Sandeman’s New Europe – Munich

This review is for Sandeman’s tour to the Neuschwanstein castle. This is a paid tour.
Hein was was our tour guide. A delightful man who is originally from South Africa (he boasts a lovely accent) and now settled in Germany with his Bavarian wife.
The tour starts on platform 11 of the Munich Hauptbahnhof outside Starbucks. Simply a meeting point it’s an opportunity to meet your guide and have your name ticked off. We pre-​booked online but you can turn up and pay cash on the spot.
The tour consists of a train ride out to Füssen, a bus from Füssen to the bottom of the hill (not sure if we can call it a mountain) and then a guided tour as your trudge up the hill towards the glorious Neuschwanstein castle.
An additional extra is a tour of inside the Castle. Well worth the 12Euro entry fee, you receive an audio tour in English of the completed rooms that King Ludwig II built and styled himself. I don’t want to give too much away but the Throne room was my favourite. A truly magnificent portrayal of luxury, spirituality and power.
The tour ends with free time and meeting back at the bar/​restaurant we started at. The bus and train ride back to Munich follow.
In our free time we walked around the outside of the second castle and visited the Lake.
Hein kindly recommended a restaurant for us when we asked. Just shows his friendly and happily provided any information he could about Ludwig, the Neuschwanstein castle and Munich.
Would happily recommend this tour to anyone wishing to visit the Neuschwanstein castle. Do it. It’s a great day trip!

Walking Munich Tour — do this tour if/​when in Munich. Jovanny was so informative and has a great since of humor. He makes you feel as though he’s imparting small tidbits of knowledge that isn’t available elsewhere. It’s a three hour tour, but it HONESTLY does not feel that long. You get a break ½ way thru. Two last important things: (1) the tour is free so tip generously and (2) Jovanny is just so darn cute!

Amazing tour — Tim is awesome. A perfect way to see Munich and understand some of its history.

I was introduced to Sandeman’s FREE walking tours by my cousins, and I am a *huge* fan. I’ve been on several and this is one of my favories. India, our tour guide was so very enthusiastic; you could tell she really loved Munich and it made the 3 hour tour an entertaining walk. I still remember several anecdotes from her tour. Do this on your first day in Munich to get your bearings, then you’ll be familiar enough with the city center to wander and get lost on your own. :)

We did the free tour today and absolutely loved it! Our guide, Michelle, was informative, friendly, and entertaining! The 3 hour tour never got boring and she told us some great info and awesome stories about Munich’s history. Highly recommended! And tip well! They deserve it!

My review is only about the free walking tour of the Munich Altstadt and, our tour guide Ciaran. We signed up for this with some friends as they were visiting Munich and, wanted to know a bit more of the history of this gorgeous city.
It was a 3 hour tour and the meeting place was just in front of the column of Mary at Marienplatz. It was well posted and there were many people from here at the location signing up people as well as catering for prebooked tours. Yes this tour is FREE. There is no real catch but just a way of marketing their other tours and signing up people to it. The tour guides are freelancers and make some money through tips. Please remember to give them a tip.
The guide we had was very informative, funny and connected well with the group. He told a lot of funny stories and knew a lot about the city’s history. He was engaging and kept everyone interested in the topic.
We all enjoyed it and, it was good for me to learn a few things about this city, I did not know. I would recommend this activity to locals and tourists alike. Their website has more details and you can sign up online. They do offer other tours and you can sign up to those with your tour guide.

I ended up using this company for both the city walk and the Neuschwanstein Castle tour. This review is for the castle tour.
I urge any one going to Bavaria to plan a trip here! Since the castle was the inspiration to Sleeping Beauty, it really is like a fairy tale!
Our tour guide was India; she made the trip fun since she loves the history of King Ludwig II. It was a raining, cold day so the hike uphill was not super fun, but we made it. At the end of the tour inside, the sun came out & there was an incredible rainbow over the lake. Stunning!
All I can really say is… GO! And choose Sandeman’s!

When I see ads for «FREE Tour», i pay attention. And boy am I glad I did!
This tour meets in front of the Glockenspiel and the guides will give you the whole history of it as the story unfolds above you. That alone is worth it in my opinion. I’ve done a few of these free tours in other cities, and all have been great! This was by far my favorite one though. Our guide really fd off our energy and humor. He was also super helpful in pointing out landmarks as we went in case we wanted to come back to spend more time somewhere we visited, after the tour.
These tours truly are free. You tip your guide at the end based on what you think it was worth. Seriously it could easily be worth $ 100 in my opinion. We learned so much history and so many weird stories, from the Glockenspiel, to the only remnants of the war, to seeing a museum for free as well by being told to «Just peek in the windows as we walk by!» Which of course we all did, whilst being met with stares from people inside looking at us like we had 3 heads).
We also got lunch (pay your own) at a local beer garden where our guide told us which booths to go to based on our tastes. It was very appreciated. I highly suggest doing this tour when you get into town if you have a few hours. Things will make so much more sense and you’ll get a sense of where you are in the city! And don’t forget to tip your guide, and don’t be afraid to ask questions! They’re seriously awesome!

My husband and I recently booked the Neuschwanstein castle tour from Munich through Sandemans New Europe. We were very happy we did! The tour was a good value for the price we paid. The meeting location was convenient and easy to locate within the main train station. The best part of this tour was our guide, Diana. She was very knowledgeable on the background history of the castle which added to our enjoyment of the tour. We learned more from her than tour guides in the castle itself. She was quite witty which made it a lot of fun! We asked her about things to do in Munich and she recommended many attractions and restaurants for us to try.
The castle was breathtaking and the history about King Ludwig II interesting. We would definitely recommend this company and tour and you’re lucky if you get the same guide! Thanks Sandemans and Diana for giving us a great experience!

I love Sandeman’s New Europe tours. The idea is simple — they offer tours in cities around Europe with free tickets. At the end of the tour, it is common to tip the tour leader 7 € — 12 €. The tour guides thus are really working for their earnings and pour themselves into that.
Specifically concerning the free Munich tour: Our tour guide was even better than the average Sandeman’s tour guide. She was incredibly good at balancing animated humor with a thoughtful somber tone when the subject matter required it. I wish that I remembered her name. (She is German-​Norwegian from Florida.) The tour ended up lasting an incredible 4.5 hours.
We decided to also go on the Beer Challenge tour (not free, but the price includes some free alcohol and you aren’t expected to tip), which included some beers from the major breweries (Hofbräu, Augustiner, Paulaner). We didn’t stay at a hostel, so the tour was a great way to meet people.
During our next trip to Munich, we will definitely try the Dachau tour (also not free) as we’ve heard great things about it from people that have gone on it.
As far as the online reservation goes: We didn’t need it for the free tour in Munich. However, we needed it for the Amsterdam tour because the tour filled up. I’d say it’s best just to reserve your spots online (it’s still free) just to make sure that you have a spot during the tour.

After my husband and I took a fabulous walking tour through the same company in Madrid, I was able to rather decisively choose this group for my solo adventure on my most recent trip to Munich.
As mentioned in the other review, you can reserve your tickets online. There are several tours offered, the «free» tour, the Third Reich Tour, a tour to Dachau Concentration Camp, and a tour to Neuschwanstein, the «Disney Castle.» Being short on time and wanting to just have a general overview, I opted for the free tour.
Our guide, Curt, was fun and rather silly, having a quip or a stereotype about every person on our tour. Despite the weather being rather crappy on my tour day, he lead our group with enthusiasm, telling stories, both historical and folklore, and showing us the major sights in central Munich. We watched the Glockenspiel (overrated, just as promised), visited the old and new town squares, stopped by the Festihall in Hofbrauhaus, and ended with a stop at a statute of father Germany. Curt was extremely knowledgeable not only about the various sites, but also about their historical relevance. He also was quick with the suggestions for good stops during our stay in Munich such as bars, restaurants, and different beers to try.
The tour lasted approximately three hours. Afterwards, Curt offered to go to lunch with anyone who stuck around and also pointed some of us back in the direction of Marienplatz (our starting point), which helped me out.
My tips:
–TIP. It is a free tour, but not really. Plan accordingly, the tour guides are working their butts off and showing you the sights. Like the other reviewer mentioned, I think 10 euros was pretty standard.
–Wear comfortable shoes.
–Check the weather and dress accordingly. That’s a big duh, but an umbrella made my day SO much better. Thanks to the person whoever left it on the Ubahn that morning.
–Bring a camera.
–Have fun!

We went on Sandeman’s New Munich «free tour,» and despite the questionable «free» status of the tour, it was fantastic.
We reserved tickets online (though it seemed entirely unnecessary for the free tour). We met up with our tour guide, Virginia, in front of the statue at Marienplatz, and she led us on a walking tour around Munich for three hours (it sounds like a lot, but it went by very quickly!). She gave a fantastic tour and knew a lot of history and answered any questions that the group could come up with. At the end of the tour, you have the opportunity to tip your tour guide; we did $ 10 for each of us, which seemed to be the average.
It was definitely one of the best tours we took on our trip to Europe, and we’d definitely try it again for the other cities, or if we are back in Munich again, they have several other non-​free tours that seem to be worth trying!