Greeters – showing you around Tours, Chinon and Loches
In Touraine in the Loire Valley, living is an art … and so is welcoming visitors. It was therefore a logical step for the Tours Tourist Office to organise a community of Greeters, hosts who love their city!
Martin, Elsa, Fabrice, Evelyne… they all share a common attachment to their city and a desire to share their knowledge of the region with you. So they joined the extended family of Greeters in their town of Tours, Chinon, Loches and Rochecorbon. The network was founded around ten years ago in New York and other large American cities in the spirit of a welcoming exchange, free of charge.
Visiting Touraine with a Greeter : how it works
A few days before your weekend stay in Tours, go to the www.tours-greeters.fr website. It couldn’t be easier – simply click on ‘faire une demande de visites’. As well as filling in your contact details, there is a box where you can leave a message outlining the trips and places you’re interested in and the date you’re expecting to visit. You also have the option of selecting one or several greeters with whom you’d like to share the experience. Please note, to encourage interaction and dialogue, the number of participants for a visit with a volunteer is strictly limited to a maximum of 6 people.
The Greeter who’s right for me!
The choice is yours! It’s up to you to decide which aspect of Tours, Chinon, Loches or Rochecorbon you want to find out about: depending on what that is, you can select a Greeter who specialises in that area to accompany you. Each greeter introduces themselves in a few sentences and indicates the various themes they suggest for exploring ‘their’ town, which may include art & culture, gastronomy, local history, parks and gardens or recreational sports.
Greeters are not like traditional tour guides!
Traditional guided tours of towns and villages are, of course, also still available, led by tour guides from the tourist offices, on foot, in horse-drawn carriages or in little tourist trains.
Information
Greeters in Tours, Chinon, Loches and Rochecorbon : www.tours-greeters.fr
Tours Loire Valley Tourist Office / 78-82 rue Bernard Palissy, Tours / 02 47 70 37 37