The Benefits of Booking a Private Tour with Culture Trip

Our trips are designed to cater for anyone who loves to wander away from the tourist path, to discover the true heart and soul of a destination, and to have totally new experiences in the process. This could be in the most far-flung places on Earth, or right under the nose of tourists in classic bucket-list destinations.

It’s a perfect way for solo travellers to have their dream holiday without having to go full solo, as well as a way for small-groups of intrepid explorers to go further and dig deeper with the guidance of our expert Local Insiders. It’s even an ideal arrangement for those of you who just hate the planning part of going on holiday. We take care of the accommodation, we get you from A to B throughout the trip, all the advertised activities are pre-booked and so are some of the meals (plus breakfast every day). All you need to do is meet us there in good time!

That said, small-group travel with strangers isn’t for everybody. We get that. So, we also offer private versions of all of our trips. They pretty much do what they say on the tin – you won’t have to worry about who your travel companions are, because you get to choose them.

So, if you’re thinking about going private with one of our Culture Trips, here are five reasons you’ll be glad you did:

The first pro is obvious – you get full authority on the guest list! We find that almost all of our Culture Trippers get on great, since you all tend to have a similar approach to life and a shared love for travel. That said, we appreciate many people don’t feel fully comfortable in social situations with strangers, and that not knowing your travel companions might make you anxious. It might not even be that deep, perhaps you just prefer to be around your favourite people as you embark on the adventure of a lifetime. It allows you to be yourself with no inhibitions, no small talk required, let the in-jokes flow. Whether you’re a family, a group of friends, even colleagues, making your trip private will make it more intimate, more special and bring you even closer together.

This one’s pretty huge. If you want to book onto one of our regular trips you have to stick to dates we have departures for. This is something we have to stick pretty tightly too – for lots of boring, behind-the-magician’s-cloth practical reasons. We know that, especially if you’re travelling with a group of people, getting everyone aligned on the same dates can be tricky. When you book private you have pretty much full flexibility on travel dates, so you can choose exactly when you go. Not only does this help when it comes to simultaneously managing six people’s calendar, but it might even allow you to save some money by planning the itinerary around the cheapest flights.

It’s also worth noting that we can’t guarantee our public trips until we reach a certain number of travellers, so sometimes we ask bookers to hold back on purchasing flights until the departure is guaranteed. Book private and everything is guaranteed from the off. No need to watch those flight prices go up, no need to worry about how many people join the group. Once you’re booked, your trip is guaranteed.

In a similar vein, booking private also allows for more flexibility on group size. Most of our regular trips have a minimum group size of four and a maximum of 16 (sometimes less, sometimes more). The minimum of four stays in place for private trips – mainly for obvious financial reasons – but the maximum opens up significantly. This is particularly useful if you’re planning a group trip with a sports club or a college class, or if you’ve just got a massive family or loads of friends! There’s no set maximum, although things do get logistically trickier when it gets higher than 25, so if your group is as big as that, be sure to enquire way ahead of time. Even if there are no fears of minimum or maximum group sizes, booking private means you get to choose exactly how big the group is. If it’s six of you, it’s six of you. No more, no less.

This is a big one for families in particular. Our regular trips have a minimum age requirement of 25 – again, for quite boring behind the scenes reasons – but this criteria can be waived completely if you decide to book private. That means every generation of your family can tag along, from eight to eighty. That said, if you want to leave the teenagers home with grandma, you can always blame us – it can be our little secret! This freedom also opens the door for college classes or sports teams who want to book a trip abroad together, so don’t be put off when you read the 25 year-old rule in our T&Cs.

Let’s get less specific about things here. Booking private means it is your holiday. Yours and nobody else’s. We always give our customers full care and attention, and are always here to cater to your needs as a traveller. That said, on a public trip we also have to manage everyone’s wants and needs simultaneously. If you’re just one party, and the whole gang is aligned on what they want out of the trip, then it allows our Travel Experts to tailor things specifically to you, and our Local Insider needn’t worry about clashing perspectives on the ground. If, as a group, you want to scrap an activity off the itinerary, or potentially even add something on, then you can do so. All you need to do is ask!

That’s how things work in general here at Culture Trip. We care about offering you a personal, human touch. That means guidance on everything from trip selection to picking dates and booking flights. We can advise you on visa or vaccination requirements, general destination-specific tips or even local recommendations. You won’t have to chat to a bot, or wait on hold for hours, we’ll be here ready and waiting to offer you the best experience possible.

So, if you’re interested in booking a Private Trip, get in touch. You can find prompts all over the website, from enquiry forms on itinerary pages to the support function (which should pop-up at the bottom right of your screen). You can even email us at tripssupport@theculturetrip.com or call one of the following numbers:

Phone (UK): +44 (0)1630 350001

Phone (USA): +1 (678) 967 4965

We look forward to hearing from you soon! In the meantime, get browsing our full collection of authentic, immersive itineraries.