Free Walking Tours Montevideo

[whattodo]

I found some free walking tours in Montevideo. Guides work on tips. I'm unable to find an English walking tour that works with our ship's docking time. There are some Spanish ones. Do you know of any company or guides that offer flexible time to start tour and meeting place? The tours do not start near cruise port, we'll get a taxi to meet up or hope to find one that meets near the port within walking distance. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or recommendations. I love to read your review if you have participated in one of these free walking tours. 

[SueMo]

We took the Curioso free tour several years ago, and it was very good.  It starts at 10:30 am on weekdays.  From the cruise terminal, walk through the middle archway of the customs building and you will be facing Perez Castellano pedestrian walkway.  Take this walkway for 5 blocks and then turn left onto Sarandi.  Follow this for 9 blocks and you come to Ciudadela Gate of Plaza Independencia.  The walk takes about 15 minutes.  The tour guides wear sky blue shirts.  When you get there, they will divide the tourists into Spanish speaking and English speaking. There is a bank at the plaza with an ATM inside that you can get Uruguayan pesos. Right now 775 Uruguayan pesos is about $20 US.  The tour ends at Plaza Zabala which is pretty close to the terminal.  For lunch, check out Mercado del Puerto (see picture)

[whattodo]

😋 🤩 the plate looks so good. 

Ship is in port 10 am, I doubt we'll make 10:30 tour. I appreciate your helpful directions to the meeting place. Thank you SueMo! 

[kathynorth]

We have a private "Free Walking Tour of Montevideo" scheduled with this group. I emailed them and they arranged to have 2 groups from our cruise ship, one at 11 and the 2nd at 11:15. They are very easy to work with and are pretty good with communication.

 

https://freewalkingtour.com.uy/

 

[whattodo]

Thanks Kathynorth. I used the inquiry form on their site and received an automated reply about their normal tour times. I'll wait a few days in hope to receive a reply about an alternate start time. 

[kathynorth]

I received that also. I then hit reply and clarified that I was looking for a custom tour start time due to our ship arrival time. An actual person responded to the 2nd email and we've communicated back and forth several times since. 

[Aggie83]

 

On 12/29/2022 at 11:24 AM, SueMo said:

We took the Curioso free tour several years ago, and it was very good.  It starts at 10:30 am on weekdays.  From the cruise terminal, walk through the middle archway of the customs building and you will be facing Perez Castellano pedestrian walkway.  Take this walkway for 5 blocks and then turn left onto Sarandi.  Follow this for 9 blocks and you come to Ciudadela Gate of Plaza Independencia.  The walk takes about 15 minutes.  The tour guides wear sky blue shirts.  When you get there, they will divide the tourists into Spanish speaking and English speaking. There is a bank at the plaza with an ATM inside that you can get Uruguayan pesos. Right now 775 Uruguayan pesos is about $20 US.  The tour ends at Plaza Zabala which is pretty close to the terminal.  For lunch, check out Mercado del Puerto (see picture)

 

 

I just did this tour (January 3rd).  Both tours had a good number of people.  For the English tour, there were people from several different countries and not all from a cruise ship.  I signed up for the tour about 2 weeks prior.  It was quite informative and an excellent way to spend a couple of hours.  I tipped in US dollars ($20).  

[Petronillus]

On 1/2/2023 at 3:32 PM, kathynorth said:

We have a private "Free Walking Tour of Montevideo" scheduled with this group. I emailed them and they arranged to have 2 groups from our cruise ship, one at 11 and the 2nd at 11:15. They are very easy to work with and are pretty good with communication.

 

https://freewalkingtour.com.uy/

 

I just clicked on this site and received the message that FWT has suspended operations and is no longer accepting reservations or scheduling tours on any regular basis.

[Aggie83]

6 hours ago, Petronillus said:

I just clicked on this site and received the message that FWT has suspended operations and is no longer accepting reservations or scheduling tours on any regular basis.

That's a bummer.  Maybe check back in the Fall and see if they are back to doing tours.