A lot of famous “travelers” will tell you not to book a tour on your next vacation. They feel that you are losing out on an experience if you are being “carted around like cattle” and you will miss out on the nuanced beauty and charm of the cities you visit. This may be true in part, but it still should not deter you from taking a tour in some cities.
Here are the reasons why it is OK to book a tour:
Time
If you have several days to spend in a city, then you have the time to relax and explore a little more, which is where you may find those quirky spots and local hideouts in between hitting the major tourist spots on your own. However, most times people only have a couple days in a city which means if you spend time looking for the locals, you won’t have time to hit the famous sights. If it is more important for you to see the castles and cathedrals that are spread apart than it is to sip coffee down a back alley, then book yourself a tour with no shame. Tours save time when you want to see the highlights but just don’t have the days to explore on your own. On our recent trip to Glasgow, it was worth it for us to take a day tour to the Highlands so we could see several cities, lochs, and castles in one day.
Transportation
Some countries are easy to get a rental car and drive around but most cities in Europe are not very accommodating when it comes to driving yourself, especially with trying to find parking or navigating narrow streets – half the time you don’t know if you are driving on a street or sidewalk. If you opt out of a rental car, sometimes a tour is the only way you can get transportation to all of the spots without spending $30 every ride to hop in a cab. A lot of major cities will have good local transportation like buses and metros, which can help, but if that overwhelms you, then put the stress in someone else’s hands and let them get you there. On our recent trip to Israel, it was worth it to book a tour to Petra in Jordan so someone else could figure out the cross-border travel and visa situation.
Proximity
Even if the city you are staying in has great local transportation, they may not have it conveniently outside the city borders. If you are staying in London without a rental car and want to get to Stonehenge, a tourbus is probably your best option. Similarly in Glasgow, the cities we stopped in were only connected via roads, so unless we had a rental car, there was no way we were getting there.
Knowledge
Tours are amazing when you don’t want to spend the whole day walking around with your phone on Wikipedia. Most tour guides are packed with fascinating information and fun local quips that you can’t get from a website. This is my number one reason to book a tour. Having someone talk to you about what you are seeing and its historical relevance makes it a richer and more memorable experience. On our trip to Pompeii, I would have been lost just walking around looking at ruins. Having a tour guide with us brought the old city to life as our guide explained the smallest details of the city and was able to answer any question better than Siri.
Convenience
Sometimes you are too overwhelmed planning the trip to get TO the city that you don’t have energy to plan the trips within the city once you are there. There is absolutely no denying the convenience of booking a tour. If it is the difference between you being stressed out on a trip or being able to relax, then book the tour without judgment every single time. Some people really have difficulty planning trips; research and scheduling just isn’t their thing. It is far better to book a tour than to miss out on the city. This is your vacation after all, so don’t let some “tour shaming” affect your decision-making if it is something you really need.
If you can’t deny the reasons I have stated but still hate the idea of a tour, here are some tips to help you pick a tour without feeling like a face in the crowd
Read the Reviews
For every tour that go on, I provide reviews on TripAdvisor (& their tour program Viator) for every tour that I do, so I always read the reviews before I book. You wouldn’t eat at a restaurant that had 1-2 stars on Yelp, so you shouldn’t short-change yourself on a tour that received negative reviews. I especially look to see what people are saying about the spots they visited as well as the personality and knowledge level of the tour guide. I want to make sure the guide is a true local because they tend to have the most knowledge and passion about the location.
Look at the time
If you dread the idea of a tour but know you still need to book one for the sake of your travel, look for 1/2 day tours that cover what you really want to see so you don’t get stuck on a bus seeing things you only half care about. For our trip to Pompei, there were tours anywhere from 2 hours to 7 hours. We knew that our love of Roman history had a bout a 3 hour max limit to it, so we booked a private 2.5 hour tour. We saw everything we wanted to see and left the ruins in awe as opposed to bored and burned out.
Private or Semi-private tours
Read the description of the tour and pick one that is either just your group or your group and a few extras. I try to avoid any tour of more than 12 people. After that it starts to feel impersonal and I always end up getting annoyed at someone asking non-stop stupid questions. We have done a few private/semi-private tours now (Dijon, Champagne, Pompeii) and we have all enjoyed them immensely. A tour doesn’t have to take away from your experience in a city, in fact, having a local guide can seriously enhance it.
What tours have you taken lately and loved? Tell me about it in the comments below!
Xx
Kali