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Munich Walk Tour - Negative Review

For clarification, the name of the tour company was Munich Walk, this was the booked tour:

http://www.munichwalktours.de/en/the-city-walk/

I had really high hopes for the tour after the absolute failure from the day before with a different organization. Sadly, this didn't play out. I'll bulletize this since it'll be lengthy:

1) The tour started late. 1045 show time, didn't start until close to 1100. The German language tour started on time.

2) I didn't even catch the tour guide's name she was so soft spoken. This was the 1030 tour on 26 November, for the company's benefit. She identified herself as an art historian who does this on the weekend.

3) Large group. Throughout the tour she focused primarily on 4-5 people of the 15. My 8 year old asked a question about the glockenspiel ("Did Ludwig the 2nd make the clocktower?") that had been covered when we couldn't hear (from 5 feet away) and the answer was given in such a way as to discourage further questions. This was while walking and not detracting from anything else.

The pace was also extremely quick. By the end, the individual groups were fragmenting out so much that over half didn't make it to the end. The guide actually recommended that people not come back to the central point when we were about here: https://goo.gl/maps/PLLjhffU8BB2

4) There were a lot of comments critical of how the Americans (I'm American) destroyed Munich but no commentary on why Munich was targeted.

5) Spending time talking about the American attacks on places instead of actual trivia. Bits of trivia were often wrong when they were brought up.

6) Marienplatz column was erected in thanks for all the Bavarian victories during the 30 Years War. (The Bavarians/Catholic League actually lost the war)

7) Bavaria is the richest nation in Germany and should be independent. Other Bavarian nationalist comments.

8) Napoleon destroyed the democratic Holy Roman Empire.

9) Objects in Frauenkirche misidentified, notably the cenotaph of Louis IV was identified as a monument to Max Joseph.

10) We never actually saw the English Garden. We were taken to the Hofgarten, told it was in the English style, and it was identified to us as the English Garden.

11) The statue of Maximilian von Montgelas was identified as a "statue of someone not very important" when he was instrumental in secularizing Bavaria.

Needless to say I don't think I'll be booking tours with them again. I was going to give this two stars but in looking at Google Maps we never even hit the English Garden.

I've also sent a copy of this to the tour company's email. The the political nature of overall commentary mixed with the descriptions of WW2 was a bit awkward.

Posted by
8293 posts

Upon first reading, I thought "Munich Walk Tour" was just the title for your post. It would be better, since you found the tour so unsatisfactory, that you make it clear Munich Walk Tour is the company name. It needs to be known.

Posted by
4 posts

Already edited! The blurb said, "Recommended by Rick Steves" so when I didn't get a reply to my email over the past few days I came here.

Posted by
8934 posts

If you had checked the up to date reviews on Trip Advisor, you will see they are listed #27 out or 104 tours in Munich. Reading their bad reviews is revealing and probably why they have such a low rating compared to other tours.

Did you also write them a personal email with your complaints? This is the only way that companies know they are missing the mark with a crappy tour guide.

Posted by
4 posts

Yes. I emailed them two days ago with no response yet. That's the reason I'm blasting this all over the place.

I booked with this one at the Munich InfoPoint in Marienplatz. They've got a "Recommended by Rick Steves" on their pamphlet, plus the reviews on TA aren't THAT horrible except for the "no contact" one. Have to go back to October 2015 to see another actual bad one. 27/100 isn't that horrible, especially since over half of the higher rated ones weren't things we were interested in doing.

Edit: I also plan on calling if I don't get an email reply. There's no excuse for the sheer amount of bad information pumped out. It's not just lazy, it's wrong.

Posted by
3150 posts

If you used a credit card for payment, I would have your CC company stop or reverse payment. Since the tour company has an office and the address is on their site, I would have either gone to the office or called as soon as I could have after the tour to complain and demand - politely - a refund. The only time I've ever had a problem with a tour was on a Colorado River rafting trip. Our guide encouraged us to take a swim in the river. It was May and the water was swift and quite cold. I went through 5 rapids wearing nothing but a life jacket and got a wicked case of hypothermia. When the guide tried to toss me a buoy before the first rapid, the rope was knotted and dropped ten feet from him. Too little, too late. My wife and son on the shore thought I'd drown. Finally the river made a left and I went straight to the shore. Needless to say I got a full refund for all of us. Though some of these excursions seem like fun, beware because there are unknown dangers. I also complained to the Bureau of Land Managment under whose purview the river fell and was shocked to learn of the number of deaths each year on those "fun" rafting trips.

Posted by
729 posts

I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience with Munich Walks. We took their "Hitler's Munich" walk a couple of years ago and it was the best walk we'd ever been on. Our tour guide was Levi, and he was outstanding! Guides definitely make or break the walk, and a company shouldn't keep someone on if they are below par.

Posted by
4 posts

Dawn,

I would have accepted slightly below par but this was just atrocious. That's why I'm blasting this everywhere. The company needs to know how bad the guide was. It wasn't just rudeness, just flat out wrong information being provided.

Posted by
3057 posts

Philip---where was that Colorado River raft trip? I want to make sure we don't do the same one if we go there.

Unfortunately I don't think the credit card dispute will work directly. The credit card company does not want to get involved in subjective things like the quality of a tour. And they usually require that you asked the company for a refund first. But it should get the tour company's attention if you file the dispute, and they might be motivated to offer a partial refund.

Posted by
79 posts

Add your review to Trip Advisor/Munich. A negative review about a guide giving false / unfriendly information would be helpful for others planning a Munich vacation. Also your review with your detailed facts should create a response from the tour company.

Posted by
7129 posts

For others considering tours in Munich, we took the Mike's Bike Tour and enjoyed it immensely - lots of great info and a fun atmosphere, i.e. riding through the English Garden and stopping at major sites.

Posted by
8934 posts

Radius tours are usually rated quite well and are popular as are Mikes bikes. For private, I'd go with Dark History tours. Best tour for your money you can buy.