Why you should consider an escorted tour for your next holiday

No planning. No Stress. Let your guide lead the way. Here are our top 10 touring holiday picks

Holidays are precious. With time at a premium, increasingly we’re wanting to pack more adventure and experiences into our tight schedules. Sometimes a holiday is less about time to relax and more about seeing the sights and having an unforgettable adventure. 

Rather than staying put in one spot you’re eager to travel around to take in more of the highlights of a country – after all, you may never get the opportunity to return. 

The danger with this kind of holiday is that it can easily turn into a tick-box exercise as you try to cram it all into one or two weeks. 

What’s more, as you move around you’ve got to consider how you’re going to get from place to place, where you’re going to sleep in each spot and plan what you’re going to do when you get there. 

Does this sound more like an endurance test than a holiday?

That’s where our touring holidays come into their own. On a well-organised touring holiday the itinerary is planned and all the logistics are taken care of for you. 

Transfers: tick. 
Nightly accommodation: tick.
Tours and tickets: tick.

What’s more, you’ll also be accompanied by a knowledgeable tour guide informing you of all you need to know about the sights en route. 

Chances are you’ll also have a more immersive experience. Using their local experience, you’ll get to see and do things that would be largely unachievable were you travelling alone. 

You’ll meet the locals, even possibly dine with them in their own homes. You might be taken to the best local markets, family-run restaurants, hidden trails and panoramic viewpoints that only a local would know how to find.

In other words, with everything taken care of, you can simply enjoy the ride without any of the organisational worries. 

So, are you ready to tour? Here are a few options:

More people are embracing holidaying alone – yet together. 

They want the freedom to do their own thing, yet they want to tap into the company of like-minded strangers, who share a passion for exploration and adventure. Very often, by the end of the holiday you’ve all become life-long friends. 

The healthy appetite for solo travel has seen a number of our suppliers really embrace this market, coming up with ever more creative and adventurous itineraries. 

Travelling alone takes bravery, but these tours are designed specifically for solo travellers in mind. You can set off knowing that everything has been covered and that you’re in safe and experienced hands. You can tap into the company of your new-found travelling companions when you want and have the space to explore alone should you choose. 

For example, walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago is a perfect trip to do ‘solo’ as it’s a unique journey of self-discovery. 

It’s a bucket-list walk that captivates everyone who treads its path, and for many it’s a walk of spiritual renewal. Harping back to the 9th century, millions of pilgrims have completed the nearly 500-mile walk from the French/Spanish border in the Pyrenees to the magnificent cathedral in Galicia’s Santiago de Compostela in a bid to reduce their time in purgatory. 

Whether you consider yourself a spiritual person or not, the scenery along this UNESCO pilgrimage route is outstanding. 

On this 81-mile stretch of the Camino, you’ll set off from the town of Samos. You’ll walk along farm tracks, through vineyards and woodland and explore historic villages en route. In the churches and monasteries along the way, you’ll admire colourful frescoes and in the villages you’ll pull up a table in a taverna for a traditional lunch and refreshing beer. 

Each evening you’ll stay in a characterful hotel – including restored parish houses, converted water mills and stylish farmhouses, all packed with period features. Many are family-owned and you’ll tuck into freshly cooked, homemade dishes each evening. 

After a hearty breakfast each morning you’ll set off on the next leg of the journey. 

There’s no need to lug your suitcase along the Roman road, as your luggage will be transported for you to your next stop.

Along the way a local tour leader will be your guide, filling you in on all the history and stories this ancient pathway has created. 

The grand finalé will be when you walk through the winding streets into the Plaza del Obradoiro, dominated by the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Believe us: this moment will be one you’ll never forget. 

The Arctic and Antarctica are poles apart from our everyday holiday hotspots. 

As the most remote places on the planet they’re obviously not easy destinations to visit. You can’t just rock up and wing it. These trips take planning – and an expedition cruise ship!

Specially-built, these ships are designed to navigate shallow waters and cut through ice. They’re much smaller than traditional cruise liners allowing them to get closer to the shore so that curious and adventurous passengers can appreciate the breathtaking landscapes up close and encounter incredible wildlife along the way. 

On board the ship’s crew will include experts in nature, science or astronomy. Shore excursions might include Zodiac cruises through iceberg-laden waters, kayaking alongside seals, hiking across glaciers and even polar plunges into icy waters.

In the Arctic, travellers can explore remote destinations like Svalbard, Greenland and Canada’s High Arctic, spotting polar bears, walruses and massive glaciers. Antarctic expeditions take adventurers to the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, where they can witness colonies of penguins, seals and whales against a backdrop of towering icebergs. 

Such is the growing demand for these adventures, that more cruise ships are being designed to balance exploration and adventure with comfort and luxury. 

Cruise lines such as Silversea have achieved this balance perfectly. 

On board Silver Endeavour, you can set sail on a seven-day tour from Norway’s Svalbard, taking in the glaciers of the Arctic region. Endeavour is one of the most luxurious ships to ply these waters giving passengers one-to-one attention from the crew and uninterrupted views of the wild landscape from the comfort of their suite. 

Some ships, such as Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, passengers can explore beneath the icy surface using the ships’ very own submarines.

There are some places in the world that are a long way off making it on to the mainstream tourist trail. They retain that magic of being largely untouched and unseen. Yet with a local guide beside you, you can earn bragging rights when you venture where few have been before. 

How about hiking the Trans Bhutan Trail? Exploring Rwanda and Uganda? Traversing the Malaysian island of Borneo? Or journeying to the remote reaches of Pakistan’s Hunza Valley? 

With long established, knowledgeable and well respected tour operators, you’ll be in expert hands. While these destinations may be off the beaten track for most of us, for these operators they are nothing new. For the tour guides this is their home and they’re eager to show it off to its best. 

Hidden from the world for so long, Mongolia is now embracing foreign tourists. Although steeped in ancient tradition, Mongolia is new to the game, which means you may have to forgo your home comforts in exchange for a truly cultural experience on this adventure. 

As the world's second-largest landlocked nation, Mongolia is home to a varied tapestry of traditions shaped by its tangled history.

You’ll travel by jeep in a small group of other adventurous travellers, exploring the land’s seemingly endless grasslands, its snowcapped mountains and vast sand dunes.

You’ll meet the locals, even staying in the modest camps of nomadic tribesmen enjoying their traditional hospitality – you may even be asked to help with the cooking. 

Over 15 days you’ll see the best of the country and the people of this long-hidden land.

Very rarely can we tick off a destination in one visit – unless you take a well-organised tour of course. 

These tours take in all the highlights of a destination and are timed to perfection, allowing you to enjoy each spot while ensuring you don’t miss out. 

By choosing a destination specialist, you’re already half-way there, because they know exactly how the place ticks. 

Our 13-night Japan Unmasked tour includes all the highlights of urban and rural Japan, with some unexpected surprises along the way. 

Travelling in a group of no bigger than 14 people, you’ll start off with the sights and neon lights of  Tokyo before stepping aboard the country’s famous shinkansen bullet train. 

Your tour will see you cycle through rice fields and past temple pagodas in Kurashiki. You’ll spend the night in a shukubo temple lodge in Nagano and stay at a family-run ryokan inn in the traditional craft town of Takayama, where the old-town streets hide sake breweries, craft shops and morning markets loaded with fresh produce.

You’ll visit the ‘Black Crow’, Matsumoto's magnificent original samurai castle and in Kyoto you’ll take a tour of the backstreet geisha district, keeping an eye out for these coveted, yet illusive, female entertainers in their full regalia. 

Further west you'll visit Hiroshima, where the Peace Memorial Park offers a sobering reminder of Japan's darkest hour.

This tour allows you to not just see Japan, but to experience it in all its colourful glories. 

Spotting the Big Five is on most people’s bucket lists. 

The vast African plains are the playground for nature’s most admired and revered beasts and seeing them in their natural habitat will make an indelible imprint on your memory. Even more so if you do it in the height of luxury. 

We have got relationships with some of the most prestigious tour operators on the African continent and they’ve got the keys to its most exquisite lodges, authentic camps, private jets and jeeps. 

We have got a nine-night safari of Kenya that takes you off the usual tourist track.

After arriving into Nairobi, you’ll hop on a light aircraft to the Chyulus, where your adventure begins on the lush, rolling hills tucked beneath Mt Kilimanjaro. 

One of the 10 suites at Ol Donyo Lodge will be your home for the next three nights. Each room comes with its own private pool, views overlooking several water holes and rooftop star beds for you to marvel at the night sky.

If you’re feeling energetic, take the lodge’s horses out and race a herd of zebra over the grassland. And be sure to visit the elephant hide to stand just a few feet from these magnificent creatures.

On day four it’s off to experience the bush like never before. 

Your guides through the wilds of the Laikipia Plateau, will be warrior guides from Karisia. On a camel caravan you’ll explore northern Kenya.  

Each day you’ll wander on foot through the bush, listening for the quiet footfall of a herd of elephant and the tinkle of Masai cowbells. 

Basecamp for the next three nights will be Ol Pejeta Bush Camp: a proper, old-fashioned bush camp that shows guests so much more than just the wildlife. If you want to know what it’s like to live in the bush and work alongside the animals, this is for you.

For the final three nights you’ll be flown to the exclusive Meru National Park where you’ll check into one of Africa’s most elegant lodges: Elewana Elsa’s Kopje Meru, made famous by George and Joy Adamson’s biographical book and film Born Free.

Thanks to the park’s 13 permanent rivers, game viewing is pretty much guaranteed all year round. 

Guided game drives and bush walks are offered each day and don't leave Meru without visiting its enormous 44sqkm rhino sanctuary, home to over 40 white rhino and 20 black rhino. The size of the sanctuary ensures a feeling of a natural wilderness and finding the rhino is still a safari challenge!

Want to dive even deeper into the cultures and habitats of the places you explore. 

With our selection of immersive tours you can do just that. They’ve even been given the stamp of approval by none other than National Geographic. 

These organised tours have been designed to encourage greater hands-on exploration, interactions with local experts and freedom to roam. 

Depending on your appetite for adventure, there’s bound to be a tour that will pique your interest. Perhaps you want to take a history lesson through Italy or be guided as you hop from one Greek island to the other? Or further afield, how about exploring Machu Picchu or Morocco? 

On the 10-day Discover Nepal trip, you’ll spend a night in a Buddhist monastery where you can enjoy the chanting rituals with the approximately 200 resident monks to gain understanding of their everyday life.

You’ll also visit the Tashiling Tibetan Refugee Camp, established as a temporary settlement in 1964. 

Today it’s still home to more than 500 people and you’re invited to one of its traditional restaurants for lunch.

The tour of the Kingdom includes a visit to Chitwan National Park, Nepal’s oldest wildlife reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here you’ll set out on a jeep safari through the grasslands and forests, seeking out rhinos, leopards, elephants, monkeys and the elusive Bengal tiger. 

A stay beside Lake Pokhara provides glorious views of the snowcapped Himalayan peaks and a tranquil contrast to the bustle and excitement of temple-clad Kathmandu. 

One of the biggest selling points of taking a cruise is that you don’t just holiday in one destination – you holiday in multiple. 

However, you can forget the lengthy transfers, airport queues, changing hotels and lugging your luggage from one place to another. On a cruise, your hotel comes with you and rather than transferring, you stay put! You check into your cabin and unpack just the once and let the itinerary unfold. 

Depending on the length of your cruise, you can easily visit four or five different destinations, stepping ashore to explore independently or tapping into the tours and excursions organised by your cruise line. 

Don’t know where to explore? Today’s cruise liners cover the A to Z of world destinations. Alaska, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Mediterranean, Australia, the Orient, Canada, South America, the South Pacific …. We could go on.

And there’s a cruise for every style, age group and budget. 

With Regent Seven Seas all the shore excursions are included in your package. 

You can book yourself on as many as you wish, time allowing. So you could head out on an excursion in the morning and join another in the afternoon. 

For example, on Regent’s 14-night Barcelona to Istanbul cruise, you’ll have more than 130 shore excursions to choose from. These include a tour of Istanbul’s spice markets or the city’s Ottoman inns; a wine tour in Santorini; a cookery lesson in Crete; a kayak tour along the coast of Rhodes and a guided tour of the Pyramids in Cairo.  

With more than 4,500 shore excursions to choose from, the list covers every where and every whim. 

This is a tour - but you’re in the driving seat. 

Opting for a self-drive tour means you are in control of where and when you pull over, but you’re saved having to do any research or booking before you pull off – because it’s all done for you. 

A self-drive tour hands you not only the keys to a car, but also a map, an itinerary, a guide book and the reservations for all your accommodation along the way. 

One of the world’s most iconic drives pulls out of San Francisco heading south along the Pacific Coast Highway. 

Your itinerary gives you a few days to explore ‘San Fran’ before you embark on your Californian road trip. Be sure to visit eclectic Fisherman's Wharf with its many bars, restaurants, family-friendly museums and, of course, the playful sea lions that bask in the sun at Pier 39.

It’s from here that you can catch the ferry to Alcatraz Island to tour the legendary Alcatraz prison –famed for being the ultimate maximum security prison housing some of the most notorious criminals in American history. You’ll be given a headset so you can listen to audio from ex-inmates relaying the history of the island. 

San Francisco may be a patchwork of distinct neighbourhoods, and despite its notoriously steep hills, it’s easy to explore either using the city’s beloved clanging cable cars or on two wheels. 

Hire a bike and pedal around San Francisco Bay, before two-wheeling it over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. On the other side you'll be in the quaint bayside town of Sausalito for a well-earned post-cycle bite.

With San Francisco done, it’s time to buckle up and hit Route 1. Take in the views as you drive through the undulating Santa Cruz Mountains and along the coastal highway to Monterey. This is the spot to embark on a whale-watching trip to catch a glimpse of blue whales, Risso’s dolphins, humpback whales, northern right whale dolphins and orcas.

Drive on passed the rugged landscape known as the Big Sur, taking in gorgeous coves and stretching your legs for some glorious forest walks as you make your way to Hollywood baby! 

Be sure to snap a shot of that famous Hollywood sign and then brave the thrills and spills on offer at Universal Studios Hollywood. 

To complete the trip, a few days on the beaches of San Diego should set you up before you hand back the keys to the car and fly home.

Meandering through scenic countryside and slicing through city centres, rivers tell travellers a tale from a completely different perspective. Welcome to river cruising. 

Several of the world's great rivers offer their very own journey through history, culture and breathtaking landscapes.

The Danube passes through Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava, offering stunning views of medieval castles, baroque architecture and UNESCO-listed sights such as Melk Abbey in Austria and the grand Parliament Building in Budapest.

Meanwhile, the Rhine flows through Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands passing by fairytale castles and magnificent cathedrals. And Paris’ Seine flows through the glorious countryside of northern France.

And lest not forget the Nile, one of the most historically significant rivers in the world. Ancient Egyptian wonders, including the temples of Luxor and Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, all sit a stone’s throw from its banks.

Whichever river you choose, a river cruise offers a mix of comfort, culture and exploration.

Unlike the big cruise ships that ply the wide open seas, river cruises are on board smaller ships, making them a more intimate experience. 

There are more stops along the way, meaning there’s a lot of emphasis on the shore excursions.

Riviera has got the perfect balance, matching the VIP treatment off and on the ship.

Its seven-night Blue Danube River Cruise sets sail from Budapest, with stops in Slovakia’s capital city of Bratislava, Dürnstein and Melk, Salzburg and Vienna. The round trip includes nine tours and experiences, including city tours and live classical quartet recitals. 

And with everything included – from your drinks, food, flights and tours – a river cruise is an effortless way to tour. 

Think of a coach tour and chances are you’ll conjure up memories of raucous school trips – the cool kids bagging the back row. Or you’ll have nightmares of a stinky onboard loo (or even no loo), uncomfortable seats and stale air. 

With today’s coaches, it’s a very different experience. 

For one, the coaches are built for comfort. Think reclining armchairs rather than hard seats; think bathrooms rather than cramped toilets; and now you can add charging points, onboard refreshments, air conditioning and vast windows so you have unobscured views as you sit back and be driven in style. 

Modern day coach travel is the road less hassled: no route planning, no map reading and no sat navs. You can leave all that to your driver and knowledgeable escort.

Whether you long to see the sights close to home in the UK or you want to venture farther afield to Europe, our coach tour operators have all the roads covered. 

And with joining points all over the UK, there’s no need to catch a flight, you simply join the tour at your most convenient pick-up point. 

One of our top coach picks is the Scottish Highlands North Coast 500 Route, indisputably one of the world’s most picturesque road trips. 

The route starts in Inverness, the 'capital of the Highlands’ before snaking along the beautiful western coast, through pretty Ullapool, calling at stunning white sandy beaches and rugged mountains along the way. From famous John O'Groats you’ll journey back down the eastern coast, stopping to discover fairytale Dunrobin Castle.

Whatever and where ever, we have got a tour that’s right up your street. 

Let’s have a chat about what destinations and experiences really excite you and we can come up with the perfect tour that ticks all your boxes. 

IWe work with more than 450 suppliers, many of which only sell through the trade and not to the public. 

Let us do all the research for you – it won’t cost you a penny. We don’t charge for our service to you (the suppliers pay us instead). 

A well-organised touring holiday takes care of all the logistics. And we can take care of booking it for you. 

If you’d like some advice about your next holiday, drop us a line or give us a call.