3 Amazing City Experiences You Can Create on Built Story

Creating a great experience for your customers is easy when you use the Built Story platform. When it comes to creating great tours, you can really begin anywhere, but when you involve amazing cities in the mix, it takes a lot of the work out of the process. 

Here are some suggested sites that will help make your tour unforgettable. We have taken some of the guesswork out of creating a great tour, by spotlighting a few cities and what great tours in them might include.

Creating Amazing Experiences on Built Story

Getting started is easy here. A city’s best features often involve the traditional tourist areas, but it can also explore so much more beyond the typical spots. Send your tour-takers on the road less traveled and showcase the nuances that only local explorers know. Weave a tale to paint the city in a new light.

Of all the wonderful cities and neighborhoods around the world, we have chosen to highlight a few of our favorites. These cities make for great tour creation hubs, so we have taken the time to cover some of the major hot spots, but also some of the lesser-known things to do around town.

Miami

Famous for its crystal clear waters and gorgeous beaches, exciting nightlife, and diverse culture, Miami offers a wealth of fun options for crafting your tour. From a culturally-rich food scene to its lesser-known historic aspects, this city is full of choices for building amazing experience for tour-takers.

There are so many wonderful areas to choose from in sunny South Florida. 

Coconut Grove, Downtown, and Nearby Areas

Popular with locals and tourists alike, Coconut Grove offers gorgeous views of Biscayne Bay, delicious restaurant options, and lots of activities.

Crafting an unforgettable tour just requires choosing an area and telling your next story!

You could pepper your tour with optional recommendations, including price ranges for admissions, best times to visit, and what to skip. Have a mojito near the water at Monty’s, or visit Vizcaya Museum & Gardens--the go-to movie location, apparently, as Iron Man 3, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Bad Boys II were filmed there.

The Barnacle State Park, Deering Estate, and Fairchild Tropical Gardens all boast gorgeous scenery, adventures to be had, and local flora and fauna, for different costs. Be sure to let your customers know all of the details.

A quick trip from Coconut Grove leads you to Key Biscayne, where visitors can enjoy any of the beautiful, natural beaches along the route from under the cover of luscious palm trees, or venture all the way to Bill Baggs State Park.

Brickell and the Downtown Miami area offer many fun spots to explore, including the Bayside Marketplace, where anyone can stroll through shops next to the marina, or Bayfront Park, which is a frequent host to concerts. 

Give your focus an educational spin by building in historic and informational stops, perhaps providing the option for tour-takers to stop at one of the many museums in Miami, like the Perez Art Museum Miami or the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science.

Miami’s Design District is famous for its thriving art culture, with hip events like the First Friday of the month, when tart galleries open to the public and the food trucks, before Covid-19, packed every street corner.

South Beach

World-famous South Beach is known for its popping nightlife and beautiful beaches. Walking tours could wind down shops on Lincoln Road, or lead cyclists a little further toward other hidden gems.

One of the best parts of exploring South Beach is marveling at the architecture. Send your customers along Ocean Drive with fun media to immerse them in the rich history behind the Art Deco buildings.

Craft tours around historic, significant, and even infamous spots like the Versace Mansion, which lend themselves easily to custom audio narrations from you.

Delicious Snacks, Restaurants, and Bars

Food tours are a fun, tasty route to tour-takers' hearts. And in a city as diverse as Miami, options abound all throughout.

If you steer tour-takers towards Little Havana and Miami’s famous “8th Street” – Calle Ocho to the locals – be sure to recommend specialties like traditional Cuban bites, pastelitos and croquetas (which you can totally make at home!), so your customers don’t miss out on dabbling in favorite fares. The possibilities are delectable and endless.

Offer a range of food and price options, so your customers can upgrade their tour with the ultimate flexibility. An area like Coral Gables features more in the realm of fine dining options, with the most glamorous hotels and buildings, mixed in with its own batch of historic stops. 

You can even recommend that tour-takers check out the famous Venetian Pool or the Biltmore Estate. Adding these types of suggestions throughout your tour can make it a date night to remember.

A reasonable jaunt from Miami will land drivers in South Florida’s Everglades, or “River of Grass,” an expanse of marshy wonderland made up of both National and State Parks.

Just Remember: All tour stops in Built Story must be connected to a physical, or mailing, address. If Google Maps recognizes an address, you are good to go! So if your tour includes exploring a park, for example, you might use the welcome center or park ranger's address.

You could consider adding in suggested stops on the way to your outdoor destinations out west, like airboat rides, alligator wrestling, and others. Do a little research and add the unique elements that will take your tour to the next level.

Treat your customers to the picturesque drive down through the Florida Keys, where shell shops and tiki bars throughout Key Largo and Islamorada offer visitors a snack and a welcome opportunity to shop and stretch their legs. 

Offer up some local lore as your tour-takers stroll through Key West, or lead them along Hemingway’s adventures on Duval Street.

It’s worth considering the areas around Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, and Orlando as great driving options, as well. 

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. is, no guesswork here, known for its politics and U.S. history.  In addition to can't-miss monuments and museums, there are scores of activities, food and fun to point out to tour-takers. 

Touring the Monuments

What makes D.C. wonderful is that many of the famous monuments are all located within biking or even walking distance from each other. Include one, a few, or all of these commemorative sites and give tour-takers an opportunity to go beyond the plaques and limited resources available at each site.

Add in your own audio narration, photos, and even video to immerse visitors in an experience they won’t forget. 

It won’t always be first-time visitors taking your tours, so consider that locals or even repeat visitors will want to experience these sites anew. Be sure to build in lesser-known information that will excite even the most seasoned visitor.

You can even craft your tour around a theme that better suits your area of expertise. A War Memorial tour might include stops to the Vietnam, World War I, World War II, and Korean War Veterans Memorials.

Don’t feel limited in crafting walking and bicycle tours, as D.C. offers many features within reasonable driving distances. And the D.C. metro system connects many important sites to those without other modes of transportation. Just be sure to factor in social distancing considerations before suggesting public transit. 

Spice up your tour with facts and history that pique their interest and leave them wanting more.

You could highlight some of D.C.'s bonus features and sights like their famous cherry blossoms. The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival at the end of March and early April – when the blossoms are in full bloom – celebrates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees to Washington, DC by the mayor of Tokyo.

Consider adding fun nearby stops on your tour like a trip to Old Town Alexandria where perhaps you can regale your customers with tales on the beautiful tree-lined streets.

San Francisco

If you have ever had the chance to visit San Francisco and see the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, you know it is an experience you'll never forget. And each time you return, there are more and more layers to peel back.

That is the experience you want to share with customers on your tour. San Francisco offers a wealth of interesting spots, sights, and history to feature on your tour. Architecture, food, breathtaking scenery. It can’t be beat.

Photo by Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash.

You can’t go wrong including popular spots, as you will definitely have customers who have yet to experience the basics San Francisco has to offer. But adding in those little extra tidbits of the history, culture, and intrigue surrounding a spot can help return visitors see these sites as if for the first time.

Fisherman’s Wharf and Other Hot Spots

Guide your customers to Fisherman’s Wharf, where they can visit Pier 39 and check out the sea lions draped gracefully all over the marina.

This popular scenic spot has a great selection of reasonably priced waterside eats and treats, alongside a breathtaking vista. This also leaves you within walking distance to the Alcatraz landing spot, where tourists can purchase tickets to check out Alcatraz and Angel Island, with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge.

Offer up a food tour, as San Francisco features a ton of delicious options. Maybe suggest meandering through the famous Ferry Building, or even taking a trolley car up to check out options near Union Square. 

Wonderful Golden Gate park provides a nice foray into nature just close enough to pop into Chinatown, with plenty of delicious food and cultural content for a stage of its own.

Check out the Painted Ladies, the Presidio, and the Embarcadero which feature great photo opportunities – social media tips and suggested photo stops are great for tours too! Suggest grabbing a sundae at the original ice cream shop at Ghirardelli Square.

Add a little more history with tours set in Haight Ashbury, once the home to revolutionaries, famous musicians, and even cult leaders.

Theme your tours around art and architecture by adding stops in the Mission District, the Palace of Fine Art, or the Coit Tower. Or draw tour-takers' attention to the wonders of the city’s famous bridges.

Nearby driving options include Muir Woods National Monument, where you can guide your customers through the majestic Redwoods. Or send them down the coast to see the wonders of Big Sur and the beautiful coastal town of Monterrey. There are so many wonderful scenic options in Northern California.

No matter where you set your tours, adding stories that engage your tour-takers will make all the difference. Food, history, local sights, culture, lore. Miami, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco are great places to start creating tours, but why stop there? Share your unique tour idea and start creating tours today.