I had been to Europe numerous times before I found out about all the free walking tours in most of the major tourist cities. You would think for free that they are going to be crowded, short and, frankly, bad. But in fact they are some of the best walking tours we’ve ever been on. We make it a point to make the free walking tour the very first thing we do during our stay in a new city. The free tours take about 3 hours and cover a ton of material. Since the tour guides strictly work on tips, the better job they do the more money they make. Every guide we’ve ever had has been excellent.
One of the biggest companies is Sandeman’s New Europe. They offer free and low-cost tours in the following cities: London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Prague, Paris, Madrid, Jerusalem and Copenhagen. We’ve done the London, Amsterdam, Madrid and Jerusalem tours…all excellent! (Our niece and nephew went on the pub crawl for 12 Euros each in Madrid and got more than double the value with free drinks and discounts.)
While in Barcelona, we went on a free tour with RunnerBeanTours. It’s a weird name but they have several excellent tours!
Don’t want to be in a group or have to tour at a set time? A new innovation is FREE and low-cost apps that turn your smart phone into a private tour guide. Topics cover art, history…even pub crawls!
I’ve been on these in several cities, and they are really great. Wonderful tours and a nice way to meet people. Great suggestion!