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Travel like a historian

Sightseeing should be one of the best bits of holidaying. But too often it’s ruined by tourist traps, underwhelming experiences and bland guides. Wise wants to help.

We’ve teamed up with the UK’s most popular history podcast, The Rest is History, to give you personal tours of Paris and Amsterdam. It’s time to spend like a local - and travel like a historian.

Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook
Amsterdam: to the Golden Age, and beyond
Send the money from your online banking
Paris, 1968: de Gaulle, mimes and protests

"A voyage of self-discovery, a pilgrimage of the soul. It is in the exploration of foreign lands that we truly come to know ourselves, for it is there that our senses are awakened, our passions ignited, and our spirits set free."


So said Lord Byron when describing the Grand Tour - and who are we to argue?

On the one hand, holidays are a chance to switch off - to find a beach, a plaza, a balcony and sip something cold. But on the other, they’re about experiencing a culture, seeing sights, learning things - edification.

Byron knew this dichotomy well. His Grand Tour was spent penning verse, drinking wine and sampling all varieties of Venetian culture.

But sightseeing, so key to the ‘edification’ part of holidaying, can get a bad rep.

We’ve all been drawn into tourist traps, frustrated in long queues, and stuck with that dull feeling that while we may be looking at things, we’re not really learning anything.


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We at Wise think it’s time that sightseeing got its act together - but sadly we’re more transparency gurus than tour guides. We needed help.

Which is why we teamed up with the world’s pre-eminent history podcast, The Rest is History, to give sightseeing a refresh - yes, we’ve lined up Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook as your own personal sightseeing guides.

With Tom, we spend twenty-fours in Amsterdam, seeing the city’s history through some of its best - and least - known buildings.

And with Dominic, we go to Paris. But not just any Paris: the Paris of 1968, when revolution was in the air and Gaullist certainties began to shake.

Amsterdam: to the Golden Age, and beyond
Amsterdam guide
Paris, 1968: de Gaulle, mimes and protests
Paris guide

Throughout, Tom and Dominic spent with Wise, the world’s most international account.

Wise allows you to send, spend and withdraw 40 currencies, all without hidden fees and at rapid speed, while our instant account provides the best rates on the market.

So, if you’re on your Grand Tour this summer - a Wise account is the smart choice.

This summer, it’s time to spend like a local - and travel like a historian.

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook