Young tour guides

We recommend that you contact the tourist information office or a museum of your choice directly. The local staff will be able to help you or put you in touch with the right contact person. This will give you the opportunity to discuss your responsibilities, interests and experience and clarify any initial questions about the training.

Many cities offer courses on "Becoming a tour guide in...", which you can take. It is best to speak to a local contact person, such as the tourist information office or the city administration. They will be able to tell you exactly what you need to do.

A little tip: join as many of your colleagues' guided tours as possible during your training. This will help you get to know the process better and give you new inspiration until you have found your own style.

To perfect your knowledge, we recommend watching documentaries or reading books. Your colleagues or your contact person can also give you valuable tips.

It's completely understandable that you don't have as much knowledge as the guides who have been around for 20 years. If you already know a little about your location and are motivated to learn more, that's perfectly adequate. You can always become a tour guide, whether you are an expert, a local or a newcomer. The only important thing is that you can transfer your enthusiasm to the guests.

You have the option of specializing in public, booked or themed tours.

Public tours take place on fixed dates, where individual travelers can register until shortly before the start. You never know exactly how big the group will be and the guests often don't know each other. Don't worry: there is always an upper limit for the group size.

If you book a guided tour, you are the exclusive tour guide for a closed group. Families, groups of friends or coach tour groups often book such tours. Here you sometimes have the option of offering an individual tour, e.g. in a foreign language or specifically for school classes with a particular theme.

A themed tour allows you to explore a particular feature of the place in detail. Guests are often interested in special topics such as the film sets in Görlitz, the Umgebindepark in Cunewalde or the mustard in Bautzen. You will need more specialist knowledge for this, but you can concentrate on a specific topic.

The tourist information office or museum administration in your town usually organizes the tour guide assignments. They keep a list of planned tours, available tour guides and their areas of expertise.

As a tour guide, you will be asked for specific dates and are free to decide whether you would like to accept. You also have the option of indicating in advance when you are on vacation or on which dates you would like to take on guided tours.

As a part-time tour guide, you are rarely directly employed. You often work on a voluntary or self-employed basis.

Even if you work on a voluntary basis, you can often receive an expense allowance, which is usually tax-free. You can obtain detailed information on employment and payment from a local contact person.