Has the desire to visiting the active and colourful city of Berlin as a tourist and feel the atmosphere of its historic and cultural life ever crossed your mind? So, if this type of sightseeing is of most interests to you, maybe a Free Walking Tour in Berlin is exactly what you need. In this blog post, we are going to discuss such sightseeing activity as the free walking tours in the Berlin in detail with its advantages, recommendations, and expecting outcomes.
What are Free Walking Tours?
Free walking palace tours are those types of tours where the tour is run by ordinary citizens or experienced tour guides who hold great passion for a certain city. Free walking tours are not contracted in terms of price, unlike the usual guided tours. However, as it will be emphasized in the next section of this paper, at the end of the tour, tip for the guide is given voluntary depending on the degree of satisfaction and financial capacity of the participant.
The Benefits of Free Walking Tours
Economical: Since their name is ‘free’ they do not require the tourist to consider any amount of money to be paid before the walking tour commences.
Flexible itinerary: Thanks to the freedom of choosing not only the company, but also the time of the tour, you can admire the attractions missed in the standard sightseeing tours.
In most cases, free walking tours are provided severally in a day, and you have a chance to select the best few tour that you would like to take at any given time.
Advantages of free walking tours: Free walking tours involve participation of the audience which create chances to ask questions to the guide and even the other participants.
What to Expect on a Free Walking Tour in Berlin
In a free walking tour in Berlin, you are bound to be taken through a history tour of landmarks, historical site and secret areas. Below are some points that may be of assistance to enable one get the best out of the situation:
Duration and Route
Normally, most of the free walking tours in Berlin may take approximately 2 to 3 hours. It touches down major areas such Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall, Holocaust Memorial, Check Point Charlie, Museum Island among others. However, there may be differences among the options in terms of their offered tours, it is therefore useful to check the details of each option.
Local Guides
On this point, free walking services offer incomparable benefits where travelers are likely to be accompanied by locals or people with wealth of historical and cultural details of the cities. Please listen carefully to what I say and do not hesitate to interrupt me with questions.
Tipping Etiquette
Although you can participate in the tours without paying for them, you should always give your guide a token amount of money as appreciation. This will depend on the amount of money that you have set for the tour and the level of satisfaction that the tourists has for the given tour. The general rule of the thumb is to tip about € 10-€ 15 per head though this is a decision which will be all up to you.
Group Size
Freewheeling walking tours are common especially when there is a high spirit of tourist traffic. It will be possible to find you in a group among many like-minded people from different countries. Do not hesitate and use a chance to find new friends!
However, when faced with a choice of a free walking tour, it is vital that a person selects the best free walking tour since there is so much competition in the market.
There are hundreds of companies, which provide free walking tours in Berlin, so it may not easy to decide what company to choose. The following are some of the considerations:
Search for several tour companies operating around the area and consider the remarks written by the travelers who have previously participated in the company’s tours.
Also, note the time of departure and where you will be picked from so that you can check whether it will be convenient for you or not.
Another type of specialized tour to think about is one of which focuses on relative interests including, art, history or architecture interests.
Identify those that come with small group size to increase the level of interaction by a significant degree.
Conclusion
Walking tours of Berlin are very cheap and the travelers get the opportunity to converse with each other using English . The last tip that you can also consider is to sign up for free walking tour when you are planning to visit Berlin. Just be selective in choosing the tour, be keen when you are being taken round by the guide, and do not forget to reward the guide with tip after the tour. It is time to have incredible experiences in this vibrant city!
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