A new breed of tour
Anew generation of websites is revolutionising the tour booking process by matching travellers with knowledgeable locals for authentic, offbeat experiences. The US has the best coverage but many are also available in Europe and Asia and are expanding rapidly.
We chose three – Vayable.com, SideTour.com and GetYourGuide.com – and put them to test in one of the world’s most hotly contested markets…New York City.
Vayable.com
Vayable was founded in 2011 and already offers more than 9,000 experiences by local experts in more than 100 countries. Of the dozens of activities available in New York, one of the most popular is the Queens Tastes of the World tour led by Jeff Orlick.
I meet Jeff on a snowy winter’s afternoon outside a food court in Jackson Heights, Queens. The area is famous for its ethnic diversity – 116 different languages are spoken here across a multi-cultural maze of neighbourhoods that includes Little Bangladesh, Himalayan Heights and Little Manilla. Within the space of a few blocks you can taste authentic, homemade cuisine from almost anywhere in the world.
Our first stop is Fiesta Grill, a Filipino restaurant where I try a turon – a delicious spring roll stuffed with jackfruit and banana. The restaurant also serves as a community hub – Filipino TV plays in the background and a noticeboard is covered with adverts for jobs and accommodation.
From the Philippines we head to Nepal and a tiny hole-in-the-wall joint called Dhaulagiri Kitchen. Jeff orders from a bewildering array of unmarked containers and soon we’re tucking into sel roti (a sweet rice doughnut), zucchini and radish achaar (vegetable pickle) and buffalo choila (fermented buffalo stir fry).
Jeff explains that the idea of this tour is “to challenge your tastes a little” and two stops later my palate is certainly being challenged by some Himalayan butter tea – a strong, salty, chest hair-curling concoction from Tibetan Mobile. The cafe is hidden behind a mobile phone shop and without Jeff’s guidance you’d never know it existed.
We visit seven establishments in total, a culinary world tour that includes a Colombian bakery, a Mexican food cart and a traditional Italian pizzeria. Jeff believes that “food is the best ambassador for culture” and today’s tour has been a fascinating insight into both.
Queens Tastes of the World…$US59
www.vayable.com
SideTour.com
SideTour takes a similar approach to Vayable, offering a curated selection of experiences hosted by local guides who have all been vetted beforehand. It currently operates in nine US cities and has ambitious plans to expand overseas.
Its 67 New York activities range from pizza making tutorials to body painting classes to a crime scene visit with a private investigator. A perennial favourite is A Jazzfest and Fishfry at a Brooklyn Brownstone, which Debbie McClain hosts at her B&B in Bedford–Stuyvesant.
When I arrive Debbie ushers me into the front room of her elegant 19th-century brownstone terrace. It’s a beautiful space with wooden floors, high ceilings and intricately carved doors and window frames. Twenty-five seats face a makeshift stage where pianist Danny Dalelio is playing a medley of jazz tunes.
“Are you jazz fans or did your professor just send you here to write a paper?” jokes musical director Eric Lemon. He provides some history on “America’s only art form” and goes on to describe the vibrant jazz scene in Bed-Stuy in the 1940s when Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie would play in the area’s many jazz clubs. “We’re here to keep the music alive,” he says triumphantly.
Tonight’s guest musicians are jazz drummer Willie Martinez and singer Nicki Denner and the trio launch into a set that ranges from Nat King Cole classics to upbeat Latin tunes from Puerto Rico.
At 11pm they break and Debbie serves up a traditional Southern fish fry – delicious deep fried whiting with coleslaw and bread.
During the second set a sharply dressed man in a suit and hat arrives carrying a bongo and without introduction starts playing along. It’s that sort of place.
The second set finishes around midnight but then there’s an open-mic session which often stretches into the wee hours. Four hours of live jazz with dinner and a glass of wine for $US40? Sign me up.
A Jazzfest and Fishfry…$US40
www.sidetour.com
GetYourGuide.com
GetYourGuide is less about offering a small number of hand-picked experiences and more about being a one-stop shop for activities and tours. It lists 517 activities for New York and while most are fairly standard tours and attractions, there are some gems such as Context Tour’s Birth of the Cocktail walking tour.
Context differentiates its tours by using local scholars and specialists, many of whom work as professors or researchers in their respective fields.