Beforehand isn’t a guide, a tour, or an app that walks you through a site.
All of those will teach you something, as will a quick prompt to AI a few minutes before arriving. But most people learn just enough through those methods to spend the night after their visit reading up on everything their tour only seemed to scratch the surface of.
Beforehand gives you the foundation first: short chapters you read or listen to before you go, tailored to address and provide the context what you’re most likely to be hearing about through whatever guide, book, prompt, or tour you end up using when you arrive.
Read a free chapter for any of our destinations →Choose where you’re going.
Context for historical and cultural sites worth understanding before you arrive.
Americas
Guatemala
Tikal
Mexico
Chichén Itzá
Teotihuacán
Peru
Machu Picchu
Europe
France
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Greece
Acropolis of Athens
Delphi
Spain
Alhambra
Prado Museum
Sagrada Família
Vatican City
Vatican Museums
Explore by itinerary.
Sometimes the places on your trip make more sense together. These collections connect the history across the itinerary.
Mediterranean Cruise Stops
For the places everyone rushes through in a few hours.
Colosseum Pompeii & Herculaneum Ephesus Acropolis of Athens
Greek Antiquity
See the religion, politics, and ideas connecting the sites.
Acropolis of Athens Delphi Ephesus
The Spain Triangle
Madrid, Barcelona, and Granada as chapters of one complicated history.
Alhambra Prado Museum Sagrada Família
The Ancient Wonders
Monumental places, ancient expectations, and what made something a wonder.
Petra Colosseum Ephesus
Explore
Europe
FRANCE
Notre-Dame Cathedral
GREECE
Acropolis of Athens
Delphi
ITALY
Colosseum
Pompeii & Herculaneum
SPAIN
Alhambra
Prado Museum
Sagrada Família
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Museums
Explore
Americas
GUATEMALA
Tikal
MEXICO
Chichén Itzá
Teotihuacán
PERU
Machu Picchu
IN DEVELOPMENT
Arrive with Understanding
About Beforehand