Quick answer (TLDR): Tour is Escape from Tarkov's Season 1 (1.1.x) map-progression questline — it's the quest that unlocks almost every location in order, from Streets all the way to Lighthouse and Reserve. You start it on Ground Zero, then it chains you trader-by-trader: pay Therapist 250,000 Roubles to open Streets, clear tasks for Ragman → Skier → Mechanic to open Interchange, Customs, Factory and Woods, give Prapor 5 PMC dogtags to open Reserve, and give Mechanic 20,000 Dollars to open Lighthouse. That last Lighthouse step is now the hard gate for the whole endgame: after the 1.1.5.0 rework, you can't even begin the Lightkeeper's To the Light chain until Tour has opened Lighthouse for you (plus Loyalty Level 3 with every trader except Fence and Ref, and 2.0 Fence rep). This guide walks the whole chain in order and shows you exactly where the money and dogtag walls are.
Want to skip the grind? The Tour chain gates every map and the entire Lightkeeper endgame behind trader loyalty, 270k+ in Roubles/Dollars and a pile of raid survivals.
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- Tarkov Quest & Kappa Boost — a pro player runs Tour (and the Lightkeeper chain after it) for you, fast and safe.
- Tarkov Roubles — instant delivery — cover the 250k Therapist wall and the 20k Mechanic wall without farming.
- Tarkov Leveling Boost — power-level toward LL3 on every trader so the Lightkeeper gate opens.
Escape from Tarkov - Roubles
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What is the Tour quest in Tarkov?
Tour is a long, multi-stage Therapist/Prapor/Ragman/Skier/Mechanic questline that functions as Season 1's unified map-unlock system. Instead of each map being gated by a separate early task, the 1.1.x structure threads them onto one backbone quest. Progressing Tour is how a fresh character opens the map pool, and — critically for endgame players — it is one of the hard prerequisites for accessing the Lightkeeper.
Two things make it worth a dedicated run rather than ignoring it:
- It unlocks maps you can't reach any other way. Streets, Reserve and Lighthouse are all behind Tour steps. If a map is greyed out in your menu, Tour is usually why.
- It's a Lightkeeper prerequisite now. Per the official 1.1.5.0 patch notes, you must "gain access to Lighthouse through the Tour storyline" before the Lightkeeper's To the Light chain will even offer its first task.
Battlestate Games describes the Lighthouse/Lightkeeper rework as being built "more focused on testing the player's skills" — and Tour is the first skill check, because it drags you across every location in the game at least once.
Tour quest objectives in order (full walkthrough)
Below is the chain as it currently runs in Season 1 (build 1.1.5.x). Objectives can shift slightly between hotfixes, so always cross-check the in-game task text — but the trader order and the money/dogtag walls below are current.
Step 1 — Ground Zero (the Epicenter tutorial run)
Tour opens on a scripted version of the Epicenter / Ground Zero area with no live players. You wake up, loot the starting room (meds, food, weapons, cassettes), push down the corridor, and kill the hostile Scav bots along the way. Loot their bodies and move toward the street.
Don't miss the LEDX. Just before you exit to the lobby, to the right of the corpses, there's a LEDX Skin Transilluminator — an expensive, found-in-raid item you'll want for later quests. Grab it, then run to the end of the fence and extract.
If you die here, that's a valid outcome too — it just branches you into slightly different follow-up options.
Step 2 — Therapist unlocks Streets (250,000 Roubles)
After extracting, talk to Therapist and hand over 250,000 Roubles when the dialogue option appears. This unlocks Streets of Tarkov. If you're short, sell spare gear or run your Scav to raise the cash — this is the first real money wall of the chain.
Step 3 — Ragman sends you to Interchange, then unlocks Skier
Talk to Ragman. He tasks you with going to Interchange and surviving/extracting (live players will be there). Come back to Ragman afterward and he unlocks a new trader for you: Skier.
Step 4 — Skier: Building Materials + Customs
Skier asks you to find 5 Building Materials items in raid. You can source them anywhere, but Interchange's construction stores (and Customs) are the easy spots. Handing them in unlocks the Customs map and an extra task. Survive a Customs raid, return to Skier, and he opens more transitions — including the one to Factory.
Step 5 — Mechanic: Factory, Scav weapons, then Woods
Skier hands you over to Mechanic. He sends you to Factory to survive and extract, and asks you to bring him Scav weapons (unlocking more transitions). Clear Factory, talk to Mechanic again, and he unlocks Woods, continuing the chain across the remaining locations.
Step 6 — Prapor unlocks Reserve (5 PMC dogtags)
To open Reserve, visit Prapor through the trader screen and hand over 5 PMC Dogtags when the option appears. You can take dogtags off any dead PMC — they don't have to be your own kills, so looting a firefight someone else started counts.
Step 7 — Mechanic unlocks Lighthouse (20,000 Dollars) — the endgame gate
The last major unlock is Lighthouse. Visit Mechanic and hand over 20,000 Dollars when the dialogue appears. This is the single most important Tour step for endgame players: it's a hard prerequisite for the Lightkeeper. Note this is Dollars, not Roubles — buy them from Peacekeeper (the 1.1.5.0 patch actually reduced trader purchase prices for euros and dollars, so stocking USD is a bit cheaper than it used to be).
How Tour unlocks the Lightkeeper (1.1.5.0 rework)
Before Season 1's rework, Lightkeeper access was a repetitive slog. BSG rebuilt it. As of the official 1.1.5.0 patch notes, to receive the first task of the Lightkeeper access chain (To the Light, started by asking Mechanic about working with Lightkeeper), you need all of the following:
- Access to Lighthouse via the Tour storyline (Step 7 above — the 20,000 Dollars to Mechanic)
- Loyalty Level 3 with every trader except Fence and Ref
- At least 2.0 reputation with Fence
- Then ask Mechanic about the possibility of working with the Lightkeeper
Only when all four are true does To the Light unlock. For the full post-Tour path to the island itself, see our Tarkov Lightkeeper unlock guide and the broader 1.1.5.0 Lighthouse rework guide.
This is why Tour is suddenly a high-priority quest even for veterans: you cannot touch the Lightkeeper without it.
Escape from Tarkov - Leveling
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Tour unlock walls at a glance
| Unlock | Trader | Cost / requirement | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Streets of Tarkov | Therapist | 250,000 Roubles | First money wall; opens the best late-game loot map |
| Interchange | Ragman | Survive & extract | Gateway to Skier |
| Customs | Skier | 5 Building Materials (FiR) | Opens Customs + Factory transition |
| Factory | Mechanic | Survive & extract + Scav weapons | Opens more transitions |
| Woods | Mechanic | Progress chain | Continues the backbone |
| Reserve | Prapor | 5 PMC Dogtags | Dogtags don't need to be your kills |
| Lighthouse | Mechanic | 20,000 Dollars | Hard Lightkeeper prerequisite |
Rough total cost of just the two cash walls: 250k Roubles + 20k Dollars (~2.5–2.7M Roubles-equivalent at Season 1 exchange, depending on your buy rate), on top of dozens of raid survivals across every map. That's the real reason players outsource it.
Is the Tour quest worth doing?
Yes — it's effectively mandatory. Tour is not an optional side quest you can skip; it's the spine that unlocks your map pool and gates the entire Lightkeeper endgame. The only real decision is how you clear it:
- Do it yourself if you're early-wipe and want the map knowledge — running each location once during Tour is genuinely good practice.
- Rush the money walls with Roubles and Dollars so you're never stalled at the Therapist or Mechanic gate.
- Hand the whole thing off with a Quest Boost if your goal is Lightkeeper and Kappa, not the scenic tour.
Pair it with a fast-leveling plan to hit LL3 on every trader, since that's the other half of the Lightkeeper gate.
FAQ
What is the Tour quest in Escape from Tarkov? Tour is the Season 1 (1.1.x) map-progression questline. It unlocks maps in sequence — Streets, Interchange, Customs, Factory, Woods, Reserve and Lighthouse — by chaining tasks across Therapist, Ragman, Skier, Mechanic and Prapor. It's also a hard prerequisite for accessing the Lightkeeper.
How do I unlock Lighthouse in Tarkov? Progress the Tour questline until the Lighthouse step, then visit Mechanic through the trader screen and hand over 20,000 Dollars when the dialogue option appears. This is Dollars, not Roubles.
How do I unlock Reserve in Tarkov? During Tour, give Prapor 5 PMC Dogtags through the trader screen. The dogtags can come off any dead PMC — they don't have to be players you personally killed.
Does Tour unlock the Lightkeeper? It's one of four requirements. After the 1.1.5.0 rework you need Tour to open Lighthouse, Loyalty Level 3 with all traders except Fence and Ref, at least 2.0 Fence reputation, and then you ask Mechanic about working with the Lightkeeper to start the To the Light chain.
How much does the Tour quest cost? The two hard cash walls are 250,000 Roubles to Therapist (unlocks Streets) and 20,000 Dollars to Mechanic (unlocks Lighthouse), plus 5 PMC dogtags to Prapor for Reserve. On top of that you'll spend dozens of raids surviving and extracting on every map.
Can I buy the Roubles and Dollars for the Tour walls? You don't buy quest progress, but you can top up your stash so the money walls never stall you. Tarkov Roubles and Dollars are delivered in-raid/by trader, or a Quest Boost clears the whole chain for you.
