I knew we were in trouble when our local tour guide drove silently for the first five minutes of our ride from Dubrovnik along Croatia’s coast. When I asked him if he would tell us about our destination, Cavtat and the Konavle Valley, he turned, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I’m from Bulgaria. I don’t know anything about the area.”
And he didn’t, even though the company we used listed Dobromir as a “driver-guide.”
Day-tripping with a local is popular and a big business. At the beginning of 2020 (pre-COVID-19), Tours by Locals, for example, projected a value for the market of $183 billion. And now, private tours are likely to surge in popularity. They add a sense of health and safety as you don’t share your outing or car with strangers.
Your guide can customize your trip and remove the burden of figuring out what to see and how to get there, plus lead you to the out-of-the-way shop with the hand-knit throws, the top ice cream stand, and other places frequented by locals.
