This is why you should always hire a local guide

One thing I've learnt over the years – a really good local guide can make such a difference to how you experience a place.

That doesn't seem like an earth-shattering piece of wisdom, but my emphasis is on the word good. A poor guide will not only make a place seem dull or impenetrable, he or she can actually negatively influence the way you remember a destination.

I've had both kinds of guides over the years. I recall the official guide who took my small group through Seville Cathedral, stopping at every single chapel (there are 80 of them) and sermonising interminably about the historical and religious symbolism of each, which was interesting for the first chapel but soon became an agony of aching backs and set jaws by the long-awaited conclusion.

No doubt this guide gave the same lecture to every group, and was unable or unwilling to read our body language and modify her spiel accordingly.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I'm reluctantly back in Seville Cathedral, this time with a different kind of guide altogether, also certified, but one who listens to what we want and suggests an alternate plan that has us happily leaving the other tourists behind and wandering the streets, learning about daily life in Seville, where and what to eat, about its outstanding characters and gossip, and discovering places that don't make the guidebooks.

It's a familiar scene – crowds of unenthusiastic tourists playing with their phones as they're lectured by the droning-on type of guide. But you can spot a good guide too and sometimes hitch a ride. I tagged along with a school group at the Prado recently because their teacher was so interesting.

I'm more likely to strike indifferent guides when they're accompanying big groups, mostly because there's little room for them to tailor the tour to individual tastes. It's not always the guide's fault – it's not easy engaging a group of people who would rather be elsewhere (shopping perhaps.) And I loathe those audio systems with portable transmitters they hand out, which I think creates a further barrier between guide and guest. I hand them back.

Even if you're travelling with a large group, I'd suggest finding a tour of your own away from the group in free time. I've wandered around new places on my own, and I've wandered around them with a great guide, and I prefer the second option. It's worth the extra cost, especially if you have an interest not offered for the group.

"Show me what you like to do," is the first thing I ask the guides. They're usually flattered, and challenged, and are much more relaxed when they know you don't expect them to reel off the official blurb, which must be terribly boring for them, day in, day out.