Hello, I'm considering a trip to Europe next year. When I go to Europe I travel exclusively alone and by train. I love traveling by train! However, I have found one big disadvantage: what does one do when one gets to a smaller town or city? I don't want to rent a car. Do smaller cities and towns have guides one can hire to help one discover the town and it's main sights, and maybe out into the surrounding area? I know big cities have tours and guides but what about smaller cities? Do some of the bigger-small cities have organized one or half day tours where maybe a small group travel in a van with a guide? I once was on a trip with a large group on a buss with the tour guide. Sometimes when we got to a town, a local guide would take over from our main tour guide and show us the sights. Anyone have any ideas about this?
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Europe is a big place, and it's different everywhere. It completely depends on what cities you are talking about. If the city has a tourist information office, you could find out there.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9210 posts
I can only speak for Germany, but hope that other countries are similar. Most small towns of a certain size, or if they have a well known tourist attraction will have a tourist info. Here you can book private tours in English that don't cost a lot. Certainly not as much as doing a bus tour from place to place. As an example, a 90 min. private tour in Büdingen will cost about 41 euro, in Worms about 60 euro. I am pretty sure that other towns have similar offers and prices. I would look up online any of the towns you wanted to visit and check the town websites to see if they offer guides. Sometimes you just need to email them, as every town has a historian or archivist that can help with arranging a tour in English for you, that will be chock full of interesting sights and info that will make your trip memorable.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
www.toursbylocals.com is a great place to find local guides in various cities. It lets you communicate with the guide, read the itinerary, tweek it as necessary and read previous customers' reviews of the guides and experiences. We've used people from this website for Moscow, St Petersburg, the Bayeux (Normandy). Everything we've arranged has worked perfectly.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
Generally, almost everywhere you are likely to stop has a tourist information center that can give you self-guided walking maps or direct you toward what you are most interested in. They can also help you find a walking tour or guide, restaurants/cafes, and lodging. We don't usually use the TI for food or lodging recommendations but we do make the TI our first stop - to see if there are any interesting special events going on and get a walking map of sights.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15777 posts
From my experience, Trip Advisor forums are a very good resource for finding local guides.