Do you like wandering the streets of big cities but find you’re missing the context and connections tied to those places? Excellent! Then you have to try the wonderful service that is the “free walking tour.”
Why walking tours of cities exist
Many cities (mainly European ones) offer free walking tours. That’s mostly to deepen the “relationship” between the visitor and the place and to help you understand local customs and traditions. The tours run daily and at the end you give the guide a tip at your own discretion.
This type of walking tour is a great way to take in the atmosphere of a new city. Some of the free walking tours listed below are run by people for whom guiding is a passion. That means you’ll get great tips you won’t find in an ordinary guidebook.
The best free walking tours of cities
GuruWalk
Covers more than 300 cities around the world. Local guides or companies can offer free tours. They give visitors a single platform for booking.
Civitatis
More commercial. They offer thousands of tours, tickets and activities, including free walking tours in various destinations.
Free tour
Probably the best-known app for booking free or cheap walking tours with local guides. It operates primarily in Europe.
Free tours by Foot
They operate mainly in the United States and popular European cities (Vienna, Paris and so on)
GetYourGuide
Also more commercial. Thousands of different tours, tickets and activities, with several free tours available in the main tourist cities. We used it in Budapest for a cruise on the Danube with refreshments.
Less well-known platforms
SANDEMANs New Europe
Musement
Tour Gratis
More popular in Spanish-speaking countries, and expanding with a significant number of free tours in English.
Strawberry tours
Most useful when visiting London.
In Czechia we can recommend Pragulic, a service running in Prague where you can explore the city’s “dark” corners with homeless guides.
I think this list of platforms will make it easier to explore the cities you’re heading to. Sometimes it’s good to change the way we discover new destinations. Free walking tours are a pioneer in that.
On our blog we’ve also written a few city guides, including maps you can download to your phone so your visit is as intense an experience as possible.
