Every traveler needs to do a group tour at least once in their lives. While so many prefer the control and freedom of solo travel or traveling with family or friends, group tours are unique travel experiences that can be so rewarding in ways you couldn’t even imagine. Here are 7 reasons why you should consider doing a group tour for your next trip:
Immersive Experiences
So many individuals shrink away at the idea of group travel, thinking it screams “tourist”. That notion couldn’t be further from the truth. Group tours often offer experiences that would be hard to come by if you were to go it alone. Whether it is in the form of a homestay, checking out places only the local guide would know for, or learning firsthand about a country from your tour guide’s experience, group travel is a way to approach a destination that allows you to dive head first into the unknown. It frees you to try new experiences without hesitation, knowing you are in good hands with a guide.
Someone Else Takes Care of the Logistics
While the freedom of traveling alone or with a friend is incomparable, you yourself are in charge of making all the decisions and figuring out what is safe, where to go, and how to get there. Tours allow you to fully concentrate on immersing yourself in the moment since someone else is in charge of all the logistics. This is why I generally recommend group tours for your first time in more exotic locations where there might be language barriers. Figuring out transportation and schedules in a foreign language can be a huge challenge on your own, so why not let someone else take the reigns so you can enjoy the ride?
While it might be your first time in a country, these tours have tried and tested itineraries that maximize your time, making sure you experience as much as possible. They organize all transportation in a way that makes sense, whether it be an overnight train or a quick flight between cities. The tour guides know when you have to leave in order to arrive on time and take care of luggage holds and hotel check-ins. All of these little things add up to huge time savers where you can just show up and enjoy yourself.
As someone who always gets stuck with planning and being in charge when traveling with friends or family, it’s so refreshing to be able to let go and relax. The amount of time (and stress) it saves me before and during a trip is significant.
Help Planning Free Time Activities
A lot of people worry if they book a group trip that they won’t have any free time. While it varies from tour company to tour company, most will have some degree of free time built-in to the itinerary where you can do activities on your own or ask one of your new friends to join you.
When you travel with friends, sometimes you might not agree on what to do, and you can either miss out on a activity or do it alone. With a group trip, there are so many people with different interests, at least one or two are bound to have the same interests as you, so you never have to miss out on what you want to experience.
The best part is, unlike traveling alone, you can ask your guide for help figuring out what to do if you have no idea, and often times, they might help organize an extra activity not included in the original itinerary.
With Intro Travel, our tour guide, Bobby, in Vietnam helped us book a van to take a few of us girls to Sun World Ba Na Hills during our free day. Likewise our tour guide in Cambodia, Seyha, organized a sunrise bike ride to a temple on a hill overlooking Siem Reap with three of us. Neither of these activities where part of the included itinerary, but luckily our wonderful guides went above and beyond to help us organize them and all we had to do is show up.
Affordability
If you have a friend(s) to travel with, then you can split costs like hotel rooms and car rentals to save a ton of money during your trip, making it one of the most affordable options. However, If you’re traveling solo, it’s difficult to bare the burden of these costs alone. In this case, group tours provide a more affordable travel option since tour companies book in bulk and are able to get group discounts at hotels and for activities.
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
Group trips are one of the best ways to get out of your comfort zone! You’ll meet people you never met before, do activities you wouldn’t normally think about booking, try bizarre foods, and take new means of transportation. When you plan a trip yourself, you’re not going to push yourself outside of your comfort zone as much. During group trips, I’ve gotten over my fear of communal bathing with onsens in Japan, eaten bugs in Cambodia, slept on an overnight train in Vietnam, and went catfishing with my bare hands (I have an inexplicable, deep seeded fear of catfish since childhood, for those who don’t know) in the Mekong Delta.
I would have elected to do none of these activities by my own free will, but since there will always be parts of a group tour’s itinerary that appeal to you less than others, you will have many chances to venture outside of your comfort zone. I went into each of these experiences dreading them, and came out with the best memories and a sense of fulfillment as my comfort zone gradually expanded.
Meeting New People
The number one reason to do a group tour is to make friends. Often times, you might want to travel, but none of your friends are able to join you, or they have no desire to go where you want to go. You have three options in that case– stay at home and watch life pass you by while you wait for others to start living, go on a solo trip, or join a group tour. I, despite being an only child, get lonely easily. Solo travel seems fun for a day or two, but I know myself and I need people and social interactions.
Group travel is ideal because many other people who sign up, also are traveling alone and looking to make new friends. I’ve met so many incredible and memorable people while doing group tours, many of which I stay in contact with long after the tour, and even visited a few friends in their home country or state.
While you might not get along with everyone, chances are you’ll get along with most by the end of your tour. The best part is that you’ll be able to not only discover a new country together, but also learn about each other as well. Depending on the tour company, you’ll encounter travelers from all over the world and be amazing just how your views expands by having deep late night conversations with your fellow travelers on overnight trains and poolside after a night out.
Great Introduction to a New Country
Visiting a new country, especially one so different from your own, can be overwhelming. The great part about group tour is that they are great introductions to country until you feel acclimated enough to the new culture. I’ve met plenty of travelers who started with a group tour then planned a few days or weeks of solo travel in the area to visit sites that weren’t part of the trip on their own pace.
It’s the best of both worlds since you get to experience the biggest culture shocks as a group first and figure out tips and tricks from local guides before setting off on your own for more exploration. You might even make a friend during your group tour that wants to continue with you on your adventure, so that you don’t have to go it alone.
Group tours are excellent way to travel affordably, meet new friends, get out of your comfort zone, and travel stress-free while going on a life changing journey. If I’ve convinced you to give a group tour a try, then check out my other post on how to choose a group tour for the best trip of your life! Not all group tours are created equally, so a little research can help you find one that suits you’re needs and desires.
