Talk to me about group travel/tours

[countthestars]

We went to London/Paris with GoAhead Tours. We really liked it - they scheduled the transfer from the airport to our hotel and the "tour guide" met us at the hotel. She had a list of places she was going during the 4 days we were in London - we could go on any or none of them. I don't think we actually went to any, but we used her for dinner suggestions and sightseeing recos. We all traveled to Paris together and she gave us a tour of the public transportation in Paris. We spent more time with her there because no one in our group spoke French - we went to Versaille together but were able to explore alone and went out to dinner as a full tour group on the last night.

[ufcasey]

I've only been on one - a Gate1 tour of Egypt (before all hell broke loose over there). They picked us up from the airport, they did all the hotel/transportation arrangements, some meals at restaurants were included. We went to multiple cities and there was a guided tour/transportation for a half or full day and then we would have the remainder of the day to ourselves and sometimes whole days to ourselves. The guide was great at giving restaurant recs and recs for things to do for the free days. If you are going somewhere where there is a large language or cultural barrier I would recommend it. If you are going somewhere easy to travel around on your own, like Italy, Amsterdam, or the UK, I would not suggest going via group travel.

[mrshabious]

I've been on a few, mostly to countries where I was uncomfortable traveling alone (former Soviet Union, etc). It works as the PP mentioned. I enjoy doing groups. In most cases you get a group discount, you have free time, and the tours are manned, so you end up getting more out of the destinations then going on your own and just puttering around (IMHO).

Honestly, the places you mention are exactly the places where I would do a group travel. Sure, you could do it on your own, but I think in certain places being in a group is better.