Travel Activities Worth Booking: Experiences That Elevated Our Trips!

Introduction: Why Experiences make a difference.

When we look back at some of our favorite trips, it’s often the experiences that stand out. The cooking class where we learned techniques and recipes that we use at home. The walking tour that helped a city come alive. The whale watching trip where we realized how powerful it is to see wildlife in their natural environment.

Over the years, we’ve learned that booking the right travel activities can completely change how you experience a place. Some experiences save time. Others add cultural depth. And some are simply unforgettable moments you wouldn’t have found on your own.

This post is a roundup of the travel activities we consistently recommend, from food-focused experiences to skip-the-line attractions, nature outings, and easy day trips. These are activities we’ve personally done, booked repeatedly, or come highly recommend by our travel friends.

How We Decide Which Travel Activities Are Worth Booking:

Not every experience needs to be guided — and not every tour is worth the price. When we decide whether an activity makes sense to book, we look for a few key things:

• Local expertise or access we wouldn’t get on our own.
• Time savings, especially on shorter trips
• Small group sizes or personal interaction
• Clear value beyond just transportation
• Good pacing, with time to enjoy rather than rush.

If an activity enhances understanding, simplifies logistics, or adds genuine enjoyment, it’s usually worth it.

Check out our Viator Travel Shop for some suggested and recommended tours and activities, some we’ve experienced, some come highly recommended by our travel friends and some have great reviews!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning that we would get a small commission if you decided to make a purchase through one of them, at no extra cost to you and you would be supporting our small Canadian business. This would allow us to continue creating informative travel content. All the businesses we are recommending are ones we use in our travels and feel comfortable doing so!

Food-Focused Experiences We Always Recommend:

🍳 Cooking Classes

If we had to pick one activity that consistently delivers, it would be a cooking class. Cooking classes are one of the most immersive ways to understand a destination — you learn about local ingredients, traditions, and everyday life in a way that restaurants alone can’t provide.

We always look for hands-on classes, ideally in small groups, where you’re actively preparing the food rather than just watching.

Why they’re worth booking.

• You gain practical skills you can take home.
• They’re social without being overwhelming.
• Great for solo travelers, couples, and food lovers

Booking tip: Look for experiences run by locals or small culinary schools rather than large, generic tour operators when possible.

Cooking Classes we’ve enjoyed:

Milan Pizza and Gelato Making Class with Wine. (Italy) – booked through Viator.

Rome: Pasta and Tiramisù Cooking Class with a Glass of Wine. (Italy) – booked through Get Your Guide.

Nessun Dorma Pesto Making Class in Manarola, Cinque Terre. (Italy) – book through the official site.

🥘 Food Tours

Food tours are one of our favorite things to book early in a trip. They double as an introduction to the local cuisine and a crash course in the neighborhoods, customs, and hidden spots you may not find alone.

A good food tour isn’t just about eating — it’s about storytelling. The best guides explain why dishes matter, how they’re made, and where locals actually eat, as well, there is usually a bit of the city’s history mixed into it, which we love.

Why food tours work so well.

• You try multiple small portion dishes to get a taste of what you might want to try again.
• You learn what to order later in your trip.
• You get recommendations on great places to eat.
• Perfect for short stays or first-time visits

What to look for

• Small group sizes
• A mix of sit-down stops and street food
• Clear dietary accommodation options

Food Tours we’ve enjoyed:

Eat Like a Local: Venice 3-Hour Small-Group Food Tasting Tour (Italy) – booked through Viator.

Downtown Victoria Food & City Tour (Canada) – booked through Viator.

Genoa Street Food Tour with a Local Guide (Italy) – booked through Viator.

Taste Funchal: Food, Wine & Cultural Tour (Portugal) – booked through Viator.

Lisbon: Food and Wine Small Group Walking Tour (Portugal) – booked through Get Your Guide.

Sightseeing Without the Stress: Attractions & Museums-

⏩ Skip-the-Line Major Attractions

In high-traffic destinations, skip-the-line access can be a game changer. While we don’t always book guided tours for major attractions, we often book priority entry tickets to avoid wasting hours in line.

Skip-the-line access is especially worth it when:

• You’re traveling in peak season.
• You have limited time.
• The attraction is notoriously crowded.

Sometimes we opt for a guided experience if the site is historically complex — other times, a timed entry ticket is enough.

Honest tip: If an attraction is relatively quiet or you’re visiting off-season, skip-the-line tickets aren’t always necessary.

🖼️ Museums & Cultural Sites

Large museums can be overwhelming. In those cases, a guided tour or well-designed audio guide can completely change the experience.

We book museum tours when:

• The collection is massive.
• Context matters as much as the visuals.
• We mainly want highlights of the museum.

For smaller museums, we often explore on our own — but for world-class institutions, a guide can turn information overload into a meaningful visit.

Here are some worthy visits:

Skip the Line: Florence’s Accademia Gallery Priority Enterence (Italy) – Booked by Viator

Rome: Colosseum Tour with Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (Italy) – Booked by Viator

Milan: Cathedral and Duomo’s Terraces Entrance Ticket (Italy) – Booked through Get Your Guide

Vatican: Museums & Sistine Chapel Entrance Ticket (Vatican City) – Booked through Get Your Guide

Florence: Duomo Group, including Dome Climb (Italy) – we book this through the official site, duomo.firenze.it and got the Brunelleschi Pass, was perfect.

Paris: the Louvre Museum Entrance Ticket and Timed Entry (France) – Booked through Viator

Nature & Outdoor Experiences That Are Better Guided

🐋 Whale/Dolphin Watching

Whale watching is one experience where who you book with really matters. Ethical operators, knowledgeable guides, and responsible viewing practices make a huge difference.

A good whale watching tour should:

• Prioritize animal welfare.
• Clearly explain seasonal expectations
• Use experienced naturalists or marine biologists.

While sightings are never guaranteed, the educational component alone often makes these trips worthwhile.

One of our favourite Whale/Dolphin tours was in Madeira, Portugal:

VipDolphins Luxury Whale Watching – We loved this tour, the catamaran was super nice, they served snacks and drinks, including wine, they let us swim off the coast of Cabo Girao and offered snorkels and towels, there is max of 17 people, and the guides were very knowledgeable.

🍷 Wine Tasting Experiences

Wine tasting is another activity we almost always book as a guided experience. Tours eliminate the hassle of transportation, help you understand what you’re tasting, and often include behind-the-scenes access.

Even if you’re not a wine expert, guided tastings provide:

• Context about the region
• Structured comparisons
• A relaxed, social atmosphere

Half-day wine tours are ideal if you want balance, while full-day tours work well for wine-focused trips.

One of our favourite Wine Tasting Experiences:

Chianti: Total Immersion Wine Tour with Vineyard Picnic Lunch. (Italy) – This was a great experience, beautiful surroundings, great wine tastings, snacks and a delicious picnic lunch to enjoy in the vineyard, a “pinch me moment”. We booked through Get Your Guide, you might have to inquire about the picnic as it doesn’t currently show as an option.

Easy Wins: Walking Tours & Day Trips

🚶 Walking Tours

Walking tours are one of the best value travel experiences you can book. They’re affordable, informative, and incredibly useful for getting oriented in a new place and learning some of their history.

I almost always schedule a walking tour:

• On my first or second day
• Before exploring neighborhoods on my own
• When visiting a city for the first time

Paid tours typically offer better group sizes and pacing, but free walking tours can also be excellent if you choose reputable operators. There are also free self-guided walking tours available, which we offer at Wild Meadow Studio, for some of our destinations, which you can fine in our Itinerary posts.

🗺️ Half-Day & Day Trips

Day trips are ideal when top sights are outside city centers or hard to reach independently. Booking a guided day trip simplifies logistics and lets you focus on enjoying the experience rather than planning transportation.

They’re especially useful when:

• Public transport is limited.
• Multiple stops are involved.
• You want historical or cultural context.

That said, if a destination is easy to reach and explore independently, then exploring on your own can be just as rewarding. To rent a car or not to rent a car, that is often the question. It really depends on your comfort level, we often do rent as sometimes it’s nice to be able to go at your own pace, but you don’t want to rent one if it’s going to cause you stress. And generally, you don’t need or want one in the big cities, but they are nice for the countryside or for travelling between location during your trip. So, some day-trips can be straight forward, therefore, easy and less expensive for you to just explore on your own, but it also depends on your comfort level, so do what’s best for you.

A few of the Half-Day/Full-Day Trips we’ve enjoyed or were recommended by our Travel Friends:

Treviso from Venice – Half and hour by car or train, small, but historical walled city with beautiful canals, large Duomo and great restaurants. You can either do this on your own or book a guided tour from Venice. Here is our easy, one-day Itinerary, if you’d like to do it on your own.

Chioggia from Venice – About an hour by one easy, direct bus, this beautiful seaside fishing village, also has some beautiful canals, seafood restaurants, shops, and an interesting past. Check out our 4-day Venice Itinerary here.

Florence from Siena, Tuscany – We had a car for the Tuscan portion of our trip and didn’t want to drive it into Florence, so we drove to Scandicci and parked at the Villa Constanza stop of the T1 Tram line and took that tram right into Florence, was convenient and easy to navigate, leaving us a full day in Florence, we had previously book the skip-the-line tickets for the Galleria dell’Accademia to see the David, as well as the Duomo Group tickets.

Porto Santo Ferry with Island Tour from Madeira – We took a day trip to Porto Santo while we were staying in Madeira, which was very easy and a great day. We opted for the island tour with our ferry tickets and were so glad we did, as it gave us insights to the history of the island, as well as the lay of the land, plus restaurant suggests and pick up and drop off was included.

When we Book an Activity vs Go on Our Own

We book activities when:

• Logistics are complicated.
• Context matters
• Time is limited.

We explore independently when:

• Navigation is easy.
• We want flexibility.
• The experience is straightforward.

There’s no “right” way — the best trips usually include a mix of both.

Final Thoughts: Choosing Experiences That Fit Your Travel Style

Travel activities should enhance your trip, not overwhelm it. You don’t need to book everything — but choosing a few meaningful experiences can completely transform how you connect with a destination.

If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: prioritize quality over quantity. A great cooking class or walking tour will stay with you far longer than checking off another attraction.

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Thank you,

Beth de Verteuil

From, Wild Meadow Studio

Where we want to help you, Focus on the Journey