Free Walking Tours in London

Innovative tour company Sandeman’s New Europe offers free, informal walking tours of London. These excursions are educational and fun, an excellent and inexpensive introduction to this huge city and its nearly 2,000-year history.

How the company operates

Sandeman’s recruits enthusiastic, generally non-native guides who love showing off their chosen city to visitors. With no need for reservations, groups simply meet their guides at the website-designated place and time. Guides work for tips, a great incentive to give a fun and memorable tour.

The Free London Walking Tour includes a minimal, pressure-free explanation of the company’s additional tours, which cost between £9 and £12 and also require no reservations:

• Old City of London Tour
• Grim Reapers of London Tour: The East End’s dark secrets
• London Pub Crawl

The Royal London Free Walking Tour

Every day, tours begin at the Wellington Arch just beside the Hyde Park Corner tube station. If more than 40 people show up for any given tour, then the groups are split into manageable sizes, each with its own guide.

After a short explanation of the tour and the sights in that area, the group moves on toward Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Churchill’s War Cabinet Bunker, 10 Downing Street, St. James’s Park, and continues to the grounds of Westminster Abbey, in sight of Big Ben. All along the  way, the guide stops to tell well-researched and engaging stories about the city’s sites and its most famous historical figures.

Tour length: About 3 hours

When: 365 days a year, at either 11am or 1pm.

Suggested tips: £2 to £6, depending on your budget.

For more information, please visit Sandeman’s official site.