Hi All,
We're considering the below free walking tours in Barcelona, and Seville. Any feedback or suggestions would be very helpful:
Seville- http://www.freetoursevilla.es/en/tour.php?id=2
Barcelona- https://runnerbeantours.com/tours/dark-past-night-walking-tour-barcelona/#tour_hightlights
Barcelona- https://runnerbeantours.com/tours/free-tours-barcelona-gothic-quarter/#tour_hightlights
Also, see really good feedback on Global greeters network- any thoughts?
Thanks!
I haven't taken any of those tours but can vouch for the Barri Gotic walk run by the tourist office, which cost 16 euros as of summer 2016. Our group was a good bit smaller than the other groups we encountered in the Barri Gotic, but I don't know that that is always the case.
The Runnerbean tours get good reviews and RS recommends them. I visited in off-season when the runnerbeans weren't running, so I took the TI's tours and they were very good.
I took one free tour in Sevilla - don't know which one (if there's more than one). The guide was very good.
?? Chani, the runnerbeans are working all year round, like their motto says "come rain or shine". Maybe you encountered an abnormal day for some reason?
We have used Global Greeters (Paris Greeters) several times. We’ve met lovely people who’ve been informative and who’ve shown us things we’d never see on our own. They have a website.
Global greeters doesn't work in Barcelona or Seville. Also, you want to remember they are not trained travel guides. I look at them more as social interaction - perhaps while walking.
Runnerbeans is well reputed.
Thank you all for the responses. We'll probably stick with the runner beans tours.
Highly highly recommend Secret Food Tours in Barcelona. Miguel is engaging and very informative about the Barri Gothic and Spain and is highly educated with a Masters in something. Well versed in the geopolitical situation of Barcelona and Spain. We think he should run for mayor because he seems to know everyone on the street and in the stores we visited.
Update: we took the Sandeman's new Europe tour at Madrid. And the Runner beans Gothic quarter tour in Barcelona. Both were EXCELLENT! Had a lovely time, the guides at both cities were knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. Want to add that we took the runner beans tour today in Barcelona and it was pouring all day, but that did not deter or dampen our guide, Marc. Overall highly recommended!
If you want something a bit offbeat, but very interesting, check out https://www.barcelonastreetstyletour.com/
We took the tour in August and it was one of the highlights of the entire trip.
Re: Runnerbeans... "shine or rain" used to be their motto, so yes they do offer their tours regardless of the weather. They're not official guides, yet their guides are very knowledgeable and, so it seems, they all are excellent conversationalists who engage with their clients. I've had a number of foreign friends visiting that have used their services and they all were very satisfied. I've met the owners running this small family company, Gorka and Ann-Marie, a Basque-Irish couple, and I have to say they're the most amazing people I've ever met in the tourism industry. They're so passionate and so professional that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
The issue about being or not an "official tour guide" is an old dispute here in Barcelona. Official Guides are university graduates in Tourism that have taken an exam (sort of like a "bar" for lawyers) which recognize them as being qualified for this job and entitles them to officially offer their services as tourist guides. This "distinction" allows them, among other things, to accompany their clients into museums while acting as their guide. Non-official tour guides cannot enter the premises while acting as such. As in all industries, among the official tour guides there are good ones (and very good ones!) and bad ones, yet having this "bar" doesn't necessarily mean they're 'good enough', sometimes you'll find guides that are very knowledgeable but they're awful at presenting it in an engaging manner to their audiences or their attitude is far too 'robotic' -if you cath my drift!
On the other hand, non-official tour guides fall into two categories: the ones that are good at soaking in knowledge and good at transmitting it to others in an entertaining, and often professional, way. The best ones can be, IMHO, as good as any official tour guide and the dispute about being official or not becomes quite irrelevant from a visitor's point of view. In my opinion, Runnerbeans fall in this category. And then you also have the pirates (a.k.a. the gun-hoes) which shamefully keep offering lousy services full of stereotypes and baseless narratives that would easily embarrass any Barcelona resident who loves and knows a bit about this city. I must say that the latter is more prevalent among a certain type of expats.
In short, official or non-official in Barcelona wouldn't be, for me, a decisive dealbreaker; I would rather look at other factors (reviews, price, terms, product offered, etc.)
I cannot speak for the Sevilla tour because I always use another company there, but the Runner Bean Tours in Barcelona are great. I have done several of them over the years. Also, the Tourist Office on Placa Catalonia offers some excellent, low cost tours. Their Picasso tour - which includes a visit to the museum - is great!
... not necessarily what @sajans is asking about (sorry!), but since we're talking about walking tours and since many of you visit my city (Barcelona) with kids, I would like to point out that there are several activities -not free, but quite inexpensive- that might suit you and your kids:
(1) Make sure to inquiry though about the workshops in Museu de la Xocolata as I am not certain these are also offered in English.
(2) This museum offers a number of workshops for kids, from 1yo to 14yo, a couple of which at least are also available in English. I have to say the information online about this is quite hidden, and on top of that, only available in the Catalan and Spanish versions of the web despite some of the workshops being offered in English and in French too (!!!). If you're interested, these are those two I mentioned: http://agenda.obrasocial.lacaixa.es/ca/-/universo-oscuro and http://agenda.obrasocial.lacaixa.es/ca/-/creactivity?centros=cosmocaixa-barcelona (yes, I know, use Google Translate!). The first one is a 1h planetarium programme aimed at +10 y.o and the second one offers a 90' workshop for +7 y.o. Both activities are dead cheap (<4€) and are a good complement to a visit to the museum. For specific schedules on these activities, on the second link, you'll need to scroll down and click on a link under "Recursos multimedia" which varies every month. There you'll see the schedule for all the activities/workshops including these two I just mentioned. You'll see them in blue (only Sat), red (Sun and holidays) and yellow (Mon to Fri) and they'll contain the languages they're offered in -among which ENG for English. If you need clarification, just ring them (they'll be able to service you in English) or write them: https://obrasociallacaixa.org/el/ciencia/cosmocaixa/informacion
