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Which Type of Tour is Best For Me?Find the Ideal Tour Experience Tailored to Your Preferences and Budget

Let us help you choose your trip style

Group or private. Culture or adventure. Short or long. Tours come in all shapes and sizes. Which is the best trip for you?

Choosing the right tour can be difficult. After all, there's such a diverse selection of trips available, even if you know where you want to go!

Do you want a cultural sightseeing tour, an adrenalin-pumping adventure, or a bit of both? Are you an older traveller looking for a slower paced coach tour, or do you want to see as much as possible in a limited time? Do you want to travel on a group tour and meet like-minded travellers, or would you prefer a private trip? We're going to try and help you answer all of these questions, as well as showing you some of our most popular destinations and tours.

Cultural touring vs Adventure travel

It can be tricky to define cultural touring and adventure travel, but cultural touring is generally accepted to mean more standard sightseeing—think guided group tours of important cities or sites such as the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Adventure travel is more... adventurous. Think camping in the African bush, trekking to Everest Base Camp, cruising to Antarctica!

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What's the Difference?

Cultural touring

In Europe, cultural touring in Italy, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, and elsewhere involves travelling from place to place with guided sightseeing in cities and other attractions and free time to explore at pace. Group sizes can range from small groups of 12–16 up to larger coach tours of up to 45 travellers. Typically the pace of these trips is quite fast, in order to see as much as possible in the allotted time. Cultural tours are a great introduction to a new destination, then you can return a second time for a slower trip.

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What's the Difference?

Adventure travel

Adventure travel is for those amongst us who like to take that extra step when travelling. We offer several true adventures, including a selection of trekking tours and expedition cruises to the extreme ends of the Earth, in Greenland and Antarctica. In Africa, our longest camping safari travels from Nairobi to Cape Town in six incredible weeks. And our Essentials tours in China, Japan and South Korea make use of budget hostels and public transport for an authentic adventure.

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What's the Difference?

A bit of both

Most of our tours combine cultural touring with adventure travel. For example, in Egypt, you will enjoy traditional sightseeing in Cairo and Giza, but you will also partake in thrilling experiences such as camel riding and felucca sailing. In Vietnam, one minute you will be browsing an ancient pagoda in Hanoi, and the next you'll be whisked around the city by rickshaw! And in India, you will tour the sites of Delhi and Jaipur before heading to Ranthambore National Park for a bucket list tiger safari. The best of both worlds!

Other factors to think about

There are other factors to consider when choosing the best trip for you. The biggest factor is deciding whether you want to travel on a group or private tour. If your answer is group, then other things to think about include the age range of the tour, the group size and the physical rating. Read on to find out more.

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Tour Factors

Group Vs Private tours

With a group tour, you join like-minded travellers from across the English-speaking world. Travellers will be of all sorts of ages, ethnicities and nationalities but with one common passion - travel! Escorted by a guide, you'll take in the best of your destination together, making new friends along the way. With a private tour, you still enjoy the same benefits of a group tour, such as the services of a guide and your included sightseeing and accommodation. But you travel with just your own private group, be that your friends or family.

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Tour Factors

Age range

The beauty of group touring is that you are likely to have a diverse mix of people on your trip. Our tours are often made up of people in their 20s and 30s, right up to their 70s and beyond. There is no upper age limit on our tours, though if you are aged 70 or over (65 for trips to Africa) we will ask you to complete a tour suitability form to ensure you are fit enough to safely join the tour. Our Essentials tours have a maximum age of 55 and are designed for younger travellers, staying in hostels and making use of public transport.

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Tour Factors

Group size

On our most popular Signature tours, the maximum group size never exceeds 24, and the average is more like 18 - 20 for a small group experience. Some of our Handpicked tours have a higher group size of up to 45 - 50. These are typically coach tours in destinations such as Italy (though we do have small group tours here too!) and Greece. For each tour, the maximum group size is clearly displayed on the relevant page on our website, so you can easily compare trips to find the right group size for you.

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Tour Factors

Physical rating

The majority of our trips include a moderate amount of walking, and as long as you are relatively fit and healthy, you should have no problem completing the tour, though checks do apply for travellers over 70 (65 in Africa). Some destinations and tours require a better level of fitness, for example our trekking tours, or our longer safaris in Africa. Speak to our Reservations team if you have concerns about your physical ability to complete a tour, and they may be able to suggest a good alternative.

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Tour Factors

Duration

The average length of our tours is around 8 days, but we offer trips ranging in length from 2 or 3 days up to 58! The length of trip we recommend for you depends on many factors. If you're retired and don't need to worry about taking time off work, then you may be able to travel for longer. Of course, shorter tours tend to be cheaper if you're conscious of your travel budget. It also depends on your destination. Small nations like Iceland can be explored in 3–5 days, while you really need a minimum of 8 or 9 to get the most from a trip to India, China, or Vietnam.

Top destinations

We offer group tours and private trips in more than 55 destinations, so browse our full range of countries to see where you can travel! Here are some of our most popular, from the Land of the Pharaohs in Egypt to the tropical jungles and temples of Vietnam.

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