I’m arriving in Portugal in a few days and am interested in taking walking tours in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra, and am intrigued by the “free” (or “pay-as-you-wish” tours).
I’m considering using GuruWalk as they have a great-“looking” website and terrific reviews… too good to be true?
Recommendations and advice welcome. Obrigado,
Well, they do expect a nice tip. So, not exactly free.
I did this paid tour in March and really enjoyed it.
I think it depends on who is providing the tour. I've done a free walking tour or 2 from some Tourist Information offices (in England).
In general I would say no to the companies that do "free" walking tours. The guide is charged a few Euro a head for their group and hope to make enough in tips to cover that and their own "salary". You are going to wind up paying the same as for a regular walking tour.
Do look to see what qualifications the guides have. I have looked at some of the websites for free tours in Paris and many are "actors", unemployed I presume, so I wonder how much they actually know about the sites or if they are just memorizing a script.
I don't mind paying for a tour with someone who had a good and accurate knowledge base. In Paris a couple of the guides who work for Paris Walks actually have advanced university degrees. One, who does a WWII walk and used to do a walk about Jefferson and Franklin in Paris, has a PhD in history. I know his information is accurate and well researched.
I just looked at the GuruWalk website. It looks like they are a 3rd party consolidator as all the walks in Lisbon look like they are given by different groups. I just picked one at random and looked at the "guide" introduction -
"Hello friends! Hello, I’m Dinildo Brito, and I’m here to make your time in Lisbon unforgettable! I may not have a long history as a guide, but I’ve spent the last four years immersed in the world of tourism, working at restaurants and bars. Currently, I’m a promoter for a fado restaurant in the heart of Lisbon."
And it says this about the price:
"Free tours do not have a set price, instead, each person gives the guru at the end of the tour the amount that he or she considers appropriate (these usually range from €10 to $50 depending on satisfaction with the tour)."
So...they are not actually free. They should be labeled - "No-set-price tours" as they are not free.
I didn't look at all of them so don't know if this is an outlier or not.
Free walking tours are commonly available in cities all over Europe. As others have pointed out, they are not actually free. I think it would be poor form not to pay what you think the tour is worth.
I've done many of these "free" tours and also many paid walking tours. Often the quality is indistinguishable. Paid (or set-price) walking tours are often better, but not necessarily. Some of the best walking tours I've taken were "free." (Two examples of excellent free tours were in Tallinn and in Ljubljana.)
The nice thing about the "free" tours is if it is really poor, you don't feel ripped off. But I've never taken one that's not worthy of paying.
I can't speak to the GuruWalk tour you're considering, but I would say it makes sense to take the tour that sounds the most interesting to you, regardless of whether it's pay-as-you-wish or set-price. Ultimately what you pay will be (or should be) about the same either way.
Thanks Carrie for the link. We will be in Lisbon first week of October. I just booked their Lisbon City of Spies walking tour.
It sounds like a really unethical business model to me. The horror stories you hear of people working almost or completely for tips in service industries in the US are bad enough, without the added "bonus" of actually having to pay your employer for the privilege. Wouldn't encourage it, personally.
GerryM, I'm not sure I understand your concern.
The only difference between the free tour and the paid tour is the business model. Either way, you pay. I can't imagine it makes a difference to the guide whether they are paid by tips or by their employer, except when they are paid by tips, they might have more incentive to provide an enjoyable experience.
There is another post on here about 5-star reviews (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-reviewing-an-airbnb-controversy). It was related to Airbnb, but it's ubiquitous across the travel business, and it definitely applies to tours like this (free and paid). The guides are under a lot of pressure to get 5-star reviews. Same whether it's free or paid.
Many of the free tours are led by apprentice guides. The companies running these tours train the guides, who can graduate into more lucrative positions, running paid tours with the same companies in some cases, branching out as freelance guides, or getting licensed and certified as official tour guides. It can be a positive thing for the company, for the guide, and for the customer.
And say what you will about the annoyance of having to pay part of the server's salary at restaurants in the US, but the flip side of the horror stories you mention is the horrible service encountered in many European restaurants where the servers make the exact same salary whether they provide good service or not.
Blah, blah. So much negativity here. We have used Guruwalks all over Europe cities. We usually tip 20€ for the two of us. The guides are often history or architecture students or grads. Many of them it is their job for many years so I am sure they make a good living.
I don't care about the business model. Not like I don't eat at a restaurant in the US because the model is underpaid wait staff depending on tips.
What makes you think a private guide or group guide knows anymore than a Guruwalk guide. All speculative.
We go on our day of arrival so as to get an overview of the city and where things are.
I did get into an extremely lengthy (and very self -indulgent and overly political) reply to Lane about why I thought it was unethical model, which I deleted. Personally, I'd still avoid supporting and encouraging business involved in this sort of practice.
Here's an article from LinkedIn that I've since found from someone that was running this type of tour that's quite interesting reading in its place -
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/free-tour-business-model-why-its-broken-john-o-sullivan
They are so unethical, that in Germany, one of the larger "free" tour companies had all of their computers confiscated a few years ago by the Finanzamt. (German IRS).
Have been on 3 free tours. The one in Porto was decent, the ones in Edinburgh and Frankfurt were just plain awful. They obviously learn a script, cause they are in town for the summer as students. Unfortunately, the one in Frankfurt didn't learn anything as every single fact he stated was incorrect. So, yes, you get what you pay for sometimes.
Guru specializes in selling other peoples "free" tours. Not sure how that business model operates, but many of the free tours also sell paid tours. They are up-selling on your freebie, hoping you book a paid tour. They certainly do not care if the group is huge or if they are accurate.
See if there are any other tours you could go on and pay for up front.
