Guided tours may not be the thing for everyone, but if you have an ipod or mp3 player you can get the best of both worlds.  Travel podcasts and audio tours are becoming more and more popular with travelers.  You go at your own pace and you don’t have to walk around with a dozen strangers.  Websites with Free audiotour downloads

http://www.podguides.net/   Locations include:

• Dune Forest, Belgium
• Historical mounments of Ghent, Belgium
• Brussels, Belgium
• Opal Coast, France
• Sibton Park, England

You can also make your own and submit them to share with travelers everywhere!

http://www.roughguides.com/podcasts/ 

• Glasgow: Sounds of a Music Capital
• Literary London
• Mozart in Prague
• Santa Monica Design
• Hemingway in Paris
• Paris Impressionists 

 Audio tours in Italian for Italy http://www.freeaudioguide.com/index.htm