Present in Porto, with more than 30 active local guides, Zarco is a Portuguese startup which aims to improve the way we get to know new cities through a platform that connects local guides with visitants, tourists and travellers.

Based on the assumption that no one knows our own place better than us, Zarco wants to raise the quality of the experience travellers have while getting to know a new city, tapping into available knowledge, and presenting it to the market. The travellers have the possibility of living one unique travel experience, adapted by the local guides, considering their personal interests and preferences.

Zarco’s purpose is, for example, to allow a foreign architect who visits Porto, to know the city through the eyes of a national living architect and live the region as a local.

– João Monteiro, Zarco’s co-founder

Zarco plans to keep improving the way Portuguese cities are discovered by expanding to Lisbon, Braga, Guimarães and Coimbra. They will recruit more than 100 professionals with training in specific areas like history, architecture, tourism and photography, just to name a few.

The project, led by João Monteiro, Francisco Sousa Otto and Tiago Mendes, is being developed in Porto since last November. The app is available on Apple Store and Google Play.