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We discovered an awesome way to really get a great insight into the culture and history of the place while on a budget – the Sandiman’s New Europe walking tours.
The concept of these tours is brilliant and being a now experienced veteran of them I would like to shamelessly plug it. The concept of the tours is simple. They basically believe that a person’s budget (or lack there-of) should not in any way impede them in learning about and enjoying the culture of the city they have invested so much time and money in visiting. Thus, all the tours (with some few – but cheap none the less – exceptions) are FREE. Due to the fact that the tour guides are all volunteers and work on a tips only basis, they are usually there because they have a personal love affair with the city they are showing off, and are usually very knowledgeable in the local history and quirky local stories and attractions. For example, on the New Paris tour, I asked my tour guide if he studied at the local university, when he looked at me with raised eyebrows and said “no, I lecture there”! You usually meet at a particular time outside a metro station and the guides all wear the same red New Europe name tags around their necks, and sometimes a red shirt to match. The tours last from 2 to 3.5 hours and you basically walk around the main attractions of the city in a group, and stop every now and then to hear a little spiel about this attraction or that from the guide. On the longer tours, a little break at a restaurant is often included, picked for its authenticity and its cheapness. The guides are usually quite funny and you usually make friends with the other group members too. Plus it’s usually an awesome bonus and relief just to chat to people who speak your own language again! The guides are usually quite young, and attract mainly backpackers in their 20s. You pay at the end what you think it was worth, or what you can afford, IF you think it was worth more than nothing that is. Being broke, we knew we could not afford more than 10 euro, so we decided to rate each guide out of 10 and pay that amount. We never ended up paying less than 9 euro. Pleas take advantage of these guides, they really know their stuff and are usually more than happy to chat and answer any questions you might have while you walk between attractions with them. The paid tours (8 to 14 euro I think) are for speciality tours. For example after we enjoyed the New Paris tour, we elected to go on the paid night tour of Paris’ red-light district, Montmartre. There is usually also the option of a 10 to 12 euro pub crawl in each city, one with free drinks in many of the locations, and free entry into a night club at the end of the night I couldn’t recommend these (and other free walking tours) tours more. 'Non Stop' tours are another very good company with the same concept. At the time of writing I’ve also done the New Madrid tour, and we now firmly plan to do a tour in each city it’s available in. Our only regret is that we found out about the New Europe Tapas tour in Madrid too late.
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