FAQs

Each GGG destination has a members-only side which gives you access to the contact forms to write any of our guides, and see our itin suggestions. 

Logged-in Members can click the 'Let's Go!' button at the bottom of any destination, and:

• Access itinerary suggestions for inspiration.

• Contact any of our Private Tour Guides for the destination through the contact form to request a quote for a tour.

The private guide you've written will then write you back directly to your email with their ideas and a price. Once you've agreed, settle up directly with your guide, either in advance, with a deposit, or on the day of your tour—each independent private tour guide has their own policy, which you can discuss with them.

GGG is monetised solely from the membership paid by our travellers—you.

This is incredibly important for you. 

Your yearly membership fee means that we get the very best guides there are.

Because there is no pressure on them to compete in price wars, and because they cannot pay to have their profile listed, and perhaps most importantly because we have no review system for anyone to manipulate, we have complete control over which guides are available. 

We keep our roster very tight, and our founder searches out the very best for you using decades of first-hand guiding experience as a barometer. 

We only include those who we would be happy to recommend to you in person, as we did for our guests for many years.

Some guides on GGG offer a 100% full-service approach. Others only provide spectacular tours.

We have a wonderful mix of people on GGG, and they all have different skillsets.

Travel planning will usually come at an additional cost, so bear that in mind.

If you've ever counted up all the hours you've spent finding transport, researching hotels and districts and managing all of the tickets and payments and so on, you'll know this is a huge amount of research, expertise, and just work.

A great many guides simply live and breathe their material, and that is what they obsess over and focus on, and we think that they are absolutely spectacular that way.

They'll mostly will look after the minor incidental logistics, such as helping arrange private transport, museum tickets, and helping you with booking restaurants.

Tl;dr answer: somewhere between a few hundred dollars, and a thousand or more. 

Prices vary enormously per guide and per tour for all the reasons listed below:

• The skill and experience of the guide.

• The place where you are touring.

• The type of tour you'd like to have.

• Any add-ons, such as private transport or bookings.

We think that every single guide on the site has something very special to offer.

A 25 year veteran who travels with clients, and tours in 12 different cities and can take you in any museum and talk about and connect any aspect of history or culture with all the other places s/he operates is going to come at a different price point than booking a quick 3-hour foodie walk.

We don't tell our guides what to charge, because as soon as prices are standardised like on many of the platforms, it becomes a price war, and a race to the bottom. The best guides just leave, and go back to their word-of-mouth networks.

The other factor of course is the destination itself.

Paris is just an expensive place to live. Wonderful, but expensive.

A lot of people want to visit Paris (more than 50 million most years), and that puts a lot of pressure on bookings, logistics, and the price of housing and accommodation.

Commensurately, private tours there and other huge & desirable capital city destinations often cost significantly more than they will somewhere with much lower living costs.

So a few hundred for a fun half day tour, and up to a thousand or more for a full day of touring with an absolutely legendary A-lister guide is is a pretty good range to keep in mind.

The best plan? Write and ask.

Ideally at least a month out, and the best guides might be booked out up to a year in advance.

This doesn't mean they will be though. It's always worth it to just write and ask. Many have outstanding friends they can refer you to, even if they are booked out. 

Most of our guides operate their own extremely high-quality network of friends with whom they help manage all their guests.

Just remember: if you're looking for something in the middle of an incredibly busy season or event, probably there are a lot of people who want the same thing as you. 

Things to plan extra time in advance for:

• Anything in Amsterdam during Tulip Season

• Japan during Cherry Blossom Season

• Any big holiday, long-weekend, or in the height of summer.

• Big sporting events, concerts, or blockbuster art exhibitions.

We've got some little prompts set up in the contact forms to help you, but who you are, where you want to go, and when you want to visit. 

Bear in mind that the best guides will get dozens of emails requesting the same dates. Many of these end up dead ends, or 40-strong email threads that they are answering while on a train from one place to the next.

Usually they don't have secretaries. Try and be clear.

Here's important stuff to list in your mail:

1. Your name, and the total number of people in your group. If anyone has any mobility issues, this is a good time to mention it.
   

2. Your destination & dates, approximately.
   

3. If you know your flight time/date, list that.
   

4. If you have a hotel booked, this can help the guide plan out a route for you.