Local first
Every route is written by someone who lives in the city, not by a content team abroad.
Our story
We make cities legible — one clue at a time.
QuestNova began with a wrong turn in Alfama and a borrowed notebook. It has since become 68 routes in 24 cities, walked by 41,000 people who prefer a story to a tour.
24Cities
68Routes
41kExplorers
4.9Average rating
In 2019, Inês was a cartographer and Tomasz was designing theatre sets. Between them they had a theory: the best way to meet a city is on foot, with a question you actually want answered. The first route was written for friends, on paper, and it took four attempts to get the final clue right.
We now work with 31 writers, historians and professional wanderers across 24 cities. Every route is walked at least three times before it opens. We pay our authors properly, name them on each route, and let them keep the local detail that makes a street worth a second look.
We are not trying to replace guides. We are trying to replace the feeling of walking past something remarkable without knowing it.
What we believe
Three rules we don’t break.
Slow by design
We design for an afternoon, not a checklist. Detours are allowed. They are usually the point.
Small footprint
We send people to independent cafés, family shops and quiet courtyards — and ask them to leave both as they found them.
The people
Behind the routes.
ICInês CarvalhoCo-founder, routes
TNTomasz NowakCo-founder, product
ADAylin DemirCity editor, Istanbul
MBMarco BelliniBrand and design
Join us
Come walk with us.
Pick a city, bring a friend, and leave the guidebook at home.