I’m always looking for tours that are unusual, hyper-local, and private, in order to get the most out of our trips. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a 50-person herd following a young guide around carrying a flag or brightly-colored umbrella to make sure folks don’t get lost. I also don’t like massive commercial companies with pre-arranged impersonal tours that just always go to the same places. “WithLocals” is a European-based tour company (you will always pay in Euros) with operations around the world, and after taking a couple tours through their platform, I can confidently recommend this company for any type of tour you want to take. They offer everything ranging from food tours, to historical tours, and they even do day trips outside of big cities, which are usually more expensive, although I will probably try to do one of those in the next year or so just to check it out. They have profiles of their guides and you can even choose your guide, depending on availability. Note that both our guides spoke excellent English, and communication through the website/email/WhatsApp was easy.

Our first WithLocals tour was in Mexico City in February of 2024. We booked the “Highlights and Hidden Gems” tour with Mariel, mainly because our time in the City was short, and we really wanted to cram in as much as possible in the Centro Historico as we could. The tour was three hours long, and cost 109 Euros for the two of us, and it really was private, with just us walking around with our guide. Mariel is a lovely young woman, and a Mexico City local. She was passionate about the hidden secrets around the area and really knew her history! We started at the gorgeous Palacio de Bellas Artes, and walked through many of the parks near there. Mariel pointed out some of the monuments and discussed some of Mexico City’s fraught history through the eyes of its interesting leaders throughout the last three centuries.

We made our way through buildings that you would probably otherwise skip, but were beautiful nonetheless. The old post office was absolutely stunning inside, and had a really cool mural of Mexico’s Eagle emblem made entirely of stamps.

We made our way through the old city, and Mariel pointed out how the city is sinking and shifting through different crumbling and cracking facades and building interiors. We made our way over to the old ruins of Tenochtitlan, right in the center of the city! The Templo Mayor is being excavated/rebuilt right there in the middle of the old town, next to the Cathedral, and they have a really cool recreation of what the whole city of Tenochtitlan looked like. The whole reason that Mexico City is sinking is because it was built on the lake surrounding Tenochtitlan, and was not properly fortified underneath!

The Mexico City Cathedral was built right on top of the old major temple of Tenochtitlan, as a big middle finger to the native inhabitants of the area. That said, the Cathedral is sinking too, and there is a really neat pendulum in the middle of the main aisle showing the shifts in the building itself. Mariel explained to us that all of the folks in indigenous costumes outside of the Cathedral are actual legitimate healers and indigenous peoples, who need to take classes and be licensed to offer their services in the main plaza. We have been so jaded by the many scams we’ve observed all around the world, that we had a tough time believing that these folks in very intricate costumes were legit, but Mariel insisted that they were, and it’s really only folks with indigenous ancestry that come here for certain rites and services anyway. It wouldn’t even be appropriate for us to ask for a blessing. We learned how Mexico is really leaning into its indigenous heritage, and celebrating it, which was really lovely to hear considering the absolute thrashing they got by Cortez and the Spanish Conquistadors, and the fact that we still don’t seem to give a crap about the massive genocide of Native Americans here in the States.

Our last stop with Mariel was to Tacos de Canasta Los Especiales for “Basket Tacos” near the Zocalo. These are tacos that are made and then steamed in giant vats, and they are super cheap – about 45 cents each. The line to get the tacos really reminded me of the “Soup Nazi” episode from “Seinfeld,” and I’m really glad we had Mariel with us to place the order. They were delicious and satisfying after several hours of walking around, and the place itself was much bigger than it seemed from the outside, and had these vats of salsa, guacamole, and pickled vegetables to top off your tacos, and you stood at a counter eating them. Super yummy! We absolutely loved our tour with Mariel!

In Paris, in November 2024, we booked “The 10 Tastings of Paris: Montmartre” tour with Maxime. Montmartre was a bit of a hike from where we were staying on the Left Bank, but it’s such a cute area full of yummy delicacies that I couldn’t help but book a food tour here. This tour was more expensive – 338 Euros for two people, but it included the private, three hour tour, as well as gobs of food and a bottle of wine. In the end, in light of the amazing and artisanal food in combination with the charming commentary from Maxime, we thought this private tour was well worth the cost.

We learned a bit about the history of Montmarte, which only officially became part of the City of Paris in 1860, and we learned a lot about Parisian and French food ways. There are two major streets in Montmarte that have most of the main food shops, and Maxime took us to a bunch of the best ones. Maxime is local to Paris and was raised here, knew a lot about food and history, and also was very curious about languages, which made things really fun.

Our first stop was to try some quiche, which was filling and delicious. We tried a few different kinds, and the pastry crust was simply melt-in-your-mouth. As someone who attempts to make quiche on a somewhat regular basis and often fails, I really appreciated the perfect crust and filling with these. Maxime also picked out some sweet tarts at this shop for later.

We stopped at a local wine shop to pick up a bottle as well, which they chilled for us while we walked around picking up other delectable bites. Our next food stop was to a seafood restaurant/bar, where Brian tried a bunch of different types of oysters, and I had several types of shrimp and langoustine. Brian was pretty sure the oysters were some of the best he had ever had, and Maxime was able to talk about where they came from and why they were all different.

Next up was picking up some fresh bread and then for some chocolates and macarons that were all handmade. Let me just say, these handmade macarons from Chocolat Illene, blew anything I’d ever had from places like Laduree out of the water. They were so delicate and fresh and flavorful! They made any macaron I’d ever previously had seem like styrofoam.

We stopped at a tiny shop called Les Choupettes de ChouChou for the most adorable and delicious pastries – Choupettes are these tiny little balls of light dough filled with a tiny dollop of cream. Holy crap, these were so good, and probably one of the best things on the whole tour in my mind.

Finally, we stopped at one of the many cheesemongers in Montmartre, where Maxime expertly picked out about 4 different types of French cheeses for us to try, from the well-known Comte, to lesser known raw milk cheeses that make your face pucker!

We walked to a secret garden, off the beaten path, though close to the “Love Wall,” to eat all of our goods and drink the wine and chat more with Maxime about Paris and life in general. Our last stop was at a coffee shop called “The Beans On Fire,” where I had one of the best coffees I think I have ever had, like of all time. I don’t know if it was because it was chilly and we were exhausted from all the touring around, or if the actual beans and specialty roast was really that spectacular, but I was absolutely blown away by the coffee here. They roast their own beans that they source very specifically and expertly from all over the world. It was such a smooth roast, and the flavor was really something special. It was not flavored – per se – but it definitely had a really nice nutty sort of punch to it, and I simply died over it. If you go to Paris, and are anywhere near Montmarte, you MUST go to get Choupettes at ChouChou and coffee at Beans on Fire.

We slowly moseyed our way back down the hill to the main road and train station where we parted ways with Maxime. We were full and happy and warm, and we were glad that our dinner reservations weren’t until 9pm! I highly recommend the Montmartre food tour through WithLocals, and I will definitely continue to use this company booking tours wherever we go in the future!