Running tours are an inventive way for athletes and active people to see the sights in an unfamiliar city. Guided tours show runners, joggers and fast walkers around the tourist attractions on foot at a quick pace. Traveling where not many others go, people on running tours get a unique perspective on the city they are moving through. These are some examples of running tours that are available from major companies across the world:
Rome, Italy
Sight Jogging Tours is based in Rome, Italy. The 15 trained staff members who lead the jogging tours are fluent in at least one non-Italian language and required to pass fitness and cultural competency tests. Most of the runners taking advantage of Sight Jogging Tours' trips are middle-aged North Americans.
Quebec City, Canada
Quebec Jogging Tours was launched in spring of 2008 by owner and operator Dominic Menard. Their tours specialize in being customizable to the wishes of their patrons and they are happy to speed up, slow down, or stop and take a break whenever a client requests. Their typical tour is 70 minutes long, but that feature of the tour is adjustable as well. A staircase linking the Lower City with the Upper City, which contains over 400 steps, was once a feature on the tour of an extreme runner who asked to be challenged.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Running tours are available seven days a week and conducted in four languages by Buenos Aires-based Urban Running Tours. Patrons can request to join a standard tour conducted in English, French, Spanish or Italian or can make arrangements for a personalized trip. Urban Running Tours offers six standard tours, which make their way through the most popular sights and main neighborhoods of the city.
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Los Angeles, California
Off'N Running may have been the first major running tour company. It set up shop in urban Los Angeles 14 years ago and specializes in 6 to 8K distances. A popular tour option that was recently introduced is Off'N Running's "Running from the Paparazzi" tour which takes 90 minutes and travels down Robertson Blvd, home to many celebrity sightings and an almost-constant cadre of paparazzi.
New York, Washington D.C., San Diego
City Running Tours is a New York-based business which has been around since 2007. About 40 guides work across the six cities that the company operates in, which include Chicago, Austin and Charleston in addition to New York, Washington D.C. and San Diego. Twelve standard tours are available, and are frequently customized based on personal preferences.