Free Walking Tours. What a concept, right? How do they do it, you might ask. Well, it’s simple. They take donations at the end of the tour.

I’ve been on a few. I think they’re great. I take one every chance I get. The easiest way to find them is to go to a website freetour.com and do a search by city. Sometimes, in the bigger cities, there are more than you can do in a day or two. Sometimes, there aren’t any if you plug in a city where there are few tourists. If you can’t find a walking tour there then you might want to Google the city and the term “free walking tour” and see if there is a page or a comment. Barring that that, you can go to TripAdvisor and  visit the forum for a particular country. Try searching for “free walking tour” along with the city you are in on that forum. You will only need to do this at locations where there isn’t much of a likelihood of finding a free walking due due to lack of demand. Where there are lots of tourist you can bet there will be a free walking tour offered. Often, the tour may even be sanctioned by the local tourist bureau.

As a last resort, check the accommodations where you are staying. If you’re staying at the Hilton or another upscale accommodation, I’m sure they have a list or tours that are available but it’s unlikely any of them will be free. If you’re staying at a hostel your odds on finding a free walking tour on the advise of the person at the desk go way up if there are any.