Munich Tours

Strongly suggest that you have a look at all of the tours in Munich that are listed on Trip Advisor and read the current reviews for all of them. You can have a high quality, professional walking tour for about 12 euro. Wouldn't you rather have a tour from someone that really knows what they are talking about, rather than some summer student who has memorized a script, presenting "history lite" Sandemanns charges their guides a fee for each person that begins a tour. This of course has gotten the company in trouble with the German legal system. That, and other labor laws. Munich was trying to ban them from operating there, as has Barcelona and a few other cities.

Thank you for your reply. This is exactly why I posted my question. I have just spent an hour on trip advisor.... Very good information, thank you!

Any particular company you would suggest? Will have two days end of September...

Munich has a bus tour similar to the Hop-On, Hop-Off in other Cities. I cant remember but think its about two hours. Covers/goes past all the major sights. So then you can go back to the ones that really interest you on your own

Jacque, I'd suggest having a look at the website for Radius Tours. I've used them on several occasions, both for walking tours in Munich as well as tours to Neuschwanstein and Dachau, and was really pleased with them. Their office is on the far side of the Munich station. It's a bit of a "trick" to find out, but not difficult. Happy travels!

I do recommend going on either a walking tour or a bike tour over a Ho-Ho bus tour. You will get so much more out of your visit to Munich or any other city for that matter. Plus your money goes to locally owned businesses, rather than some huge international company, like Yellow Cab, which runs the red Ho-Ho buses. Think of your carbon footprint too! Why add to the congestion and pollution of the city traffic?

I really don't get the "free" tours thing. It strikes me as a tax dodge combined with a come-on. Surely everybody recognizes that the guide needs to make a living and so must the HQ. If they are "free" I guess that the guides might consider payments as "gifts" and not report them. Who knows, but that might be a possibility... Then the charges by the HQ. Hmmm. I wonder if many tour-takers, feeling that the guides are working for "free" give much bigger tips than they might pay for a tour and a tip... Me, I'd rather take a tour from a knowledgeable professional at a fair price.

Jacque, There are excellent walking tours of Munich operated by an organization called Euraide. They have an office in the main train station in Munich, or www.euraide.com . My sister and I had a great tour with them for just a few (10 to 12, I can't remember now) Euro.

I certainly share Jo's disdain for (not really) free tours. The company is exploiting both the guide and the customer. And Sandeman is not the only one offering the free tours; Radius does too, as, I'm sure, do others. I would take a tour for an agreed-upon-in-advance price. That's what you get from the tours given by the Dachau Memorial and the tours given by Neuschwanstein. But I don't like these third party tours, like to Neuschwanstein and Dachau. Both of these you can easily do on your own for a lot less. My feelings about these tours is that they are just some business trying to tap in on the tourist money, making money from something the tourist can do themselves. If you want to see Dachau, here's how to do it yourself. The Dachau Memorial requires third party guides to pass a written test; their own guides must take an extensive course before working there. I suspect that the third party guides might be just former Memorial guides lured away for a little more pay. Similarly, if you want to go to Neuschwanstein, here is how to do it yourself. Note that the actual tour of the castle is done by their own personnel, for which you pay extra with a third party tour.

I understand that some of the "free" tour companies take a complementary group picture at the start of the tour (so they know how much to collect from the guide).

I have been to Munich twice. The first time I did a bus tour...waste of time and money. The second time I did a walking tour...excellent. It was a "free" tour. We just happened on and got talked into it. When I got home, I read up on some of these free tours and agree with others...not really comfortable with how they operate. Also, they really are not "free" since how could you not tip the person who just spent 3 hours giving you an excellent tour. Anyway, the purpose of my post is say choose walking tour over bus.

Thank You!!! I think I will contact a respectful company that will support the locals.

Jacque, Glad to hear about your interest in the SANDEMANs NEW Munich tours! We are fortunate to work with some of best guides in the business and hope you'll get a chance to experience Munich at their leading. As you've no doubt noticed at TripAdvisor - there's over 600 people who took our tours and loved them enough to jump online and say so. In response to a lot of the comments, I'd like to take a minute to represent our business model. It's true about the fee that is mentioned - The guides we work with choose to pay our company a marketing fee for the advertising and administrative work we do to bring people to the tour start point on their behalf. Guides average enough in tips to both cover this cost and make really good money besides – the model works for them. No guide is ever deceived into working with us and most use their relationship with our company to build a sustainable, long-lasting career as a freelance guide. The business model is explained both on our marketing material, and to the guides before they choose to start working with us or not - it's no secret we are trying to hide. Whatever you choose, we hope that you enjoy your stay in Munich. All the best and safe travels!

It is against the Helpline rules to advertise your company. You should know that, as it is the rule on all travel forums. The fact that you did it anyway, shows exactly what kind of company this is. If your company was up front about everything, they would post on their website what each guest is costing the tour guide. The only reason anybody knows about it, is because of the expose' done about the other illegal practices of Sandemanns on German TV. Hopefully, the webmaster will remove your post today. For more information about how this company works that they don't want you knowing about: http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=250786&st=0