Looking back over this summer, since we got our mix of unique art, history and architecture city walking tours going in May, it’s been a hectic yet amazing ride, and often a privilege too. We did 2 North-by North-West tours; 3 medieval walled city tour/treasure-map hunts; a Victorian walk; 5 more of our long-established “How to Read a Painting” symbol-reading workshops at the National Gallery; a specially commissioned Art Deco walk (!) a really lovely and very sociable one-off along- the -River Liffey walking tour, and at least 14 Georgian tours! (both the East and West variety)
Along the way, as well as the many experts and professional who gave us help, we’ve also been humbled by the kind responses of nearly all our guests, Irish guests and overseas visitors alike.
Many were generous enough to write about their Dublin Decoded experience on TripAdvsor and similar sites. (If you are reading, many thanks to you all who did this, you wouldn’t believe how much it helps a young business like ours) Either way, from a standing start, in our first season in business-proper, Dublin Decoded tours, a tiny high-quality but low-budget company, competing with vastly bigger walking tour firms (with far bigger marketing budgets (who also prentend to be “for free” when they are not!) we still somehow got to number 8 out of 200+ cultural tours, attractions and things-to do in the Dublin rankings of TripAdvisor. We are surprised, and (we’ll admit it) quite pleased! (There’s a link to these nice reviews further down, but read the next bit first)
Now, as we reach the the quieter off-peak months, we are going to innovate again and do something as as far as we know, is unique for a cultural walking tour company. What is it? Well essentially, we’re going to run Dublin Decoded runs something like a “private club” yes, a city-walking club. This is neither as scary, pretentious, nor as expensive or even as fancy as it sounds. “Membership” will be entirely free and optional (as in easy to opt-in/opt out) since being a member simply means being on our Dublin Decoded mailing list. It might sound odd at first. But in fact we think this new arrangement will work very well for everyone, and most of all for potential customers.
So- Why would you want to be on our mailing list? Well, let’s say you quite like the sound of, for example, our How to Read a Painting or the Medieval Treasure Hunt, or the River tour, or any of the walks really. Then immagine you’re even mildly interested in knowing when that walk next goes ahead. Then you should consider putting your name on our members mailing list. There is, and never will be, any obligation of any sort to attend. The notification merely tell you what is happening, and if you wnt to join in you mail us back. It really is that simple. Nor is joining the list remotely complicated. You simply send a one-line email to dublindecoded@gmail.com with the words, “Please Put me on the Mailing List” in the subject header, and your full name in the email please. We’ll obviously be very happy to oblige. And that’s it. Once on the list, you should then receive from 2 to 4 notifications each month, alerting you when tours are planned, and then a confirmation they are going ahead. This next part should go without saying, but here it goes anyway. Obviously, we would never and will never, share your information or email with anyone else. You can of course also opt out any time you wish.
Finally, for those with an abundance of initiative and get up and go, there is one other alternative way to get on a tour. Request one. Yes. It’s possible to request most of our 8 different tours as what we call a “custom tour” In other words a tour for a pre-boooked group. This is also not as scary, as expensive or as fancy as it might sound. In fact people are already doing it. As people get a little more imaginative and curious about the city they live in, we find this is an increasingly popular option with our guests. (Some of them, especially at the Nat Gal eveing tours, even tell us they see it as a fun alternative to the cinema, theatre or dinner) It is certainly more interactive than sitting in the stalls at the cinema or theatre, And compared to theatre or dinner certainly, you’ll also find it a surprisingly economical option, (especially for groups of 5 people or more. at €20 p/p, or working out at even less p/p for larger groups,) For employers or those thinking of bringing a group of colleagues or workmates, the discussion and visual “problem solving” element (of the National Gallery workshops in particular, and the Treasure Hunts) make them ideal as team-builders, useful as well as a pleasure. One other last advantage, among many, is you get to decide your own dates, rather than working to our regular Dublin Decoded tour schedule.
Sound good? Okay, so how would you get your own custom tour? Well, rather like joining the emailing list, requesting or ordering a custom tour is a bit of a doddle. You can send a 3-line email to dublindecoded@gmail.com with the name of the tour and your preferred date please in the subject header, and your full name in the email. Example subject header: “Medieval tour for group, Friday afternoon, 29 October?” Or “Cathedral Tour- any weekday late October?” Within the mail, help us to help you and please also say how many people the tour is for, (even if that number is provisional or approximate) and if possible, it’s surprisingly useful if you can tell us what type of group you are. Colleagues/ book club? Irish, or overseas visitors? Average age perhaps? That’s enough information We’ll then get back to you as quickly as we can. (normally within 46 hours, often less).
You can see the many rave reviews on the TripAdvisor website. But to sum it up, we think we do something special, our very happy visitors seem to agree, and we hope you’ll join the party and come on one of our unique tours some time.
Either way or until then, thank you for reading. The website link is below these images.
To see the full list of tours, visit the website below, But remember, to receive notification of individual tours that are actually going ahead, please join the mailing list in the way described above: Thank you again. Arran Henderson | Dublin Decoded.
Arran Q Henderson 