Sandemans New Europe

I’ve been to a few Sandeman tours and have generally given 5 star reviews. unfortunately I will have to rate this one at only 2 stars.
This rating is given because I felt like it has absolutely wasted a good 2.5 hrs of my time when I could have been seeing more places. Make matter worst, I only had 8 hrs in Brussels… So this tour upset me a bit because it kinda took away my chance to really know and enjoy the city a bit more.
I enjoy history. And when I visit a historical country and especially on a walking tour; I kinda expect some history lessons. History of building, the city, or the streets; and definitely not someone trying to impress the crowed by being a clown when leading the tour.
While I understand it is a tips based service, but constantly joking around, singing, dancing, climbing poles, lames jokes again is not exactly the way to impress for a walking tour of the city. Why not impress me with your knowledge and insights of the city instead?!
Admittedly, majority of the crowed on my day are younger peeps, but surely that’s still not the way to do it?!
Don’t want to name the guide here, cause I do think the guide is at least a genuine nice person, and was only doing what might maximise tips. But please, focus on the city, focus on insights? Focus on why people might come visit your city instead?! I’m eager to know, but the clown act is distracting me and is an absolute waste of our time!!!
(I’m sure it’s one off based on my particular experience, and I will still be joining lots of other available Sandeman tours in future)

Having not done a free walking tour before, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but wasn’t left disappointed by the end. Roughly 3hrs long (including a 20 min break/​pitstop in the middle), we were taken on a whistle-​stop tour of most of central Brussels, with information including history, local cuisine, cartoon artwork, beer, French/​Flemish relations and many other facts and figures. The tour guide was personable and kept everything lighthearted along the tour, whilst demonstrating his love of his adopted city.
Though free, tips weren’t frowned upon (and it was good value). The only slight downside was the constant marketing of their other (paid for) tours.
Overall, a great way to get an overview of the city and find out more than just the best pubs and chocolate shops.
Tip — when looking to find them they’re the ones outside the town hall with the red umbrella

Amazing free walking tour of Brussels. Did the tour today with a guide called James. He was extremely knowledgable and very funny. Would definitely recommend these.

Free walking tour in Brussels. We did the tour a few days ago and it was great. The tour guide, Charlie, took us all over Brussels and told us some interesting facts about the city and recommended places to visit on our own. It ended up raining pretty hard during our tour but we stuck it out and finished.
The tour is technically free but they do ask you to tip the tour guide. Still a good deal if you compare to other tours… they also have a beer tasting tour which was wayyy cheaper than the beer tours posted on Viator. Only 17 euros for this one.

Free — Brussels City Tour. We were there for Christmas 2013 and went on the walking tour with PJ. It was a fun and informative tour.
That night we took the walking beer tour. Senna Rees was our tour guide. It was fun, we went to some very good bars and discussed how Belgian beer is made and what makes it different from other beer. It was a great tour for both the beer novice (my wife) or the seasoned aficionado (me).
Much later, I found out how the free tour works. The tour guides are independent contractors and pay a per-​person fee for everyone who shows up at the start of the tour. Their net income then is the difference between their tips and their charge from the initial count. Please keep that in mind if you show up for the beginning of the tour and skip out early without tipping. These guys work very hard.

Das war ein schöner Ausflug. Wir haben die englischsprachige Tour mitgemacht und es hat uns wirklich gut gefallen. Wir haben alles gesehen, Informationen über die Stadt und deren Geschichte erhalten und das alles zu einem Preis, den wir selbst bestimmen konnten.

New Tours — Sandeman, offers a variety of tour walks in Brussels. I happen to find them online and chose the free tour walk in Brussels. I arrived at the meeting point by City Hall, Grand Place. Judging by the vast amount of people there, this is pretty popular. We were divided into two groups, one for English speakers and the other in French. Our tour guide P. J showed us around in Brussels center and it’s surroundings, his knowledge in the history of Brussels is full on and I was literally in awe by the history behind Grand Place. Tour went on for about three hours and met great people along the way. Worth checking out.

Tour diario en español. Punto de encuentro frente a la torre del Ayuntamiento en la Grand Place/​Grote Markt a las 11.00.
Estos tours de Sandeman me parecen muy buenos pues aunque te lleven a sitios que salen en las guías, y puedas pensar «esto ya lo puedo ver yo por mi cuenta» siempre te darán alguna información menos típica, algún consejo de local, y muchos chistes! Además, de que se han formado para darte datos históricos muy precisos.
También, por el camino puedes ir haciendo tus propias preguntas. Yo como iba sola me ponía al lado del guía y le hacía preguntas de todo tipo «¿qué es ese edificio?» «¿por qué están estas bolsas de basura aquí y qué significa esos colores?» Y el bueno de BLAT me respondía a todo. Entonces no puede convertirse en un tour personalizado.
A muchos de mis amigos la palabra «tour organizado» les echa para atrás, piensan que son cosas de viejunos, pero este todo lo contrario. ¡Está enfocado hacia los jóvenes!
Dicen que hay que reservar por la web pero sé que puedes ir directamente ya que no me pidieron el código de reserva, ni a mi amigo que fue otro día sin reserva. Seguramente esta sea la pega, que al ser tan populares se llenan mucho y no parece haber límite de personas. Y a más gente, peor… para tí y para el guía que se deja la voz. Creo que es mejor ir entre semana.