As spring blooms around you with longer and warmer days, it’s the perfect opportunity to plan a little vacation…in your own hometown. Sometimes all it takes is a little outside help and inspiration to make us see our same old world in a whole new way.

A great way to get a fresh perspective on your town is with walking tour. Most major cities offer tours based on a variety of topics, including location, history, special interest, and local color. When we lived in New York City, we took a tour of the filming locations of popular movies with Gotham Walking Tours. A quick search online, or even a call to your city’s tourism office or Chamber of Commerce, will provide you with many more guided tour options in your town or a major city nearby.

If you’re interested in exploring your world on your own, try a self-guided itinerary or even a podcast. Frommer’s Travel Guides offers free walking tour itineraries on their website for cities all over the world. You can also download audio tours to your mP3 player from a number of different sites. AudioSnacks offers tours of cities and sites across the globe, many of them for free. You can get a private audio tour of the Boston Public Garden or the Wyoming Pioneer Museum for free. For about $10 you could download their tours of Downtown Denver or even Downtown Disney. Don’t forget to check out the Web site of your local travel and tourism board, too. Texas Tourism, for example, offers free downloadable audio tours of the major cities around the state, including San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Fort Worth.

So while that much-needed vacation may still be months away, it’s the perfect time to recharge with a little exploration of your own backyard. Who knows? Without the hassles of planning, packing, unpacking, driving or flying, it just might be the perfect destination.

Have other tips for becoming a tourist in your own hometown? Let us know!

photos istockphoto