You are about to visit Berlin and have no idea what all the buzz is all about regarding traveling to Eastern Europe? Look no further! Free walking tours are the best opportunity to travel in Berlin on foot without a guide, but with excellent guides and wonderful examples of the city’s attractions. This article will explain why a free walking tour is the best way to experience Berlin and give you all the details to start your incredible adventure.
What are Free Walking Tours?
Free walking tours are those tours that are free of charge but still, involve guides. However, it is suggested that a participant can offer extra money to the guide in relation to the extent of the activity enjoyed by the participant. This way, everyone can have tours for an affordable price and pretty much enjoy high-quality tours on the cheap. It also pushes the guides to deliver their best and guarantee the guests great times discovering the city.
The Advantages of Free Walking Tour
- Budget-Friendly: As the name suggests, such a tour is one that costs the tourist nothing and thus such a tour is ideal for people with no cash to spare. You determine the price of the tour and then tip how you wish in accordance to your standard and financial status.
- Local Insight: Free walking tours are given by well-informed guides who like their hometown and its history. They tell entertaining anecdotes, give suggestions, and offer advice that the travel manuals will not tell you. It will be interesting as you will have a chance to look at Berlin from the perspective of the local which will give you a definite insight to the local culture, traditions and even some of the oddities.
- Authentic Experience: It is well known that free walking tours have less structure in compare with paid ones since guides do not have constant instructions to follow. Licensed tour guides are allowed to steer you away from the tourist attractions, show the less known sites of the city, and tell you about real Berlin. You can interact with the people of the city, taste local snacks and step into an active city leaving your hotels rooms.
- Flexibility and Choice: Free walking tours also give more than one option for the time slot of the tour to enable people to choose from suitable time since they are usually throughout the day. Pizza and beer tours, the street art, war and ghosts tours, Stolperstein, etc., are very easy to find since many of the tours are tailored to your preference of interested areas and topics.
Free Walking Tours in Berlin explaining how to choose one
As there is much choice in free walking tours in Berlin, it makes sense to find the most suitable for you. Here are some factors to consider:
1. Tour Length and Route
Look at how long the tour takes and where it’s centered. There are localized tours where you want to check certain areas and there are tours where you get to see a city in its entirety. Choose if you need a small city tour that will give you an idea of what Berlin is about or a big city tour that will allow you to enjoy the sites.
2. Theme and Focus
First, one needs to define the tour’s theme and concentrate. This city provides a bunch of topics, for example, history, architecture, graffiti, cuisines, and nightlife. It will be better if you select the tour based on the areas of interest you have then you can be sure that the tour will meet your expectations.
3. Guide Credentials and Reviews
Check the qualifications of the guides and always read the customers’ feedback left by the participants of the trip. Choose knowledgeable, friendly, and communicative guides who really love their job and what they are doing. Recommendations from customers also increases your chances of making a proper decision known by boosting on the positive reviews given about a product or service.
4. Group Size
Find out whether there exists a maximum number of people that could be allowed in the tour. In small groups there is always an opportunity to have good communication with the guide and have a unique approach.
Free walking tour tipping culture
Similarly to paid walking tours, there is no specific price for free walking tours but you are expected to tip the guide. Tipping is another form of an acknowledgment of the effort the guide has exerted, as well as his or her expertise in a certain field. As with most services, the amount you tip is subjective and varies based on the kindness from the tour and the amount of money you carry. The recommendation for the tip is to be somewhat around of the range of 10-15 euros for good unabbreviated performance.
In Conclusion
Freewalkingtours is a great chance to explore Berlin with the help of professionals who are enthusiastic about it. They are real, cheap, and an effective way to get to know the city’s past, present, and exciting locations. Therefore, do not lose the opportunity to visit this unknown place of Berlin and travel through the middle of this alive city.
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