Welcome to our extensive review of Get Your Guide, a booking website for tours and activities worldwide.
In this review, we want to check how reliable the service is. Is Get Your Guide trustworthy, safe, and easy to use?
This is an in-depth guide, useful for everyone interested in booking any kind of tour and activities online.
Good to know: No one paid me to write any type of review. This is 100% my own handwritten guide, based on my own experience using Get Your Guide and other tour booking provider.
Get Your Guide is a website (and also an app) that aims to make the holiday activity planning process much easier.
Have you ever booked a holiday only to feel completely overwhelmed by the number of
activities and experiences on offer?
Then keep reading cause this guide will make your life easier!
I have used Get Your Guide many times during our travels, and many of our friends asked if Get Your Guide is a trustworthy company. That is why I decided to put everything together and review it.
Here I will let you know the pros, the cons, and how to use it.
Good to know: We will write the name of the platform as Get Your Guide, GetYourGuide or GYG for short. It is always the same platform www.getyourguide.com.
Table Of Contents
1. What is GetYourGuide?
Get Your Guide is essentially a personalized online agency that allows you to book endless
activities, tours, and experiences across the world.
It acts as the middleman between you and the travel companies.
Rather than searching on the internet for various activities and ending in different sites from different companies, you will have access to all the tours and activities in one single site.
Great right? Having all the activities and tours in a single platform will save you tons of time.
You will only have to concentrate to look at which activity to join.
The truth is, Get Your Guide might not offer all the options you will have in some cities. There are always small companies which can only be found on site – especially on South East Asia or Central and South America.
Nevertheless, I found Get Your Guide is the platform with the most activities, as well as many filters and marks which makes the decision process easier.
Especially when you have to pre-book your tickets!!
Of course, if you want some adrenaline activities, there are better platforms out there, like Adrenaline Hunter, but if you are looking for the common activities: main sights tickets, bike tours, food experiences… Then Get Your Guide is your place.
2. Booking Activities with Get Your Guide
The process in booking an activity with Get Your Guide is simple and straightforward:
- You select the activity
- book with your name, email and credit card
- receive your confirmation email
Easy peasy and fast, I would say.
Before hitting the booking button, you will have to choose your perfect activity, of course. Some sights are listed multiple times. That is because it is different tours or just an audio guide and such. Make sure you read properly what you are about to book.
In our Step 2 choosing the right tour I go into detail.
What I really like about Get Your Guide is the information they show. For instance, they show highlights of the tour, what the tour includes (and what it DOES NOT include!) and the meeting point.
They also show “Important information” at the bottom. A great summary I wish many more websites would add. Here they summarize for instance what is not allowed on the tour. That can be “shorts” when visiting a church or mosque for instance.
Then they show “know before you go”, covering important notes like opening hours, the validation of the ticket and such. Very, very handy and easy to read!
Let’s see how to find, choose and book an activity on this platform step by step.
- Search and filter
- Decide which tour/company to join
- Look at some reviews (but don’t get crazy about that!)
- Select your tour and pay
- Receive your tickets
Step 1 – Search and Filter
When searching for your perfect travel plans on www.getyourguide.com, Get Your Guide has ensured that the process is
simple and straightforward for everyone.
All you have to do is type in your destination or preferred attraction and dates in the search bar and you’ll have all the activities and tours at your fingertips.
I just did a screenshot so you can see the website and where to type:
Filters you should use
With so many great options to choose from, you may be a little spoil for choice!
However, no need to worry as the guide offers a great filter system which allows you to create more
personalized options for yourself.
Make sure you use the filters.They will help you range the activities and find your perfect plan.
Here is the list of different filter options:
1. You can filter by interests such as:
- Tours
- Activities
- Culinary
- Nightlife
- Rentals
2. Activities and tours can also be filtered by languages – and they do offer up to 25 different languages.
3. Select your wished time periods for individual activities: they range from less than an hour to a full
day or even multi day.
4. Filters also include:
- Private Tours,
- Wheelchair Access,
- Hotel Pickup, and
- Skip the Line
5. You can filter also by get your guide reviews for individual activities by:
- Best rated,
- Worst rated,
- Most recent and
- Oldest
6. You can also filter reviews depending on the type of traveler such as:
- Couples,
- Family,
- Group of Friends and
- Solo Traveler
Labels
Whilst scrolling through options, several activities have different labels that will give you some insider information, these labels are:
- ‘Likely to Sell Out’,
- ‘Bestseller’,
- ‘GetYourGuide Original’
- Discounted prices
These different labels might help you choose the activity on your destination, or give you an idea when if you have to book earlier to assure your spot.
When an activity is marked as “likely to sell out” it is recommended to book as soon as possible.
Normally, the Bestsellers activities are the ones with the best reviews and usually the absolute Must-Dos in the city.
This can be the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and Colosseum in Rome. This could be also sights with very limited access like the Camino del Rey in Malaga, Spain or, again, Colosseum in Rome.
Read: One Week in Spain – our recommended itinerary
Good to know: I noticed the label “likely to sell out” is not a marketing trick to make you buy faster! They only labelled very few ones that actually sell out quickly.
After all, the Colosseum in Rome has now limited access for “only” 5000 people per day. Pre-booking is mandatory – if you want to enter!
In case of doubt which activity to join, this label can be your lifesaver.
Good to know: I found this website listing only all the Get Your Guide Originals.
Step 2 – Decide which tour to join
GetYourGuide is fantastic for the hundreds of options available to book.
Although, the amount of choices means you will likely come across different options for the same popular
attraction.
It’s important to be aware of the differences in pricing, length of time and features for individual attractions so you can find the best option for you.
Same Attraction with Different Options?
Indeed!
Not everybody wants the same kind of tour, right?
Here are a couple of examples to show you the variety on offer so you can choose wisely.
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona at Get Your Guide
You will find all these options under Sagrada Familia tickets:
- Fast Track Guided Tour,
- Guided Tour with Tower Access,
- Fast Track and Passion Tower Access,
- Skip the Queue Guided Tour,
- Small Group Guided Tour,
- Fast Track Entrance Ticket
The prices goes from €22 – €60 and the different tours include different options.
The title will give you an idea but you can read what does the tour include on each one, as well as the duration, and the reviews. The get your guide Barcelona reviews are important to read.
All this information will help you decide more accurately.
Smart trick: Always visit the main landing page they created for the sight you are interested in. You can find this on the upper-left part, below the logo. This is the so-called “breadcrumb” link.
The structure usually is:
Country > Region > City > Sight
So, in our case:
Spain > Catalonia > Barcelona > Sagrada Familia
Alright, let us have a look at another popular example.
The Gondola Rides, Venice at Get Your Guide
Read: One Week in Venice – our complete itinerary
You might think a gondola ride is a gondola ride. But of course there are many different ways to experience a gondola in Venice, such as:
- Venice Traditional Shared Gondola Experience,
- Gondola Grand Canal Ride,
- Private Gondola Ride For Up To 6 People,
- Venice Grand Canal,
- 2 Hour secret tour + Gondola,
- One Hour Boat Tour
All the different tours offer different options, such a shared gondola, and exclusive gondola, only riding on the grand canal or even a shared gondola with maximum 6 people.
Prices range from €32 – €115 and you can read all the details about what is included on each tour description.
Now, for the Gondola Rides there is no landing page listing all possible tours. A pity. So, what do we do?
In this case I would keep an eye on the number of reviews and ratings. The ratings should be only a few month old – max!
Good to know: When looking at the ratings, and the last one was written in 1954, skip this tour!
Step 3 – Reviews
The ratings on each activity as a whole will give you a rough idea about how beloved the activity or tour is.
As Get Your Guide mostly acts as the middleman between the customer and tourist companies, it’s also helpful to look at some reviews made from the customers.
These individual comments left by past travelers will give you insights and opinions.
This shouldn’t be a problem as there are thousands of reviews to help you make your decision. But
Don’t go crazy reading so many reviews…
We always read the most recent ones to check they are accurate with the main review score.
Reviews for each tour/ activity are based on:
- Service
- Organization
- Value for Money
- Safety
You can always have a look at the top reviewed activities on each city to help you select your activity or tour. After your own tour has finished, you can also leave your own getyourguide review.
Here are a few top reviewed activities in some of best cities in Europe:
Barcelona, Spain: + 750 activities
The most popular are:
- The Fast Track Sagrada Familia Ticket with an average rating of 4.7/5 from over 14000
reviews. - Park Güell comes in second with a rating of 4.3 /5 from over 8700 reviews.
Paris, France: + 800 activities
- Most popular activity is the Louvre Museum: Timed Entrance Ticket with an average rating of 4.6 /5 from over 12700 reviews.
- A close second is the Eiffel Tower: Second Floor Priority Access.
Rome, Italy: + 800 activities
- Overwhelmingly most popular option is the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel & Saint Peters Guided Tour with an average rating of 4.5/5 from over 28000 reviews.
- Another popular option is the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel Fast Track Ticket Options (€28) with a rating of 4.4 /5 from over 22000 reviews.
Again: Don’t get crazy reading too many reviews.
I normally do a general check to see how many stars overall the activity has and then read max 4-6 reviews, one of the reviews with a bad rating to check when it was written and what the complain was about.
In a nutshell, for the ratings pay attention to:
- number of review
- overall ratings
- the complaints
- date of last review
Step 4 – Select your desired option
After deciding with is the best tour or activity you wanna join on your travels you simply have to press the book now button.
Yes, it is so simple, just press that button on the right side and the tour will be added to your chart.
On this moment you could continue buying some other tours or just pay for that one pressing the checkout button.
Payment with Get Your Guide
As well as having no restrictions in activity options, there are also no restrictions with
payment.
You are able to pay via:
- credit card,
- debit card,
- PayPal
- Google Pay
You have no need to worry about security either as Get Your Guide promises that all payments are secure and encrypted.
However, as activities and tours should be booked in advance, it is not possible to pay upon
arrival.
Step 5 – Tickets
Hurray, we have completed our booking. We chose the tour, we paid. Now what?
After completing your payment, Get Your Guide will send you an email confirmation.
I cannot believe I have to say this, but do not add your weird-spam email. You will need this confirmation email!
The email will be like this one:
For most of the activities you will receive an instantly confirmation, others may take up to 48 hours. This is because the provider has to check availability once again and may have to organize a few more things.
Once the booking is done, you do also have a direct link to the app, so you can download it and have your ticket there to show the day of your booking.
Bear in mind the tickets on the app can be shown even off-line, so it is great for traveling.
Good to know: You need battery on your phone to show the ticket. Makes sense, right?! So keep this in mind for the day of your booking. Imagine you arrive and your phone is dead…not amusing really.
If you like being organized and booking way in advance, bear in mind you may only get the confirmation within the same month as the booked activity.
Meaning, if you book an activity more than one month before, you won’t get the details until one month before the activity will take place.
If you download your tickets on the app, you will be able to access your tickets online or on your mobile phone, even when offline, so no worries about lack of WiFi!
There needn’t be any stress about arriving at the meeting point either.
All the necessary information can be found on the activity pages within the section ‘When You Get There’ which includes details on meeting points and a map.
Also, when booking, you will receive a confirmation like this one.
You can save your ticket as a PDF directly on your phone. Wait until you receive the email, or click to get your Mobile ticket, which will redirect you to your mobile store to download the app.
One day before your activity takes place, Get Your Guide sends you a reminder email. That emails shares again the meeting point, the voucher, and even the expected weather for the next day.
That is pretty cool!
Click on the photo below to get a better idea.
4. Is Get Your Guide reliable?
Yes!
I never had any issue booking with Get Your Guide.
Nevertheless, bear in mind the reliability of Get Your Guide very much depends on individual experiences and the type of activities you want to book.
How to get an accurate feeling of the tour you wanna join?
Here we look at some essential points to be aware of when booking with Get Your Guide:
Reviews
Always check previous reviews for individual activities so you can avoid any negative experiences.
Have a look at the overall rating, and read 3-4 reviews to make sure the book is what you are looking for.
Price guarantee
Get Your Guide as a lowest price guarantee which could be “tricky”.
The ‘lowest price guarantee’ only applies to the price for the same activity by the same tourist company.
Due to conversion rates of currencies, you may also find a tour somewhere 10 cents cheaper or more expensive. But well, 10 cents…
Discounts and Offers
If you are a savvy traveler, this one’s for you!
There are hundreds of activities, tours and experiences on Get Your Guide, so you should make sure you are getting the very best deal.
Be careful, as some activities offer very similar experiences but for different prices.
For example, the ‘Sagrada Familia Guided Tour with Tower Access’ and the ‘Fast Track
Guide Tour Sagrada Familia with Towers’.
Both activities last for 90 minutes and ability to skip the queue; however the former is priced at €54.67 and the latter €50.
Only a small difference, but be aware that there could potentially be cheaper options on the
Get Your Guide website for the same or similar activities.
There is not a price filter on the website. To score the best price on this case, add Sagrada Familia as a keyword and have a look at the different offers. You can find all Sagrada Familia tickets online English here.
Price Comparisons
When booking basic entrance tickets, which do not include extra features such as guided tours or private groups, be sure to compare to the price from the source first.
A popular entrance ticket to the Louvre Museum in Paris is featured on Get Your Guide for €17 + €3 booking fee. On the other hand, if you pay on the official website or at the museum itself, you will only pay €15 – €17.
Similarly, an admission ticket to Park Guell in Barcelona will only set you back €13 on Get Your Guide, however a timed entry ticket on the official website will cost you a mere €10.
You are paying for the convenience of having your ticket confirmed on the email or app, avoid the queues… or even the availability!
Read this important part: On my last trip to Rome I could only enter to the Colosseum because I booked through Get Your Guide.
When checking for tickets on the official website, tickets were sold out.
Fortunately, I had a look at Get Your Guide and there was a tour available.
I had to join a guided tour to see The Colosseum, but… I could get in!
Even better, I got a really good tour. I mentioned this before. Yet again, I never imagined I would like a guided tour, but all the information our tour guide provided was awesome.
Bear also in mind, you can also get audio-guides tour on Get Your Guide. That means, normally, you will skip the long queue to pick up the audio guide on the site.
That happened to me in Pompeii. The queue was around 20 minutes long, but the pick up for my audio guide with Get Your Guide was empty.
I could skip the queue just showing my confirmation email on the pick up point.
Special tickets for main attractions
As mentioned, on my last trip to Rome, I could not find Colosseum tickets directly on their official website, but I could find them on Get Your Guide.
Why? Well, there are many cases and explanations, here you have 3 examples:
1. Tour operators buy group tickets and they resell them to individual people. That way, you can get a better deal as an individual traveler.
2. Some tour operators buy group tickets for 25 people but they do only have 20 customers. They resell these 5 extra tickets on the platform.
3. People cancel 24 hours before the activity and Get Your Guide is able to resell the ticket and refund it to the first buyer.
That are some reasons why you can also find some reduced prices on Get Your Guide that you won’t find anything else.
It is a totally valid offer and a great way to find tickets for those attractions that might be sold out even on the official pages.
