Everything You Need to Know About Booking a Private Culture Trip

Our small-group trips are a collection of immersive, authentic itineraries that take you right to heart of destinations all across the globe, from the jungles of Costa Rica to the neon-lit cityscapes of Japan. They’re designed by experts who have handpicked the route, the key activities and places to stay. Expect unique cultural experiences, foodie discoveries and unique accommodations, all pre-planned and pre-booked on your behalf. On the ground, meanwhile, you’ll be led by one of our Local Insiders, armed with a lifetime of lived-in cultural insight and priceless local recommendations.

It’s an incredible way to travel, to stray off the tourist path and see more of your destination. For many people, it’s also a chance to turn solo travel into a group experience, or make your group of three into a group of eight. You get to meet like-minded travellers and, more often than not, make friends for life.

However, we appreciate that small-group travel with strangers is not everyone’s cup of tea. Perhaps the pressure of new social interactions takes the fun out of it for you, or maybe you just want to spend your once-in-a-lifetime holiday with the people you love most. That’s why we decided to offer you the chance to take any of our itineraries and make it private. No extra travellers, just you and whoever you deem worthy of travel companionship!

So, we know what our trips are, but how does going private actually work? Well, it starts with you. Whether you’re starting with a blank slate or have a specific itinerary in mind, it all starts by getting in touch with our Travel Experts.

We still value human interaction here at Culture Trip, so we endeavour to give every single Culture Tripper a personalised experience, whether you’re booking private or not. That means helping you choose which trip is best for you and your group, it means offering insight into the destination, guidance or practical stuff like visas, vaccines and flight bookings, as well as supporting any additional needs you might have.

So, there are a number of ways you can get in touch. If you’ve spent much time on our website you’ve probably noticed a range of pop-ups and enquiry buttons, any of which can put you in direct contact with our team. Alternatively, you can email us at tripssupport@theculturetrip.com or even give us a call on one of these two numbers:

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

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

So, you’ve got a group of interested explorers and an itinerary you all like the look of. You’ve even touched base with us to start the planning process, but what doors are actually opened by opting for a private tour?

In one word, flexibility. As well as having total control over the guest list, opting for a Private Trip also gives you more control over travel dates, group size and age requirements.

Our public trips all have fixed departure dates, which means that things have to align perfectly between your dream trip and your reality calendar. Go private and you’ll have pretty much full flexibility on when to travel. Of course we’ll be able to offer guidance on the best time of year to visit a destination, or when to avoid price hikes and tourism booms, but most importantly you can plan the holiday around your group’s availability, so nobody should have to miss out. It might even mean you can capitalise on cheaper flights – that’s always a good starting point when booking a vacation.

The same goes for group size, since we have a minimum threshold and a maximum capacity for all of our trips. It’s usually capped at around 16, but sometimes it’s significantly smaller. We do need a minimum of four travellers onboard to make it logistically and financially feasible, but larger groups can definitely be catered for. If there’s more than 25 of you, though, we do ask that you get in touch nice and early! Speaking of 25, that’s also the minimum age requirement for our public trips, but that doesn’t have to be the case on a private tour. If you’re a family, bring the kids along! If you’re organising a field trip for your college class, no need to worry!

Once you’re actually on the trip, a private tour means that our Local Insider will be solely focused on you and your group’s enjoyment. If the gang has a last-minute change of heart about something, or perhaps a special food request, then all you need to do is ask. Of course this is also something we offer on our public trips, but having the whole experience to yourself naturally makes things easier for our guide to keep everyone happy.

So, our Private Trips do pretty much to what the title suggests. It means an experience tailored to your travel needs, a carefully curated group of guests and more freedom on planning the holiday. All you need to do to make it all a reality is get in touch with our Travel Experts.

In the meantime, be sure to find your dream itinerary by browsing our full collection of immersive Culture Trip adventures.