Quick answer: Tours where the guide’s own life is the qualification. Unseen Tours in London is guided by people who have experienced homelessness, and most of the ticket goes straight to them. Migrantour runs migrant-led walks in Rome, Barcelona and Lisbon. Salaam Baalak Trust in Delhi is guided by young people who once lived on those streets. Favela Tour in Rio puts about a quarter of every ticket into two community schools.
The difference between a tour about people and a tour by them
There is a version of this that goes badly. A coach pulls up, people photograph a neighbourhood from behind glass, and nobody who lives there sees a cent. Slum tourism has earned its bad reputation honestly.
The tours below are the other thing. In each case the guide is from the community being described, is paid properly for the work, and in most cases the organisation exists to create that employment rather than to sell sightseeing. That is a structural difference, not a tonal one.
Where an operator is a nonprofit or cooperative, I have said so and named it. Where a specific share of revenue goes somewhere, I have given the figure. Everything here can be checked before you book.
Unseen Tours, London — the guides have all been homeless
Unseen Tours is a social enterprise whose guides have all experienced homelessness or insecure housing, and most of your ticket price goes straight to them as paid, dignified work.
The framing matters and the organisation is careful about it: these are tours with people who know the city’s overlooked corners, not tours of homelessness. The stated aim is to shift how the public thinks about who ends up on the street. Routes and dates vary by guide, so check what is running before you plan around it.
Migrantour — the same idea, in three of our cities
Migrantour is a European network in which migrants are trained as “intercultural companions” and lead walks through the neighbourhoods where they live. It appears three times in our guides:
Migrantour Roma is run by Viaggi Solidali, a responsible-tourism social cooperative. Every walk is led by a Roman who arrived as a migrant, through multi-ethnic Esquilino and Torpignattara, stopping at markets, shops and places of worship. Around two hours, advance booking.
Migrantour Barcelona is coordinated by the nonprofit Nexes Interculturals. The Raval route weaves the neighbourhood’s history together with the guide’s own migration story.
Migrantour Lisbon is run by the neighbourhood nonprofit Renovar a Mouraria, walking through Mouraria — where more than 30% of residents come from some 50 nationalities. It is a community association rather than a tour company, so email ahead.
Salaam Baalak Trust, Delhi — guided by those who lived it
This two-hour walk through Paharganj is guided by adolescents who once lived on these streets themselves. Profits go back into Salaam Baalak Trust’s shelters, schooling and food for Delhi’s street children.
The route covers the lanes around New Delhi Railway Station, stops at the Trust’s contact point and ends at its head office. You hear the city through the guide’s own story rather than a script.
Favela Tour, Rio — the one that started it, done properly
Marcelo Armstrong pioneered favela tourism in Rio in 1992, and roughly a quarter of every tour’s price still funds two community schools that receive no government support — Para Ti and Saci Sabe Tudo — teaching local children computer skills, English, music and capoeira.
The three-hour minivan-and-walking tour departs at 9am and 2pm with hotel pickups, moving through Rocinha. Thirty-plus years in, it is the benchmark others in the category are measured against.
Hidden City Tours, Barcelona
Hidden City Tours trains people who have experienced homelessness to work as guides, giving them income and a route back into the workforce. The walks cover the Gothic Quarter and El Raval with a perspective on the city you will not get elsewhere. Tours run as private bookings — reserve ahead.
Indigenous Walks, Ottawa — re-reading the monuments
Founded in 2014 by Métis artist and educator Jaime Koebel, Indigenous Walks re-reads downtown Ottawa’s monuments, art and architecture from an Indigenous perspective — roughly two hours and three kilometres of the social, political and cultural history the plaques leave out.
Tours run in English and French. Nearby, Mādahòkì Farm is run by the Indigenous women-owned Indigenous Experiences and is home to a herd of endangered Ojibwe Spirit Horses — Canada’s only known Indigenous horse breed, with roughly 180 registered animals left.
Black History Walks, London
Black History Walks was founded by historian and author Tony Warner and has told the story of London’s Black history from a Black-led perspective since 2007. The guides are authors, academics and specialists who have lectured at the National Portrait Gallery and the BFI, so the tours are researched rather than folkloric. Multiple routes across the city.
Little Africa and Women of Paris
Little Africa was founded by Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, who built a company, a guidebook and a retail-and-gallery “Little Africa Village” to celebrate African and diaspora culture in Paris and push back on tired stereotypes about the neighbourhood. Her walks through the Goutte d’Or cover African fashion, food, music and design.
Women of Paris exists to put women back into the story of the city — revolutionaries, writers, couturières that standard tours skip. Founder Heidi Evans built the flagship walk after noticing how absent women were from mainstream Paris tourism.
Cook with someone instead: four kitchens
The same principle applies to food, and these are among the best experiences in their cities regardless of the mission.
Migrateful is a charity whose classes are taught by refugees and migrants, giving them paid teaching work, language practice and confidence. You cook a full menu from the chef’s home country alongside them. Classes sell out well in advance.
Les Cuistots Migrateurs offers refugees free professional training plus French classes, then employs graduates as chefs. Public workshops run in Lebanese, West African and other cuisines.
Hummustown began in Shaza Saker’s kitchen and became a Rome nonprofit giving Syrian refugees paid work and training. Hands-on Syrian cooking classes in Ostiense.
Mescladis runs a kitchen that doubles as a training programme for migrants building hospitality careers in Barcelona. Join a class or just eat at the café in the Born.
And in London, Luminary Bakery runs a two-year training programme for women who have faced violence, homelessness or the criminal justice system. Take a baking class or simply visit the Stoke Newington café.
How to tell a good one from a bad one
Who guides it? If the tour describes a community, someone from that community should be leading it and being paid.
What share reaches them? The better operators state this plainly — “most of the ticket goes to the guide”, “a quarter funds two schools”. Vagueness here is the tell.
What is the legal structure? Cooperative, nonprofit, foundation and registered charity all mean something. “Ethical tour company” means nothing on its own.
Can you photograph freely? Responsible operators in residential neighbourhoods set rules about this. An operator with no photography guidance has not thought hard about the people being looked at.
Frequently asked questions
What is a social enterprise walking tour?
A tour run by an organisation whose purpose is to create paid work for a specific group — people who have experienced homelessness, migrants and refugees, or young people from disadvantaged backgrounds — rather than to sell sightseeing. Unseen Tours in London and Hidden City Tours in Barcelona both train and employ formerly homeless guides.
Are favela and slum tours ethical?
It depends entirely on the operator. The questions that matter are who guides the tour, whether they are from the community and properly paid, and what share of revenue stays local. Marcelo Armstrong’s Rio operation, running since 1992, directs roughly a quarter of each ticket to two community schools. Operators who cannot answer those questions should be avoided.
What is Migrantour?
A European network of intercultural walking tours in which migrants are trained as guides and lead walks through the neighbourhoods where they live. It runs in Rome through the social cooperative Viaggi Solidali, in Barcelona through the nonprofit Nexes Interculturals, and in Lisbon through the neighbourhood association Renovar a Mouraria.
Where can I take a cooking class taught by refugees?
Migrateful in London, Les Cuistots Migrateurs in Paris, Hummustown in Rome and Mescladis in Barcelona all run public classes taught by refugee or migrant chefs, with fees funding training and employment programmes. All four sell out in advance, so book early.
Do these tours cost more than regular ones?
Generally no — they price in line with comparable walking tours in their cities. The difference is where the money goes and who is paid for the work.
Book these directly with the operators — that way the full fee reaches them.
Somewhere to stay
If you need a bed in any of these cities, our social enterprise hotels guide covers Rome, London, Barcelona and Amsterdam.
Booking links above are affiliate links – they may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you. The tour operators named in this article are not affiliate links.