According to the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations, Feb. 21st is International Tourist Guide Day! The day aims to bring the attention of local authorities, fellow citizens and the media to the quality and value of local tourist guides. At Gidsy (from the Dutch word “Gids”, meaning guide), we love our tour guides! The many unique urban adventures that are listed on Gidsy motivate us every day, and we’re thrilled to have such a cool group of local guides be part the Gidsy Community. 

To celebrate, why not Join us in supporting our local tour guides, and book a tour on Gidsy today? There are many urban adventures to choose from! 

If you’re in Berlin, 

• Have an “Alternative Berlin Experience” on this awesome tour. 
• Explore the hidden courtyards of Kreuzberg on this unique photo tour. 

Amsterdam, 

• Take this “Architecture Tour, Eastern Docklands” in Amsterdam, and get to know a different side of the city. 
• Learn all about “Amsterdam in the Golden Age” on this tour through the city, lead by a qualified historian.

London, 

• Gather the family and “Hail a Tour!” of Harry Potter’s London, and explore the film’s most iconic locations in a classic black cab. 
• Spend a Saturday afternoon exploring the newer side of London on this “Modern Architecture” tour. 

NYC, 

• Enjoy a personalized “Sightjogging” tour though NYC,
• Join the “Photographing New York City” tour, and explore the city though your lens, with the help of a professional photographer. 

San Francisco,

• Join the “Hood Tour & Picnic”, and explore some of San Francisco’s best neighborhoods, followed by a nice lunch in Alamo Square. 
• On “San Francisco’s Premier Food Tour”, explore the Mission District & enjoy some of the neighborhood’s best artisan nosh. 

Also, if you’re a budding local guide, and have a tour you’d like to offer - be sure to create a listing! 

Happy Exploring,

Your Gidsy Team.

…and Amsterdam loves bicycles! Check out this awesome video about the “Bicycle Capital of Europe”. 

Amsterdam loves bicycles. from PROG21 on Vimeo.

Did you know Amsterdam is home to more than 600,000 bikes? Pretty impressive for a city with a population of about 780,000!

If you’d like to explore the city by bike, check out the Amsterdam city page for inspiration!

Happy exploring, 

Your Gidsy Team. 

Happy Valentine’s Day, all. 

On this international day of love, and following the incredible success of the very romantic screening of R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet (happening tonight in Berlin), we wanted to feature some unique “date night” activities that are coming up in our launched cities.  Keep reading for some great ideas that will surely make your next tryst a success…

In Berlin,

• For something totally outside the box, give this Bouncing/Powerbocking workshop a try!
• Spend a weekend morning learning all about the Spree River together at this awesome, and very informative, scientific workshop.

In Amsterdam,

• This French Classic Wine masterclass (food pairings included) will definitely help you move onto date number two.
• Explore the Red Light District with a retired Amsterdam cop on this unique tour.

In London,

• The Maltby St. Market Lock-In event is a great foodie date activity. Shop, cook and eat some of the best local produce available, in one of London’s best food markets!
• What’s more romantic than the Tango? Learn the dance of love at the Taste of Tango class. 
• Hop in a London cab and explore the city on this great Classic London tour. 

In San Francisco,

• Explore the Mission district, and sample the area’s finest culinary offerings on the Food Tour.
• A couple that sweats together, stays together…or something. Pair your workout with fantastic views of the city on the Stairway Workout Walk.

In NYC,

• What says I love you better than lots and lots of dumplings? The Chinatown Dumpling Tours are always a fantastic time!

And there you have it! Date night: planned.

Remember: We launch in Los Angeles in just over 2 weeks, Feb 29th! In you want to get involved, be sure to create your listing so we can feature it on launch day!

Every week on the blog, we’ve been sharing some of the best activities that are happening in each of our launched cities. Today, however, we wanted to focus on one of the most popular event categories: Eating & Drinking.

There have already been some amazing food-related events over the course of our tenure on the world wide web, and it’s just getting better and better. So today, dear readers, we bring you just a sampling of the mouth-watering foodie events happening on Gidsy. 

Read More

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Today we wanted to share a short interview that we did last week with Piet, the organizer of the awesome “Policetour Redlight District, 1980” tour in Amsterdam. A former Amsterdam police officer, Piet’s got a lot of really interesting anecdotes from his time “on duty” back in the early 1980s. Keep reading to learn more about Piet, his large collection of stories from his time as a cop, and his upcoming comic book!

How are you?!
I am fine and cannot wait until Friday! That will be my first Gidsy tour. 

Tell us a bit about your background, and how you came to be an Amsterdam police officer?
In 1977 when I was 23, I started training to become a police officer. After one year at school, I started working at the Precinct Red Light District (a.k.a. Bureau Warmoesstraat) where I worked for 8 years. I became the senior police officer there.

In 1986 I started working at the Police Training School Noord-Holland in Amsterdam (Police Academy), as a trainer of police officers and a creator of educational videos. Midway through the nineties I became interested in interactive design and in 1999 I became senior project manager at a full service internet agency in Amsterdam. Since 2007 I’ve been working as an internet consultant at NS (the Dutch Railways) where I am responsible for producing and launching mobile apps for our customers.

When the Precinct Red Light District was forced to close in 2000, I claimed the URL www.bureauwarmoesstraat.nl and didn’t actually use it until 2004. Then, I decided to publish stories from the past about what happened at this police bureau and I collected stories from my former colleagues. It totally took off, and so far 290 stories have been published! I call it the living legend.

In the very near future, I will launch my comic book “PrecinctRedlight district” (it’s in Dutch and English), based on the true cop stories from my website. The cartoons are drawn by Eric Heuvel (http://eric-heuvel.nl/)

What was your inspiration to organize the Red Light district tour? What are some highlights from your event that you’d like to share?
To keep the legend alive I started “tour with a former police cop of Bureau Warmoesstraat” about 3 years ago. From that day on, I’ve been doing the tour on weekends for different groups.

There are several highlights: I‘ll tell you all about the drug dealing, prostitution and gambling on a regular day back in the eighties!

How did you find out about Gidsy?
After I saw DWDD on Dutch television last week I couldn’t wait and posted my tour immediately. The next day the first booking was there!

How has your experience been with Gidsy so far?
What I like the most is the interface and the immediate answering of my questions! That makes you feel alright!

What’s your favourite thing about Amsterdam?
Amsterdam is the feel-free city of Europe! You have to be there to discover it!

Ok, last question (a bit off topic!) - What are you reading right now?
I’ve nearly finished reading “Ouwe hoeren” a book with real stories about old prostitute twins in the Redlight district.

Thanks so much for your interview, Piet! And congrats with your awesome tour! 

Happy Friday, all! 

Today we’d like to share a little interview with one of our organizers, Robert Gaal. Robert lives in Amsterdam, and recently hosted the successful “Amsterdam from a Start-Up Perspective” tour. 

Keep reading to learn all about Robert, and how he got involved in the Amsterdam Start-Up scene…

Read More

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Over the past few days we’ve received an influx of awesome event listings on Gidsy. We’ve got plenty of workshops, arts & crafts, awesome tours, dinners and unique outdoor activities to choose from. The selection of things to do over the next couple of weeks certainly includes something for everyone! 

If you’re living in Berlin or Amsterdam, keep reading for a list of some great events taking place over the next 10 days.

Read More

It’s 2012 already and hence high time for another organizer interview (see the last one). This time we talked to Ward. He’s a journalist and editor in Amsterdam and ready to take you on the “Amsterdamse School Bike Tour”.

Brief introduction ‘Amsterdamse School’
Just in case you actually don’t really know what the ‘Amsterdamse SchooI’ style is (like I did…), here’s a a bit of background information:

The ‘Amsterdamse School’ is a special style of architecture, originating from the first half of the 20th century.

Read More