Like the Locals Do – Customised Itineraries for Any Agenda
A tour company that markets tours to people who don’t like tours? Sounds like a paradox, but the people at Localing Tours do exactly that – they offer a Hilly customised itinerary based on your preferred agenda, with no cookie-cutter script and no fixed formula, and you get to choose the pace and the focus, whether it’s coffee, sport or fine art. The guides are all well-informed locals that aim to expose you to their city’s culture and customs, without making you feel like a tourist.
For food and drink tours, they do a mean Melbourne nightlight and Yarra Valley winery tour. If you’re staying in town for an evening, make it a really special one as you hop between Melbourne’s coolest bars and nightspots. Have a drink with the manager, get behind the scenes and really see what makes these Melbourne stalwarts tick. Be sure to choose a part of town, rich in history and character; somewhere you know little about to make sure it’s a real treat, blend in with the locals, make new friends, and be assure that you won’t find anything like it with any other company.
If stunning wineries and laid-back country charm are more your beat, Localing Tours will also introduce to some of the best cheese and chocolates in the country, without the tourist traps. With a bounty of breweries and wildlife parks among rolling hills, there’s plenty to enjoy, whether it’s an intimate getaway or a fun-filled adventure for the whole family.
Bangkok Insider – Sample the City’s Sizzling Flavours Come Nightfall
At the risk of invoking scenes from The Hangover Part III, Bangkok at night transforms into a labyrinthine night market filled with scents and sounds that seem to bubble endlessly from a cauldron of street hawkers, hole-in-the-wall cafes, and decadent sweet treats. Specifically, Chinatown is one of the best places to catch a glimpse of local life.
Go Beyond’s Flavours of the Night Time Chinatown itinerary will see you weaving through the back alleys of the city to a hand-picked selection of small shophouses and eateries – one of whose reputation earned itself a cameo in the Ryan Gosling film Only God Forgives. Re-enact a scene from the movie as you tuck in to a place of muu grob, a dish of fried noodles and fatty pork, and wander down to the waterfront under cover of night with a few sticks of satay in hand.
Take a jaunt down Yarowat Rode, where random eats abound, where you can graze on small plates of street food, savour sticks of spicy sausages, and chow down on some dim sum, before finishing off with some sweet Chinese desserts (with a Bangkok twist, of course). Open your eyes, ignite your imagination and excite your taste buds with the sweet, the salty, the sour and the spicy flavours of the region.