How to Choose the Perfect Group Tour

I’m an independent traveller at heart. I love planning my own trips and moving at my own pace. But sometimes, a group tour is honestly the smartest option, especially when time, energy, or logistics are working against you.

The problem is, not all group tours are created equal. If you’ve ever been stuck on a massive bus, rushed through highlights, or dragged from one tourist shop to another, you’ll know how quickly a trip can lose its magic.

In this episode, I’m sharing my personal process for choosing a group tour that actually enhances your experience, not one that leaves you frustrated and exhausted.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How to know if a group tour is right for you
• Why group size matters more than you think
• What to look for in itineraries, transport, and accommodation
• How to avoid time-wasting tours
• Red flags to watch for before booking
• My go-to group tour companies (and why)

If you’ve ever felt torn between independent travel and organised trips, this episode will help you choose with confidence... without the overwhelm.

Helpful Resources & Links

• Related Tourist to Traveller blog post: How to Choose the Right Group Tour: My Personal Selection Process 
• Follow my travels on Instagram: @_touristtotraveller

Thanks for tuning in to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast. 

Connect & Explore

Find destination guides, travel planning resources and more at touristtotraveller.com, and follow along on Instagram @_touristtotraveller for behind-the-scenes planning and future travel inspiration. 

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast, the show that helps you go beyond the guidebook and turn your bucket list dreams into real adventures. I'm Tahnee, a travel blogger, podcaster, and everyday explorer who's been ticking off epic destinations for over 20 years while balancing a 9 to 5. Each week I'll bring you inspiring stories, destination deep dives, and practical tips to help you plan smarter, travel deeper, and capture those unforgettable moments along the way. So grab your passport, hack your curiosity, and let's get started. Alright, let's talk group tours. If you've been following me for a while now, you'll know that I'm very much an independent traveler at heart. I strangely love planning. I love the flexibility, and I love doing things my own way. But here's the honest truth. Sometimes a group tour is hands down the smartest option. Especially when you're short on time, low on mental energy, or heading somewhere that feels a little more complex to navigate solo. The problem? Not all group tours are created equal. And if you've ever found yourself stuck on a massive coach tour spending more time in transit than actually exploring, you know exactly why choosing the right one matters. So today I'm walking you through my personal checklist. The non-negotiables I look for before I ever book a group tour. This is the exact process I use to make sure I still get an authentic, meaningful experience without the planning overwhelm. Let's start off with my relationship with group tours because it has evolved over the years. At one point to me, group tours didn't really feel like traveling authentically. But I've really started to shift my perspective. And here's why. Firstly, it depends on what life season are you in at the moment. If you really need a holiday or you're really looking for a trip, but you actually don't have you actually don't have the mental bandwidth right now to go through all of the planning and the decision making, then a group tour is brilliant. This is an opportunity to have someone else plan everything for you. You just get to show up and enjoy the experience. Although I love solo travel, it's not for everyone. This is an opportunity to still have your trip, but also make friends along the way without having to miss out on opportunities because you're waiting to find friends or family who will come along on that journey with you. And in my late teens and early 20s, this was absolutely the case for me. There are also some destinations that are simply not safe to travel to alone, especially as a solo female traveler. So sometimes it is smarter and significantly safer to go with a group tour. There are some destinations around the world where you actually can't get a visa without having a guide, and a group tour is so much more cost effective in these situations. And sometimes a group tour is just more cost effective at the end of the day, anyways. So the real question is what do I want this trip to feel like? Is it ease, depth, adventure, connection? And is a group trip the way for you to experience that? Let's go through my criteria. First of all, group size. It is an absolute deal breaker. Now we've all either seen or experienced group tours with 50 or plus people crammed into a coach going from one destination to the next. They look like they're being herded like cattle. And that does not feel like an enjoyable, authentic travel experience. I don't like being surrounded by too many people at the best of times. So my level of frustration on a huge group tour dealing with people who are late, asking silly questions, being disrespectful on the bus, being disrespectful to the locals, it's a lot. For me, the sweet spot is around 12 to 15 people. You get to make friends, you can have a much more authentic experience. Uh, you don't have the same impact on the people around you. And if you've dealt with really big bus tours, you understand what I mean. And because of that, because of the size, you can stay at better places, you can have more authentic experience, you can have really local experiences. You can go to some really beautiful cafes and restaurants and bars rather than having to just go to the places that can accommodate groups of that size. So it really starts to shift the way that you experience the trip based on the number of people that you have. And if you're anyone like me, I have a lot of questions, especially around the history of a place, the purpose of why. Um, in culture, they did things a certain way. And it's so easy to ask those questions and to have them answered when you're in a smaller group. Next up is travel style and transport. How you travel from location to location at your chosen destination can really make a difference to your journey? Does it involve trains, buses, large buses, private cars, domestic flights, uh large-scale cruises, small cruises? Uh, what is the form of travel and what does that look like? For me, I want to make sure that I'm truly experiencing a destination and not just traveling through it. Sometimes really long travel days are necessary for the destination that you're in. But this is where you can choose smartly. If you know that one tour has you spending three days on the road from the north of the country to the south of the country without much value in between, versus another tour that includes a short domestic flight and more time on the ground doing the things that you actually want to do, that's probably the way to go. Or if you know that that road journey has some really great cultural experiences along the way and epic experiences that you would never get anywhere else, maybe that is the best way to go. Now, I want to show you an example here of when I had made a decision around traveling and also changed that decision at the very last minute. Now, when I went to Egypt, I did a tour that had a couple of different options, and there was a different price point per option. The one that we chose had a couple of nights at five-star accommodation. The alternative option, which was cheaper, and we hadn't realized that this was basically the same tour on the same bus at the time. Um, theirs didn't include the five-star accommodation. Theirs included uh a couple of nights sailing down the Nile River on a falook. And a falucca is a traditional Egyptian sailing boat. This was really uh, let's let's call it rough traveling. It's basically in this felucca was just a really big mattress on the bottom of a boat. That's it. No chairs, no tables, no anything else. It was just one big large mattress that everyone chills on. That's where you sit, that's where you eat, that's where you sleep. Um, you'd basically just pick a spot, grab a blanket and a pillow, and you're good to go for your journey. Now, initially I thought this cruise down the Nile was like uh what I think of when I think of a cruise is like a cruise ship. I was thinking more um cookie-cutter cruise down the Nile. And what I thought that we could do in our couple of days at our five-star accommodation was get out on our own, do some solo travel and explore the local area and do some cool local things. But that really shifted once I realized the method of transportation was a falook. Our guides gave us a last-minute opportunity and they they said, look, if you were on the if if you've paid for the five-star accommodation, look, we can't give you a refund, unfortunately. However, we can give you an opportunity to jump on the falo instead. You'll miss out on your five-star accommodation, but it won't cost you a cent more, and you can spend the couple of nights on the flukha. And once I explained what that experience was, it was a no-brainer for us. We were jumping on the falucca. And it was the best decision that we made on that trip. That's the highlight for us of our time in Egypt is remembering those days just sailing along the Nile and having multiple stops along the way where we could swim, where we could meet locals. Uh, we listened to locals, you know, dancing, singing, playing music around a bonfire at night, telling stories, and we never would have had that experience had we spent a couple of nights in that five-star accommodation. So you need to choose your travel wisely, but also sometimes it's okay to change your mind. So, with travel, have a think about am I seeing the country or just moving through it? Next is accommodation standards. Once again, this comes down to how you prefer to travel. For me, five-star accommodation is really beautiful, but when I'm in a destination, I want to have more of a local experience where possible. But the one line for me when it comes to group tours is dormitories. I'm quite happy to do a to camp outdoors in a swag under the stars. I'm quite happy to do a home stay. I can camp pretty rough, but uh a backpacking dorm is not the way that I want to travel on a group tour. The great thing about accommodation is that there are so many different tour companies that specifically cater to your preferences. If you love high-end five-star luxury travel, don't worry, there are plenty of companies that do that. If you prefer staying in dorms and going backpack a star, there are plenty of tour companies that do that. If you would prefer to stay in people's homes, you can do that as well. There are so many options there for you. It's just a matter of what is right for you. And it's something that I very clearly look for when choosing accommodation. It's not just the accommodation style, but it's also the accommodation location. Where possible, my personal preference is not to stay in the central tourist area of a city. I prefer to stay more out in the local areas where I'm gonna get a lot more culture and a much better experience. But that's just my personal preference and something that I look for in a group tour. For example, I went on a group tour around Morocco in 2025, and one of my deal breakers was the accommodation. For me, I really wanted to have the experience of staying at least one night in a Moroccan Riyadh. And I was very clear to choose a tour that included a Riyadh stay. So ask yourself: does this accommodation add to the experience or just to the price tag? Next is the actual itinerary and the balance of any free time that you might have on the itinerary. For me, a purposeful itinerary is all about balance. Yes, you want to tick off the major sites at a destination, uh, and yes, they are probably touristy things to do, but also they're the must-sees at a destination. It's like you don't travel to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower on your first journey. It's just a must-see. And that's okay, but how is that itinerary balanced with uh time out in nature, time with locals, foodie experiences, getting active, uh, you know, all the different things that you're looking for in your itinerary? And outside of those big ticket items, it's important to have a look to see the items on the itinerary. Are they authentic or are they tourist traps? For example, markets. Are you going to local markets, the kind of markets where all of the locals shop for their food? Or are you going to markets that are purely there for tourism purposes? And the only people that shop there are tourists, because those are two very different experiences. And don't forget to look for free time on your itinerary and think about how you will use that free time. I find that some group tours have way too much solo time, and quite often it's in areas that you might not want to spend much time exploring, or you might not actually feel overly safe to explore on your own. And then some just don't have enough. Everything is just jam-packed in, and you don't have a single moment yourself to do that one thing that might not have been on the itinerary, but all it would take is one hour out of your way to go and tick off that huge bucket list item for you. On my recent trip to Morocco, we had a couple of free days in Marrakesh, which was perfect because there was so much I wanted to do in Marrakesh. And most of the other people in our group wanted to do different things. They wanted to relax or go shopping or go to a lot of restaurants and check out the food. But for us, we wanted to see the sites and the history and the culture, and we had a very clear list of what we wanted to do in Marrakesh. And those free days allowed us to do that perfectly. So is there anything that is not on the itinerary? Because that's important also. If you don't have the free days and the right locations to do it on your own, you want to make sure that you don't have to travel back to that destination in a separate trip to mark off that one other thing that you wanted to do. I've been looking at going to Cuba in the near future. And for me, driving around Havana in a in a classic car is just a must-do experience for me. And it's only included in some tours, and that's okay. But what I'll probably do is start my journey in Havana so that I can spend a day there beforehand, do the things that I want to do that are not included in the group tour, such as driving around in a classic car. Next is local authentic experiences, and there are a few different things to consider here. First of all, is your guide local to the area? Because if they are, you can have such a different experience on the ground. They know all the tips and tricks and all the hacks. They know exactly where to send you in terms of currency exchanges and ATMs and where to get the best, cheapest groceries, the little corner stores that are going to give you food that you can't get anywhere else. They just know all the tricks and all the hacks. And you'll get to find out so much more about the local culture and about their life themselves while you are on the tour. Now, what other businesses does this tour support? Where are you stopping? Where are you shopping? Where are you eating your dinners, for example? Are they big international chains or are they local businesses? This is your opportunity to truly get to know the local culture at a destination. Responsible tourism matters now more than it ever has before. On my most recent tour to Morocco, we had multiple local cultural experiences built into the tour. One example that really stood out was a local village. At the end of a long day, we were taken to the outskirts of the location we were staying in for the night to a local mud brick village where life is slow and traditional. They have this initiative there where they've organized for groups to come in and eat with a local family. They do this for two reasons. First of all, it gives you such a unique cultural experience that you will remember forever. And second of all, it goes to support the local community because they pay these families directly for hosting us. Now, in this particular village, they also share it around, and it's the responsibility of the women in the village to prepare some kind of a dish or snack and tea for the group. We essentially went into this family's home, went upstairs, sat down on the couple of chairs that were there. We sat around on the floor, uh, we met their children, we met their family, we heard their stories, mostly translated through our guide. They brought us in a couple of snacks, like dates. I can't remember what else there was there, and also, of course, tea. And it was just such a beautiful experience. And the local family and those women get paid quite well for doing that. After that, we were able to walk through the village and we had local children running along beside us. Uh, we kept going on a bit of a walk where we saw a canyon, and it was so beautiful. And this is the kind of thing that you actually can't do or is hard to do when you are traveling solo. This is what giving back can look like with good quality tour companies. On my recent tour to Morocco, I was traveling with Intrepid, and something that they do as part of most of their tours is that they have a local community experience where they give back to the community, and that's something that's really important to them. So we went out to a local mud brick village and wandered through the village having a look at how they live life every day. We were then invited into a family home where we sat, we ate, we drank tea, and we shared stories. Um, we couldn't share stories directly. They were all translated through our guide. But we were invited in by a local family, and that local family gets paid by Intrepid to host us. Each group they take goes to a different family home so that they can share in the revenue. It was great to see that not only was that experience really special for us, but it was really special for the family. They were proud that we were going into their home and they even wanted to take selfies with us towards the end. Now, afterwards, we wandered through the village and we had a look and wandered along the top of a canyon. We had local children running after us in the streets, just laughing and playing. And that's the kind of thing that you just can't experience without that local knowledge. Next on the list is the physical activity level of any particular tour. It's really important to match your tour energy to your personality. For me, I'm a very active person and I love an active tour. That doesn't mean that we need to be out hiking every day, but what I can't do is really long, endless days on a bus where you're looking at sights through the window. I like to get out on the ground and explore. I look for opportunities to get outdoors, out in nature. I love walking tours, I love hikes, even if they're short ones, and active experiences. And if that's not for you, that's okay because there are plenty of other tours that have very minimal physical activity. Now, this is perfect for also elderly people who actually can't hike a couple of kilometers or spend much time on their feet. There are tours that cater for you. So ask yourself: will this trip energize me or frustrate me? Next up is doing my research by looking at reviews. Now, I don't just look for reviews on a tour group's website. I want to see what is out there that they haven't published themselves. And I do this in a few different ways. I typically look for uh any comparison sites online, any review sites, if they have a Google Maps destination, what comments have people popped on there? On social media, I'm looking to see Instagram tags, Facebook groups, I'm looking for anything where I can see people's real experiences uh with the company, but also on the actual trip, especially any photos, videos, uh, anything where I can get a real uh understanding and really just understand the vibe of the trip. So let's take a look at some of the red flags here. The first red flag for me is where there are minimal or no reviews other than the ones the company has published themselves. Second of Is a company that has no real traveler content. So there is nothing that has been shared by travelers online about that company or on any of their trips. Never make assumptions and always read the fine print. If it doesn't state that you go to a particular destination on your trip, make sure you check. For example, on my recent tour to Morocco, I wanted to know exactly what part of the desert we were going to because I knew the exact desert experience that I wanted to have. So that is the exact criteria that I look for when choosing a group tour. Something else to consider is an influencer-led trip. Influencer-led trips can be done in two ways. The first is organized directly by the influencer. And the second is where a tour or a travel company has brought in an influencer as uh, you know, to headline their trip. I've heard a lot about these kinds of tours and I've experienced one for myself. So let me tell you my honest thoughts and feedback. I have heard so much about people on influencer-led trips where the influencers were more concerned about themselves and their own photos than the group who were traveling with them. Some even said that they felt like they were third-wheeling or almost an inconvenience to the influencers on the trip. They walked away with little knowledge, with little value, feeling that like they were rushed around and not getting any of the photos that they thought they would get. And I really feel for anyone who has had that experience. Luckily, my experience was different. I went to Uluru in the Northern Territory in Australia on an influencer trip. And on this trip, the influencers genuinely cared about the experience that every participant had along the way, making sure that we were getting along, that we were enjoying the accommodation and the food, we had our questions answered, and they were there to make sure we had some epic photos. So are influencer trips worth it? Well, they can be, as long as there is an engaged host, they put their guest experience first, and it's backed by a legit tour operator. So ask yourself: who is this trip actually designed for? Is it for you or is it for the influencer? I've been on many group tours now and I've chosen them for different reasons. My first was a yoga retreat in Sri Lanka, and I chose that because it was being hosted by one of my best friends. The second was a combined group tour to Jordan and Egypt. I chose that via group tour purely for safety reasons, especially in Egypt. My third group tour was an influencer-led tour to Uluru and the Northern Territory in Australia. I chose that group tour because I was very stressed and run down at the time. And I honestly did not have the time to plan anything on my own. I needed just easy, stress-fee, stress-free where I could just rock up and have a great adventure. And my most recent one was to Morocco, and that was also mostly for safety reasons. However, once I was on the ground, I actually felt incredibly safe in Morocco. And had I had my time again, even though the tour was amazing, I would feel really comfortable to do that one on my own. So through all of my research and my personal experience, there are a couple of companies that really stand out for me personally. Intrepid really aligns with my values and my style of travel, which is why I love traveling with them. And the company that I went with for my recent trip to Morocco. For my next great trip, honestly, I'll probably look at Intrepid first. One that is very much on my radar, but I haven't traveled with them just yet, is G Adventures. From the research that I've done and people I've spoken to, it sounds like G Adventures has a very similar travel style to me as well and also aligns with my values. So those are my top two companies that at this stage I would recommend. The great thing about both of these companies is that they're really passionate about sustainability and responsible travel. They have small group sizes. I love the design of their itineraries and their built-in cultural, local experiences. They give back to the local communities and they've found a really good sweet spot between the itinerary and free time. They also employ local guides. So is a group trip right for you? If you have safety concerns, limited time, planning fatigue, and you're craving social connection, it could be a really great fit. Rather than feeling like a group tour is inauthentic or almost like cheating when it comes to travel, let's normalize outsourcing the logistics and give yourself permission to choose ease without the guilt. So if there's one thing I want you to take away from this episode, it's this. Group tours aren't good or bad. It's all about choosing the right one for you, your travel style, and the season of life you're in. When you get clear on what actually matters group size, pace, authenticity, and how you want to feel on the trip, it becomes so much easier to spot the tours that are worth your time and money. Head over to the blog for a full breakdown of my process with my post How to Choose the Right Group Tour, a real travelers checklist. I'll link it in the show notes in case you want to bookmark it for later. It walks you through exactly what to look for before you book and it'll save you hours of second guessing. And that's a wrap. I'll catch you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast. I hope today's episode has inspired you to travel more authentically and plan your next adventure with confidence. Don't forget to head to touristtotraveller.com for today's show notes, resources, and free guides to help you plan like a pro. And if you love this episode, please hit subscribe and leave a review. It helps more travelers like you discover the show. Until our next adventure.