On our recent visit to Richmond, we had the pleasure of spending 3 days with Ray, joining him on 2 driving tours (Civil War Battlefields and Jamestown) as well as a walking tour of Church Hill. All three tours were fantastic! As a tour guide, Ray is a fountain of knowledge and you are going to be hard pressed to come up with a question, he doesn’t know the answer to. One of the things that really sets Ray and his tours apart from the other tours we did during our 10-day trip to Richmond, is that he never comes across as just “reading from a script” to you, but rather, Ray is having a conversation with you. A seemingly small difference but with a huge impact on the experience. Indeed, we never felt we were on a tour with a tour guide, but rather, we felt like we were on a family outing with the uncle who is a history-buff. Ray was courteous, attentive and really paid attention to our needs and interests. We will definitely hook up with Ray again the next time we are in Richmond – be it for a tour, lunch, or better yet, both!Martin & Celeste

I knew we were coming to Richmond and researched walking tours online. I wrote to two providers and heard back only from one: Raymond of Richmond Tour Guides.Since no public tours were scheduled for the season of our visit, we were offered a private tour. Although I am usually too cheap (frugal?) to say yes, I did. And I am glad I did.Raymond was excellent about communication prior to our tour. He assigned Emily, a former social studies teacher and lifelong Richmonder, to guide us. She was wonderful.We spent 2 1/2 hours seeing more sites than weever would have found on our own. We spent no time getting lost, which we would have done on our own. And learned more than we could have by reading online. Plus we could ask Emily questions.This cost about the same as one night in a hotel so consider shortening your stay to take such a tour!

We took a fabulous 2 hour driving tour of historic Richmond, led by our host Ray. He was incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining. He provides a lot of historical information and puts it into a modern context. If you are interested in learning about the role Richmond played in US history, as well as the role of the people that led it, then this tour is for you.

Our tour of Richmond with Ray Kaufman was 5-star in every way. From Jackson Ward to VCU to Church Hill, Ray gave us a running commentary covering interesting historical facts and added fascinating stories he'd dug out of archives. With Ray at the wheel of our double cab pickup truck, the five of us glided seamlessly from one site to another. Delivered in Ray's calm warm voice, our tour was most informative and relaxing and worth taking again.

We took the Church Hill Public Tour. Ray was very friendly and knowledgeable. The tour moved at a comfortable pace. He was able to answer questions and offered additional information. You can tell that he enjoys what he does. I had some questions about the tour ahead of time and he contacted me and answered them quickly. I grew up on Church Hill in the 1950's (Not the part that we toured) and I learned a lot.