Escorted tours

Guided tours let you sit back and enjoy yourself while someone else does the driving and an expert guides you around the top sights

I hesitate even to talk about fully escorted tours because I believe they detract from the travel experience, insulate you from the culture and people, provide only a superficial view from the deepest rut of the beaten path, and feed you the lowest common denominator vacation. 

However, I also realize they help some people feel far more comfortable with the idea of visiting a foreign country, especially for the first time. So, in the spirit of to each his own, here's what you need to know to pick the best bus tour out there.

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Should I travel alone or join a tour?

Do you like to let your bus driver worry about traffic while you sit in comfort and listen to a tour guide explain everything you see? Or do you prefer to rent a car and follow your nose, even if you don't catch all the highlights? Do you like to have lots of events planned for each day, or would you rather improvise as you go along? 

Or do you like it somewhere in between, with some of the travel details planned for you so you can devote your energies to planning your daily sightseeing? The answers to these questions will determine whether you should choose a guided tour or a vacation package or travel à la carte under your own steam and ambition.

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The escorted tour

Some people love escorted tours. They free you from figuring out complicated train schedules or spending lots of time behind the wheel; they take care of all the details of booking hotels, (often) choosing restaurants, and deciding where to go and how long to stay, and they walk you through—or bus you past—every attraction with an accompanying monologue on its history and importance. 

You know your costs up front, and there aren't many surprises. Escorted tours take you to the maximum number of sights in the minimum amount of time with the least amount of hassle.

Other people need more freedom and spontaneity; they can't stand escorted tours. They prefer to discover a destination by themselves, and don't mind getting caught in a thunderstorm without an umbrella or finding that a recommended restaurant in the guidebook is no longer in business. For them, that's just the adventure of travel.

Escorted tours tend to ride comfortably and unimaginatively in the deepest ruts of the beaten path, eschewing anything novel and treating the bulk of Europe like so many living postcards to be ogled from the tinted windows of an air-conditioned bus. Big bus tours tend to write off even the most interesting sights if a big parking lot is not nearby.

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Some questions to ask if you want an escorted tour

Before you sign up for an escorted tour, you need to ask some questions.

• What is the cancellation policy? Do you have to put a deposit down? Can the company cancel the trip if they don't get enough people? How late can you cancel if you are unable to go? When do you pay? Do you get a refund if you cancel? How about if they cancel?
• How jam-packed is the schedule? Do they try to fit 25 hours' worth of activities into one day, or is there ample time for relaxing by the pool or shopping? If you don't enjoy getting up at 7am every day and not returning to your hotel until 6 or 7pm at night, certain whirlwind escorted tours may not be for you.
• How big is the group? The smaller the group, the more flexible the schedule, and the less time you'll spend waiting for people to get on and off the bus. Also, the larger the group, the more some quaint little village will treat you like an invading barbarian horde to be fended off by throwing large amounts of overpriced souvenirs in your general direction. Tour operators may be evasive about group size until they know how many people have signed on, but they should be able to give you a rough estimate. Some tours have a minimum group size and may cancel the tour if they come up short.
• What is included in the tour? Don't assume anything. You may have to pay to get yourself to and from the airport. A box lunch may be included in an excursion, but drinks might cost extra. Beer might be included but not wine. How much choice do you have? Can you opt out of certain activities, or are you committed for a full day? Are all your meals planned in advance? Can you choose your entree at dinner, or does everybody get the same chicken cutlet?
• How much is "optional?" Many tours look cheap but are larded with the phrases "optional excursion" and "optional tour." That's brochure-speak for "you have to pay more if you want to do this."

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The case for being your own guide

I'll get around to listing tour operators in the "Links" section a moment, I promise, but first let me make a plea for traveling solo instead. The bulk of this site is designed to help you get a handle on going it alone and loving it. There are literally hundreds of pages here filled with all the hints, tips, and tools you'll need to plan your own European odyssey and explain how to cope with any difficulties (think of them as adventure) you'll encounter along the way.

Travelers who take their entire trip into their own hands have to spend more time planning and troubleshooting, but they almost invariably have the most fun. They see exactly what they want to see, choose hotels and restaurants that fit their own tastes and budget, dally when they feel like it, or speed up the itinerary if necessary. Best of all, they get an entirely unique experience and take on Europe.

You could be encased in a climate-controlled bus, trundling from city to city in the company of 50 other Americans and learning more than you ever wanted to know about the hometown of the person sitting next to you. Or you could be learning about London in a second-class train couchette as you share your picnic lunch with a motley group of local young soldiers, middle-aged nuns, and ancient farmers. 

On your own, you have the freedom to say to blazes with Madame Tussaud's or joining the entire group to cram into one touristy pub, and instead spend the day hiking in Hampstead Heath, shopping on Oxford Street, finding your own pub, or whatever catches your fancy. You can spend the whole day inside the British Museum instead of being hustled through in two hours.

Of course, when things go wrong, you're the one that has to fix them. But treat every dilemma as an adventure, and memories about any crisis can prove to be the highlight of your trip—a humorous tale with which to regale your jealous friends back home.

Traveling on your own forces you to get in touch with the countries you're visiting and learn more about the locals and their culture. You go from being part of a tour bus crowd to being a single guy or gal, a little lost and in need of help. Smile wide, say "thank you" a lot, and rely on the kindness of strangers.

It's the lone explorer and her family who are more likely to be invited into the cellar to sample a cup of the family's wine straight from the barrel or be let into the museum for a quick look around, even though it closes in half an hour.

OK, Lecture over. If you'd still feel more comfortable in the the hands of an experienced guide, in the Links section below are some of the tour companies that run the best-regarded escorted tours in Britain:

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Escorted tours

• Viator.com - Offers a multitude of multi-day trips, from two days exploring beyond London, to three days of Welsh Castles, to five days of Cornwall or a week in the Scottish Highlands and Orkney Islands.Partner
• Cietours.com - Specialist in British Isles Tours—Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales.
• Bmit.com - Specialist in British Isles Tours—Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales.
• Gate1travel.com - Good generalist tour company.
• Realadventures.com - Several dozen tours from multiple companies and on various themes across the U.K.Partner
• Ricksteves.com - PBS superstar Rick Steves runs a highly successful tour company that really tries to highlight all the best of the independent travel style espoused in his books and TV show in a group format. I've bumped into several of his tour groups in Europe over the years, and the participants always gush about what a great time they're having. He also keeps his groups smaller than most (24 to 28 travelers versus the 40 to 60 many big companies cram onto the bus), and the smaller the group, the more authentic the experiences each member is going to have (to say nothing of more room on the bus). (Disclosure: I know Rick, but have recommended his product long before that, even if we were once guidebook competitors!)
• Sceptrevacations.com - Escorted and custom group tours of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, plus many great vacation packages.
• Roadscholar.org - The travel company formerly known as Elderhostels (and, briefly, Exploritas) is devoted to "Adventures in lifelong learning," and aimed at travelers 50 and over. These are educational trips, often coordinated by universities, with nearly 70 trips in or including England, Scotland, and Wales. Your days are packed with seminars, lectures, field trips, and sightseeing, all led by academics or expert tour guides. Programs range from one to four weeks. They also offer cruises, intergenerational trips (i.e.: bring the grand kids), and outdoors adventures.
• Abercrombiekent.com - One of the best tour companies in the world—with prices to match! If you can afford it, you will love it.
• Oattravel.com - Small group adventures, with a focus on mature solo travelers.
• Contiki.com - Tours of England, Scotland, and beyond, aimed at younger travelers.Partner
• STA Travel - Tours of England and Scotland aimed at students and other young travelers.Partner
• Goway.com - Good generalist tour and package company.
• Tripmasters.com - Another good generalist tour and package company.
• Smartours.com - Good, basic tour company with a smaller roster of carefully crafted tours at decent prices.
• Brendanvacations.com - Specialists in Ireland and Scotland.
• intrepidtravel.com -

  Though rarely do they have U.K. offerings, Intrepid Travel is well worth checking out. it is one of only two only major tour outfits I know (along with G Adventures) of that makes a concerted effort to travel like real independent travelers—small groups (max of 12 people), staying in mom-and-pop accommodations and getting around by public transport rather than a big tour bus.

  This fantastic Australian company marries an independent travel style with the expertise of truly knowledgeable guides and a focus on the cultural experience of travel.

  Intrepid really does run a different breed of group tour. Let me put it this way: When my parents—who travel widely and on their own and normally would never have even considered taking a group tour—suddenly found themselves with airfare to Japan but no time to plan a trip, I suggested they try booking with Intrepid. They did—and they have raved about it every since. Nearly seven years later, they were still in touch with their guide via email.

  Partner
• Gadventures.com - G Adventures is an excellent small-group adventurous tour operator. Not much on the U.K. at present—save for a small ship adventure sailing the Scottish islands and Norway coast—but worth checking out.Partner
• Backroadstouring.com - British-based tour company devoted to getting off the beaten path and avoiding the highways.

Active tours

• RealAdventures.com - This is not a tour operator or travel agency, but rather a clearing for independent tour operators, local adventure outfitters, and vacation agencies to offer their trips and tours direct to consumers. As such, it offers a potpourri of trips around the world, from single-day experiences to two-week tours, and they run the gamut from ballooning or biking to walking holidays, cooking schools, and much, much more.Partner
• Infohub.com - Not a tour company, rather a kind of aggregator of trips offered by tour companies—hiking and biking tours all across the U.K., plus barge-and-bike tours of the Thames in England, birding or fly-fishing in Wales, and kayak tours of Scotlands lochs, islands, or coast. Infohub casts one of the largest nets over the industry, listing some 14,000 tours offered by 4,000 operators in more than 100 categories, with more than 200 tours in England, nearly 100 in Scotland, and 65 in Wales.Partner
• Viator.com - Best place to search for one-day active and outdoor adventures (along with a few mutli-day treks)—from hiking and biking to kayaking, surfing, fishing, caving, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, sailing, skydiving, off-roading, and more. You'll have to search England, Scotland, and Wales independently, but there are dozens upon dozens of adventures in each. Partner
• Rei.com - America's greatest co-op chain of outdoors gear stores also offers active vacation—like walking tours of England and Scoltand, and some family multi-sport tours.
• Gadventures.com - G Adventures is an excellent small-group adventurous tour operator. Not much on the U.K. at present—save for a small ship adventure sailing the Scottish islands and Norway coast—but worth checking out.Partner
• Djoserusa.com - Excellent small-group tour company based out of the Neterhlands. Not much in the U.K.—though the 8-day Wales Walking tour is nice—but also worth checking out. 
• Sierraclub.org/outings - Yes, the premier outdoors network of the USA also plans lots of trips abroad, including ones in Europe, like the England Coast-to-Coast walk, or Adventures in the Scottish Highlands.Partner
• Exodustravels.com - Adventure travel and trips, including self-guided walking adventures in the U.K.

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