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Free walking tours are an excellent new trend in Europe and Israel

Started only in 2006, there is a new revolution spreading around Europe and elsewhere, and it’s especially helpful to RTW travelers and others on strict budgets. A company called Sandeman’s, which was founded by Chris Sandeman in Berlin, has begun offering “free” walking tours of various cites in a very novel way. As someone who has taken 5 of the tours already, I can highly recommend all of them.

A free walking tour?

Okay, so they aren’t exactly free, in that before the tour begins the guide will mention that the tours are really “tips-based” and not intended as some benevolent offer to tourists. You could literally pay nothing and walk away at the end, and some people do this on nearly every tour, but most people find the tours to be extremely interesting and fun, so a tip of perhaps €5 or £5 feels like a good deal, and enough that the guide feels appreciated. The guides will also usually point out the sterile tour buses making a similar route, and that those tourists are usually paying €20 or more for 90 minutes of prerecorded commentary.

Cities so far:

• Berlin
• Munich
• Amsterdam
• London
• Paris
• Edinburgh
• Madrid
• Jerusalem
• Dublin
• Tel Aviv
• Hamburg

and more to come soon

How they generally work

You’ll find helpful maps and area guides stacked near the reception at most of the major hostels in each of these cities, and on the front of the map you’ll see the free tour advertised in bold. They ask guests to just meet at a predetermined location, which is the same time and place every day of the year. From there, the tour guides will sort out how many people they have, and if the number is high they’ll break it down into smaller groups so it never feels like a herd of cattle. They even do tours in Spanish and other languages, usually leaving from the same place at the same time.

Then once the tour begins, the guide will explain the tips-only thing, and begin telling interesting stories about each location. Most tours average a bit over 3 hours, and they do tend to go on a bit longer than scheduled, but most people stick it out the whole time, even though there is an incentive to duck out just before the end to save from giving a tip.

Along the way they’ll also mention that the company has a few other tours in each city, and those do cost money, but usually only around €10 each. You needn’t worry that the whole thing is some sales pitch for other tours, because they are only mentioned briefly, as are the pub crawls they sponsor in every town, every evening.

The pub crawls are also extremely fun, and especially a good choice if you are traveling on your own. There is something about free-flowing alcohol that helps bring new friends together in a hurry. They mostly cost between €12 and €20, but you make that up in free booze even between the pubs, and the drink specials make the whole night way cheaper than you’d do on your own.

Check out the Sandeman’s New Europe main site for all the details and links to each individual tour.

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3 Responses to “Free walking tours are an excellent new trend in Europe and Israel”

1. brian from nodebtworldtravel.com Says:
   January 23rd, 2009 at 8:32 am

   I just took the Paris Free tour last week with Phillip and had an excellent time. Check my blog on what we saw. Tip your tour guide well if you enjoy yourself. It is a great value for whatever you decide to give.

2. kermie Says:
   May 18th, 2009 at 12:24 pm

   i think there is a saying that goes something like this: you get what you paid for…if you dont pay dont expect a lot, yes the tour might be entertaining but dont expect qualified historial information, as someone who studied german history i was shocked about the amount of mistakes the berlin guide made…rather spend 10 euros for a proper knowledgeable guide if i want comedy i go to a comedy club not a city tour.

3. agnes Says:
   December 30th, 2009 at 11:17 am

   Budapest has 3 free walking tours ranging from General to Communist and Jewish Quarter free walking tours.
   Tripadvisor ranks it for the best thing to do in Budapest.

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