Free City Tours
What’s the budget travelers favorite word? FREE! ‘Cause I don’t care how cheap something is - if it’s free, it fits my budget. So how about a free city tour? These are fairly easy to create yourself nowadays; either using suggestions from a guidebook or finding one online. But what about the personal touch? Here are some suggestions for FREE guided tour in cities around Europe.
Free Prague Tours offers, well, free tours of Prague. Started in May 2007, they’ve grown from 1 tour a day and 5 guides to 15 guides and 3 tours a day (2 free, 1 super cheap.) All their guides are licensed, which means they’ve been specially trained on the art, history, etc. of beautiful Prague. Tours run 7 days a week, rain or shine and conveniently meet in Old Town Square. The 10:30am tour covers the “right bank:” Old Town, New Town and the historic Jewish Quarter; while the 2pm tour takes you across the river to see Malá Strana, Prague Castle and the Hradčany district. Both tours last two and a half to three hours.
In Berlin, hook up with New Berlin Tours for a three and a half hour tour chock full of info. Starting from Brandenburg Gate, you’ll hit the Reichstag, the new Holocaust Memorial, Hitler’s bunker, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and more. They have 3 tours, 7 days a week starting at 11am, 1pm and 4pm. For free-wheelers, they also offer a free 4 hour bike tour, covering many of the same sites as the walking one. This tour meets in front of the Postfuhramt building on Orainienburger Strasse daily at 11am and 3pm. And extra cool - they’ll “rent” you a bike for free!
London’s calling…as is New London Tours. This group offers 2 free daily tours; one covering the old city of London and the second, royal London. The old city tour will take you by the biggies: St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge, Tower of London, Convent Garden, the Bank of England and much more. This tour meets opposite the exit of the Tower Hill tube station at 10am and 4pm. If you are looking for something a little more noble, take the royal London tour. Here you’ll come across the rich and powerful throughout England’s history via the City of Westminster. Attractions include Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and 10 Downing Street. This tour leaves from the Wellington Arch at 11am and 3pm daily.
If you are going to Budapest, keep your eye on Free Budapest Tours. As of posting time, the site currently says coming July 2008…
Have you been on a free city tour? Tell us about it!
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August 11th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I joined a free city tour in Edinburgh and it was so much better than I expected. Our fantastic guide told us much more than we would ever have a chance to find out ourselves. The tour lasted about two hours which was long time, but time flew by and suddenly it was over. I can highly recommed it….;-)
August 12th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Thanks for sharing Dorthe - would-be Scotland travelers: look for the free Edinburgh city tour!
August 17th, 2008 at 6:53 am
There is a free tour in Madrid, Spain, that lasts around 3 hours. You start in the statue of the bear eating from a tree near Sol station, it is hard to miss, and go around the main city attractions. You don’t want to miss it.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Excellent Spain news Alex - Thanks!!!
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 am
The New Europe tours are outstanding. I did one in both Munich and Berlin and found them both informative and enjoyable (having minored in German, I didn’t expect to learn much and was surprised at how many things the textbooks never told me). I skipped the one in Paris and felt like I’d missed out.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Hey I’m happy to say that Sydney now offers these tours too. I’m free tours is the group that offers them. I can’t really judge how good they are as it’s me and a friend behind them, but it’s been great learning about Sydney and all it has to offer. I’m Free Tours