Views on Group Tours -- Pros and Cons (cruise, hotel, vacation)
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It doesn't make sense to generalize about group tours, because there's a huge variety available from big bus tours (which is what the OP seems to be thinking of) to very small groups tours with only 10-12 people, to specialty tours with a focus on a single subject like archaeology or astronomy, to outdoor/nature adventure tours such as horse trekking or bicycle tours. And people choose tours over independent travel for many different reasons.
What matters in the end is that you enjoyed your vacation, not how you took it. Personally I'm tired of people trying to proclaim the One Right Way to Travel, and who is or is not a Real Traveler.
(I've traveled independently and on group tours, and have enjoyed both. And in the future, I'll be doing both again.)
I'm thinking about doing a group tour to Africa in the next year or so. I've heard good things about the company and it seems to be an easier and cheaper way to see Africa.
I don't like group tours in general but I'm a big fan of day tours with a guide in specific locations. You learn so much more than you do just wandering around.
I would never go on a 2 week trip with a group...but I have been on many 2 - 6 hour tours concentrating on the architecture of a neighborhood or even of a single church that gave me much more detail and information than I ever could have gotten by just "looking around". I don't like groups and I don't see myself as part of one but it can be a bit snobbish to assume you're always the expert.
I think it is entirely two different things to be AFRAID to venture out on your own (provincial) versus being interested enough in something to seek the expertise of a tour/local guide.
How do you feel about group tours, as opposed to independent travel?
Personally,, I'd avoid a group tour, for these reasons of my own.
First, you can do it independently a lot cheaper -- there are always hotels with walk-in rates a lot lower than what a group books, and you can go as rustic as you like on dining choices and sightseeing.
Second, you only really get the experience of travel if you have to make your own decisions along the way, and be responsible for them. It is very satisfying to do your own navigation and find your own way, if for no other reason than that you willl remember it much more vividly. Each event is a piece of a patchwork that has a pattern.
And third, in a group tour, it is possible to spend weeks there without ever speaking to a single local, and always the same tourists over and over again Like sitting with your friends and watching a movie of the country.
Let me illustrate this with an example. My wife andn I went on a birding trip to Asia. We traveled from Korea to Indonesia to India, everywhere finding our own way from our town hotel into the countryside, locating birds, and identifying them ourselves from a field guide book..
Then in Bangladesh, we met a birding friend who drove us in his car about 2 hours out of Dhaka, to his favorite birding area, and he pointed out the birds to us as he found them. I had no idea where we were, geographically, and I do not remember a single bird. I saw little of the countryside and spoke to no Bangladeshis, as the whole trip I was chatting with my host. We might has well have just spend the day in his living room -- I had none of the experience that marked our birding days in the other countries, where we were at the mercy of our own diligence and enterprise. I was simply swept through a day, and nothing stuck.
Absolutely. planning and doing your own trips is difficult, time consuming, takes a lot of thought and enrgy. but well worth the effort for all the reasons you have mentioned. we have done most of europe and turkey that way and have had memorable experiences.
but places you almost have to do group torurs - china, Serengeti. since then we have done a few more group tours with cruise. NEVER again.
But... we are doing one more. the grand teton and canadian rockies. our first trip with the Road Scholars and we'll see how that works.
it was too much work figuring out the hotels, mapping and driving. maybe we are just getting lazy.
I have only been on a couple group tours, but I do avoid them if I'm the one making the plans. I like to move at my own pace and that won't happen in a group tour. Your schedule is dictated by the group's schedule and I don't like that. You may find something extremely interesting and want to see more of it, but the tour guide may not think it's important so he/she will just gloss over a few details and then move people along to the next sight. You can buy a book, read a little bit, and visit the place and usually learn more about it than you would as part of a tour. You can do it cheaper on your own. You may see a sign for something that interests you, but isn't on the tour so you'd be forced to go back if you want to see it.
I'm thinking about doing a group tour to Africa in the next year or so. I've heard good things about the company and it seems to be an easier and cheaper way to see Africa.
Group tours are often the best way to see a lot for a little amount of money and leave the work to someone else. They can be safer than indepentant travel as well.
For some, planning and doing your own thing is the answer. A lot has to do with what one is looking for, where they are going and their budget. Plus the age of the traveler enters into this as well.
There is no way anyone can say, with knowledge and fairness which is best. I know if I were going to someplace like Afica, I would certainly go on a tour. If I were taking 10 to 14 days in Europe I would probably do a tour. There are other trips i wouldnt even consider a tour.
We have done both, independent travel and group. we have enjoyed both as well.
BTW, someone did mention independent travel is less expensive, I wonder if that person has even used a tour company and if they have compared based on same quality hotels etc? I am guessing not.
Group tours are often the best way to see a lot for a little amount of money and leave the work to someone else. They can be safer than indepentant travel as well.
For some, planning and doing your own thing is the answer. A lot has to do with what one is looking for, where they are going and their budget. Plus the age of the traveler enters into this as well.
There is no way anyone can say, with knowledge and fairness which is best. I know if I were going to someplace like Afica, I would certainly go on a tour. If I were taking 10 to 14 days in Europe I would probably do a tour. There are other trips i wouldnt even consider a tour.
We have done both, independent travel and group. we have enjoyed both as well.
BTW, someone did mention independent travel is less expensive, I wonder if that person has even used a tour company and if they have compared based on same quality hotels etc? I am guessing not.
I have done it both ways. Comparing apples to apples in terms of accommodations and meals, independent travel is less expensive--partially because we end up paying for things that don't interest us, but we were forced to follow the herd. I also don't like that often with group travel you are consigned to eating at specific times and places, and the food in those places is meh at best.
It doesn't make sense to generalize about group tours, because there's a huge variety available from big bus tours (which is what the OP seems to be thinking of) to very small groups tours with only 10-12 people, to specialty tours with a focus on a single subject like archaeology or astronomy, to outdoor/nature adventure tours such as horse trekking or bicycle tours. And people choose tours over independent travel for many different reasons.
What matters in the end is that you enjoyed your vacation, not how you took it. Personally I'm tired of people trying to proclaim the One Right Way to Travel, and who is or is not a Real Traveler.
(I've traveled independently and on group tours, and have enjoyed both. And in the future, I'll be doing both again.)
Well said. And we agree.
I will add that as we age, group tours become more appealing, mostly because public transport and walking become physucally more difficult.
it was too much work figuring out the hotels, mapping and driving. maybe we are just getting lazy.
Or busy. My last few trips have been group tours for just that reason - not enough free time to plan. I've got a few independent trips in mind for the next couple of years, but those are visits to National Parks and such, where the level of planning is along the lines of "just show up."
I also note with some amusement that most of the folks describing their "independent" trips weren't traveling completely independently - they had travel companions. Traveling solo is a completely different experience. Sometimes I'm up for it; other times I prefer a bit of company, and choose a group tour instead. Being sick alone in a strange country isn't an experience I recommend.
Or busy. My last few trips have been group tours for just that reason - not enough free time to plan. I've got a few independent trips in mind for the next couple of years, but those are visits to National Parks and such, where the level of planning is along the lines of "just show up."
I also note with some amusement that most of the folks describing their "independent" trips weren't traveling completely independently - they had travel companions. Traveling solo is a completely different experience. Sometimes I'm up for it; other times I prefer a bit of company, and choose a group tour instead. Being sick alone in a strange country isn't an experience I recommend.
i thought it was independently as opposed to organized, not necessarily solo. if solo i probably would choose group but i know single women in our group tours - mostly couples -who were bored and unhappy. i would choose a tour that has more activity and interesting ideas but that is hard to come by.
this Road Scholars was done while i was searching for a vacation rental in So Cal and just wanted to get it down because it got sold out for august last time.
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