For those once-in-a-lifetime, truly epic trips, it’s best to leave the details to the experts. Whether you’re dreaming of spotting the Big Five on an African safari, trekking through towering mountains, exploring iconic European cities, or embarking on something even more adventurous, a group tour is often the easiest way to make it happen.
However, choosing the wrong group tour company can quickly turn your dream vacation into a disappointment. It’s critical that you select a tour operator that aligns with your travel style and goals. Do you prefer a small, intimate group or a larger, more social setting? Does the price match your expectations—luxury or budget-friendly? Is the itinerary packed with the destinations you’re eager to see?
We’ve done the research for you and rounded up the best group tour companies for 2025, tailored to every type of traveler.
Best Overall Group Travel: Exodus Adventure Travels
With trips on every continent, Exodus Adventure Travels covers anywhere on this planet that you could possibly want to go, from popular destinations like the Amalfi Coast to off-the-beaten-path adventures like Tajikistan. This award-winning group travel company boasts thousands of repeat customers who sign up for trips year after year (97% of past participants would recommend Exodus Adventure Travels to a friend).
These small group tours operate with only 8-16 people per trip and always feature experienced local leaders who can give you a unique insight into your destination. Exodus Adventure Travels caters to any type of travel style, including trips broken down by activity (walking, cycling, multi-adventure, winter, or cultural) and type of traveler (family, age group, etc.). There are curated collections (coastal, “away from it all,” European wilderness, and more) to inspire you, as well as self-guided options for when you want all the benefits of a group tour planner without the actual group.
Exodus Adventure Travels tours work for almost any budget, with options that range from affordable to premium.
Top Trip: Explore under-the-radar Europe by foot on Exodus Adventure Travels’ Lakes & Mountains of Slovenia walking tour.
Best Bucket List Group Tours: EF Adventures
In 2024, the renowned tour operator EF World Journeys launched a new brand: EF Adventures. True to its name, this division focuses on adventure travel, offering a variety of biking, hiking, walking, and multi-sport tours across Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and the Pacific Islands.
EF Adventures makes planning complicated tours easy, taking care of flights, transfers, guides, equipment, optional tour extensions, and more—so all you have to do is show up.
After an action-packed day of outdoor exploration, guests can unwind in luxurious accommodations, ranging from 3-star to 5-star properties, each selected to reflect the unique charm of the destination. Whenever possible, EF Adventures chooses hotels with pools or spas, ensuring travelers have the perfect place to relax and recover.
Want to stay motivated in your fitness goals pre- or post-trip? Join EF Adventures’ Strava Group for some friendly competition.
Top Trip: Connections mean everything on a good tour group, and EF Adventures has the ultimate hookup—the brand’s parent company owns a men’s and women’s pro cycling team. Experience the behind-the-scenes perks on EF Adventures’ Tour de France trip, in which participants will get to ride iconic sections of the Tour de France, experience insider access to the EF Pro Cycling team, and watch the thrilling race finish from a VIP section on the Champs-Élysées.
Best Adventure Group Travel: World Expeditions
World Expeditions has been taking adventurous travelers to remote locations all over the world ever since its first group trek through Nepal in 1975. Today, World Expeditions offers active itineraries on every continent. Intrepid travelers can opt for trips themed around mountaineering, rafting, cycling, hiking, and more.
World Expeditions aims to leave the communities and places where it operates tours better than it found them. Trips are created using the company’s Thoughtful Travel Charter as a guideline, which emphasizes respect for the environment, sustainability, having a positive impact on local communities, protecting wildlife, and more.
World Expeditions’ trips are capped at just 16 people to provide a good experience for participants, and there are no single supplements for solo travelers willing to share a room with someone of the same gender.
Top Trip: Summit Africa’s tallest mountain on a fully-supported trek up Kilimanjaro on World Expeditions’ eight-day trip up the beautiful Lemosho Route.
Best Budget Group Travel: G Adventures
G Adventures offers cheap group tours for travelers on a budget, making dream destinations accessible to nearly anyone. (Think: sailing the Galapagos for just $979, crisscrossing India’s Golden Triangle for $594, or spending 8 days in Bali for less than $700.)
G Adventures is one of the best tour companies for solo travelers, as most trips don’t have a single supplement. You can share a room with another G Adventures solo traveler or pay extra for a private space.
G Adventures keeps costs down by opting for cheaper hotels and local meals and making certain activities optional (for an additional fee). Pick your travel style—options range from “basic” to more luxe tours run in partnership with National Geographic. Family tours, local living tours (featuring homestays), and wellness-focused tours are also available.
Top Trip: G Adventures’ China Express trip is a great way to see the highlights of China if you’re short on both time and budget.
Best Private Group Travel: Vaya Adventures
Whether your group consists of just two people or involves taking the entire extended family, Vaya Adventures will take all the hassle of planning out of the equation. This private group operator creates personalized trips and itineraries tailored to your preferences while their experts handle all the logistics and bookings. Vaya’s team of experts has spent years living and working in the destinations that they handle, so they have the insider knowledge to make a trip truly special.
On a Vaya Adventures trip, you won’t find yourself stuck in a soulless chain hotel—accommodations are thoughtfully selected to showcase the local culture and include boutique hotels, eco-lodges, and historic homes.
Top Trip: Hike the Camino de Santiago Portuguese Way from Vigo to Santiago de Compostela, recovering each night in beautiful boutique hotels or traditional Paradores.
Best Educational Group Tours: EF Go Ahead Tours
When you really want to learn about a destination, consider a group trip with EF Go Ahead Tours. EF is the world’s largest private education company, and the Go Ahead Tours arm capitalizes on the company’s relationships with local educators, historians, and tour guides to create group trips that take you deep into a destination.
These small group tours generally cap at 38 travelers and feature unique educational experiences. EF Go Ahead Tour’s special event tours are particularly enticing for a bucket list trip, as they offer behind-the-scenes access to tough-to-plan trips like Oktoberfest in Munich or Cherry Blossom season in Japan.
Intimidated by solo travel? EF Go Ahead Tours is a great option for solo travelers, since it offers designated trips for solo travelers, where everyone is traveling alone, making it less intimidating.
Top Trip: Bring the tastes of Italy home with you on EF Go Ahead Tours’ Food & Wine: Piedmont & Tuscany tour (operated in partnership with America’s Test Kitchen), where you’ll learn how to make local dishes.
Best Responsible Group Travel: Intrepid Travel
Looking for a responsible group travel operator that focuses on bettering the communities and destinations they visit? Intrepid Travel is the world’s largest travel B Corporation, a certification earned by companies demonstrating social and environmental responsibility.
Intrepid Travel’s tours focus on sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and sustaining communities. The company’s own charity, The Intrepid Foundation, has donated over 10 million dollars to over 160 community organizations.
Intrepid Travel’s small group tours attract a wide range of travelers, but they are especially great for younger travelers, as they have a large number of trips designed for people aged 18-35. (Other trips, including family-focused trips, are geared toward any age.)
Top Trip: Experience a foodie trip of a lifetime on Intrepid Travel’s South Korea Real Food Adventure, which includes time in three cities and an overnight temple stay.
Best Polar Group Travel: Chimu Adventures
Whether you’re headed north to the Arctic or south to Antarctica, Chimu Adventures has the perfect polar group trip. Chimu Adventures has some of the most variety for trips to the polar regions, with options to fly, cruise, or a combination of both to get to your destination. For an ultra-unique Antarctica trip, Chimu Adventures offers cruises from Australia or New Zealand (most Antarctica trips depart from Argentina).
Chimu Adventures is one of the cheapest group trips to Antarctica, with rates starting under $6,000.
Top Trip: If you’re pressed for time (or simply don’t have the stomach for the Drake Passage), Chimu Adventures’ Antarctica Fly Cruise will get you to the ends of the earth quickly and smoothly.
Best Group Tours for Solo Travelers: For the Love of Travel
Group tours can be a great way to meet new people, but they can sometimes skew on the older age range. If you’re between 25-39 and a solo traveler looking to meet new people, you’ll adore For the Love of Travel. All participants on the trips are between 25-39, and according to the company, 80 percent are solo travelers—so you’ll make friends fast. Hoping to meet someone who will be more than just a friend on your next trip? Trips include a balanced number of “gal and guy spots” to ensure an even balance of genders within groups (and, of course, non-binary genders are always welcome).
For the Love of Travel offers weeklong (or longer) international trips as well as shorter weekend trips to closer destinations like Mexico or Costa Rica—perfect for people without a lot of vacation time.Top Trip: Sleep in a glass igloo under the Northern Lights, go sledding with huskies, and warm up in traditional saunas on For the Love of Travel’s Lapland tour.
Best Biking Tours Group Travel: DuVine Cycling
Biking through the rolling hills of Italy or across the mountain roads of Chile sounds like a dream, but the logistics seem daunting (especially if you don’t want to haul all your stuff from point to point.) The solution: DuVine Cycling, a luxury small group tour company specializing in bike trips.
With trips across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the United States, DuVine Cycling is a cyclist’s dream. Choose from all-biking trips or mix things up with a cycle and sail bike tour or a multi-sport adventure—no matter what, everything is included, from luxury boutique accommodations to top-quality name-brand bikes.
Top Trip: DuVine’s Holland Bike Tour promises “tulips, windmills, beer, and cheese”—what more could you need?
Best Luxury Group Travel: Abercrombie & Kent
Abercrombie & Kent has been delighting discerning travelers since 1962. Today, they take travelers on unforgettable adventures across over 100 countries and all seven continents. Although Abercrombie & Kent’s trips are pricey, they encompass once-in-a-lifetime experiences like private jet tours around the world or luxury chartered cruises.
There are trips designed for solo travelers and families, and the small group journeys max out at around 14-18 guests.
Top Trip: Swim with whale sharks in the Philippines, feed proboscis monkeys in Malaysia, and photograph wild tigers in India on Abercrombie & Kent’s Wildlife & Nature: Around the World by Private Jet trip.
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