Best personal-shopping tours

Paris-born Brigitte Vergnolle and her seven-strong team specialise in many areas, including epicurean chocolates, vintage jewellery, womenswear, china, glass and antiquarian books. Full day £450 (£282), half day £300. Clients are picked up from hotels and transport is by limo or Metro. Call 00 33 144 71 35 30.

Rome

Elisa Rossi (who works for personal shopping consultancy With Style) offers two services: tailor-made expeditions and a whistle-stop tour of Rome's high-end boutiques (Bottega Veneta, Alberta Ferretti et al; includes while-you-wait tailoring, opening hours extended). Shopaholics must organise transport via their hotel (for example Hotel de Russie). Full day £155, half day £95. Call 0039 06481 90 91.

New York

For 14 years, Sarah Gardner - aka Queen of Bargains - has whisked clients around designer showrooms and sample sales (Gucci, Missoni, Donna Karan). Savings of 50 to 90 per cent (on cosmetics and homewares, too). Two-and-a-half hour tour: $150 (£103). Lunch or dinner: $20-$35. Phone 001 718 377 8873.

Istanbul

The Screaming Shopper (who has lived in Turkey for seven years) takes you to shopkeepers offering prices "normally reserved for locals" for carpets, spices (from aroma-fest Egyptian Spice Market) and Turkish Delight. Then take sustenance in a colourful restaurant or a boat ride on the Bosphorus. Tour: 10am-4pm. Price (four people maximum): $250. Pick up from hotel. Call 0090 533 264 6729.

Copenhagen

City-born Gudrun Krgah specialises in design and fashion. Highlights include fashion boutique Munther and Simonsen, department store Illum Bolighus and modern silver outlet Georg Jensen. The latter two sell designer wares by Arne Jacobsen. Cost: 850 Krone (£80, for three hours), 1,050 Kr (four hours), 1,250 Kr (five hours). Call 0045 35 38 11 90.