rowdytxgirl

I have seen advertisements for Sandemans in Munich. The three hour tour is free but of course you are expected to give a tip. Any suggestions on the tip amount and has anyone ever done the tour?

iris1745

Hi rowdytxgirl; Thanks for the info the the 'free' tour of Munich. We will be there on the 15th and 16th. Google 'sandemans, Munich' and see a few [2] reviews on tripadvisor. People loved it and we will certainly consider this tour. For three hours, we would probably give 10euros. Perhaps will see what other people suggest. Dick

rowdytxgirl

Hi iris1745. I am going to try to get us there to take the tour on Nov 1. Is the 10 euros for several of you? There will be three of us!

Thanks! I would love to hear about your tour when you get back!

iris1745

Hi; There will be two of us. I was thinking 5 euros each. A lot depends on how much we enjoy this tour. In California last month we gave the person 20US for an eight hour paying wine tour. However, we have been known to give 'nothing' if the guide is just adequate. We leave tomorrow [4th] and return on the 17th. If you think of it, top your post again after the 17th [I might forget] and I will be happy to give you our thoughts. Dick

rowdytxgirl

I will try to remember! Have a great trip!

Mainhattengirl

Funny how they only have 2 reviews on Trip Advisor and have been in business for awhile in Munich. Read their reviews in some other cities too, like Berlin. They are more of a hit or miss tour company. Why not take a tour with one of the regular, more established companies that only cost 12 euro anyway. Sandemanns makes their guides pay for each person that is on their tour, and have a reputation in Germany for not being very good employers.

iris1745

Hi Mainhattengirl; I would say that's a good opinion from someone who has an up close look, living in Germany. We have been to Munich before doing everything on our own. We will take the tour and 'report' back. I think as long as the employees are good, we will be happy. Dick P.S. Too bad you are not closer to Tubingen. We are staying in the Hotel Krone. Anne and Dick

rowdytxgirl

Iris1745,

Did you take the tour?

yk

rowdytxgirl, we recently took the Free walking tour of BERLIN by Sandeman's. We had an excellent guide and we thoroughly enjoyed our tour. Of course, how good the tour is really depends on the guide you get.

On our Berlin walking tour (also 3.5 hrs), there were lots of young people, so most of them tip little (a few euro coins). DH & I ended up tipping 20 euro, simply because we thought he did such a great job and deserved it. We've been on other walking tours (London Walks, Paris walks) and they charge usually about 10 euro per person for a 2-hr walk; so we felt our guide deserved an equivalent tip. But I think most people gave (much) less. If I didn't enjoy the tour, I would have given less for sure.

rowdytxgirl

yk, for your walk, would you say that your walk was lots of stopping and starting? My sister, who will be going with me on the walk, is recovering from a broken toe! I think if it's non stop we might have a problem....

I also am a good tipper!

scatcat

rowdytxgirl

Not a free walk, but an interesting way to see Munich...Segway tour. My son did this last month and loved it. Cost 60€

Mainhattengirl

I guess my biggest question is why people use the "free" tours instead of one of the longer, established tour companies? If you are going to tip 10 euro per person, why not just pay that upfront and get a better, higher quality tour, with fewer people? When I read that people are touring with up to 40 people in a group I cringe. That does not sound like fun to me.

Sandemanns has truly a very bad reputation all over Europe. As employers and as a business. Whether for lack of payment to employees, being rude to hotels, hostels and other tour companies, and a total lack of professionalism, this company does not deserve your business. Munich is trying to kick them out as their employees are not paying taxes. Jerusalem is not happy as their guides have little or no training. In Berlin, they are highly disliked due to their shabby treatment of their employees. Various expat forums are filled with complaints about what it is like working for Sandemanns. The guides have to pay 3 euro per person. This amount is set from the beginning of the tour, so if people leave during the tour, they are still stuck paying this. Their average wage is about 10-15 euro per hour.

My suggestion is to take a tour with a different company. There are lots of them out there in every large city. They pay their employees a decent wage and treat them properly. They employ well trained, professional guides who pay taxes and who deliver well researched, quality tours. Read the reviews on Trip Advisor for each city, and see which tours are really value for money.

yk

rowdytxgirl, my Berlin tour was mainly stopping and going; definitely not nonstop walking. We covered no more than 2 miles (I think) in the 3.5 hours. There was also a 15-min coffee break in the middle of the tour.

As to address the question raised by Mainhattengirl, both Sandeman's and Brewers offer a free "overview" walking tour of Berlin Mitte. All their other charged tours are of a specific theme. If we had more time in Berlin, I would not hesitate to take one or more of those to get an in depth tour of a specific subject & area, be it Third Reich or Cold War etc.

The Insider Walk of Berlin has a 12 euro, 4-hr walking tour of main sights. However, their tour times didn't work with our schedule.

As I've said earlier, we had a great guide, his voice was easily heard. I felt he had a good knowledge of Berlin and its history. He's been a guide for this company for 3 years. I've been on a smaller-sized tour with London Walks (which is reputable & highly recommended here) and I couldn't hear a word from our guide.

Mainhattengirl

Brewers has a great reputation and they have been around for a long time. They didn't use to offer a free tour, but I guess they felt like they were forced into it due to the competition from the Sandemanns tours. Kind of sad.

rowdytxgirl

Thank you very much for the honest responses. I think I wasn't aiming for free...just happened up on Sandemans and noticed it was free and then wasn't sure how much to tip. I am assuming that if I go on a tour that is not free, I should still tip, correct? If so, how much?

I sure don't want to go with a group that doesn't treat it's employees well.

I will look at some more tours and then make my choice depending mostly on the time that works for us and the length of the tour since my sister is recovering from the broken toe!!

You guys are awesome! Thank you so much!!

rowdytxgirl

I just found the segway tour. That looks very interesting!

iris1745

Hi; Everything I have read, Sandemans has a good reputation, with few exceptions. Many times it's the guide you have, regardless of the company. Forty people, forget it. We did have twenty-two people in Munich and the guide was VERY good. We always decide on our tip, depending upon the capabilities of the person. We gave her 20euros for the two of us. Richard

yk

We don't usually tip guides on walking tours that are not free, though I've tipped guides on all day excursion bus tours. Honestly, I never noticed anyone tipping the guides on paid walking tours (and I've taken these tours in LA, Boston, Paris, London... just to name a few).

craniac

You would be wise to avoid Sandeman's I took a couple of walking tours in Munich recently, the Sandeman's tour was a bit light, light on facts, more like light entertainment. I also had the misfortune of finding out afterwards that the reason you are expected to tip is that Sandeman's don't actually pay their guides. The guides only get tips and have to pay the company they work for a fee from the tips. So if they don't get any tips they have to pay Sandeman's to work for them! From their own pockets! I was disgusted to discover this, as it is pure exploitation.

rowdytxgirl

We leave tomorrow for Munich! I will let you know how it works out!! Thanks everybody!