About Us

All of us at Viator are passionate travelers, constantly looking for new tours and activities for us all to enjoy. With nearly 9,000+ events, tours and activities, 750+ destinations in 150+ countries worldwide, Viator is the traveler’s one-stop-shop for researching, planning, and booking destination activities that meet a wide range of travel tastes and preferences. Viator offers something for everyone, from the traditional excursion to the extreme adventure… and everything in between.

And because we are all travelers, if we’re not currently on a trip we are either returning from the last one or planning for the next one! So we know how important local information and advice are. These are what make the difference between just visiting a place and truly living a local experience.

Viator already offers great travel advice on a global scale, but we also understand the importance of providing travelers with up-to-date news and insights specific to their destination. With that in mind, we created Viator Things to Do, a series of travel blogs that engage travelers like you at the local level, both those living in these destinations and those planning visits there. Information from these blogs is also posted across social media channels Facebook and Twitter, giving travelers even more ways to gain insider knowledge imparted from Viator’s global network of guides and freelancers. “Like” and “Follow” us now to get access to news on local happenings, festivals, activities, attractions and more!

As we know travel is a never-ending journey, feel free to check out our other Viator Things to Do blogs for more local travel insights – we currently have over 30 Viator Things to Do blogs, and more to come.

Welcome aboard, your voyage is about to start!

Things to Do Blog Team & Contributors

Alyse Speyer – In lieu of much wanderlust, Alyse has been traveling the world, writing poetry, volunteering, working as an independent marketing consultant, and just plain hanging out.

Aykut Altınışık is Viator’s local expert in Turkey and a highly rated licensed private tour guide. He is a Turkish archaeologist and has studied archaeology at Ankara University. He has been guiding private and archaeology tours in Turkey since 1997.

Elisa Acciai is a licensed English-speaking tour guide in Florence, knows the city by heart and studied art for 5 years. An experienced Viator private guide, Elisa also guides in French and Italian, and can help you organize all aspects of a trip.

Emma McMahon’s been reading, writing and dreaming about travel for over two decades. English by birth, Aussie at heart and Brazilian/Japanese by marriage, Emma needs little excuse to jump on a plane in search of adventure. When not writing about travel (or sampling it first hand!), Emma plays dress-up with her three-year-old daughter and teaches yoga in Melbourne, Australia.

Gavin Webb, Viator’s local expert in London and a highly rated licensed private tour guide. A certified London Blue Badge Tour Guide, Gavin is not only qualified to lead you around the city, but also enthusiastic about showing you his hometown. He was even named “Best Over-all Site Guide 2005″!

Hudson Hornick – Originally from New Orleans, Hudson skipped to various bits across the globe and now live a relatively sedentary lifestyle on the West Coast. He likes travel that involves getting a bit lost, a bit scared, a bit tipsy and never run-of-the-mill. You know; something to write home about.

Jane Ormond – Bouncing around various countries as a child gave Jane a love of travel and a need for coffee. She indulges both of these in her writing for various travel sites and publications as well as restaurant and coffee guides in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia.

James Conway couldn’t be described as the most intrepid traveler, rarely choosing a jungle if there’s a museum as an alternative. Nonetheless he’s covered a lot of ground, his favorite travel experiences the first glimpse of the Alhambra, poking around backstage at St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater and a horse show in the Moroccan desert. He enjoys nothing more than picking through strangers’ cast-offs in flea markets around the world, dragging the spoils back to his Berlin base.

Jodi Rose travels mainly for art and festivals, making strange music from the sound of bridges, and likes to explore new places while creating and experiencing underground and alternative culture. Originally from Sydney, Jodi is now based in Berlin, and has found herself recording in the snow under a bridge in Ljubljana, dangling from a crane on a bridge in Bangkok, and wearing a beard while immersed in a Lithuanian artists colony. Life is art and sometimes there is no everyday.

John Reality – John is a Cambodia-based writer and photographer who, since a long age, has spent most of his time traveling and living abroad. Through a mix of his work in journalism, photography, and blogging, he hopes to encourage readers to explore the splendors of the worlds cultures, while maintaining the integrity of its vast beauties and shortfalls.

Jojo Rothbauer is Viator’s local expert in San Francisco and a highly rated licensed private tour guide. His tours revolve around San Francisco’s fascinating history and her future as an eco-friendly city.

Luisella Romeo is a licensed English-speaking tour guide in Venice, expert in Venetian history and its art treasures. Fluent in Italian and German and an experienced Viator private guide, Luisella can help you personalize your sightseeing tour of Venice.

Natalie Grant – Writer, musician, and film festival fanatic who has spent the last few years wandering the globe and getting into trouble. Recent travels include Mozambique, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Poland, Latvia, Greece, and Malta. Adores street performers, jalapenos, and believing the world is not at all like the media says it is.

Nesrin Ulupinar is a licenced English-speaking tour guide, guiding in Istanbul and around Turkey. Originally from Cappadocia, Nesrin loves to meet new faces from different countries and showing her beautiful country. Nesrin is an experienced Viator private guide.

Paige Penland is a freelance travel writer specializing in Central America and Southern Mexico.

Philippa Burne caught the travel bug late in life. Too afraid of flying to board a plane for over ten years, she was trapped in Australia. When offered the job of a lifetime in London, she succumbed to hypnotism and now possesses a slab of frequent flyer cards. Since then, she has lived and worked in Croatia, Poland, Holland, London, Slovakia and the USA. Currently she is living in London, mainly because it is an excellent transport hub for getting to nearly anywhere in the world.

Valerie Strassberg is an English-speaking tour guide in Vienna, also fluent in French, Italian and Spanish. An Viator experienced private guide, Valerie will show you her beloved city, from old traditions to 21st century life style.

Vera Medici is Viator’s local expert in Washington, DC and a highly rated licensed private tour guide. She loves working with visitors of all ages and groups of all sizes, and can gear any tour towards the special needs or interests of her guests.