Originally begun in Germany, this company hires charismatic young English- and Spanish-speaking natives and exchange students as walking tour guides in Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Munich, Paris and Prague. Though the tour is free, tipping the guide is an expected courtesy. Sandeman's doesn't stipulate the amount, but the Round the World Tickets website advises tipping as much as €5.00 per tourist.
Sandemans New Europe GmbH
Auguststr. 5 a
10117 Berlin, Germany
49-30-510-50030
neweuropetours.eu
Smaller tour operations have cropped up in other cities of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republic. For example, you can get free walking tours around Kiev in the Ukraine. Popular tour destinations include the main street, historic monuments and the central squares of this capital city. Their guides speak English and also rely on voluntary tips.
Free Tours Ukraine
Tarasa Shevchenko Lane 7/1
Kiev, Ukraine
066-8518558
freetours.kiev.ua
The cities in the Baltic states and Northern Europe are also catching on to the free tour/tips accepted trend. Most notable are the Yellow Free Tours by Tallinn Traveller Info Tent, a nonprofit youth organization from Estonia. The organization provides free walking tours in the cities of Kaunas and Vilnius in Lithuania, Pärnu and Tallinn in Estonia and the Latvian capital of Riga, all featuring young local students as guides. Yellow Free Tours also offers free tours around Tampere in southern Finland during peak tourist seasons. This project is supported by the European Community's Youth in Action program.
MTÜ Tallinna Noorte Turismiarenduskeskus (Tallinn Traveller Info Tent)
Vilmsi 45-9
Tallinn, 10126
Estonia
372-55-542-111
traveller.ee/freetour
If you dislike tipping, try the Global Greeter Network. This is an informal worldwide association of independent welcoming programs run by local greeters who have volunteered as walking tour guides, according to Sid Kirchheimer from AARP. No tipping is allowed and the service is available only for individual tourists or small groups.
Originally established in New York, the network now covers the French cities of Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Paris, and Pas-de-Calais, the Serbian city of Belgrade, The Hague in The Netherlands and the cities of Brighton and Kent in the United Kingdom. Booking is usually done online.
Global Greeter Network
Big Apple Greeter
1 Centre Street
New York, NY 10007
212-669-8159
globalgreeternetwork.info/
