A walking tour is a visit to historical or cultural sites on foot with the help of a tour guide.
Often, people confuse walking tours with hiking. Hiking is walking from a place of low elevation to a place of higher elevation. It usually requires some effort as the trails are more challenging e.g. a forest, mountain range, or game reserve. On the other hand, a walking tour is done on a flat trail with little or no hurdles. It is basically a walk down an effortless path.
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Walking tours are also different from fitness walks. A fitness walk requires speed-walking while a walking tour is a leisurely stroll to take in the sights and sounds of the city. Tour operators often organise walking tours in urban areas where tour attractions are within walking distances from each other.
To have an enjoyable walking tour experience, here are a few tips to work with:
1. Get a Competent and Friendly Tour Guide
For a walking tour to be a blast, you need to have a tour guide. Someone who will tell you details about the area you are walking through that you can’t get if you drove around the place by yourself. Someone who is friendly can make the walk feel less cumbersome by taking your mind off the stress of walking for quite a distance. And when we say a competent tour guide, we mean someone who is not only vast in knowledge about a lot of things but a language translator. For instance, if you were in Ogun State, having a friendly tour guide who knows a lot about the history of the town and its folklores and can speak Yoruba language will definitely improve your tour experiences.
2. Choose a Location with Multiple Attractions
When areas within the vicinity of a walking tour have a story to tell, it improves the quality of the tour. An example would be King’s Square in Benin City. Walking around Ring Road, there are statues of historical moments, detours to Igun Street (home to bronze casters), Oba Market, the Oba’s Palace, the Akenzua Cultural Centre, and the Benin Museum, all at the ring. Having multiple attractions in one location explains why Benin City is on the list of tour destinations in Nigeria. Multiple attractions make the walking tour experience full.
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3. Ensure the Tour is a Comprehensive Experience
Don’t just choose a destination with lots of walking and talking. Instead, add other things to spice up the experience. There are a variety of walking tours to offer, from architectural tours to local artistic scenes (street murals or shops with arts and craft). The tourists can meet up for a local breakfast in a park nearby before/after the walk or take a break during the tour by stopping over at a restaurant for a local meal. That way tourists get to rest their legs and get more than they bargained for.
A walking tour can be free or paid; private (with two tourists and a guide) or public (with over 7 persons per tour). If you ever go on a walking tour, don’t hold back. It might just be fun.
Disclaimer: Due to the unpredictability of the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria, all forms of tourism and travel, especially interstate travel, is not advisable this period. It is best to wait till the pandemic is over before embarking on a trip.
Sources:
Differencebetween.net
Trekk Soft
The Guardian
Featured image source: Travel Noire
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