Think you know your own city? Intrepid Travel put that to the test by sending its own staff on Urban Adventures tours where they live — and even long-time residents came back surprised. The takeaway for travellers is a nice one: a few hours with a local guide can unlock stories you'd never find on your own, whether you're visiting or have lived somewhere for decades.

In Melbourne, the Booze Makes History Better Tour wound through laneway bars, a speakeasy and a rooftop most locals didn't know existed, layering in Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung history and gold-rush-era scandal. One highlight: Little Lon Distilling Co, set in an 1850s cottage with a colourful past tied to the old red-light district, now pouring a limited-batch gin called 'Miss Yoko'. A separate Fitzroy and Collingwood walk traced Aboriginal civil rights, post-war migration and live-music activism — including the heritage-listed Keith Haring mural on Johnston Street and The Tote Hotel, whose 2010 closure sparked the SLAM rally that helped save Melbourne's music venues.

In Delhi, one reservations executive packed in two tours in a day: first the Hidden Gems route through Sunder Nursery, a 36-hectare Mughal-era heritage park, plus the Lodhi Art District and Mehrauli Archaeological Park; then an evening Food Walk covering momos, shawarma and gol gappas. Her tip is a practical one — stacking a day tour with an evening food walk is a smart move if your time is short.

Seattle's Capitol Hill Pride Walk digs into the neighbourhood's role in the gay rights movement, with stops at Elliott Bay Book Company, one of the largest queer- and woman-owned bookstores in the US, and Cupcake Royale, a bakery that has supported gay rights for two decades. Participants learned Cal Anderson Park is named for Washington's first openly gay lawmaker, elected in 1987.

Denver's History and Highlights Tour delivered a darker lesson: in the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan effectively controlled city government, and a mesa the writer walked past on his commute was once a KKK cross-burning site. Toronto's Kensington Market & Chinatown adventure reframed the market as 'Toronto's kitchen', with stops at Moon Bean, an ethical coffee roaster that's been in the same spot for 30 years, and Mashion, a Hong Kong-style bakery on Spadina.

Why it matters: these tours are aimed as much at locals as visitors, and that's a genuinely useful trick for travellers too. If you have a long layover, an extra day in a city, or you've just moved somewhere new, a three-hour guided walk with a theme — food, street art, queer history, dark history — will surface layers you'd otherwise miss. The Delhi example shows you can realistically fit two themed tours into one day. The format works because local guides carry stories that don't make it onto plaques: who lived in that cottage, why that mural is there, what used to happen down that alley. Next weekend you're stuck at home, it might be worth playing tourist in your own postcode.