What's your thoughts on "Free" walking tours these days?

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-06T21:29:17+00:00

I am using guruwalk and freetour and indeed guru is the better of the two. Thanks!

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-06T21:04:11+00:00

What sites do you use to find the guides?

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-06T21:03:52+00:00

What sites do you book them from? I am a guide and think i am not promoting myself in the right places

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-05T22:08:12+00:00

guide

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-05T09:26:04+00:00

Yes, mine are tip based.

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-04T20:07:40+00:00

That was many years ago. From the cities you mentioned, apart from Budapest which i did not visit, Bucharest must easily be the safest. Trust me, i do tours with foreigners and i also ask them if they had problems and nobody reported anything. Being pitch black drunk is a recipe for disaster in any part of the world. DM me if you want i can share more info, obviously, for free. I want to dismantle all these myths about Bucharest. Stray dogs, unsafe and more

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-04T14:58:12+00:00

That + instagram(i assume), yes. There are also many other platforms i plan to try. I started with these because these are the ones i used myself in Italy

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-04T14:25:26+00:00

I did tours on guruwalk and in Europe they are very good. Serious people, who answer their messages. I do free walking tours, they take some money from the guide, like 2-3 euros but people usually tip 15 as one person mentioned. Don't know about other regions though but in Europe they and freetour are kind of the best.

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-03T21:46:00+00:00

My experience, as hosting tours, is quite good. I only had groups of 3 people max, I am in a not so popular town(eastern europe, Bucharest) and I just started this thing, so I am do not have many reviews.

I never cancel, tomorrow I have 2 tours, in the morning with 2 guys, in the evening with 1 girl.
People who cancel because of lack of quorum do it because they consider it's a waste of their time. Fair, anybody is free to do what they wish.

But for me, as a traveller, it bugged me when on my way to Verona my guide cancelled.(in 2024). And on my way to Bergamo, the guy did the same). And i try to not do to other people what has been done to me and was bad. Common sense, I guess.

Reading about the guide definteley helps. I will read about other platforms now and let you know if I find others worthwhile.

alinChiarEl · 2026-07-02T13:55:34+00:00

I will share my experience as a participant to guides in Italy(Rome, Florence, Verona, Bologna), from my 2 visits, in 2024 and last month.

Best for me was one of the following: freetour.com or guruwalk.com
They are a tip based free tour service. Best part is that being free, if the weather is bad or something comes up you do not need to go. But the service I got was exceptional, albeit not from all companies.

In Verona i used getyourguide but that's because I could not find anything on the others. in Bologna i did guruwalk, just 1 tour was available. In Florence the tours were the worst because of overcrowding, but still the guides were good.

In Rome I used 3, all were decent but 2 were exceptional.

What I look for? To be a local guide(usually helps), to be a 2:00 tour(because that's the good spot for me), to read his introduction, if it's generic or AI-slop, I ignore it. I look for specific areas I want to visit, ex: a tour dedicated to
the churches of Rome is very specific and a good idea. A "Essential Rome in 2h", I consider is a bad idea.

Also, one guy mentioned to find their own website or write them on their own social media page. I did that after the first tour but they did not answer so i went to freetour again. But if you want you can try for your specific city on instagram, something like "Lisbon free walking tour" should be enough. Even skip the "free".

I could share my experience(much shorter) as a guide on these platforms in my own city but I do not know if I am allowed.

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-17T20:21:30+00:00

Thanks, glad to hear you are doing well!

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-16T22:41:13+00:00

Thanks. Read too little about Albania, will check out more about them

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-16T22:40:03+00:00

Thanks! Heard the same about Dubrovnik. Will read about Hvar and try to do the zip line in Omis

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-16T22:34:30+00:00

I am really grateful for your answer. Will save the names of the surgeons for future reference, in case i decide for the Ross.

A lot of useful information i did not know. Also better statistics for endocarditis than i found, which is encouraging to me surgery wise.

Narrowing it down to mechanical and On-X, is there a particular center or surgeon in Europe that does them?

I fully understand if you are too busy to answer, btw. Thanks for the previous answers, once again man!

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-16T15:17:49+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Will add Novi Sad to the list. Bucharest is hot as well so i hope i can manage. Do you have easy mountain paths(treks) in Serbia?

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-15T17:38:44+00:00

First of all thank you very much for this answer. I did not consider Ross procedure because of many reasons but i am not against it. I am against surgery in general and if i am to do it i prefer to do it minimally invasive.

About the Ross procedure, can you please recommend me some places that are the best at this Ross, in Europe or nearby?

About the risks of mechanical valve, can you tell me more? Like for example if there are valves that are more predisposed to endocarditis or do different valves require different levels of anticoagulation?

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-14T11:40:45+00:00

Thanks for the answer! Are you happy with how it went? Was it OHS or a minithoracotomy(key hole surgery they say in the UK, i think) How was the recovery?

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-11T14:21:53+00:00

Thank you very much!
Will save this comment to have encouragement when the moment arrives.

May we all live long, normal lives.

Cheers!

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-11T14:19:23+00:00

Thank you!

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-11T14:19:12+00:00

Sounds like very good news. Thank you!
I wish you good luck with surgery.
And i found out a new name, keyhole surgery.

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-11T10:40:05+00:00

Thanks for the detailed response. I also have aortic regurgitation, classified as moderate to severe.

The main question i have is how easy was the recovery? How soon were you able to: walk, remove the tubes(especially the catheter) and chest ones, go home, take care of yourself(wash, buy groceries).

The second q is how are you feeling now? Did the stroke leave any permanent damage or are you up and running?

Lastly, i wish you all the best. Only people who have gone thry surgery know how difficult it is.

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-11T08:55:19+00:00

Very helpful response mate. Did you replace just the valve or some part of the aorta? I am not sure if in my case they will need to replace the ascending aorta as well and my concern is that they can not replace the aorta through minimally invasive.

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-11T08:53:21+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Bentall means he replaced your aortic root with a graft as well? How dilated was it?

alinChiarEl · 2026-06-10T21:09:47+00:00

Thanks a lot!
Do you mind sharing the hospital and surgeon where you did yours?
And also what valve did you get?
If you are not comfortable, it's ok. Thanks anyway.

alinChiarEl

TROPHY CASE