Esotouric knows your type well: You spend hours watching true crime documentaries on television, dream up outlandish conspiracy theories, and would never, ever be caught dead on the Boston Duck Tour. That's why the company, whose name speaks to their quirky Los Angeles expeditions, has devised the Wild Wild West Side tour, which we guarantee has nothing to do with the 1999 Will Smith movie.

The tour, coming up on October 10th, appeals to wannabe sleuths and those with a morbid fascination in the "blood-soaked history" of the Westside, including Venice, Santa Monica, Culver City, and Marina del Rey. Tour creator Kim Cooper started compiling outlandish stories from the area's past and marking down creepy points of interest, like the grave of a mummified teenage cult priestess. While this isn't the most family friendly way for visitors to experience Los Angeles, it's a compelling alternative to Universal Studios' backlot tour, with tales of spirit possession and murder replacing talk of movie filming.]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-09-14T16:15:16-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/29/2359/08377

There's probably a good chance that the recession is keeping you home this summer, enjoying a staycation and maybe kicking back with some virtual tours. But if you're still planning to leave your neighborhood for parts unknown, Google is ready to help you plan your vacation.

The Internet search giant just unveiled its new Google City Tours, a service designed to outright create whole itineraries for travelers. Type in the name of your city and City Tours will return a series of trips designed to take you around the area's major landmarks. It displays locations, hours, and even the estimated time you should expect to spend at each site.]]> Omri 2009-06-29T16:47:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/17/173857/959

We were drawn to the idea of City Running Tours when we first read about them on HotelChatter last year, but we’ve yet to do one ourselves, mostly because we like to enact a strict no-exercise rule on vacations.

But we might make an exception for their latest endeavor, which is a sightseeing tour that brilliantly pairs exercise with overeating. Genius!

CRT’s bRUNch event concept kicks off on Saturday, June 27 with their first running/brunching event in New York. $50 gets you a guided 5-mile tour of Manhattan, drinking water, and prix fixe brunch at STAND. The NYU-area burger restaurant is known for its fancy-fast-food options like burgers topped with bacon and eggs or Portobello mushrooms and onion marmalade. Recently they've launched a brunch menu complete with the requisite cocktails, including very reasonably priced $3 mimosas and bloody Marys.

Sounds like we might need to run another 5 miles home to work that off.

Related Stories:
· bRUNch [City Running Tours]
· STAND [Official Site]
· City Running Tours Partners with The Westin Times Square [HotelChatter]

[Photo: li’lhug] ]]> BS 2009-06-18T09:02:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/20/225225/758

Most tourists in Boston walk the line or catch a game, but the city has a few hidden, kitschy treasures that are worth seeing too.

The Ghosts and Gravestones Boston Frightseeing Tour will take you on a 90 minute tour of the city’s most haunted sites by foot and trolley. The stroll brings you through 400-year-old cemeteries, haunted spots like the Omni Parker Hotel, and some of Boston’s most chilling murder locations.

Here’s where the kitsch comes in: Every tour is guided by a “character” like the cursed privateer, a pyromaniac circus ringleader, a demon spat out of the pits of Hades, a homicidal opera diva, or a deranged nanny. Tickets can be purchased online for $32.50. ]]> cmb 2009-04-21T11:37:51-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/10/143051/210

It was to be expected but we are actually surprised it took On Location Tours to get halfway through the second season of (the best show on earth right now) Gossip Girl to announce their own Gossip Girl Tour which will begin this summer.

Live a day in the life of Serena, Blair, Chuck, Dan, Vanessa, and Nate on this three hour guided bus tour that goes to more than 30 locations that were used in filming the hit TV series. Find out behind the scenes information and little known facts about the cast and crew of Gossip Girl from local New York City actors and actresses who are the guides on this exciting tour.

]]> juliana 2009-04-10T14:49:14-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/30/51051/1479

The Eternal City has a love/hate relationship with Dan Brown productions, especially in their cinematic incarnations. On one hand the Vatican is pretty pissed about how Angels and Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, is filled with feverish conspiratorial idiocy. They actually went so far as to ban the filmmakers from using the Church's Rome locations, complicating the producers' endeavor to "set the film in Rome."

On the other hand: tourist dollars! ]]> Omri 2009-03-30T09:11:30-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/