Having a look at the tourist space as a cultural specialist, the author drew attention to the fact that the closest to the modern man is a city environment he contacts and sometimes encounters in everyday life and on holidays. And every time whether he wants it or not, it opens in a dif erent way. One way of getting to know the world has long been a walking tour. It’s not just a walk hand in hand with a pleasant man or hasty movement to the right place, but namely the tour, in which a knowledgeable person with a soulful voice will speak about the past and present of the city and its surroundings, as if it is about your life and the people close to you. Turning to the beginning of the twentieth century, the experience of scientists-excursion specialists we today can learn a lot to improve the process of building up a tour, and most importantly the transmission of knowledge about the world in which we live. Well-known names of the excursion theory founders to professionals are I. Grevs, N. Antsiferov, N. Geynike and others. They are given in the context of ref ection on the historical development of walking tours, which haven’t lost their value and attract both creators and consumers of tour services.