * Tip (law enforcement) * another term for Advice (opinion), Advice Tip or TIP may also refer to: Science and technology * Tank phone, a device allowing infantry to communicate with the oc ...
system. The "pay what you want" model started around 2004, and can be found in many countries. The UK-based Guild of Registered Tour has criticised the system for not requiring any training or certification of its guides.


Narratives

Several cities now have groups that are employing dramatic spectacle to add interest to their tours. Usually guided by actors in costume playing a role, these walking tours create the feel of
living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...
as guests walk in the footsteps of those who came before them. These tours, which blend history and dramatic narrative, share "history in a non-academic, very accessible fashion." These tours are similar in nature to
promenade theatre Site-specific theatre is a theatrical production that is performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre. This unique site may have been built without any intention of serving theatrical purposes (for example, a hote ...
. Although the theatrical nature of these tours is similar to
museum theatre Museum theatre is the use of theatre and theatrical techniques by a museum for educational, informative, and entertainment purposes. It can also be used in a zoo, an aquarium, an art gallery, and at historic sites. It is generally performed by p ...
in that it makes use of first person interpretation, the fact that these tours take place outside of traditional museum settings and requires the audience to move through urban environments makes this style of walking tour a genre of its own.


Self guided tours

Self-guided tours, utilise a range of methods to aid travel through a place, or landscape, such as books, maps, pamphlets, and audio material.


Day tours with specific locations

* Boston By Foot (
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, USA) *
Big Onion Walking Tours Big Onion Walking Tours is the largest walking tour company in New York City. The company has offered tours of the city since 1991. Big Onion shows visitors & tourists alike the diverse fabric of urban neighborhoods, using as guides doctoral stude ...
(
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
) *
Photowalking Photowalking is a communal activity of camera enthusiasts who gather in a group to walk around with a camera for the main purpose of taking pictures of things that interest them. The word is sometimes used incorrectly in the marketing title of ...
*
Caminhada Noturna Caminhada Noturna ("Night Walk") is a weekly walking tour of the centre of São Paulo. It takes place every Thursday between 8 and 10 pm, starting and ending at the Municipal Theatre. It has taken place over 300 times since September 2005. It ...
,
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...


See also

*
Audio tour An audio tour or audio guide provides a recorded spoken commentary, normally through a handheld device, to a visitor attraction such as a museum. They are also available for self-guided tours of outdoor locations, or as a part of an organised to ...
*
Backpacking (hiking) Backpacking is the outdoor recreation of carrying gear on one's back, while hiking for more than a day. It is often an extended journey, and may involve camping outdoors. In North America tenting is common, where simple shelters and mountain h ...
*
Backpacking (travel) Backpacking is a form of low-cost, independent travel, which often includes staying in inexpensive lodgings and carrying all necessary possessions in a backpack. Once seen as a marginal form of travel undertaken only through necessity, it has b ...
*
Heritage trail Heritage trails are walking trails and driving routes in urban and rural settings that are identified by signage and guidebooks as relating to cultural heritage. The heritage might be built architecture, or it can be a cultural heritage narrative. ...
*
Hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
*
Walking bus A walking bus (crocodile, walking school bus) is a form of student transport for schoolchildren who, chaperoned typically by two adults (a "driver" leads and a "conductor" follows), walk to school along a set route, with some similarities to ...


External links


Walking - miracle cure for body and soul


References


Further reading

* MacCannell, Dean. ''The Ethics of Sightseeing''. University of California Press, 2011. * Pond, Kathleen Lingle. ''The Professional Guide: Dynamics of Tour Guiding''. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993. * Ruitenberg, Claudia W. "Learning by Walking: Non-Formal Education as Curatorial Practice and Intervention in Public Space." ''International Journal of Lifelong Education'' 31, no. 3 (2012): 261-275. * Wynn, Jonathan R. ''The Tour Guide: Walking and Talking New York''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2011. * Wynn, Jonathan R. "City Tour Guides: Urban Alchemists at Work." ''City & Community'' 9, no. 2 (June 2010). {{Walking Types of tourism Tourist activities Hiking