Ahh, the city explorer. A creature of habit, the city explorer is easily recognisable and always visible in its natural habitat – the urban jungle. Whether they are exploring their home towns of have migrated to sunnier cities for a break, they can always be found in bars, restaurants, galleries, city parks, or simply wandering around the city streets on the hunt for entertainment and excitement.

If you’re looking for a gift for a city dweller, or indeed just a city-lover, there are a few tips that you’d do well to bear in mind so that you can be sure you’re getting them the very best gift possible!

Do a little investigation. City explorers are notorious for keeping on top of what’s going on in their city, and for getting in there first. If you’ve found an awesome new restaurant, an up-and-coming show, or a new food tour or gallery, and you think that the city explorer in your life would love it, well you’re probably right. But you have to be careful that they’ve not already found it (or if they have, that they love it enough to want a do-over)!

Tours of their own city are a great idea, and for very good reason. When you live somewhere, you don’t do the touring thing because, well, you live there, right? The attractions aren’t going anywhere and you’ll get round to them, right? Well, wrong, because often we never get round to doing the stuff that our city is famous for. Ok, an everyday tourist-geared tour might not be quite right, but there are all kinds of awesome tours available that are perfect for a city’s natives – food tasting tours,  jazz/hi hop tours, wine tasting tours and microbrewery tours to name a few. Know a big beer drinker from New York? Get them a brewery tour of Brooklyn. That way, they get their city and their hobby!

If someone is totally obsessed with a city, if they love it and they either live there or go all the time, then it can be awesome to get them a thing that really reminds them of that city. Are they obsessed with San Francisco? Find out the things they love most about it, and get them a gift that reflects that. That might turn out to be a painting or artistic image of the Golden Gate Bridge, it could be some retro 49ers memorabilia, or the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market Cookbook and a hamper of some of its produce… whatever you get them, you’ll be bringing a little bit of the city to them.

If your budget allows it and the occasion warrants it, give them the opportunity to explore a whole new place with a city break – the ultimate gift for city explorers. If budget is an issue, but you really want to give them a weekend or short break, we recommend trying to pool resources with a couple of other givers, spread the cost of an awesome weekend away that way, and give the city explorer in your life the perfect gift!