No matter where you go on holiday with teenagers, walking tours are a great way to see a lot of a place you’re visiting or do more of a deep dive into one aspect like architecture, street art, design, history or crime. My friend Tula and I still talk about the great Jack the Ripper tour we did on one of her London visits. Plus walking tours are great for family outings and with children.
But as anybody knows who goes traveling with teens, they can be hard to please. I recently went on a walking tour with a large group of teens, which showed me that they indeed are a great activity with older kids. It also left me with some observations about what works best for walking tours with teens, and what you might want to avoid.
Here, the best strategies for choosing and organising walking tours that will keep your teens happy.
1. Choose tours with a specific, concrete theme
General history can keep adults hooked, but the teenage brain is programmed to seek out spills, thrills and chills. The more specific the tour, the more they will come away with factoids and interesting bits of knowledge they can share with their friends back home. I love a tour with a good theme. It could be something like the aforementioned Jack the Ripper, the gangster life of East London, street art…anything that zooms in on life and its fascinating little details. The specifics create stories that teens can connect with.
2. Get to know your local area with walking tours close to home
Walking tours aren’t just great in far-flung cities. Organising one for a weekend or a school break can provide some structure during a time of life when your older child frequently wants to jaunt off on their own. Since most walking tours only last an hour or two, walking tours allow you to create some family time and still give your teen an opportunity to see friends before or after.
3. Make it the more the merrier
Getting your teen to invite friends means you can turn a boooorrrrrriiiing walk with parents into a group outing they can share and talk about later. Teenagers will do that funny thing of walking almost on top of each other, linking arms, bumping together, all the while learning a bit about the topic at hand. And because they’ll clump together and move as one, you can corral them while also standing apart on the tour stops so you can actually hear what the guide is saying.
If you have a large enough group, book your own guide — this can be especially helpful for tailoring the walk to suit your interests and rhythm.
4. Look for a guide who gives a bit of a performance
Many tours are led by actors or enthusiasts who can’t wait to tell anecdotes or juicy little stories to bring the walk to life. Those are the people you want. We loved the street art guide we had in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who turned up in a bright mustard-coloured coat and a waxed mustache. He reeled off loads of stories about the artists behind the works we were seeing and steered us to a chocolatier at the end for samples of artisan chocolate bars. The only way to really know if the person you’re going to get is good is through recommendations and reputation. I also opt for guides who have a youthful vibe, either because they’re brilliant presenters, characters in their own right or young and cool themselves.
5. Don’t forget the food
It’s not just teenage boys who get hungry. My daughter and her friends love yummy treats and visually tempting meals. A food tour featuring tastings will whet their appetite, even if they end up laughing and exclaiming, ‘Eww, gross!’ when confronted with unusual delicacies or strange sights and smells. If your tour is on another subject, choose one that finishes in a part of town with yummy options for a snack, coffee or meal afterwards.
6. Consider ‘free’ walking tours
I know, I know. These aren’t really free because you are hit up at the end to ‘donate’ or tip according to what you think it’s worth. But you’ll likely be a lot more relaxed if you’re not hissing to your 16-year-old, ‘Be quiet and listen! We’re paying for this!’ We had a brilliant guide from Sandemans New Europe in Berlin, and at the end we tipped what we would have expected to pay for a quality tour upfront. These folks tend to work hard to make the experience fun, pacey and informative, and if you’re not satisfied, you can adjust your tip accordingly.
7. Leave plenty of time for selfies and silliness
On our group tour in central London, the kids wanted to spend time at several stops taking selfies, getting together for group shots and clowning around. On the Mall, two of the guys staged a lighthearted foot race toward Buckingham Palace. This is the kind of thing that will make a walking tour fun for teens, as much as the knowledge they’ll absorb. This is another reason to book your own guide, so you don’t constantly have to pull your kids away from their self-made fun because the group is moving on.
8. Allow for unexpected sights and sounds
Sometimes the things you happen upon will be part of the fun. It could be a patisserie they just have to visit later for the mini tarts or the shop that has totally cool clothes or the people on the street. On our outing, we were treated to both a parade of the Gurkhas band and a parade of fashionistas heading for London Fashion Week. It’s a good reminder to stay open-minded about what you’re going to get out of a walk.
9. Choose a route with a manageable number of stops
As with all walking tours, you want to have a large enough variety of sights, smells and stories to keep things interesting, but you don’t want to be racing from one to another. The social aspect of the outing is one of the most vital. I recommend somewhere between between 5 and 8 major sights with smaller stops or things to look at along the way, in an 1.5 to 2 hour walk.
10. Remember walking tours aren’t just for cities…or walking
You can get a lot from walking tours in natural areas, parks, on a beach. Plus, a benefit of travelling with teens is that you can do things a little differently — such as a bike or Segway tour! We did a fab park Segway tour in El 3 Monts in Costa Barcelona, something you definitely can’t do with younger children. Plus, who can resist darting about on silly Segways with fat wheels to go over park terrain? No teen I know…
Do you have tips for organising or enjoying tours with teens? Tell me what’s worked for you!
Great tips to point out! We do A LOT of walking tours when we travel – bike tours, too – and I agree with all you said. Hadn’t thought much to do a tour in London, though (where we live) and for them to bring friends. Will def think about that when we are looking for a staycation activity. Love the post, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your comments! Bike tours are great — especially if kids are confident on two wheels and in traffic or over rough terrain if it’s a mountain bike tour. x