I am getting up there in age, although still feisty, and there are many places that, while not “hot spots”, are either near hot spots, or rather warm themselves, that I would love to visit. But not as a female solo traveler. But I refuse to be part of a HERD that disembarks from those (to me) ridiculous cruise ships & huddled with 40 other lemmings. So I’m looking at small group tour companies, mainly Odysseys Unlimited right now. They have a Burgundy Barging tour that I’m interested in, but I wanted to ask if anyone was familiar with them. Or if anyone had any recommendations for an honest, reasonably priced group. Any information will be appreciated and reviewed. 😁. Merci, mes amies. Kelly

I (female) prefer to travel solo, but I have taken a few tours.

I have used Rick Steves for Europe, and recommend his tours, but you may not consider 24 people small. You need to be in reasonably good shape, although you could look at his My Way tours,

I have used Intrepid for Asia and Morocco. These tend to use local transport and again, you need to be in good shape.

I have also used MIR and GeoEx, but they are pricey.

I have looked at Odyssey, but their itineraries are generally uninspiring and they charge a single supplement.

The only tour I've done was a while ago, my 1st trip to Morocco, small group and it was fine. I'm also not generally a group travel person but I was satisfied with the experience, Eldertreks.

https://eldertreks.com/

I travel almost exclusively solo ad have only taken 2 or 3 small group tours in 30 years - one of which was a terrific river cruise. Unfortunately that company went bust about 6 weeks ago leaving hundreds of people hoping their travel insurance will save their bacon. Same thing happened earlier this spring with a well respected tour operator in Ireland - sold up and new company isn't honoring prior booking costs. The travel industry is in serious flux right now and I personally wouldn't book any group tours except some of the really old timers (Tauck/Rick Steves/Rabbies etc)

Rabbies (small groups) is great for Scotland and has branched out to Ireland, parts of England and a few offerings in Italy. They do hit off the beaten path areas because they use minibuses.

Honestly -- with so much info available on line it is soooooo easy to plan independent travel. I only even consider ground tours if wanting to visit particularly difficult countries to negotiate as a single woman.

We have traveled with Odysseys Unlimited twice- to Egypt and Japan. Everything was so well done, nice hotels, excellent guides.
We basically travel independently but felt we needed help on these two destinations. Recommend them highly.

I have heard good things about Odysseys Unlimited and would consider taking a trip with them. We have enjoyed two Road Scholars trips and did not feel our groups were too large.

Hi! While we're generally independent travelers, we've taken Odysseys Unlimited for specific tours and highly recommend them. The first trip we took with them was with the Cal Alumni Group (University of California . . . both Cal & UCLA . . . use them as their higher end . . . vs. Ahi). With Cal Alumni, we took Odysseys Greek Isle tour back in 2014. We took the tour rather than doing it ourselves for two reasons. First, because it was small group and the boat was small like a big yacht, where they'd have stops where you could just jump off the boat and snorkel or swim. Second because when going from one island to the next on your own, there's a possibility because of winds or tides or weather that you can't actually make it to the island you want to visit. Then you're stuck with a hotel that you can't stay in on the island. We had so much fun on this tour and make some really great people (both solos and couples/friends) that we are still friends with to this day! Most of the group were very active, and I'd say the age range was mid-40's to mid-70's.

In 2019, we went through UCLA to visit New Zealand. That trip was with Ahi tours, and while it was ok, it really wasn't up to the standards of Odysseys. We did make a few friends on that trip as well. We combined the tour with continuing on our own to places we wanted to see not on the tour, like Wellington, and a longer pre-tour stay in Auckland so we could visit vineyards and just hang. That trip was made more challenging, not because of the tour itself, but because the day after we arrived in Auckland, the Christchurch Mosque shootings had occurred. So, by the time we arrived in Christchurch, it was, of course, a very somber mood. Age group of this tour (and again, an active bunch) was early 50's to mid-70's.

Because my husband has always wanted to go to Israel, for his 70's birthday, I sent him alone through Cal Alumni, again back on an Odysseys Unlimited tour. This was in March - April during the holy days, and got him the post-Israel trip to Jordan. This ended up being a VERY small group (between the holidays and the issues going on in Israel at the time), and they used a small Mercedes van to take them around. Husband had a fabulous time (even without me!) and said the tour guide was absolutely brilliant, as were the hotels he stayed in. Very high end hotels, including historic (i.e. King David hotel).

We also have scheduled another Odysseys Unlimited tour at the end of September to Sicily.. We were going to go with Cal/UCLA Alumni again, but their tour started at the end of August, and I've been to Italy enough times to know that we'd probably die of heat going at that time, but I do love late September in Italy . . . weather is generally perfect! (Good move, as Southern Italy is currently experiencing a horrible heat wave!). Again, we have pre and post tour places that I've planned myself. Before the tour, we're flying into London to visit friends and go to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Then we fly into Milan and stay there a day to see the sights, as we've only been through Milan on the train. We will then take the night train from Milan to Palermo to experience the only train left in Europe that uses a train ferry to traverse the sea . . . in this case, the Straits of Messina. We are ardent train lovers, especially night trains, so this is definitely a bucket list adventure! After the tour, we'll take the train back up to Naples, since we've never stayed there (again, we've passed through Naples by train). Through my Fodors friends on this website, we found an amazing hotel and a lot of great information on what to do whilst there.

Finally, the thing I like best about Odysseys Unlimited is that they don't nickel and dime you where everything is an "optional excursion" for a price in lieu of lunch on your own or dinner on your own . . . trying to get you to pay extra for these optional dinners because I guess some travelers don't like to do anything for themselves. With Odysseys, they give you a lot of group time, but they also give to time to prowl and dine on your own without a carrot stick to reel you into an optional $60 dinner with folk dancers and such.

My neighbor, with whom we've traveled in the past, will end up meeting us at the end of our tour in Sicily, meeting up in Taormina and travel together to Naples. She is taking a shorter tour with Insight Vacations, which is her tour group of choice. We went with her and her SO on an Insight Vacations tour in June a year ago to Croatia, and it was just ok. The group was a larger group, for one thing, and for another, this was a tour outfit that nickeled and dimed you to death. And it seemed, to me, that the people on the tour were older and not as active as we are used to. Even though I had a broken foot at the time of the trip, I was a faster walker than most everyone! Also, although my friend thinks her tour is cheaper, it's not. Here's why: 1. It's a much shorter trip than ours. 2. Almost everything is "optional", including a day trip to Mt. Etna (how crazy is that!). 3. The class of hotels is not great, except for the last hotel to make that "impression" that the hotels in general are great.