If you fancy a change from the wonders of home life and the glories of the garden, or perhaps to visit the places from which sprang epics of world literature, then you may like to explore the possibilities of virtual tours – armchair tours brought to you by your computer.

Where would you choose to go? From wandering among the palaces of Venice to swimming over coral gardens, popping into the National Art Gallery or seeking inspiration in the delightfully ostentatious painted corridors of the Vatican, there truly is a world of choice available through your computer.

The choices below start with self-guided tours that you can browse at any time. After that we edge towards live (paid-for) guided tours which are susceptible to the vagaries of the pandemic and other more local factors.

Here are some ideas to get you started…

A selection of interesting tours gathered by Forbes and others collated by Lonely planet, which include some fascinating tours from around the world. Here is a selection of National parks tours well worth browsing

I highly recommend this tour of the Yosemite national park, one of the best tours I have seen and well worth a visit. If you are after something a little more urban then you might like to pop over to the city virtual tours site which is less tour than interesting galleries of photos for a variety of niche interests.

How about an art gallery or museum? The Google art museum collection features over 2000 museums from around the world

There are even Christmas market tours to take you back to a time when masks were something for fancy dress.

The list of virtual tours carries on and on including youtube videos, or Google Earth fly-overs. Do send me your favourites for inclusion.

Then we come to guided tours. These are live and are almost exclusively ones for which you must pay. Most are quite reasonable, while some are downright expensive.

This Guided architecture tours site is really interesting because it goes into depth with discussion from architects about architecture. If architecture is your thing then you may also like to take a look at this set of tours from tripsavvy

Here are a set of live tours at reasonable prices. By contrast, here are some tours at eye-wateringly expensive prices. And finally, a further set of promising live guided tours for your to consider.

Have fun!