I finally got around to trying out a peer to peer travel experience in Spain while in Sevilla. I used the site that is focused on Spain exclusively right now, Trip4Real, but there are a number of peer to peer tour guide options available.
While in theory I love the idea of getting locals to take me to experience their favorite aspect of their city, in practice I’m just not that fond of spending money on tours. I prefer to see stuff on my own, I love walking around, and I’m pretty cheap. I am also easily bored by lots of talk about history. But tours are a great way of learning things about the things that I’m not likely to read about on my own. So I took the plunge and booked us a flamenco dance experience with an insider who promised to explain flamenco to us and then take us
to a traditional show.
We met at a cafe with our guide, who is a flamenco dancer herself, and another couple also on the tour. I learned a lot of interesting things about flamenco, and then we went together to a show that was truly amazing. I had no idea what flamenco really involved, and I definitely appreciated the performance more for having learned about it first.
Of course I could have read about flamenco and then booked a show myself. And in fact the venue we went to was mostly for tourists so I’m sure I could have found it with a little internet research. Being a novice to flamenco I’m not sure I would have known a good show from a mediocre one anyway. The show cost 18 euro if you buy tickets directly from the venue, so we paid an extra 20 euro per person for the guided tour and history lesson.
Was it worth the cost? That’s hard for me to say. It was really interesting, and I definitely enjoyed the show. I’m not sure I would have gone to a flamenco show without this tour, so I think it was a good expense, but with hindsight I might recommend (to someone super cheap like me) just booking through the venue and reading up a bit on flamenco before going.
If you like to spend money on tours I definitely think peer to peer travel experiences are a great option. They generally cost the same or less than the larger commercial tour companies but tend to have smaller groups, and you may get a unique perspective or experience you wouldn’t otherwise see or do.