European tour groups

[go iggy]

Hello

Looking to book a 3 week trip to Europe for my first time in April/May. I'm traveling solo and looking to meet some people along the way (I'm 41). I'm flexible on destinations as I haven't been to Europe before. What tour groups have you been on? Any recommendations? I've gone through the travel threads but didn't see any threads on tours.

Thanks in advance.

[worth]

That's because tours blow. Stay in hostels and me people that way. I've met people older than you on the road in the last 7 months.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by go iggy

Hello

Looking to book a 3 week trip to Europe for my first time in April/May. I'm traveling solo and looking to meet some people along the way (I'm 41). I'm flexible on destinations as I haven't been to Europe before. What tour groups have you been on? Any recommendations? I've gone through the travel threads but didn't see any threads on tours.

Thanks in advance.

My parents use Trafalgar and they are very solid company. My folks were well looked after and have had some great vacations with Trafalgar.

[The Big Chill]

Have a look at G Adventures.

Www.gadventures.com

I've never used a travel group myself, but I know a few people who have used G and absolutely loved it. They have many different options to choose from depending on how active you want to be, how much you want to party, how much structure you want, etc.

Definitely worth checking out.

[Calgary14]

I have a few friends that went with Contiki. Most regretted it as it wasn't what they expected. Lots of partying, drinking etc. Sounds like it's geared for single 20 somethings. As long as you know that going in it should be fine. When I went we avoided a tour and backpacked our way through several countries and had a great time

[redforever]

While Trafalgar and similar tour companies offer a great service, they tend to run groups of 25 to 40. Decide ahead of time if you are comfortable with a group of that size and also ask about the demographics of the group as nothing would be worse than a 41 year old doing a 3 week tour with the rest of the group being 70+ years in age.

I think you should also limit your trip to perhaps 2 to 3 countries in Europe that hold a special interest for you. Europe has layers and layers of history and to try to do all of Europe in 3 weeks is simply impossible.

There are lots of companies that offer overland tours for small groups. Personally, I like to limit the size of tours to 10 to 16 maximum...and again, making sure demographics are similar should hold importance as well.

[troutman]

How One Woman Toured Eastern Europe Using Tinder

On a backpacking adventure through Eastern Europe, Anna Davies discovers a host of eager personal guides, thanks to a wildly popular dating app


http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/...pe-through-app

[skudr248]

I traveled alone, met some awesome people along the way.. stay in the southern parts if your going in April/May (Go in May if that is the only 2 options).. check out Lisbon, Barcelona, Nice, Monaco, Rome, Athens if you have a chance.. It start's getting really nice in weather in May. Can travel on train (long, boring) or just book through easyjet.com which is cheaper than taking the train..

[calf]

On the Go is another good tour company.

My wife and I have done two tours together - we went to Peru using G in 2011, and Turkey using On the Go this past spring. She also did Contiki when she was younger - definitely a drinking/party trip.

Both On the Go and G were first class operators - good tour guides, no hiccups from arrival to departure, and generally found that we fit with the type of people that went on these tours (age range of 25-50, friendly, educated, generally courteous to others). You can pick the type of comfort level/group size on your tours and I found both met expectations.

As for choosing whether to go on a tour - we chose to do so for Peru and Turkey since we didn't speak the language, there's limited transportation infrastructure, and we wanted to see a lot of sites - the tour solved these for us, as we didn't want to spend half our time figuring out where the heck we needed to go.

Going to places with a better infrastructure or where people generally speak English, a tour might not be as necessary.

[Spuds_Buckley]

Highly recommend G-Adventures or Intrepid. I've done 5 different tours between the two of them. Usually smaller groups (I've had as small as 4 people, and up to 15 people). It's great because most are single people, you get to experience the local culture more than you would in one of those big bus tours, and you don't have to worry about accomodations or transportation.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I have a few friends that went with Contiki. Most regretted it as it wasn't what they expected. Lots of partying, drinking etc. Sounds like it's geared for single 20 somethings. As long as you know that going in it should be fine. When I went we avoided a tour and backpacked our way through several countries and had a great time

I've done Contiki. It's definitely a party trip, but you can choose how much or how little you want to partake in the drinking and late nights. The tourist stuff is still pretty good if that's your focus. I did both and enjoyed it all. Some people were so constantly drunk that you wondered if they even knew what city/country they were in, but most of the people on my trip knew their limits, and everyone got along well.

There are also a lot of hook-ups among the single travellers, so again, that's a personal preference thing. If you're looking for that, you can probably find it.

They do advertise themselves as being for 18-35 year-olds, so at 41, you might feel out-of-place. I've done 3 tours with them, and I had just turned 36 when I did my last one. I did get some odd looks at first, but everyone is there to have a good time. I think every tour I did had at least one person over 35 on it, and it was never a big deal.

I've heard they don't strictly enforce the 35 age-limit, but if you're travelling alone, you'll have to book a single room or find someone to travel with because they won't pair up a 35+ person with someone under 35. I'm 41 now, and I don't think I'd do another one, but as long as you know what you're in for, it's a good time. I often said, I'd rather be the oldest guy on the party bus than the youngest on the seniors' bus.


I have a friend who went on a tour for his honeymoon and it was a Trafalgar sub-brand that catered to the 25-45 age range, but looking at their website, they don't seem to offer those any more.


Another thing to keep in mind about the tours, is they're not all-inclusive. Usually only about half your dinners, and none of the lunches are provided on the tour. They all have "optional" tours and things that cost extra. For most of them, the price is reasonable, but an extra $40 or $50 per day that you didn't budget for can quickly add up over a two or three week trip. Also, they love to bring you into the little tourist-trap shops that will give you some big demonstration and offer a "great deal" for watching the demo.

The smaller tour companies might not be as bad about all the little extras as the big companies are, I don't know.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by troutman

How One Woman Toured Eastern Europe Using Tinder

On a backpacking adventure through Eastern Europe, Anna Davies discovers a host of eager personal guides, thanks to a wildly popular dating app


http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/...pe-through-app

This would be MUCH more difficult for a guy.

[MoneyGuy]

I've been to five countries in Europe and, so far, Germany is my favourite. Germany is stunning and has terrific history. All of the European countries have history, of course, but we absolutely loved Germany.