TOURING & GROUPS

Find out more about your chosen holiday destination with a fixed group tour. The itinerary and inclusions will be clearly detailed and as a general rule you would expect transport, accommodation, English speaking guides (to help bring the destination to life) and, at least some, sightseeing and meals to be included. Usually you will have a choice if you wish to take flights/train from the UK or make your own way to the starting point. If it is an escorted tour, you will have a tour leader or specialist lecturer to really help bring the destination, its history and culture to life. You will often have a choice of travelling with a group or by yourself on a private departure.

Travelling with a group

While your fellow group members are pot luck the fact is that they have chosen the same holiday as you so you are going to be like-minded in many ways. Group tours can come in all shapes and sizes (we regard small groups as less than 16 persons) with the option of smaller numbers in the group, more free/independent time and more or less inclusions. Group tours can be of particular appeal to solo travellers or if you are less confident about travelling independently in a certain destination. Group tours can often be the most cost effective way to see a country with the cost of guides and transport shared across many – in this sense the bigger the maximum group size the cheaper the price is likely to be.

Travelling privately

Many touring options can be done independently just for yourself or perhaps a group of friends. This will probably give you a flexibility of dates and more flexibility on the tour, within the organised programme. however you are also likely to be paying a premium for this – perhaps 20% or so as a guideline. Nowadays many companies offer a half-way house between private and group tours with a fixed departure – here you may find yourself on your own or other might also have booked up to the same date. 

Specialist Tours

Some tours will offer you the chance to really enjoy some specialist aspect of a destination so if you have always wanted to go to India but also want to learn more about photography or are a big fan of Mughal Architecture then there is bound to be a tour for you. The range is enormous with wildlife, walking, photography, art history, cooking, military history and wine among the more popular. Your specialist lecturer or escort will complement your local guide and add their own area of expertise to the holiday experience.

Our Expertise

At Putney Travel we have over 20 years of experience organising and running tours and group holidays on all continents. These range from specialist lecturer led holidays to walking and wildlife. We know the destinations and the tour companies so talk to us about what you are interested in, where you want to go, what sort of tour you are looking for and we will ensure you get the best possible holiday advice.

  • Some specialist tours have very few places so if you are looking for something really specific, e.g. the Solar Eclipse in Africa Nov 2013, then you will need to book early.
  • Always check the size of the group. There can be a huge difference in your experience between 10 and 30 persons (or more) although there may also be a big price variation.
  • The tour packages on offer to a destination can look very similar however check the inclusions as these can vary dramatically which will really influence the price.
  • Some group tour packages will have no single room supplements or will enable single travellers of the same sex to share rooms to avoid any supplements.

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