Tours Worth Taking: What's on Our Must-Do List

Top 10 Tours We’ve Ever Done (Food Tours, Wine Tastings & More!) | We Should Move Here Travels

Brittany and Josh share their top tours from years of travel, noting how hard it was to narrow the list and how tours—especially food tours—help them explore cities, learn culture, and create memories, with Japan and Italy standing out as major highlights. They start with five honorable mentions: a vegan Utrecht Walking Food Tour, Pike Place Market tours in Seattle, a guided Vasa Museum tour in Stockholm, a Rome sights Segway tour, and the Nordic Food Walk in Stockholm. Their top 10 includes Marlborough’s full-day winemakers tour (New Zealand), a five-course dinner history and food tour in Old Quebec City (featuring Le Clan), Osaka’s Kuromon Market food tour, Rotorua canopy ziplining, a Tokyo night foodie tour, Cloudy Bay’s First Taste Tour, Portugal’s Douro Valley wine tour, a Tuscany wine tasting trip from Siena, Kyoto’s sake brewery tour, and their #1: Venice Like a Local.

00:00 Welcome and Topic
01:54 Why Tours Matter
02:19 Japan and Italy Edge
04:25 Honorable Mentions Intro
05:19 Utrecht Vegan Food Tour
06:36 Pike Place Market Tours
08:00 Vasa Museum Guided Tour
09:48 Rome Segway Highlights
11:17 Stockholm Nordic Food Walk
13:04 Top 10 Begins
13:15 Marlborough Wine Tour
15:37 Old Quebec Food History
17:36 Osaka Kuromon Market
19:30 Rotorua Ziplining
21:13 Tokyo Night Foodie Tour
24:00 Tokyo Studio Tour Recap
24:53 Cloudy Bay First Taste
28:14 Douro Valley Wine Day
31:39 Tuscany From Siena
34:38 Kyoto Sake Brewery
38:11 Venice Like a Local
45:03 Why Tours Are Worth It
48:06 Travel Tips Next Episode

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:13

Hello, and welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm Josh.

brit 0:18

And we are your hosts. Today, we are gonna be talking about our top tours that we have ever done.

josh 0:27

Mm-hmm.

brit 0:28

When I say that combining all of our tours together and creating a list of the best ones was hard, that is not an understatement. It was incredibly hard to decide because we have done some amazing tours.

josh 0:45

Looking back from all of our travels, all the way back to our first international trip to Italy until our most recent travel to Portugal, I thought for sure I'd be like, "Oh, there's gonna be a couple that have to make a top 10." And then I started going through all of them and it was like-

brit 1:03

No, it's crazy. We've done so many tours. we were going through, like honorable mentions, and there has to be, like 25 that I wanted in there. And we were like, "Okay, how do we break down even just the honorable mentions?"

josh 1:17

Right. We, we had to narrow down an honorable mention list. We did. And I, I think we pretty much put every single tour onto this list that we've done.

brit 1:29

No, I skipped some on this list- Did you really? that I had found. Oh. Yeah, like I didn't... Well, we're not gonna talk about the bad tours. Anyways.

josh 1:40

But it was a hard process nonetheless to get it narrowed down.

brit 1:43

It was an incredibly hard process. Mm-hmm. Harder than I thought it would be.

josh 1:47

Yeah.

brit 1:48

But then I look at this list, 'cause we still have all of the tours on our document that we're looking at here. Mm-hmm. And I look at this list and I think to myself, "Wow, that is a lot of memories. That is so many memories that we have made." And I find that tours are such a great way to explore a city, especially food tours. We love food tours, and this is a food podcast, so a lot of these are food tours.

josh 2:17

It has to be. It has to be.

brit 2:19

Japan tours definitely have an unfair advantage

josh 2:23

Japan for us is such an outlier country, I think, compared to all of the other places we've gone to.

brit 2:31

Agreed.

josh 2:32

Like a, a lower fluent English-speaking country, so then having a tour makes it even more important to go to new places.

brit 2:40

Mm-hmm.

josh 2:40

And then also such a unique and different food culture, and different culture in general from anywhere else we've been.

brit 2:48

It was the biggest cultural shift that I think we've seen- on our travels together.

josh 2:54

And narrowing down and just picking, I think, one or two, maybe three tours- Oh my gosh from Japan even though we did so many while we were there.

brit 3:04

And every single one was so superb. Like, it was such a great tour, every single tour we did there.

josh 3:10

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:11

I think also, like, customer service and just being kind to, visitors- Mm in Japan is so important- Yeah in Japanese culture. Yeah. So I think that really pulls through in these tours as well.

josh 3:27

we also were saying when we were talking about this how Italy has such a unfair advantage as well. Because it kicked off our international travels, and it was such a impactful trip for us as a young traveling couple.

brit 3:41

That was an incredibly impactful trip. I think, I mean, we talked about last episode our argument in Mandello del Ario. Mm-hmm. But the entire trip itself I think just really pushed our relationship to the next level. I'm really grateful for Italy and everything we experienced there because if we didn't go, like, who knows? I mean, I'm sure we would still be tight, but- we're, like, we're very tight.

josh 4:10

Yeah. So. We're so tight.

brit 4:15

We're so tight. We're like besties.

josh 4:18

We are.

brit 4:19

We are.

josh 4:21

I just love how you said that.

brit 4:25

Anyways, should we start with the honorable mentions?

josh 4:29

We absolutely should, yes. And like we said, this is just a condensed small list of all the others that we have. You can go onto our website and see all the tours or almost all the tours we have done through each city or each country that we've been to just by clicking there, but these are just ones that we've narrowed down.

brit 4:52

Yes. Please do that because it honestly breaks my heart not to put some of the tours that I wanted to in this list. We had to cut some out for time, and we can't just keep dropping a bunch of tours onto your lap when none of them make any sense to you right now. Yeah. But if you go to these places, please do these tours 'cause they're amazing.

josh 5:16

Yep.

brit 5:16

Anyways, honorable mentions.

josh 5:19

In no particular order, we have Utrecht Walking Food Tour, which was a vegan food tour, which we did not know when we initially booked it or just didn't pay attention.

brit 5:30

Yeah, we did not know, but it was an incredible tour. Mm-hmm. We loved it.

josh 5:36

Absolutely fantastic. Netherlands food culture and food scene is wonderful, and Utrecht is such a foodie place to go. Mm-hmm. even though this was a vegan food tour- We went back to a couple places on the tour after we did it.

brit 5:54

Yeah, there was the, the burger spot- Mm-hmm where we had the vegan burger. Yep. It was so delicious. It was, like, super juicy, and the, what was it? I think a Chipotle, like, aioli.

josh 6:09

Mm-hmm.

brit 6:10

Oh my gosh. It melted in your mouth. Everything was so wonderfully c- crafted in this place. Definitely gotta check it out.

josh 6:19

Absolutely fantastic.

brit 6:20

Wasn't it, like, Copper Branch or something like that?

josh 6:23

Yeah. Copper, I think, yeah.

brit 6:25

Something like that.

josh 6:26

Mm-hmm.

brit 6:27

See, it's so impactful I can just remember it- off the top of my head because it was so good- Yeah and we went back. Mm-hmm. next honorable mention we have is Pike Place Market tours. We've done a couple different ones, and each one has been so good, so I wouldn't dare to assume to know the best one. However, they were all incredible, and Pike Place Market is such a special place in Seattle. So you definitely have to check it out, and through a tour, you get to try so many different foods, and you get to try them at smaller portions so you can eat more and try more things. So highly recommend that.

josh 7:15

Plus, Pike Place Market has multiple levels to it.

brit 7:19

Mm-hmm.

josh 7:19

And my parents just went there recently to visit some other family members, and I think they said they spent an entire day on the first level. Didn't even make it to the other levels, which is very common. But through a tour, you get a little bit of the different levels to kinda help you out, so if you're there for a couple days, you know what you're doing.

brit 7:39

And Pike Place Market, it just feels like a community-centered place. Yeah. It is such a vibe. I mean, when you go down and they throw the fish. Mm-hmm. Like, that's a very famous thing, is throwing the fish in Pike Place Market. I think you have to buy a fish to catch it. it's so fun to watch, and it's such a vibe.

josh 7:58

It's a great environment to be in, for sure. another one that we did in Sweden was the Vasa Museum guided tour.

brit 8:08

That was such a great one.

josh 8:09

Just a fantastic history tour. You will notice that there are not a lot of sightseeing or activity tours, stuff like that. It's mostly food, so this one being on here, taking a place of a food tour when this is a food podcast- It was amazing. You can get tours, um, directly through the museum, you can get 'em, book em through TripAdvisor or Viator

brit 8:37

Mm-hmm

josh 8:38

any place. I'm sure it's fantastic to have a guide to go through, 'cause there's so much in there, more than just the massive ship.

brit 8:48

Yes.

josh 8:49

Mm-hmm.

brit 8:49

Our guide's name was Gaia. Mm-hmm. And she was wonderful. I absolutely loved her. She explained everything and answered questions. I had a lot of questions about the ship. So it's a Viking ship that was naturally preserved underwater for 300 years, which is... I mean, if you think about a ship being underwater for 300 years, you're like, "It's probably, like, moldy and disgusting," or, like, broken apart. Or, like, how did water preserve it? And she goes through it all. It's really incredible, such a great museum. this one kind of turned us into museum people a little bit more.

josh 9:32

I think so. We definitely went on a few more history tours, got us into art a little bit too, just 'cause it was so beautiful, and they do have some art pieces in there as well.

brit 9:42

Yeah.

josh 9:42

Definitely something that if you go to Sweden, if you're in Stockholm, gotta check it out.

brit 9:47

Absolutely. Next honorable mention we have is the Rome Sights by Segway Tour. This was great. I loved it. So this was on our first international trip. I've never done a Segway before, and I was a little nervous. We did see a couple people wipe out, So if you are not coordinated, maybe this isn't the tour for you. it was so fun to just, like, cruise along in Rome and see the Colosseum and see everything by Segway.

josh 10:21

Mm-hmm.

brit 10:21

That was such a great way to do it, and it was so fun. It felt like we were exploring in a way that we've never done before, which I love.

josh 10:31

This is a great way if you only have a day or two in Rome, which we pretty much suggest anyways. So if you wanna listen to some of our first episodes on Italy, go back and listen to those. But if you only have a day or two in Rome, this is one of the ways to see a lot of Rome in just a few hours and get a good overview, get the highlights, the tourist attractions in a short period of time.

brit 10:57

Yeah. there are so many other cities in Italy to check out. Mm-hmm. So I mean, you're gonna be in Rome probably for wherever you land, probably. It's usually the most inexpensive option to land in Rome. Yeah. So maybe just stay there for, like, a day, and then go check out another city. But that day, do the Segway tour.

josh 11:17

Yeah The last one on our honorable mention list is the Nordic Food Walk in Stockholm.

brit 11:24

Mm-hmm.

josh 11:26

Really great food tour. Good variety of different meats, different fish, different drinks. Really loved it, really enjoyed it. This was a tour, I think one of two tours that we did in Stockholm.

brit 11:44

We actually did, like, five tours there.

josh 11:48

Did we really?

brit 11:49

Yeah, we did- Oh,

josh 11:50

man

brit 11:50

the Vasa, the Fika Tour, the Nordic Food Walk, the Ghost Walk with the theatrical guide.

josh 11:57

Oh, yeah.

brit 11:58

And then we did another walking food tour. But- I do- this one was the best.

josh 12:02

Yeah, I do believe this was the best food tour that we did.

brit 12:05

Yeah. Mm-hmm. We did try on this tour some disgusting licorice.

josh 12:10

Oh, yeah. Ugh.

brit 12:12

It was so gross.

josh 12:13

Yeah.

brit 12:13

But I'm glad that we tried it, 'cause we never will again.

josh 12:17

Yeah. But it was an experience, for sure.

brit 12:20

It was an experience, and maybe I shouldn't call it disgusting. Maybe that's insensitive. Um-

josh 12:26

One that you did not like.

brit 12:27

One I did not like. And a lot of people did not like it- Mm-hmm or appreciate it. But we got to have Swedish meatballs. We got to have, um, do you remember the fish stew?

josh 12:38

Mm-hmm.

brit 12:39

That was great.

josh 12:40

Yes.

brit 12:40

You loved that.

josh 12:42

I did.

brit 12:42

Mm-hmm.

josh 12:43

Lot of good variety of food on that tour.

brit 12:45

Yeah. Very, very great tour. And the guide was great, too. All right. So those are our five honorable mentions. Like we said, I would love to add more. If you want us to talk about more tours, we have so many more that we've done. Mm-hmm. So just let us know that that's something that you want us to talk about and we would be happy to do it. let's talk about our top 10 tours.

josh 13:15

So at the number 10 spot on our top 10 tours, we have the full day winemakers tour in Marlborough, New Zealand.

brit 13:25

Yes. Ugh, this was an incredible tour.

josh 13:30

Mm-hmm.

brit 13:31

We had so much fun on this tour, and we got to check out, I think it was four different vineyards, and the backdrops of these vineyards are insane. They're so beautiful.

josh 13:46

I think that is New Zealand in general, most of it is absolutely stunning, but yes, the Marlborough region, fantastic wines and beautiful landscapes.

brit 14:00

Gorgeous.

josh 14:01

Mm-hmm. And then, I mean, getting to do this tour in a bus that takes you around so you don't have to worry about driving or figuring out how to get to the next place or getting back to your hotel-

brit 14:12

Mm-hmm

josh 14:13

was perfect, we got picked up at our hotel, dropped off at our hotel, got to have several different tastings at each place. We got to have a fantastic lunch at one of the places. Brittany's favorite wine is Sauvignon Blanc, and Marlborough region is well known for it, but also several other kinds of wines. So this was a great overview of the entire region.

brit 14:37

It really was. And we got to have lunch at a local vineyard.

josh 14:40

Mm-hmm.

brit 14:41

And the lunch was delicious. Mm-hmm. at that same vineyard, we have some gorgeous pictures. And then there was another vineyard that we went to that had kind of like a canopy of vines. Mm-hmm. It was incredible. It was unlike anything I've seen, and I think it was just for photos. I don't think they use those grapes for anything. and they're like old vines that they don't use, but it was so, so fun.

josh 15:08

Mm-hmm.

brit 15:09

I loved this tour.

josh 15:11

this was a trip, if you didn't listen to our New Zealand episodes, we had Brittany's mom, Vicky, with us, and I believe she thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

brit 15:21

Yes.

josh 15:21

Mm-hmm.

brit 15:22

There's a picture of her that we have here that I just love under the canopy of the vines. Mm-hmm. She looks so happy.

josh 15:31

Yeah.

brit 15:31

And we just had so much fun with her on this whole trip, but really, like, this tour was great.

josh 15:36

Fantastic.

brit 15:37

In the number nine spot, we have the five-course dinner history and food in Old Quebec City tour. This was great. We actually on this tour found our favorite restaurant that we have ever been to, which is Le Clan- Mm-hmm in Old Quebec City. Really incredible restaurant. But this tour takes you around to different spots, and they're kind of higher end, meals, but in smaller portions so you can have more or taste more, which I loved. And then we made the reservation for Le Clan, I think, the day after this tour.

josh 16:19

it was great food, a little sprinkle of history throughout the tour as well, and we went to Old Quebec City in the winter, so it was kinda Christmas markets in the air. It was a wonderful time to go.

brit 16:34

Yeah, it was so much fun. Mm-hmm. I had the best time. I remember on this tour we did go to a brewery Mm-hmm and it was some really great beer. And then we went to this place that, cooked shrimp tableside. Mm-hmm. And then the server, gave it to us right after he cooked it. And it was just, it was incredible. It was so delicious. It was really buttery. It was amazing. Well seasoned, everything. And then I think we ended at La Clan.

josh 17:06

Yep, La Clan was the last one we went to.

brit 17:08

So great.

josh 17:09

Yeah. You just reminded me of the brewery, one of the, I think we had, like, a French onion soup that was made with the beer.

brit 17:17

Yeah.

josh 17:17

Mm-hmm. It was delicious. God,

brit 17:18

we have to go back and do this tour now. It's not that far away from us.

josh 17:23

No.

brit 17:24

Like, we could- Well easily do it.

josh 17:27

It's kind of far.

brit 17:29

compared to all of the other tours, this is the closest.

josh 17:33

That's true.

brit 17:34

We could easily do it again.

josh 17:36

Number eight on the list, we have the Kuromon Market food tour in Osaka, Japan.

brit 17:43

This one was amazing as well.

josh 17:44

Mm-hmm.

brit 17:45

You're gonna hear amazing a lot in this episode because just these tours

josh 17:49

Was this our first one in Japan? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Our first Japan food tour. Definitely needed it. Definitely a great way to kick off our trip in Japan. we just love markets in general, and Japan is chock-full of them, and it was really nice to have a tour guide take us through and hit up the highlights of this market. And this is where I believe we had pufferfish

brit 18:17

It might be

josh 18:18

Yeah

brit 18:18

I don't remember. But when I look back at the photo of us together in the market, I can't help but think we get engaged the day after, and I have no idea. You know.

josh 18:36

Yes.

brit 18:37

I have no idea.

josh 18:40

Oh, such a special trip, such a special tour, I don't know if you can go wrong- Mm-hmm with a tour in Japan anywhere you go. Osaka is a big, major city, and having a tour guide for a food tour there I think is essential, especially if it's your first time going.

brit 19:03

Yeah. This was also a really interesting food tour guide as well, because he showed us a lot more to the city-

josh 19:11

Mm-hmm

brit 19:11

than I think we had initially anticipated. if you haven't listened to the episode, I think it's a pretty good episode, so go back and listen to our Japan episode. you'll hear a little bit more about the tour guide and where he took us. Yeah. But this was a great tour. I would highly recommend it. In our number seven spot, we have Rotorua Canopy Tours Ziplining. What an interesting tour for us. We've never done anything like it before. Oh my gosh, it was so much fun. I had a blast. I was really nervous, but after maybe like one or two zip lines, I felt way more comfortable and I was like, "Okay, let's go for it." I started to feel that way, and then we had the longest one. And I was like, "Oh, shit." But we were like over the trees. Mm-hmm. And it was so beautiful, and it was a great day for it. It was very sunny. Uh, not too warm. It, it was beautiful. It was meant to be. It was perfect.

josh 20:21

It was perfect. It was definitely more fun than I had anticipated. Not a huge heights person. not a huge like adventure sports person either. Yeah. I would say ziplining could be thought of as that if you're not a big, adrenaline rush person.

brit 20:40

Yeah.

josh 20:41

But I, I really enjoyed myself.

brit 20:43

I did too, and I think my mom had a blast as well. She loves this stuff. Yeah. So she had such a good time. But I think it was fun for her to see us do this- Mm as well because it's so out of our element. But that was a great tour. I would highly recommend them as well because I w- I was so nervous, they made a lot of jokes and like kept it pretty like calm and relaxing- Mm-hmm even though I was like really nervous.

josh 21:09

Yeah. The guides for it were excellent.

brit 21:12

I agree. Yeah.

josh 21:13

our number six is the Tokyo night foodie tour Again, being in Japan, don't think you can go wrong with any foodie tour anywhere. In Tokyo, I think it goes without saying that if you're going there for the first time, you need to do a food tour or a foodie tour- to get your bearings on what all is available, and even that tour won't be able to even scratch the surface.

brit 21:43

No, 100%, though, you have to do a food tour in Japan. we had tried some things on several tours that I was like, "I would never even think about ordering this." Yeah. So I'm so glad that we did these. on this tour, we had the best salmon I've ever had in my life. It was so buttery. I'm looking at the picture right now, and I just wanna shove it in my mouth. It's so good. and then we also learned how to eat sushi in the correct way or in the traditional Japanese way and then we got Wagyu beef with true wasabi on top. Now, what we know as wasabi in the States is not real wasabi. Real wasabi has a totally different flavor and doesn't have the added horseradish that is in the wasabi in the States. So I really loved the wasabi there. I can't wait to go back. I think I will probably bring jars of it home because I loved it so much there. Mm-hmm. but the Wagyu was also incredible, and we ended in a Japanese candy store. That was so fun. Mm-hmm. That was such a fun experience. I couldn't read anything on the candies, so I just, like, kind of grabbed random shit and tried it all. I think you did the same.

josh 23:16

Yeah. I just went for it.

brit 23:19

Yeah. Yeah. Some of it was really interesting.

josh 23:23

It was very unique. You know, kind of what you're hoping for on a food tour. you're hoping to get some unique flavors and go to places you would never think of going. Uh, that way you get a great experience and more knowledge of, you know, what's available around you.

brit 23:40

Yeah.

josh 23:40

I was scrolling through and looking at all the pictures from this food tour, and I was like, "Oh my gosh." And then I came to a tour that I think should be on the honorable mention that we don't really have- Oh but I was gonna say the making of Harry Potter.

brit 23:57

Oh my gosh, that should be an honorable mention.

josh 24:00

Mm-hmm.

brit 24:00

That was a great tour. Mm-hmm. And that was, in Tokyo.

josh 24:05

Mm-hmm.

brit 24:06

It was pretty accessible and easy to get to-

josh 24:09

Very

brit 24:10

because the train system is so-

josh 24:12

Incredible

brit 24:13

easy. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't say easy, but they have a really great train system. Yeah. And if you can understand how to work it, unlike us.

josh 24:24

We figured it out. Don't sell us short.

brit 24:26

Eventually we figured it out. Mm-hmm. But we got there, and it was just... It was so much fun. We had the whole day to explore. It felt like we were inside of Hogwarts, inside of Harry Potter. Like, it was just incredible. And they had so many props from the movies.

josh 24:43

Mm-hmm.

brit 24:43

it was great. Yeah, that should be on our honorable mentions.

josh 24:47

Mm-hmm.

brit 24:48

Yeah.

josh 24:48

Well, it's in the episode now, so it might as well is. Yeah. Might as well be.

brit 24:53

In our number five spot, this is a really special one. So we have the Cloudy Bay First Taste Tour. This was an incredible moment for all of us. my mom and I have been drinking Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc for years and years. She got me onto it. She's been drinking it, like, her whole life, basically, her whole adult life. and to get to go to all of the vineyards and explore with our own guide in our small three-person group, it was so great. It was a magical experience. We found out so many things about ourselves, so many things about the Sauvignon Blanc that we love, and so many things about Cloudy Bay and why it is so special. I just really recommend this one. Cloudy Bay is still in my number one spot for wine, and we've been to Italy and Portugal and, you know, the wine spots around the world, and Cloudy Bay just goes above and beyond, I think, anything I've ever tasted. So, we also got to try their Pinot Noir and their reserves, which were incredible. The tastings were truly just amazing. We spent way too much money on wine, and we bought some to get shipped back home. It was such an incredible experience. Highly recommend. Plus, we just hung out there all day and drank wine and just had, like, the best day of our lives, basically.

josh 26:45

It was a really great day for the three of us. I was so happy to be there with you and your mom. I have not always been a huge wine person. You've definitely turned me into that since we've been together. And I was skeptical of Cloudy Bay. I'm like, "Oh, it's, like, this big brand wine." But after doing not only this tour but, uh, the other wine tour that we had just mentioned for Marlborough, I believe that they do a fantastic job at Cloudy Bay- Mm-hmm with wines. And every time you do a wine tour with the winery and they tell you about, you know, the grapes and everything that goes into growing 'em and picking the grapes- And bottling, making the wine, everything is just a great learning experience. Plus then you get to taste the wine.

brit 27:42

Yeah.

josh 27:43

And then the, like you said, we spent the day at Cloudy Bay, and we had lunch at Saku, not a part of the tour, but a great way to round out the day and, like, end the tour.

brit 27:56

I am almost feeling like this tour should be higher up on the list I think we fucked up a little bit.

josh 28:02

No, I think it's in a good spot.

brit 28:04

You think so?

josh 28:05

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because the next one on our tour I do believe belongs ahead of Cloudy Bay First Taste Tour. this tour at the number four spot was the Douro Valley wine tour that we just did while we were in Portugal.

brit 28:23

it was so beautiful.

josh 28:25

Mm-hmm.

brit 28:25

I didn't even know that the Douro Valley existed, And I should be ashamed of myself because it was so incredible. The wine was great. There's so many different wines that they make in the Douro Valley. And when you think of Portugal, maybe you think of port wine, which is great, but they have so many other wines to offer as well. Mm-hmm. So this tour really took you around the Douro Valley and you got to explore all of their different wines. Maybe not all of them, but a general highlight of them. And we did buy a bottle of, I think, port. Mm-hmm. And it is currently aging- Yeah in our makeshift wine cellar. Which is really just, like, on top of a cabinet. Just a shelf. Yeah, it's a shelf. In the

josh 29:16

dark on, in the shelf. Obviously a great wine tour. We also got to have, some coffee along the way, some olive oil, lunch. Like you said, the port wine, of course, is amazing. We got to learn so much about, Portugal wine, Being that Portugal is such an old and densely historic country, they taught us about how its wine reaches into a lot of the other wine regions- Yeah of the world, like Germany's and France's- Mm-hmm Spain, Italy. It- it's got its kind of fingerprints and DNA throughout all of those- Mm-hmm the way they explained it to us, which was really cool.

brit 30:03

Yeah.

josh 30:04

Mm-hmm.

brit 30:05

It was. We learned a lot, and we got a really incredible lunch-

josh 30:09

Mm-hmm

brit 30:10

as well.

josh 30:11

Yeah. A really great tour, a great way to see the Douro Valley, which is absolutely stunning.

brit 30:18

Mm-hmm.

josh 30:18

Got to go on a boat ride while we were out there. And I mean, you just... We drank a absolute shit-ton of wine.

brit 30:27

I mean, on the whole trip we did. But when you're in Portugal, you're gonna. Like, it's gonna happen. I mean, if you don't want to, then obviously don't, but...

josh 30:37

But if you, if you love wine-

brit 30:40

Yeah

josh 30:40

and Portugal hasn't been on your radar, it needs to be.

brit 30:43

It should be.

josh 30:44

Definitely. And any sort of Douro Valley wine tour would probably be amazing. we definitely talked to some people who had said you should stay in the Douro Valley, and that might be something in the future that we look into if we ever get a chance to go back and spend significant amount of time there, 'cause it really was incredible.

brit 31:02

Absolutely. It was beautiful. I would love to stay there.

josh 31:06

Mm-hmm.

brit 31:07

I... You had really wanted to stay there, but it was so... Like, logistically, it was gonna be a nightmare.

josh 31:13

Yeah.

brit 31:14

So.

josh 31:15

Our, our whole Portugal trip worked out. It did. Uh, because it's so fresh in our minds, we're talking about it, 'cause it was so recent, just, you know, in the last two, two and a half months, so. Yeah. Um-

brit 31:27

But it's crazy that, I mean, one of the tours that we literally just did made a number four spot.

josh 31:33

Yeah.

brit 31:34

That's, that says a lot about the tour.

josh 31:37

Yeah. Absolutely.

brit 31:38

It was great. Our number three spot is another Italy tour, and this one is a small group Tuscany wine tasting trip from Siena. we had stayed in Siena, and they picked us up from the city center, it was an incredible tour. we got to travel all throughout Tuscany to different vineyards, and we had a family style lunch at a local vineyard that felt like, a family was welcoming us into their home. It was so beautiful. I mean, this vineyard lives rent-free in my mind. It was incredible, and the lunch was amazing. I think we got a bottle of olive oil from them.

josh 32:27

We did.

brit 32:27

Oh my gosh. It was such a great tour. We went to, I think, three or four different vineyards, and the first one we walked down this spiral where it was, like, naturally cooled- Yeah which was really nice because it was a hot day. Mm-hmm. It was a very hot day. I do remember being in the back of the van- and the AC was not working great. Yeah. But that's Italy for you.

josh 32:55

Another tour very much like Douro Valley, where the scenery is half the tour. Just getting to see everything was so gorgeous. Met some wonderful people on the tour, some fantastic wineries. You mentioned that one. The one that sticks out in my mind was the, completely organic, vineyard- Oh where they had actually kinda pioneered some of the organic practices in Italy, and they had done presentations at, like, local, like, wine conferences and stuff like that and shared information to other vineyards about how they could be more sustainable and more organic. So I really enjoyed that. The whole tour was great.

brit 33:43

Yeah. We got a bottle from that vineyard as well. Mm-hmm. And I believe that one is still aging.

josh 33:49

Yeah, I believe we have two bottles that we got from the tour that are still aging.

brit 33:55

Yeah.

josh 33:55

Mm-hmm.

brit 33:56

That's incredible. I love that for us.

josh 33:57

Yeah.

brit 33:58

Maybe on a anniversary we'll crack it open.

josh 34:01

Yeah, sometime, for sure.

brit 34:04

We have so many bottles of wine now.

josh 34:06

We don't have that many. I think we got, we probably got six, I think.

brit 34:10

But it says a lot. If we buy a bottle from a vineyard, because we don't have, like, a huge collection-

josh 34:17

Mm-hmm

brit 34:17

which we eventually probably will, honestly. But, but because we don't right now and we have to limit what we take home, usually we don't ship wine home because that's crazy expensive.

josh 34:31

Mm-hmm.

brit 34:32

but I think it says a lot if we buy a bottle from a vineyard that we loved the wine.

josh 34:37

Yeah. On our number two spot of our top 10 tours that we've taken is the Kyoto Sake Brewery Tour. I just realized we got a lot of drinks on this tour.

brit 34:53

We do. We do. But you know what? It, it's okay.

josh 34:58

We prefaced the whole episode with how unique Japan is for our experiences so far, and that's why we have so many of Japan on this list. Now sake is such a unique and different drink than I think from any other alcoholic beverage you could have. If you go into it blind-

brit 35:22

Mm-hmm

josh 35:23

you could easily be overwhelmed and have no idea what, what to do, how to order it, what's good, what's not good.

brit 35:32

Yeah. You're not gonna know the flavor profiles. You're not gonna know what you like. You're probably gonna try a sake and be like, Nope, that's not for me." But there are so many different kinds of sake, and you get to taste them and learn about them on this tour.

josh 35:47

Mm-hmm.

brit 35:47

I love sake, and I did not know that until this tour.

josh 35:53

they did such a good job taking us through the brewery, explained the process. Mm-hmm. The different amount of milling and polishing that creates the different kind of profiles for sake, where the water comes from. Just everything about it was so informative and cool, and the history of it that's sprinkled throughout, uh, Japan's history is amazing. It's impossible, I think, to describe unless you're taking a sip of sake and be like, "Oh, this is just something so unique and fun." And we tried sake beforehand at a place in Canada actually, and we were like, "Oh, this is interesting." And I think that's really where we were like, "We definitely gotta go to Japan."

brit 36:44

Mm-hmm.

josh 36:45

And then when we did this, we're like, "Oh, my gosh. We love sake."

brit 36:48

Yeah. We were like, "Uh, we're obsessed with sake now." We're gonna be insufferable when we go home.

josh 36:56

Yeah. Not that we weren't already, but you know- just a

brit 37:02

little more insufferable. No. It's good to know what you like. this tour really helped us understand sake more, and I would highly recommend this tour as well. Especially if you're just curious about sake.

josh 37:17

Yeah.

brit 37:18

Maybe you've had it, like, once and you're like, "Oh, I don't know." But this is really good sake that they give you. Mm-hmm. And they explain the flavor profiles really well. I think you get to try like eight of them.

josh 37:30

Oh, at, at least I, I have a picture of it, and I think we got some refills.

brit 37:36

Mm-hmm.

josh 37:37

And we went through, you know, several different, varieties with different flavor profiles, and we got to rank them. So they really do, like you said, help you narrow down-

brit 37:48

Yeah

josh 37:48

what's something that kind of fits you, and then if you have something with food, what it goes with.

brit 37:53

Mm-hmm.

josh 37:54

I know you and me, we have, I think, a card or two on our fridge of- We do. That they gave us. Like, these are like the fa- flavor profiles, and, like, the polishing and what that all looks like, what's good sake, what's kinda cheaper made sake.

brit 38:09

Yeah. Okay. We are on to our number one spot.

josh 38:14

Mm-hmm.

brit 38:15

This one felt easier to place- I- Because it just stands out.

josh 38:20

I, I was gonna say the exact same thing when we decided to do this as an episode. I was like, This is it."

brit 38:27

Yeah.

josh 38:28

What a great way to mark our 50th episode is to, create a top 10 of tours and have this as our number one.

brit 38:35

Aw, that's so special. I didn't even think about it like that. Yeah, so our number one tour I've actually done twice.

josh 38:44

I am a little bitter.

brit 38:46

I did it once with you and then once with my mom when we went to Venice. So this tour is Venice Like a Local. It is an incredible tour. the guide is so kind and she gives you so much historical information, not only about Venice, but the food that you're trying as well. And I love that in a tour. You get to explore the city through food. This is like the OG one that we've done that just nothing really compares to it because it's so amazing. I mean, this was a great tour.

josh 39:28

Our first one as a couple internationally- I think maybe a little more so for you if I'm incorrect, make sure you correct me, but kind of forced you to be a little more adventurous-

brit 39:40

Yeah.

josh 39:41

Oh, for sure

brit 39:42

with food. Yeah. Well, you had tried the squid ink-

josh 39:45

Mm-hmm

brit 39:46

on this one. there were a couple of different fish dishes that I was unsure about, but tried and either liked them or you ate them. and then we also got an amazing dessert and risotto. It was just such a good tour. And then you also get to go into the oldest bar in Venice, and it's a really cool vibe in there. Like, you can see how old it is and just how much history is living inside of it. just in general, Venice is such a cool historical spot, I just can't say this enough. it's so impactful to learn about a city through food. Mm-hmm. Cause you're not just eating the food. Mm. You're learning about culture. You're learning about the families who have kept this food in the culture for years and years. And there's traditions with food. there's so much that you talk about or that can be talked about with the food that you're trying. And the person who runs this tour, the guide, she does an incredible job walking you through all of that. So highly, highly suggest this tour if you are going to Venice.

josh 41:03

for it to be in our number one spot, even though we've been to all these other places throughout the world-

brit 41:11

Mm-hmm

josh 41:12

and this was, again, our first tour as a couple internationally- I just think says so much about it.

brit 41:21

It does, yeah.

josh 41:22

Cause it could have really easily been a downer and a letdown, or it could have really easily been overshadowed by something new, by something we did when we went to Japan or Canada or Scotland or wherever else in the world.

brit 41:39

Mm-hmm.

josh 41:40

But it stayed right here at number one.

brit 41:42

Yeah.

josh 41:43

Mm-hmm.

brit 41:43

Well, and I think this is also... Maybe it's unfair to put this one at number one because it was such a monumental moment for us as well, just as a couple, our first international trip and that being so special. And this was our first food tour on our first international trip. But I also think this is the food tour that made us fall in love with food tours, not only with food tours, but with Venice. Hmm. This is the food tour that did that, at least for me.

josh 42:20

I think when you do any sort of tour, whether it's a drink tour, food tour, history tour, Tours doing some sort of activity, you want it to help you feel something. You want it to help you experience something, understand something. I think even though it was our first international one, it had a huge impact on us.

brit 42:43

Yeah.

josh 42:43

And even though maybe it's an unfair advantage that it was the first one, but again, it still gave us that feeling. Yeah. It could have easily not gave us that feeling. It could have easily not made us feel special, or it could have easily not gave us information to make us feel like we understood a little bit more about Venice.

brit 43:03

Yeah.

josh 43:03

But it did that.

brit 43:05

Yeah, it did I don't know if I would say that it made us feel special, but I think it made Venice feel special.

josh 43:11

Absolutely.

brit 43:12

I think Venice was so highlighted. And it might be weird to say that Venice was so highlighted on a Venice food tour, but we've been on some food tours where the city is not really well highlighted.

josh 43:28

Mm-hmm.

brit 43:29

And this one was just... It was so great. all other tours should be like this tour. They can all learn from this tour.

josh 43:38

Take the template of it, copy

brit 43:40

paste. Yeah. Yeah. And also take the tour and learn from how the guide walks you through the city, talks about the city, and talks about the food, and the families who make the food-

josh 43:52

Mm-hmm

brit 43:53

and the traditions with all of the food. Just everything. Incredible. Great tour. Yeah. Go take it.

josh 43:59

Yeah. I, I think that's kind of what you were saying. Some of the ones that we have here are good copies of each other. As in, like, they kind of have the same cadence of a tour. Like the, uh, Siena wine tasting tour and the Douro Valley tour, very kind of similar structures- Yeah and it works very well.

brit 44:22

It does. It works very well. Those two tours, in general, I think they're in our top 10, not only because they're amazing and great wine and just a great tour overall- Mm-hmm but the beauty- Mm-hmm in those tours really set it apart from others. Yeah. Because w- like, you're in some of the most beautiful places on earth. Mm-hmm. And you see that, and you're like, "Holy shit, this is real." I think even for Venice to be number one over those and the beauty of those tours, that says a lot about this tour. Mm-hmm. anything else you would wanna add about tours? I mean, there's tons more that we could say because we have so many that we would wanna talk about.

josh 45:14

Oh, yeah.

brit 45:15

But the tours that we have talked about, anything more you would wanna add?

josh 45:18

Man, I, I think it was something that I was scared of when we went to Italy for the first time. I was like, "Ah, you know, I've done a few tours. Like, I'm not sure if tours is the right way to go." Like, you can, you can do this stuff for less expensive, and I was kind of thinking of it that way, like a budget thing. Like, is it worth this? And now I'm sold on tours. Mm-hmm. You're, you're doing so much more than just tasting a few things, and you, you highlighted that very well of you get the history, you get the feeling of, you know, someone's family, the family recipe and history that went into something. If you go into a family restaurant, you get to see it and feel it.

brit 46:02

Mm-hmm.

josh 46:02

I, I think it's really special, and it's often worth the price you pay. Now, that being said, there are some that we've done, we're like, "That, that wasn't it."

brit 46:10

The Munich secret food tour.

josh 46:12

Yeah.

brit 46:13

I didn't say that.

josh 46:14

But- w- we, we have done a, a lot of tours, and the vast majority of them have been really awesome.

brit 46:22

Yeah.

josh 46:23

Mm-hmm.

brit 46:24

We have done some really great tours that were not highlighted today.

josh 46:29

Yeah.

brit 46:29

And that really breaks my heart. And again, we just... We can't list them all. Go on our website.

josh 46:36

I will also say if there's someone who happens to listen to this and is like, "Listen to me, I also travel a lot, and this is the best food tour or any tour," it doesn't matter. If you got a tour, you're like, "This is the best thing I have ever done. let us know.

brit 46:53

Please let us know. I would love to hear somebody say that.

josh 46:57

Mm-hmm.

brit 46:57

And that's just an excuse for us to go travel somewhere.

josh 47:02

For sure. For sure. Tours are such a great way to meet other travelers and get suggestions for future tours, future trips. Biggest highlight is when we did the Kyoto sake brewery tour. We ran into a group of young gentlemen from Scotland and gave us a list of things we needed to try while we were in Scotland, places we needed to go or stay. Yeah. And we didn't get to do all of them. I don't think we got to go to most of the places, but we did do our best to see some of the things they suggested.

brit 47:34

Yeah. They did tell us to go to the Isle of Skye.

josh 47:37

Mm-hmm.

brit 47:37

Which we did.

josh 47:38

Yep.

brit 47:39

And everybody has to go there, so. It is in my number one- Yeah spot of where- I would like to live for the rest of my life, so.

josh 47:48

Yeah.

brit 47:51

And I think your number two spot?

josh 47:53

Mm-hmm.

brit 47:53

Yeah, so everybody has to go there. And- But take turns. Don't all crowd it.

josh 47:58

Right.

brit 48:00

The cows will get overwhelmed.

josh 48:03

The coos.

brit 48:04

The coos. Next episode we will be talking about how to prepare for your first international trip ever. so if you're new to travel, we got you. Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube @wsmhtravels.

josh 48:23

You can listen to our podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. YouTube is where we have our video record version, including pictures and videos from our trip. Please continue to leave your comments and send us messages on what you like from our trips and suggestions for future trips. We really appreciate it.

brit 48:41

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.