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City Guide or Personalized Guide: which one is yours
Every citysense city comes as two guides built from the same checked catalog. The City Guide is the read every visitor needs: how the city is put together, the three neighborhoods every first visit touches, how it eats, how to get around, the phrases and the codes. Twelve pages, the same for everyone, ready now. The Personalized Guide starts from that read and adds what depends on how you travel: three neighborhoods chosen for you, eight experiences matched to your interests, and three days at your pace. Eighteen pages, built in minutes from five minutes of questions. The short rule: if you already know how you travel and want the city explained, get the City Guide. If you want the city chosen for you, get the Personalized Guide.
What is the same in both
Both guides open with the same two pages that interpret the city: its rhythms, its tensions, the character you will feel on the ground. Both carry how the city eats, by neighborhood and by kind of place, with named dishes and the types of venue that serve them. Both carry the practical layer: transport, phrases, cultural codes, entry rules, climate, and what to sort before you fly, weighted to the city, heavier on language for Tokyo, heavier on codes for Istanbul. And both are a PDF in your inbox within minutes, with no account and nothing to install.
What only the Personalized Guide has
Three things, and they are the three that depend on you.
The neighborhoods. The City Guide gives the three every visitor needs, one page each. The Personalized Guide gives you your three, chosen from the catalog for the way you travel: someone who travels for food and goes to bed late is sent to different quarters than someone who wants the old core at the door and an early start.
The experiences. Eight of them, matched to the interests you picked rather than lifted from a top-ten list, each with a line on why it earns its place.
The days. Three of them, one neighborhood per day, morning to evening, at the pace you chose, with room left to wander. The City Guide deliberately has none: it explains the city and leaves the days to you.
Who each one suits
| If you | Get | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Want the city explained and will plan your own days | City Guide | It is the read, complete, and it does not presume your taste |
| Are visiting for the first time and want the days decided | Personalized Guide | The three neighborhoods and the three days are the hard part of a first trip |
| Travel as a group with different tastes | City Guide | One shared read; the days get negotiated over dinner |
| Have a diet, a budget or a pace that narrows the city | Personalized Guide | Food, experiences and days are filtered for them |
| Have been before and want what you missed | Personalized Guide | Tell it so in the questions; the neighborhoods shift away from the obvious three |
| Are giving it to someone else | City Guide | It needs no answers from the traveler |
The five minutes of questions
The Personalized Guide is built from one short set of questions: your dates; who is traveling, and whether it is a first visit or a return; your pace, from unhurried to energetic; the interests that describe your free afternoons, from history and food to design, nightlife, nature and the off-radar city; and the details that narrow the food, your budget band and any dietary rule. Everything the guide chooses, it chooses from the catalog using those answers. Nothing is invented to fit them.
If you change your mind
Start with the City Guide if you are unsure. If you then want your neighborhoods and your days, you upgrade to the Personalized Guide for the difference, from the same city page. The two guides are one catalog at two depths, so nothing you read in the first is contradicted by the second.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between the City Guide and the Personalized Guide?
The City Guide is the same twelve pages for every visitor: the read, the three neighborhoods everyone needs, food, transport, phrases, codes. The Personalized Guide keeps all of that and adds your three neighborhoods, eight experiences and three days, chosen from your answers.
Which guide should a first-time visitor get?
The Personalized Guide, if you want the neighborhoods and the days decided for you. The City Guide, if you would rather understand the city and plan the days yourself.
Can I upgrade from the City Guide later?
Yes. The upgrade to the Personalized Guide costs the difference and starts from the same city page.
How long does the Personalized Guide take?
Five minutes of questions, then a few minutes to build. It arrives as a download and by email.
Written by citysense editorial. Product details as of October 2026.