Don’t know if you can trust GetYourGuide? Are you looking for a honest GetYourGuide review?
If you’ve come here looking for the answer to questions such as “is GetYourGuide legit?”, “how does GetYourGuide work?” or even more simply “what is GetYourGuide?” you are in the right place: I am a frequent traveler, I love planning trips, and I am a regular user of GetYourGuide and other third-party booking platforms.
This GetYourGuide review will tell you everything you must know before booking a ticket, an activity or a tour on this third-party booking site.
Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write this GetYourGuide review. I regularly use GetYourGuide (and other third-party booking sites, if necessary) as a traveler, I like it and trust it and this GetYourGuide review is 100% based on my personal experience.
The idea of this post is to explain how GetYourGuide – as well as other third-party booking sites – works. I will do my best to highlight all the pros and cons of booking a tour, activity, or ticket through them.
Throughout this post, I will be referring to GetYourGuide as well as GYG. All these names and acronyms refer to the same booking engine – this one.
An In Depth GetYourGuide Review
What is GetYourGuide? How does GetYourGuide work?
Your first questions are likely going to be “What is GetYourGuide?” and “How does GetYourGuide work?”
Get Your Guide is a third-party booking site. That is, a website and app through which you can book skip-the-line tickets and guided tours to a variety of attractions around the world, as well as activities such as cooking classes (but not only).
Until 10 years ago or so, whenever we traveled we had to rely on guidebooks to find information about tours and activities. Let alone the fact that carrying around a large paper book made our luggage heavy, more often than not the information in these guidebooks was inaccurate – at times old, with outdated prices for example.
The whole idea of GetYourGuide is to make the process of planning a trip much easier. You can book a ticket to an attraction or a tour without having to spend hours researching online, and it saves you from the trouble of having to shop for tickets and tours while at the destination (thus wasting precious time).
Thanks to GetYourGuide and other third-party booking sites, we can now book tours from the comfort of our homes.
Essentially, Get Your Guide is a massive online travel agency through which you can book skip-the-line tickets, tours, activities in a multitude of destinations across the world. It acts as a middleman between you and local travel companies and operators you would otherwise have trouble finding online.
So instead of browsing the web for a company that sells exactly the tour you are looking for, you just go on Get Your Guide and use their search button and filters to find what you are looking for.
Is GetYourGuide legit? Is GetYourGuide reliable?
Many people read my posts and when they find out I recommend GYG to book tickets and tours they ask me “Is GetYourGuide legit?” or wonder “is GetYourGuide reliable?” or even “is GetYourGuide safe?”
Yes, even almost 15 years after their creation, I often see travelers are reluctant to book tickets and tours via third-party reseller sites such as GetYourGuide, generally claiming that tours are more expensive and that they’d rather use local providers.
I use GetYourGuide all the time and I am definitely the right person to write a GetYourGuide review. In my experience, they are legit and they are my favorite third-party booking sites to book tours.
Yes, at times tours can be slightly more expensive than what you’d pay locally. But GYG clearly states that if you manage to find the same activity or tour cheaper elsewhere, they will cover the difference. It happened to me once when I took a Mekong Delta tour from Saigon: it was much cheaper locally, but when I emailed GYG about it they refunded me the price difference.
The major bonus for me is that on GetYourGuide you have the benefit of having a bunch of tours and ticket options all in one place so that you can compare and do your homework before you hit the “pay” button.
Besides, the small extra amount you are paying for an activity spares you the enormous hassle of having to shop locally, or to show up at a destination and find that the tour you wanted to do, or the attraction you wanted to see are sold out.
Get Your Guide usually allows you to modify or cancel the booking of a tour or activity as long as you do it 24 hours before it is scheduled. In the case of a cancellation, you will receive a full refund that usually shows up in your bank account within a few days. Make sure to read the cancellation policy before booking, to make sure!
What does GetYourGuide offer?
GetYourGuide offer can be roughly broken down into a few categories:
ATTRACTION TICKETS – On GYG you will find tickets to museums, galleries, archeological sites, theme parks, etc. These would be skip-the-line tickets, perfect for popular tourist attractions that require advanced bookings such as the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. The price is usually the same or slightly more expensive than on the official site, and there often is availability for last-minute tickets thanks to more flexible cancellation policies.
CITY PASSES – A very popular thing you can buy on GYG is city passes. These are bundles of tickets to access a variety of attractions in a destination.
GUIDED TOURS – GetYourGuide also sells guided tours (they can also be small or private tours) and activities. For example, you can use it to book a walking tour of Montmartre, a whale-watching trip from Marino Ballena in Costa Rica, a guided tour of Versailles Palace, and even a guided hike or an adventure activity such as rafting. There also is a wide range of children-friendly tours.
DAY TRIPS – Among the best sellers on GetYourGuide and perfect for travelers who don’t wish to rent a car for their trip but want to explore beyond a city’s limits, there are guided day trips – to wineries, national parks, smaller villages etc. These trips include round-trip transportation.
TRANSPORT – GYG inventory also includes public transportation passes and airport transfers.
Who runs GetYourGuide tours?
Understanding who runs GetYourGuide tours is key to building your trust, so I want to make sure you get this fact right and decided to tackle this issue immediately in this GetYourGuide review.
Local companies
One of the biggest objections I see by travelers against big third-party booking sites such as GetYourGuide is that they prefer using local provides.
What’s important to understand here – and one of the reasons that prompted me to write this GetYourGuide review – is that GYG is just a reseller: GYG tours are run by local companies, who use GYG to promote their offer. You can rest assured that your money is ultimately going to support local companies.
Yes, these small local companies pay a fee for their tours to be sold on GetYourGuide, but that’s a small investment they make to get more customers than they normally would otherwise.
GetYourGuide
Some GetYourGuide tours are run by GetYour Guide itself. These are called GetYourGuide Originals and are usually great. I have done a bunch of these GetYourGuide Original Tours in various cities and was impressed with the quality.
It’s important to point out that even in this case, GYG employs local guides.
My Experience Using GetYourGuide
This GetYourGuide review wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t talk about my personal experience.
In my travel experience, I have bought tickets to many attractions on GetYourGuide – for example, during a recent trip to Amsterdam and pretty much for every trip to Rome (and there have been many in the last 3 years).
Every time, things went extremely smoothly. My most recent experience was a guided day trip to Poas Volcano during a trip to Costa Rica with my sister, and we couldn’t have been happier with the choice.
The driver was very punctual in picking us up, the guide was extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and the overall tour experience was great. There were also some children and locals on the tour, and the vibe was great: everyone was having a good time.
What I love about GYG is that everything I need is in one place: the site lists all the available tours for the specific place I want to visit, so I can read a very accurate description of the tour and what it includes, I can compare the prices, and I can read reviews by other travelers.
I am going to use GYG for a trip I am currently planning with a blogger friend of mine (she is also a fan) and for any other trip I am taking in the future.
How To Book GetYourGuide Tours
Booking GetYourGuide tours is super easy. You can do it on the website, or on the app you can download on your smartphone. The app gives you access to mobile vouchers.
Here is a step-by-step guide to what you have to do.
Go to GetYourGuide website.
Use the search bar to look for the tour, ticket or activity you want to book. Use the filter to narrow down your search. You can select the price range, the language, the duration and even the services you need (for example, a wheelchair-friendly tour).
Sort the selection by either price, recommended, or rating. You will notice that some tours will be labeled as best sellers, new, or likely to sell out.
The “Likely To Sell Out” label is used for activities that are very popular and for which advanced booking is mandatory. The “Best Seller” label is used for activities that have the best reviews. The “New Activity” label is applied to activities that have just been added to the listing – they have very few reviews, if any.
Once you click on a tour, a new page opens up and then you can read the tour description carefully: make sure to look for the cancellation policy, the inclusions and exclusions (some tours may not include tickets to specific attractions, others may include lunch, etc), and the reviews by other travelers).
This is also where you will find information about the meeting point, the tour highlights, and even what to wear and pack for the tour.
At the very end of the page you will also be able to read the tour reviews. You can totally trust these reviews, as only people who have bought a GetYourGuide tour can review it. You will receive an email too a day after the activity has ended, asking you to leave GetYourGuide reviews for the tours you have taken.
Once you have picked the tour you want, input the exact date (and if relevant, also the time) for your tour or ticket. You will also need to select the number of tours or tickets you wish to book. You will have to input your full name and email address.
Once you pay via credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal you will receive a confirmation via email. The email will include your Booking Reference, as well as the contact number or email of the local tour provider.
You can download the GYG app on your phone to use the mobile voucher. It also works offline.
The day before the activity, GYG will send you an email reminder that will include the meeting point and the meeting time. Make a note of it and try to look for the best route to get to the meeting point, because at times it can be confusing. Remember to be punctual!
If you need to cancel or modify a booking, look for the confirmation email and scroll down the message until you get to the bit that says “manage my booking” and select whichever option suits you best.
GetYourGuide Cons
This GetYourGuide review wouldn’t be complete (and honest) if I did not tell you about its main shortcomings. So, here they are – again, based on my experience.
Information about the activity can be confusing
One of the main shortcomings of GetYourGuide is that in order to fully understand what you are getting you really need to read the description – it is not immediately clear whether the option you may be selecting is a guided tour or just a plain skip-the-line ticket.
For example, I once bought what I thought would be a tour of the Eiffel Tower, and only once I got there I realized it was just an escorted entrance.
Few GetYourGuide tours for nature-centered activities
As I have said at the very beginning of this GetYourGuide review, GYG is an excellent booking platform for skip-the-line tickets, tours and activities in major tourist destinations.
GetYourGuide is always working on its inventory, but unfortunately the choice is very limited in some destinations, and simply non-existing in others.
Likewise, GYG has a more limited choice of nature-related activities such as hikes, but there is a push to improve the inventory even in this case.
GetYourGuide Contacts
You can contact GetYourGuide via email directly through the website or the app.
If you would rather call, there are several numbers you can reach out to 24/7. Among them, there are:
USA +1 844-326-5840
Canada +1 844-326-5840
Australia +61-2-4708-9546
UK +44-20-3962-0237
Italy +39-6-9480-0677
Support is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.
You can also send messages on WhatsApp at +49-151-23457858 – this is the number for English messages. The chat is available also in other language, on other numbers.
Other Third-Party Booking Sites
For this GetYourGuide review to be complete, I should compare it to a few other popular third-party booking sites. Below are a few ones I have used and you may have come across too.
Tiqets
I often debate whether I should use Tiqets vs GetYourGuide to book activities and tours, as I really like this booking site too.
Tiqets is very similar to GetYourGuide, but has a slightly smaller inventory. Tours sold on Tiqets are offered in a variety of languages.
Like with GetYourGuide, all tours and tickets sold on Tiqets come in the form of mobile vouchers, so you don’t need to print them. It’s an overall reliable company with a good customer service in a variety of languages.
The site has improved a lot in recent times, so you can now filter your search by tour, tickets and even city cards. In fact, I prefer Tiqets vs. GetYourGuide to buy city passes as they have great options that allow you to select the attractions (and time slots) you want to visit directly on the site.
In terms of cancellation policy, they are similar to GetYourGuide but again you always need to read the small print.
Take Walks
I am a huge fan of Take Walks. Compared to GetYourGuide, the offer is much smaller: they only focus on a handful of cities in Europe and in the United States, and only sell guided tours, food tours and cooking classes.
Tours sold on Take Walks are only in English. They are excellent quality tours run by the best local companies.
The cancellation policy is similar to that of other companies: as long as you cancel within 24 hours of your scheduled activity, you will get a full refund.
The Tour Guy
The Tour Guy (or The Rome Guy for tours in Rome) is one of the best tour booking sites around. Many travelers swear that the tours of Rome taken with The Rome Guy are absolutely the best. Tours are in English only.
The website is very easy to use and once you select the tour the short description will pop up right under the name of the tour, giving you an idea of what you will see and do during the tour.
My main concern is that anybody can leave a review on the website – whether they have taken a tour or not. So in terms of reviews it’s not as reliable as GetYourGuide reviews.
Viator
I will pick Get Your Guide over Viator any time. Viator (which is owned by TripAdvisor) is the largest third-party booking site, with a massive inventory.
You can find the tour you need by using the many filters and then listing them according to your preference. The tour description is very accurate too.
Civitatis
After a disastrous tour of the Asian side of Istanbul that I bought on Civitatis, I decided never to use them again. The issue with them is that they are mainly targeting the Spanish speaking market, so they don’t have many good English-speaking guides.
Civitatis runs tours in many countries, but the inventory is small.
Final Considerations
In case it was not clear when reading this GetYourGuide review, I love GetYourGuide. I find it the most reliable, trustworthy third-party booking site. It is simple to use and visually appealing.
There is a huge range of activities and tours, so I am pretty sure you will be able to find just what you need.
Whether you have a great experience or a complaint, GetYourGuide will listen to your feedback. And you won’t have any issue in canceling a tour, or changing a reservation.
Do you have anything to add to this GetYourGuide review?
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Super helpful information on Get Your guide.
I called 2 days ago to try to cancel my reservation for the Chicago Fireworks Buffet Dinner Cruise which is scheduled for September 3, 2022. Which was 19 days away giving anyone plenty of time to allow any arrangements needed to fill the spot.
I was told that it cannot be cancelled. It is pretty said that a company, like yours, is unable to accommodate this request. I am very disappointed in your company and I am never going to schedule another cruise with you in the future, if this is the way you do business. I lived in Chicago when I oversaw the construction and opening of the newly renovated Midway Airport. Everyone at that time was very accommodating with everyone’s needs. Obviously Chicago has changed.
My confirmation number is GYG998W7B7F5
First of all, GetYourGuide is not my company and I don’t work for them. I use it, much like you or any other tourist does, and recommend it as I have had mostly great experiences with them. Secondly, whenever you book something – on GetYourGuide or any other site – you need to read the exact term and conditions, including the cancellation policy, and get a clear understanding of what they say. Thirdly, there is a customer service for GetYourGuide that you can also reach via whatsapp – the number you need to contact changes by country so make sure you send them a message at the right number. Fourthly, you should find out the reasons why the booking cannot be cancelled and refunded – most of the time, it has to do with the local dealer which in this case would be the company that is running the dinner cruise. In the vast majority of cases, they are the ones that set the conditions that you find on GetYourGuide, which is a third party reseller as clearly explained in this post. I can’t say what happened in your case as I can’t see your booking, but it is very likely that it’s the local dealer that does not allow you to cancel the reservation. If I were you, I’d contact GetYourGuide again and ask for a precise explanation, and once they give you the reasons as to why the booking can’t be cancelled, I’d contact the local company (you can find the name and contact details in the confirmation of your reservation). I really hope this helps.
Excellent review. We’re travelling to Rome in May 2023 for the first time and before reading this review I was very confused on how to plan for the trip. Appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences.
Of course. As all third party booking sites, GetYourGuide is not perfect but I think it’s the most reliable out there. It’s what I use the most!
I really appreciate this reassurance! I am booking several tours for this spring. I found the Help page inadequate, made a call but could not get an answer. Am working via email now…credit card questions. And questions about the Paris Museum Pass they offer…when can I reserve tickets using that Pass? Must it be paid for first? I have it on delayed pay option…
I do not see how to sort for Original tours…surely there are some for Madrid? How do I narrow to Original??
Thanks.
Hello! GYG has actually stopped offering “original tours” so that’s why you can’t find them now. To book any attraction with the museum pass, you first have to buy the pass.
I seem to have been able to secure the Louvre tickets even before actually paying for the Paris Museum Pass. Clicked that option the Louvre ticket site and have the printed and mobile tickets already. Of course, if I decide not to buy the Pass, those tickets are useless. Still, I can move forward, book more tours and be sure they fall into good time slots, and pay for the Pass closer to my trip…
Thanks again for your article.
Diane
That’s great!
My experience with Get Your Guide and maybe even more with Ultimate Italy was not a positive one. I booked the underground colosseum tour set for 10:45 am. Ticket did say to arrive 30 minutes early. We arrived at 10:21 and were told the tour already left and through many e-mails and get your guide policies received no refund. Folks at ultimate Italy also stated that the admission time was set for 10:15 not 10:45 as advertised in the ticket. This in my opinion is terribly deceptive and is not consistent with any other tour company I have used over the years. Buyer be very aware that get your guide follows their policy and statements to the letter. They are not customer focused. For example I had a tour for the Vatican later on my trip who waited for 10 minutes after the exact time on the ticket for folks that were running late. Much better company to deal with and typical of my experience in the past. I will never utilize get your guide or ultimate Italy again nor would I recommend them to anyone.
GetYourGuide is a third party reseller that you can use to buy tours and tickets run by local companies. You should probably raise your complaint to Ultimate Italy as it sounds that was the company that was running the tour – I’d definitely be annoyed too if that had happened to me. If you still have the ticket with you, send them screenshots. I’d also cc GetYourGuide in the conversation, show them screenshots / proof of what you are saying, and take it from there. You may not get a refund in the end, but maybe a voucher to use towards another attraction or tour. I really hope this helps!
Very helpful. Thank you.
I plan to use them for private tours and also transport between cities in Portugal next month. Do you have any experience with them or other similar companies in Portugal?
Not for Portugal specifically, actually.
I would suggest being cautious using Getyourguide – we recently had pre-booked tickets for Rome weeks ahead and had them cancelled with no legitimate excuse Les than 24 hours before the tours. Tickets were sold out and we had no way of seeing the attractions we had travelled so far to see. there was no apology or nothing we could do.
That’t NOT GetYourGuide doing that, but the local provider. GYG is only a third party reseller.
Do not use this company I booked a tour for the Palace in Madrid eight weeks in advance, then one day before the tour I received an email notification that my tour was cancelled because of a political event I learned that the palace was closed that morning due to the change of the guard which happens every month at this time, this time slot should have been blocked out for sales, at the least it should have been rescheduled NOT cancelled, unsatisfactory will not use them again and do not recommend!
That is NOT GetYourGuide fault though. That’s the attractions being closed. GetYourGuide can’t do anything about it.
Hi Claudia, thanks very much for the details. I want use GYG for activities in cinque terre. Are you able to tell me if 3 days is enough for cinque terre we ran into a time issue and we cut back from 4 to 3 days. I read your article on cinque terre , wow, thnaks for the info but i want to use GYG for those tours and others , the reviews are good. Is there a place I can email you to ask you questions?
Thanks again
My email is available via the contact me page. But to be fair, whatever I know about the Cinque Terre is all in the posts already! When I visited, I spent 5 days there. But even 3 is ok to get a good feel for it 🙂
How do the self guided tours work, and why do they ask how many guests? Since you download the app and self guided tour info, to your phone? Doing a self guided tour in a Natl park as a couple.
Normally, it would be one audio-guide per person.
Doe get your guide require internet service to use the app?
I actually don’t know that – you may want to contact them. What you can do, however, is download your voucher to your wallet when you have wifi. That’s super easy!
Thanks for the review – wondering why they need my full passport details when I book? Not comfortable providing this information. I cant find any reference to this in the help screen. Did you have to provide your passport information to book tours?
I’m looking at an activity in Vietnam.
Yes, this depends on the country.
My experiences were very mixed. While some of the guides were knowledgable, others were just babbling. At one occasion I booked a private tour and without prior notice the partner agency added two other persons to the tour. On another occasion the partner agency messed up the booking of a ticket for a tour event; I was refused to join and left behind at a shopping mall… Neither the partner agency nor GYG was reachable to assist. Refunding was unsatisfactory too; they offered just a fraction of the amount I paid. After these two negative experiences I stopped booking GYG.
Hello Claire, thank you for leaving a comment. I take tons of tours every year and most of them are really good. I have also had some “blah” experiences and rest assured I left a negative review when that happened. I am sorry that you had a bad experience with the event. I am surprised that GetYourGuide did not fully refund you. Oftentimes the local companies are terrible to deal with!
Hello – thanks for your interesting & valuable article. I wonder if you can help guide me about an issue I’m having with GYG.
I booked my wife and I an expensive GYG tour for an “NYE luxury yacht cruise” in Lisbon to see the NYE fireworks. At the venue, we searvhed for our yacht but quickly realized we were misled and ended up getting on a regular sailboat. What made matters worse was the provider wasn’t even able to get the boat into a decent position to experience Lisbon’s NYE fireworks.
My wife and I were both devastated because this was supposed to be the highlight of our Lisbon trip. My wife even got glammed up for the occasion thinking it was a luxury cruise but it was nothing like the ad we saw. She could’ve gone in jeans and sneakers and fit right in.
After the tour, I contacted GYG via their chat line and lodged a complaint. 10 days later – when I still hadn’t heard from them – I contacted them again. This time their rep agreed to refund 50% of the tour only because we’d “already participated on the tour”.
I don’t think that was a reasonable resolution to our problem as we feel we’d been deceived by the marketing and description of the event. If I’d known it was a regular sailboat, I wouldn’t have opted for this experience, as we were looking for something special for NYE and, from the description, thought this was it.
My question is, what recourse do I have to get the full refund from GYG?
Thanks so much
Hello Hisham,
I’d definitely be as disappointed as you and your wife were if that had happened to me. First of all, if you haven’t done it already you should leave a review of the tour on GYG – you would normally receive an email asking you to leave a review. I’d also ask to escalate the matter to someone in the management position suggesting that the resolution you have been offered is not a satisfactory one. If you have them, send photos of the experience as they can be really helpful in the evaluation: it will help you prove that what’s being sold as luxury is not an actual luxury experience and that the marketing is misleading.
As I have explained, GYG is a third-party site so the responsibility usually falls on the local provider. But GYG needs to know what’s happening on the ground.
This is all the advice I have, as a customer – it’s what I would do myself. I hope this helps!
On Monday 30th of September I went paragliding in Puerto De La Cruz. The pilot Jesus and his assistant Christina collected me from the hotel and drove me to Mount Teide. All the way up they kept asking if I was ok, they made me so relaxed.The flight itself was amazing , the scenery was stunning and again Jesus made me feel so safe.
I had an amazing experience.
Thank you to Jesus and Christina.
Hello Mary, Did you book the tour on GetYourGuide?
I appreciate the in-depth information on tour companies but I’m curious about GYG’s advertised “discounted” rates. I’ve been searching for tours in Paris and around Italy and I’ve choosen many that are offering a discount and when you go to purchase the tour you are charged the full price. I decided to search as many as I could just to test and not one discounted price was ever applied to my cart. I simply can’t trust a company that does this.
Discounts are only available on certain dates. If you try and buy a tour that you see as discounted, the discount will appear only on certain dates – for example it may be applicable on 15 April but not on 14 April. Also, the discount is applied at checkout so you have to go all the way to checkout to see the discount. Hope this helps.