Free walking tours

[xyzzy]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but instead of paying for guided tours, several cities offer free walking tours. There is usually an expectation of a tip at the end, but even that is often less than you might expect for a guided tour. San Francisco has about 50 of them, see http://www.sfcityguides.org/. I've been on 5 to 10 of them and usually a group of 5 to 30 people show up. I was just in Buenos Aires and they have them as well, http://www.buenosairesfreewalks.com/. Went on both of the BA tours and they were both great.

[Zamboni]

I prefer these to paid tours that typically involve riding around on a bus. Thank you for the links!

[deborah]

A lot of places have pamphlets with walking tours (available at the visitors centre) and most of these are very satisfactory!

[nnls]

Ive done a few free tours in Europe and they have always been good, and also a great place to meet new friends if travelling alone

[Davids]

I have done some free walking tours through Sandemans when I visited various European cities. The tour guides were great. Of course you tip at the end but it is well worth it and definitely costs less. I have also done some free walking tours through other companies that are more local to the specific area if Sandemans was not in that city.

[TomTX]

http://www.ava.org/#

[seattlecyclone]

I've done these in a few places, including Dublin, Munich, Edinburgh, and San Francisco. Even tipping a couple units of local currency at the end I've always found them enjoyable and a worthwhile use of the money.

[misshathaway]

http://www.ava.org/#

Wow! There is a very active club branch right here in Massachusetts. Thanks for that link!!

[Shenzhenigans]

My wife and I just finished a month long trip through Europe and saved a substantial amount of money doing the free guided walking tours. It occupied us for 3-4 hours each time, we learned a lot about the cities we were visiting, got local perspectives on current events, and they were always our favorite part of each city. Tipped 10 euros each time. I highly recommend them to anyone.

[publicHealthNerd]

We used this group: http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/ when we were in NYC and they were amazing! You can book yourself into the tours ahead of time just in case they get full. We did a tour of Downtown + Little Italy + Chinatown, a Midtown tour, and a bike tour through Central Park. Definitely the best way to see the city!

[roadtripper]

For anyone living in Portland (Oregon) or thinking of visiting, I highly recommend the book Portland Hill Walks. It's pretty inexpensive new or used on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Portland-Hill-Walks-Explorations-Neighborhoods/dp/0881926922

It's a great way to explore the city -- full of great history and fun writing. I visit friends in Portland a few times a year, and I usually borrow this book from them for a day and pick a different walk to do.

[eliza]

This is very interesting and definitely something I'll look into as I go to new places.

Does anyone have a sense on what an appropriate tip is?  Just a broad guideline per person, I'm honestly not sure if $5 or $10 or more is expected/appropriate.