Cheapskate Chronicles: Free Walking Tours in Europe

Imagine arriving at the latest European city on your itinerary, checking into your hotel or hostel, and feeling somewhat disoriented by your new surroundings. How then to regain your bearings? Speaking from my personal experience traveling for 5 1/2 months all over the Continent, here's a simple recommendation: Join a walking tour. 

I've found that joining a walking tour gives me the confidence in navigating my new city (or at least lets me know which way is north or south), provides an overview of the city's attractions, and is a fun way to meet other travelers. All this in the couple of hours it normally takes.


For those carefully counting their pennies, you'll be glad to know that a revolution has swept all over Europe that has proved to be a boon to budget travelers - the concept of the FREE walking tour. Yes, that is correct, sir - young, motivated entrepreneurs in a vast number of European cities have decided to show you the highlights of their home town for the grand sum of zero. I took 15 such free walking tours in 11 different cities (spread over 7 countries) and can attest to the knowledge of the tour guides, and they make it FUN instead of simply overloading your brain with historical facts. 

I know you're thinking - "What's the catch? They can't give free tours for nothing?!". That is true, to a certain extent. The guides tell you upfront that they are working for tips (which makes them pull out all the stops), thus if you enjoyed yourself a gratuity at the end is much appreciated. 


Some tour companies (especially in Spain and Germany) also offer more specialized walking tours for which they charge money. Thus, by getting you to join their free offering, they hope that you will become aware of their company and be enticed to sample their other tours. For example, in Berlin Sandemans offers a bewildering array of tours: Third Reich Berlin, Sachsenhausen Memorial, Red Berlin, and even a day trip to Potsdam. 

Without further ado, below are the 15 such free walking tours in 11 different cities that I went on, and my general opinion. I'm sure there are even more free walking tours in other European cities that were not part of my itinerary (Paris, Amsterdam, London, Prague come to mind), so feel free to mention them in the comments section.

Spain

Madrid - I wrote a blog post about Sandeman's free walking tour which leaves from Plaza Mayor every day, and is offered in English and Spanish. (I took the Spanish tour). The Tapas Experience is also worthwhile for sampling Spain's culinary delicacies at four different places. 

Seville - Pancho Tours offers two free walking tours that cover different parts of this magnificent Andalusian city. Most of the guides are young Europeans from other countries who have lived here for years. Bring lots of water - it can get really, really hot in Seville

Barcelona -  Ah, everyone's favorite city in Spain, so it seems. Competition is intense in the free walking tour business here, but I was pleased with Runner Bean's Gaudi tour (which every fan of the famous architect should go on).

The Old City walk covers a lot of ground, including the Gothic Quarter. My tour took almost 3 whole hours since the guide just loved to share information about the sights. 

Lisbon, Portugal


In Lisbon, Uwe (a transplant from Austria) gives an offbeat, entertaining, and sometimes sarcastic view into Portugal's sprawling capital city on his dramatically named "See Lisbon Or Die" project. The tour takes you through the Chiado, Baixa and Alfama neighborhoods, and he will even ride with you on the famous No. 28 tram and advise you how to avoid getting pickpocketed. 

Budapest, Hungary


Confusingly, there are two competitors with similar names in Budapest - Free Budapest Tours and Free Budapest Walking Tours, in the mornings and afternoons with meeting points near each other in central Budapest. The guides speak excellent English, and will recommend restaurants serving authentic Hungarian goulash and fashionable nightspots.


In addition to the standard city overview walk, they also offer specialty-themed tours (also for free) like the Communist Walk. Led by locals who suffered under the oppressive Soviet regime, this tour was quite informative and would interest anyone who wanted to learn more about this part of Hungary's history.

Belgrade, Serbia


In my book, Belgrade doesn't offer much in terms of sightseeing, but that's no excuse to miss out on the 2-hour free walking tour offered five days a week, meeting at Republic Square (by the statue in front of the perennially closed National Museum). 


My tour was led by a lovely female student who spoke great English, and included a walk up to the old fortress. But what made the tour memorable was the huge downpour that made us all scramble for shelter underneath a pavilion inside the park, trying to huddle together while shivering from the cold rain. The thunderstorm passed and we went on with the tour without skipping a beat. 

 Berlin, Germany

If you needed solid evidence that Berlin has become Europe's third-most visited city, then witness the crowds that show up for Sandeman's free Berlin walking tour at 11am.  In all the other cities that I've joined a free tour, the participants numbered anywhere between ten and forty people, but when I strolled towards the Starbucks near the Branderburg Gate and saw the hordes of humanity, it was quite astounding. Over a hundred people were there, and were subsequently divided into three smaller manageable groups led by a different guide. The 3 1/2 hour tour covers Berlin's highlights, including the Jewish War Memorial (pictured above), Hitler's bunker, and of course, the Wall. 


For a peek inside the funky Berlin underground scene, Alternative Berlin offers their free tour twice a day, at 11am and 1pm. Be prepared to experience a lot of graffiti on this walk which does involve quite a bit of walking. Tour ends at a nice beach bar near the East Side Gallery where cheap drinks are available. To get my nightlife fix, I also took Alternative Berlin's "Anti-Pub Crawl" which went to a few "interesting" local hangouts which make Berlin the cool spot that it is.


Romania

Brasov - One of the nicest cities in Transylvania (in fact, the city's slogan is "Probably the best city in the world") can easily be covered in a day, although you'd probably want to linger for at least a couple of days. The guided tour goes outside the medieval city walls for a climb up the Black Tower (which isn't black) to get an amazing bird's eye view of the city. Another worthwhile activity is to hike up to the Hollywood-style "Brasov" sign on top of the hill. 

Bucharest - It's one big concrete jungle, teaming with stray dogs to boot, but maybe the free Bucharest tour will make you appreciate this rather charmless city. Unfortunately, our local guide was lacking in charm as well, and merely recited facts about Bucharest in a straightforward manner. Yawn.

Rome, Italy

Ah, the Eternal City. Either you love it or you hate it. Crowds, noise, pollution - they're all present. You can spend days walking on your own, seeing the sights, but why do so when there are two companies offering a free walk. 

Rome Free Tour offers three different walks - Vatican, Colosseum and City Center.  I took the Vatican Walk which met at the Spanish Steps and crossed the Tiber to the Vatican City. The guide (a man) was somewhat dull, and we lost a few people along the way. 

In contrast, New Rome Free Tour offers only one free walking tour which concentrates on ancient Rome. I loved this tour, especially since we visited a few lesser-known churches (S. Andrea delle Fratte, anyone?) and the guide pointed out their unique features (e.g. painted-on ceiling). Not only that, after a look inside the Pantheon, he organized a coffee break at La Casa del Caffe, one of Rome's highly-rated cafes, and treated all tour participants to either an espresso or cappuccino. How I wish all free walking tours worked like this!

Chance Encounters of the Random Kind

One of the great pleasures of traveling is meeting new people under unique circumstances. Since I've just crossed the three month milestone on this European mega-trip, it's time to reflect on the new friends I've made along the way, and our mostly fun shared experiences.

I recall a few occasions when I've met a person and subsequently bumped into them somewhere else, and laughed at the coincidence. What's more, all these instances involve friends I've made through the English language volunteer sessions in Spain and Germany (documented here, here and here) that I've participated in.

So, without further ado, some unexpected chance encounters that turned out to be quite fun.

No. 1.  Sitting in the common room of the Posada de las Huertas hostel in Madrid, intently doing trip research on my laptop, I turned to the young woman sitting at the adjacent couch and made a remark about the erratic Wi-fi signal. She agreed, and we chatted briefly about our travels, past and future, around Spain.

The following day, I was hobnobbing with fellow volunteers at the tapas reception for the English language program, enjoying my fourth glass of sangria when I noticed an attractive latecomer entering through the door and joining our group. A familiar face, but from where...could it be?! All doubt was removed when she glanced in my direction and  a similarly shocked expression registered on her face. Yes, the girl last night at the hostel.

Introductions dispensed with, Rebecca and I discovered we were part of the same group volunteering for a week in Valdelavilla, and became fast friends henceforth.

No. 2. Although we were staying at the same dormitory at the hostel in Sevilla, I only formally met Chelsea when we were seated next to each other at the flamenco show. Afterwards, the two of us went for a few drinks, and I suppose I extolled the virtues of Vaughan Town's language program a bit enthusiastically, so much so that she immediately filled out an application form online once we got back to the hostel.

The following day, I left Sevilla without having the opportunity to get her email address, and from time to time idly wondered if Chelsea was accepted as a volunteer, and if so, for which week and location.

Two weeks and three cities later, after a full day of sightseeing in Oporto, I was at the Rivoli Hostel's lounge uploading photos, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to block out the noise from a group of seven women talking and laughing loudly. After a few minutes, I  realized that an Aussie-accented voice, the loudest among all, sounded a bit familiar, and took a closer look at the long-haired blonde that was the source of it, whose back was turned to me. Yes, it was indeed Chelsea, by coincidence staying at the Rivoli hostel as well.

Moreover, it turns out that despite her preference for a different venue and date, Vaughan assigned her to the same program that I was participating in (my second) due to a last minute cancellation by another volunteer, thus the fun times continued for an entire week.

No. 3. I noticed the Orthodox church in the main square of Brasov (Romania) due to its lovely architecture, and well, also because it was beside the unmissable KFC outlet. I decided to wander in for a look and compare the interiors with another Orthodox church I had seen in Timisoara a week prior.

After a couple minutes inside (worshipers are treated to the heavenly aroma of the Colonel's crispy chicken), I went out and was greeted by the sight of a familiar figure twenty feet away. It took a couple of seconds to recover from the shock, then I chuckled and  said to myself, "Surely this is too good to be true...", before finally calling out, "Hey, HOLLY!!!".

Yes, for it was none other than Holly and her husband Terry, who were traipsing around Romania, and by sheer luck our paths crossed. Holly was a fellow volunteer at the inaugural English language program held in Germany's Black Forest area only a couple of weeks ago, and was quite prodigious in figuring out some of the nearby hiking trails and sharing with the rest of our group. After catching up a bit, we reconvened later in the evening to join the free walking tour around Brasov (being avid walkers, they had already covered most of the ground by themselves, but it was all new to lazy me), followed by a 3 hour Mexican dinner paired with the local wine.

Rick Steves' Smart Travel Tips to Europe

Note: This post is just a preview, full article is here.

Yes, another post about travel tips, but this time specifically to Europe. At the same NY Times travel show, I caught best-selling guidebook author Rick Steves (of "Europe through the Back Door") fame as he expounded on his travel philosophy and gave advice on smart travel in Europe. Below are ten of his tips to make your next trip to Europe more fun, authentic and affordable.

Smart Travel Tip #1: Get off the beaten path. Salzburg attracts thousands of tourists mainly because they have been successful in marketing themselves as Mozart's birthplace. Also, they have capitalized on people's nostalgia by conducting bus tours which visit places supposedly used in the filming of "The Sound of Music". If you like crowds, then by all means go there.

Smart Travel Tip #2: Go late in the day when all the tourists have left. Charming towns like Toledo and Bruges are inundated with day trippers who arrive in their motorcoaches before lunchtime, and leave town to go back to their suburban hotels by sundown. A better idea would be to arrive later in the afternoon and spend the night in town. More often than not, a town's character changes dramatically once most of the tourists have left.

Conversely, for a city like Venice - in the early morning it is the quiet, romantic place that most travellers imagine it to be. That is the perfect time to explore the streets and plazas - by mid-morning Venice becomes a certified tourist trap.

Smart Travel Tip #3: Find places with no promotional budget. Mr. Steves describes these places as those "who missed the modern boat" and can survive on their own merits, instead of relying on lavish advertisements and promotional materials. He cites as an example the Cinque Terre, five small Italian mountainside villages overlooking the Mediterranean - these towns have resisted development and have no modern buildings and no comfortable chain hotels. The charm lies in walking the trails which connect each village to its neighbors, tasting the local specialty dishes, and drinking the locally made wine.

Read the full article here.