I am on a fairly strict budget, but I am very interested in the history of the city, and hoping to at least take a "Discover Berlin" walk. These two tours appear to cover similar sites, but I'm wondering if it's worth the extra money to pay for the Original Berlin Walk? I would gladly pay extra if the quality is superior, but if they're about the same I'll have a hard time justifying the extra expense to my travel partner.
You would assume that the OBW tour is of better quality, but I've heard great things about the Free Tours, as well.
Thoughts?
Posted by
the Middle Coast
292 posts
A friend of mine is a Sandemans tour guide in Paris, meaning he leads a "free tour." The tours are generally fine, although you're not getting some kind of trained tour guide, usually a student or someone on a gap year.
Also, you've got to keep in mind that with Sandemans, you will inevitably visit a Starbucks, get a pitch for other, not free tours, and you absolutely should tip at least 2.50, because that's how much the tour guide has to pay the company for each person they guide (although you could get around that by sneaking on the tour AFTER they do the "group photo.")
But for what it's worth, I'll probably take one of their tours when I get to Berlin myself, because it's cheap and I'm on a serious budget.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9222 posts
You can also go to Trip Advisor and read all the reviews for the various tour companies in Berlin. See which ones are consistently good and how they are rated. The top 4-5 are all probably equal in quality. I doubt you will go wrong with any of them.
You have just spent a ton of money on a trip to Germany, so go ahead and splurge with 12 euro on an outstanding 4 hour walking tour.