Virtual travel was one of the most interesting developments to take shape during COVID.
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With millions of people trapped at home, alternative forms of travel grew. Thanks to a campaign from the Google Arts & Culture crew, dozens of high-profile museums and landmarks from around the world began launching virtual tours.
Since then, the trend has diversified.
While you can still find virtual tours of all stripes online (and from a variety of creators and providers), there’s a new focus: guided tours.
Unsurprisingly, some of the best virtual guided tour channels are on YouTube. Here’s what you need to know about this growing trend, along with the best virtual guided tour channels on YouTube.
What are virtual guided tours?
Guided tours explore cities, towns, and regions from around the world. Some also explore less urban areas, including national parks and remote monuments.
The goal is to showcase the very best of the area in order to educate viewers and entice them to visit. If you’re uncertain about a potential destination, a guided tour is the best way to get a feel for a place—virtually, of course.
Given its reach and accessibility, YouTube is home to the most high-quality virtual tour channels in the world. Each channels a unique angle and specialty.
From scooter tours to haunted location countdowns, virtual guided tour channels on YouTube cover just about every interest.
Looking for a way to travel the world without leaving your couch? Here are the best virtual guided tour channels on YouTube.
Best virtual guided tour channels on YouTube
Prowalk Tours
Prowalk Tours delivers seriously high-quality videos. Thanks to its multi-media efforts, viewers are treated to 4K footage from pedestrians, drones, and even scooters.
Their goal is to visually immerse remote viewers—and they do it exceedingly well.
The channel also goes above and beyond to showcase each tour route. I really enjoy that feature, as it helps you get a feel for a city spatially and make sense of your tour.
Even the audio quality stunned me. If you like cinema-quality tours, Prowalk Tours is your channel.
City Walks
Ever considered bundling your virtual tours with treadmill workouts?
I know—it’s a bit of a stretch. (Get it?) But City Walks can turn any workout session into a highly unique travel experience. The channel offers city tours on foot, along with commentary.
City Walks includes a narrative from the channel’s host, exploring interesting factoids and also helping viewers situate themselves in the city.
That can go a long way in helping viewers make sense of what they’re seeing… and also distract them from that treadmill workout.
4K Urban Life
You guessed it—4K Urban Life is a channel that films cities in 4K quality.
More specifically, videos are in ultra-HD. That high production element is thanks to the fact that this channel has professionals from Pro Art Inc. behind it.
That being said, the videos are overlayed with a basic playlist. I don’t mind the music and lack of commentary because—it bears repeating—the videos are insanely high quality.
That type of visual immersion is enough to let you get lost in a city. To keep going with this thread, I was pretty surprised by how much I liked the lack of map and narrative. It’s pure sensation here.
WannaWalk
Want an unfiltered look at destinations around the world?
WannaWalk has a pretty hefty cultural element to it. The solo traveler who runs the account has one goal: to take you onto the streets to see what he sees. No context, no explanations.
I’m going to be blunt—I’m a little wary of this channel. It seems clickbaity with videos like ‘Worst Smelling Street in India’ that offer little explanation.
I’m also hesitant to support channels that involve filming strangers living in their daily lives. (It’s a slippery slope into ‘poverty porn’.)
But I’ll let you decide for yourself whether you vibe with WannaWalk. The channel has a solid following and an extensive list of unique videos. Additionally, you can learn a few facts along the way when you enable closed captioning.
Watched Walker
Art and history fans rejoice! There’s a guided tour channel just for you!
Watched Walker is a solo traveler (like WannaWalk) who got his start in London. Since then, the creator has ventured out to other popular cities that showcase the best in art and history.
I like the focus on London here—it’s a massive city. The account takes viewers to unique places and unique times, like the West End when it’s abandoned due to rain showers or a central London stroll during the Euro finals.
Aside from London, Watched Walker has tons of content on Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid.
