Founded in Japan in 2013, GoWithGuide is an online marketplace that promotes the services of independent, local tour guides. The website is different from others like it in that the tour guides are expecting to work with you to create a custom itinerary to meet your interests. So rather than you choosing a tour that you think might interest you, you are able to communicate directly with a potential guide and get them to create the itinerary of your choice, according to your interests. This is a model that aligns with Archaeology Travel’s mission, and why we promote the website.Â
- Thomas Dowson
- Last Checked and/or Updated 22 March 2025
- Opinion, Reviews
Given the number of online platforms selling tours, tickets and activities, I was more than a little intrigued when I recently learned of another. It turns out, however, that not only is GoWithGuide not new it also offers a unique service for travellers. Not having heard about it before is on me. The company was in fact founded in Tokyo, Japan, in 2013, but it is only in the last few years that it has started expanding its coverage globally.Â
So, what is GoWithGuide? And more crucially, how are they different to the players many have been using for many years now?
What is GoWithGuide?
GoWithGuide is a online marketplace that enables travellers to find local, professional tours guides that offer fully customised private tours for that location. That last bit, ‘fully customisable tours’, is the important point – consulting with a guide, you get to decide your itinerary. At the time of writing this article, mid March 2025, the website states they have 2082 regsitered guides in 98 countries. I have had a good look around the website, and have been impressed by the choice available. Not surprising perhaps, the more popular destinations have more guides to choose from. But I am pleasantly surprised to find some less popular destinations are included where they are absent on other websites. And I hope signing up professional guides in less popular locations is a focus of the company.Â
If you have already visited a destination, or you have already taken a general walking tour. Or you have a particular interest in visiting a destination. GoWithGuide is for you.
How Does it Work?
In my opinion the website does very well in explaining how the process works. Their extensive FAQs page sets out the process in a logical manner, with clear responses to the questions any of us would have.Â
Briefly, when planning a trip to a destination start by looking through the guides registered for that location. Each guide has a profile page that includes a short video where they tell the viewer a bit about them, there is also a short written statement, as well as some other basic information such as the locations they cover, the languages they offer tours in. Information indicatee how responsive they are to enquiries is particularly useful, I feel. Included on each guide’s profile are reviews supplied by previous clients, and a list of tours they offer. Clicking through to the tour page and you will see more detailed information about the activity, included a proposed itinerary.
At this point, it is important to stress that the itinerary set out on the page is a suggested itinerary. You are encouraged to contact the guide and enter into a discussion about tweaking that itinerary to your needs – if that is what you want. Perhaps you have visited the desitination before, and would like to see more of that location. Or, you have a particular interest in visiting a city, and what to see sites and museums related to that interest. If so, send the guide a message outlining your requirements.
When clicking the ‘Send a Message’ button you will be asked to create or sign into your account. You will then be able to exchange messages, get advice and suggestions, and customise and plan your activity. Once the details have been agreed, you then make the payment. Within 24 hours you will receive confirmation, and 48 hours before the start of your tour you will be able to see th guide’s telephone number.Â
GoWithGuide's Cancellation Policy
It was not that long ago when travel plans were frequently upended overnight due to pandemic-related restrictions. Once one supplier started offering the ability to cancel with a full refund, others quickly followed. Since then travellers have become used to being able to purchase travel related services and products knowing they could get a full refund almost up to the last minute should travel plans change. Suppliers competed with each other by offering more favourable cancellation and refund terms.
More favourable to the traveller, not the activity suppliers. When we book tours and then cancel within 24 hours of the activity and get a full refund, the tour provider more often than not is left with nothing and not enough time to fill the availability at such short notice. A better balance needs to be found, and I think GoWithGuide has it. Having booked a bespoke tour, you have up until 8 days before the activity to cancel for a full refund. From 7 to 3 days, you get a 50% refund. If you cancel within 48 hours, there is no refund. These are the general cancellation terms, some activities have other terms – for full details, see full details of GoWithGuide’s cancellation policy.
At Archaeology Travel, we believe GoWithGuide’s cancellation terms are better for both travellers and guides. And this is one of the reasons we are happy to partner with the company and actively promote their registered guides.
When to Use GoWithGuide
For anyone looking for a professional, local guide that has been verified and offers a more indepth experience, GoWithGuide is a good place to start. When applying to have their services listed on the website, the guides undergo a rigorous vetting process. Of course, many of the tours and activities websites claim this, but you will only fine reviews for potential users to read. On some of these websites it is not obvious who/what company is providing the activity, with some not including this information at all.
GoWithGuide have added a number of features that enable you to make an informed choice. Besides reading reviews from previous clients, you can watch their video: see them, and hear them speak. You can read their statement and, crucially, communicate with them in the planning of your visit.Â
The following are three reasons I would start with GoWithGuide to find a private guided tour:
1. You have been to a location before, but are now looking for something a bit more indpeth.Â
2. You have already taken a general walking tour and have seen the basics, and now want something more.
3. You have a particular reason for visiting a location, and would like a tour to focus on that interest.
Why Does Archaeology Travel Recommend GoWithGuide?
Put very simply, what GoWithGuide offers aligns with our mission. Which is, to encourage everyone to explore the world’s pasts in more engaging and sustainable ways (read more about our Mission & Vision).
This is not to suggest we only recommend taking tours from guides that advertise on GoWithGuide. Very definuitely not. There is a place for all types of guided tours. A general 2 hour walking tour of a city is a very good introduction to that city and a good place to start exploring. But remember, it is just that – an introduction. If you have already been to that city a few times, or want to explore a specific aspect of its culture and history in great detail, a general, 2 hour tour will probably not be very satisfying. Different styles of tours suit different visitors, and that is fine, some visitors only want a 2 hour tour. If going deeper into a destinations history and culture is your aim, then we are confident your needs will be better met with guides on GoWithGuide where you can customise a private tour enabling you to engage more.
One way of making travel and tourism more sustainable is to support the local economy. Taking up the services of guides who are local and independent is the best way to ensure that your tourist spend stays in the location you are visiting. Recently, I visited a town in Germany that has a medium level of popularity with international tourists. As part of my usual research before visiting a place, I investigated what guided tours were on offer, checking all the websites. What I found was interesting. One website had walking tours offered by two different companies, one based in Lithuania the other in India, each offer over 300 tours in different cities (well known and others) throughout Europe. They all have only a few reviews, which are are no more than a six months old. They are not cheap. And we can safely assume very little of the money paid for these walking tours goes to the guide. These are almost certainly tours where the itinerary and script has been generated with AI, and the tour guide, is a low paid student following that script. I will be doing some research on these this in the next few months.Â
To help our readers, We will be placing links to specific GoWithGuide pages on our website in the same way we recommend services and activities from providers we currently work with. As is current practice, we will scrutinise what is on offer and make our recommendations based on our usual criteria, including our knowledge of the destination and assessment of the guides.
In the spirit of full transparency, should anyone book a tour via GoWithGuide, we will earn a small commission. There are two points to make here. First, you will not be charged more to cover this commission; it is deducted from the amount you pay as a ‘reward’ to us for introducing you. Second, this financial relationship has not influenced our decision to partner with GoWithGuide and more specifically what I have set out in this article. We at Archaeology Travel genuinely believe that GoWithGuide offers a different model to the other companies we work with and it aligns with specific aspects of our mission to encourage deeper engagements with our histories while supporting local economies.
Add GoWithGuide to Your Travel Planning
Anyone using our website will see links to GoWithGuide destination pages in our various travel planning sections dotted about the website. Where appropriate, we also have specific markers on our interactive maps (see the example above of our interactive map of Sardinia). On these maps you will find markers indicating GoWithGuide suppliers we have already identified as potentially a good fit for our users. If you have an account on Archaeology Travel, and are logged in, you will be able to add this to your travel lists and itineraries. You can see how this is done by watching our Using the Itinerary video on YouTube, or reading the Using the Itinerary page.
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Archaeology Travel Writer
