Ready for virtual walking tours of Paris, New York or Dubai? ⋆

Ready for virtual walking tours of Paris, New York or Dubai?

There is perhaps no better time to discover the YouTube phenomenon of virtual walking tours than now.

Many of the videos have little production value and no editing; it’s just a vlogger with a camera, maybe a GoPro or a phone, capturing the sights as they walk through city streets.

Prior to the lockdown imposed around the world, these types of videos may have held moderate to little appeal for the average YouTube watcher. But today, with two-fifths of the world’s population quarantined in their homes and many a travel plan dashed by COVID-19, these virtual walking tour videos may be the most authentic way to experience a city right now.

To augment reality, lace up your walking shoes, hit the treadmill, and pretend you’re walking the cobblestone streets of Europe or strolling through the night markets of Seoul.

Along with a cinematic travel experience, you’ll get a good workout: the walking tour of Paris is three hours long and covers 19 km of terrain.

Here are a few virtual walking tours for cities:

A walking tour of Paris; Seoul night market; A walking tour of Rome; Tokyo walking tour; Manhattan and Dubai

24-Hour Live Feeds

Do you want to know what exactly is going on in Times Square right this second? Wouldn’t it be nice to stream a panoramic view of Paris during the workday?

This isn’t exactly a tour, but around-the-clock live feeds are fairly common for highly trafficked areas, like this live stream of Paris from the top of the Peninsula Hotel. You can watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle in real time. You can also watch over Times Square at any time with this live feed or watch ships pass through the Panama Canal with this one.