Tours tend to be expensive. When people pick you up in giant buses and a guide takes you around, there are a lot of expenses involved. But if you’re already at a destination like Lisbon, you can take advantage of the local tourist office’s offerings. Here’s what the tourist office folks of Portugal tell you:
There are many attractions to visit throughout Portugal and there is a huge difference between visiting a building, monument or other historical site on your own, or going on a tour led by an expert. Unlock hidden history in a guided tour. There are countless organizations and sites that offer guided tours with no or low costs.
Indeed. (There used to be a link here to a website that had quite a list, but like common decency, that site seems gone forever. I shall give you some links to folks who carry on with providing “free” tours in Lisbon. Why is the word “free” in quotes? Well, hardly anybody can afford to take the time to teach you about a city without compensation of some sort. So, let’s say, you should tip—perhaps a bit more than you normally would. Some outfits have a “name your price” attached to their tours. Fair enough.
Free Walking Tours of Lisbon
Perhaps you can find more, but remember, if you have a particular interest, contact the tourist office in any European city and tell them you’re looking for a guide who can take you exactly where you want to go. After all, even if it costs quite a bit for a private tour, it will take a lot less time and money to go directly where you want to go and have a passionate specialist tell you about it than it will to go on a bunch of general tours to places other people want to go.
Many fine tours charge for their services. They tend to have a more focused approach, so you can pick to have in-depth tours based on your own interests. Here is a page of tours of Lisbon from our partner Tiqets.
Sometimes it’s more frugal to indulge yourself.
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