Why I Love Free Walking Tours On Vacation

I love free walking tours! It’s the first thing I look for in any city I’m about to visit. Not only is it a great way to learn about the history of the city, but you often find out interesting fun facts and local hang outs!

I want to point out that these walking tours aren’t actually free. It’s a tip-based tours. So, instead of paying for the tour in advance, you tip your guide at the end of the tour.

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

Why Go On A Walking City Tour At All?

Before we dive into the free aspect of the tours, I want to talk about why walking tours are great in the first place.

A walking tour is the perfect way to see almost all the main points of interest in any city. Not only does it cross off most of what I wanted to see, it also gives me my bearings for the city. I’m a very visual person, I can’t read a map for the life of me, but if I’ve been somewhere before, I’m usually able to get back.

This is also why it makes a great activity to do the first day you get this. Plus, I can also ask my guide for any recommendations for the rest of my stay. It can be simple as where to eat or any hidden gems around the city.

But because it’s all by foot, you can stop in front of each location and spend some time looking at (and appreciate) all the intricate details of what you’re looking at.

So Why Are Free Walking Tours Better?

Makes City Tours Accessible For Any Budget

I love free walking tours because I’m able to set my price based on what I can afford. I started going on free walking tours during my broke student days in University. They gave me the opportunity to learn about the cities I was visiting without spending a fortune on tours.

I didn’t feel like I was missing out and getting a worse tour just because I was travelling on a budget. Plus, I didn’t feel like I was breaking the bank by touring.

As I started making more money, I always still choose to go on a free tour first, but now I’m able to increase the tip I leave at the end!

How Free Walking Tours Work – Pay What You Want At the End

This is one of the most vital differences between free versus paid walking tours. Because it’s tip based, you only pay at the end of the tour.

So, not only am I setting a budget for myself, but I’m able to raise or lower it based on the quality of the tour I got. I have a set price that I give most tour guides, but I have given more or less if they were really good or terrible.

This way I never feel like I over payed for any tour that I got if it is really bad… which does happen. 

This Means Better Tour Guides In General…

Because you’re only paying your guide at the end, more often than not, it makes them work harder during the tour. They know that if they’re not good, the tips at the end will reflect that.

It’s quite rare that you get an unenthusiastic tour guide on a free tour. This is their job, they’re not getting paid by the tour company. But, it does happen…

I’ve done quite a few free tours at this point (from a few different companies) and I’ve had some pretty bad guides over the years.

The good thing about this is… you didn’t pay for it yet! If you notice at the beginning that your guide isn’t right for you, you can always leave. If you do decide to leave, tell your guide, we’ve had to wait around for people that no one knew actually left.

You Get A Different Tour Every Time!

This is both a pro and a con…

The typical structure of a free tour is that the guides are responsible for making their own plan (unlike paid tours where it’s the company that structures the tour). In this scenario, you’re taken to the same place, and told the same information every time.

On free tours, you can end up with a completely different tour based on what the tour guide is interested in. As I said, this can be either a good, or a bad thing.

It’s great because I can go back on the same tour and learn about something completely different. In fact, I’ve gone back some cites and gone on the same tour but with a new tour guide, and it’s a completely different tour. Of course, there is always some overlap, but I’ll always learn some new info. 

The bad thing… there’s no structure to the walking tour. You can get really unlucky with a bad tour guide. Either they don’t know what the public is interested in, they don’t speak loud enough, or they’re just plain lazy.

I swear, on a tour in Amsterdam, our guide brought us to an alleyway to tell us about the Anne Frank house that was 2 blocks away instead of just walking there… You win some, you lose some.

Luckily, we didn’t invest too much in the tour, we tipped her our minimum amount and went on the tour again.

Typically Smaller in Size

Of course, this isn’t always the case but it’s what I’ve noticed over the years. When I see some paid tours, they’re HUGE! Sometimes they’re so big they have to hand out ear pieces and talk into a mic for everyone to hear.

On most of the free tours, they tend to have stand by guides so that no tour ever gets too large. They’ll split you up into smaller groups, so it’s definitely more personal feeling.

How To Find Free Walking Tours: Sandeman Tours

There are a few walking tour companies I’ve used over the years. My all time favourite is Sandeman’s Tours New Europe (if you’ve read some of my European city guides, I mention them in almost every city).

They have free walking tours in most major European cities. They even offer some more specific guides to each city (like a chocolate and beer tour in Brussels).

If they’re not organized in the city I’m visiting, I’ll simply Google ‘Free Walking Tours [City]’. I’ve found some incredible tours in Budapest and Cologne like this!

My Walking Tour Must Haves – Good Shoes!

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Last update on 2024-04-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API