Travel Picks: Top 10 best free things for travelers

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Whether it's New York's Staten Island Ferry or London's National Gallery, free activities are a welcome bonus for travelers of all ages and incomes.

Travel website Travelandleisure.com (here

tuff) has come up with a list of the world's best free stuff for

travelers. The list is not endorsed by Reuters:

1. Free sightseeing: Get the inside track on a city from someone who knows it best -- a local. These volunteers want to show off their town, and won't demand a tip. Greeters can be scheduled via e-mail or telephone and should be arranged several weeks to a month ahead.

2. Free bicycles:

Zip around town on two wheels. In Copenhagen, Zurich, Bern, and Helsinki, you can borrow a bicycle from stands stationed around the city. Each program requires a nominal deposit which is returned after your ride when you lock the bike up. Many cities, including Paris, Vienna, Rome, and Lyon, offer free bikes for the first half hour (after that you'll have to fork over some cash).

3. Free Podcasts:

Download podcasts to your MP3 player and get a step-by-step narration of some of the world's hottest spots. In Europe, Rick Steves will guide you through the Louvre, Versailles, the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, the Uffizi Gallery, and other sites. Zevisit has free downloadable audio guides to scores of European cities. Author Peter Caine has a free podcast based on his book, "Walking the Da Vinci Code" in Paris. Open House New York also offers a number of free podcasts of notable buildings.

4. Free Public Transport:

In Europe, 27 InterCity Hotels throughout Germany and one in Vienna offer free local public transportation to guests while visitors to New York can't beat the spectacular view of the skyline during the 25-minute ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

5. Free accommodation:

A hotel can be the most expensive part of a vacation so try living in someone else's home while they live in yours. List your house or apartment on a vacation-exchange site like Only in America. To go global, the International Home Exchange Network features listings all over the world.

6. Free Skiing:

Try the Utah package where an early morning flight to Salt Lake City provides a boarding pass on which you can ski all day at Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, and The Canyons Resort. In Colorado, several resorts offer some type of free-skiing program to reward volunteer work and Quebec give a one day pass to anyone who dresses like Santa on Santa Claus Day.

7. Free Sports Events: