Get Yourself A Guide - London

Ok, you can download a city guide on your iPod, pick up one in a swanky colour by Wallpaper* or one of those (rather fab and so handy) pocket sized fold-up Luxe guides. But nothing beats a real, human guide.

Guided tours used to be judged the opposite of stylish; a long hangover perhaps from the 1969 comedy If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium in, which a group of travelers from the United States raced through seven European counties in 18 days. Now, seven countries in 18 days might sound like a leisurely trip, but wherever you are, it will be so much better if you switch off the Blackberry and, just for a few hours, throw yourself at the mercy of a local.

An individual guide, (and, if necessary a driver too), can not only make fast sense of a foreign city, it can also go some way to decode the DNA of those city natives, plus a local guide can tempt you away from tourist tchoches in favor of harder-to-find original souvenirs which will up your cool factor back home.

LONDON

The best place to start is your hotel concierge, especially if you are looking for secrets in a city you already know well. Corrado Bogni, concierge at The Connaught in London’s Mayfair says Andrew Stevens, on the books of Luxury Vacations UK, is the man he calls because “he’s young, dynamic and with original ideas which suit our guests.” Certainly, a couple of hours with Stevens reveals a London most Londoners don’t know, starting with a speedy trip around Westminster Abbey (I use the back door, or VIP entrance as I call it, to avoid the queues), a visit to the little-known Hunterian at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, a ghoulish museum of anatomy containing the bones of an Irish giant, then access to the 360 views at the top of 30 St. Mary Axe, the city landmark commonly known as ‘The Gherkin’ just in time for morning tea at the swanky staff restaurant, which is usually strictly off limits.

London: Andrew Stevens; + 44 208 669 3666. www.luxuryvacationsuk.com