Blindfolded tourism (also cecitourism) is a form of experimental travel, consisting of a

guided tour A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, and information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, rel ...

in which the tourist is

blindfold A blindfold (from Middle English ') is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. While a properly fitted blindfold prevents sight even if the eyes are open, a poorly tied or trick blindfo ...

ed while being talked through the visited areas, as opposed to traditional sightseeing. A blind tour is a different experience owing to the absence of one vital sense, sight, thereby stimulating the other relevant senses, namely hearing, feel and smell. The concept has been related to that of the

dark restaurant Dark dining is the act of eating a meal without seeing the food that is being eaten. The basic concept is that the removal of Visual perception, vision enhances the other senses and increases gastronomic pleasure. Since 1999, specialised dark rest ...

, where there is no light for diners to see what they eat.Robin Esrock (28 February 2012)
''Portugal: Blindfolded sightseeing in Lisbon''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand ...

. A "blindfold tour" to savour the smells of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

was proposed as far back as 1970. More recently, blindfolded tours have been offered in a range of mainly urban locations, including tours of

Prague Castle Prague Castle (; ) is a castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic serving as the official residence and workplace of the president of the Czech Republic. Built in the 9th century, the castle has long served as the seat of power for List of rulers ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

in Albania,''The Blind Tourism Project''
TrendHunter

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, and the

Alfama The Alfama () is the oldest neighborhood of Lisbon, spreading on the slope between the São Jorge Castle and the Tagus river. The district includes the ''freguesias'' (parishes) of São Miguel, Santo Estêvão, São Vicente de Fora and part of th ...

quarter of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. The German artist Christian Jankowski has undertaken two blind tours: one in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and one in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, where he led a group of blindfolded journalists.''Christian Jankowski''
Proyectos Monclova, accessed 12 October 2014 In some cases a blind tour may involve offering the tourist a video of their tour following completion of the tour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blindfolded tourism Adventure travel Tour guides Types of tourism

See also

References