The 7 Best Tour Companies

Classic Journeys has led small group travel experiences since 1987, and was among one of the few tour operators licensed to legally bring Americans to Cuba starting in 2010—a process the company started in 2003. The California-based business partners with local guides who often have deep community relationships, as well as the flexibility to deviate from the pre-planned daily schedule as they see fit, like squeezing in an unexpected dinner invitation to a family’s home, or participating in a festival the group happens to run into.

With more than 100 itineraries offered to destinations around the world, including Europe, North and South America, you can choose from six days in Belize exploring Mayan culture, forests, and marine reserves; or head to Cuba to cook with a local chef, visit a cigar-making factory, chat with a photojournalist who captured Castro’s life, and more.

While the company offers small group tours including family adventures and tours for solo travelers, 40 percent of its business comes from custom-designed tours. Discounts are available for adults traveling with children, and those traveling with six individuals or more to a party.

Prior is a membership-based travel planning company powered by a team of travel editors and experts across various disciplines, from culinary to art, fashion, and history. Access to curated experiences and accommodations are offered at Prior’s World and Bespoke membership tiers, which run $850 and $2,500 a year, respectively. 

As a member, tap the Prior team to create a custom itinerary, participate in small group travel with other Prior members, as well as shop from its marketplace of pre-designed experiences such as a private walking tour of Rome’s Jewish heritage or a curator-led tour of the Vatican’s artworks. 

Prior launched in 2019, and one of its first small group trips featured a private meal at chef Massimo Bottura’s home in Modena, Italy, as well as a near-impossible reservation at Bottura’s restaurant, Osteria Francescana—a 2018 World’s Best Restaurant winner. Upcoming trips for 2022 and beyond include an eight-day exploration of Egypt with designer and author Sibella Court, beginning in Luxor, and a long weekend of local art, wine, and wild-fire cooking in Uruguay with well-known chef Francis Mallman.

G Adventures is a tour operator that runs affordable, multi-day adventures across the world including Botswana, Tanzania, Cambodia, and Chile. Their tours are popular among solo travelers across all age demographics, though there are itineraries geared specifically toward 18-39 year olds, as well as family adventures for adults traveling with children ages 6 to 17. 

Tours include the eight-day “Santorini to Mykonos” sailing trip which is replete with fresh seafood and ocean relaxation, and “Cambodia & Vietnam: Bonfires & Banh Mi,” a guided adventure of bustling Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and the historic landscapes of  Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. Otherwise, choose from hundreds of options curated around all types of travel styles, from vigorous, action-packed exploration to more leisurely pursuits.

As part of G Adventures’ commitment to responsible and sustainable travel practices, the company partners with various non-profit charities dedicated to environmental and community outreach initiatives, and creates programming that directly benefits the communities travelers visit.

Founded in 1988, Intrepid Travel operates more than 1,000 itineraries across all seven continents and 120 countries. The company specializes in affordable small-group tours with themed itineraries for active adventurers, wildlife lovers, retreat-seekers, and family tours. 

For example, Intrepid’s 13-day Vietnam Family Tour features sailing along Halong Bay, participating in a traditional paper flower making class with local community members in Hue, and experiencing a homestay with a local family along the Mekong Delta. Short-break and retreats itineraries run five days or less and include destinations such as England’s Cornish coast, Turkey’s beaches, or four days between Utah’s Zion and Bryce National Parks.

The company insists on sustainable travel as well—with considerations for climate, animal welfare, diversity and inclusion, for example. Tour leaders focus on local history and uncovering hidden gems in each destination, like a felucca (a traditional wooden sailboat) cruise on the Nile, or a bicycle trip through Provence in southern France. Trips average 10 people per tour, with inexpensive yet comfortable lodging and transportation coordinated with family-run businesses.

Looking to taste the world? A food first, small group travel trip with Salt & Wind Travel might be the way. This boutique travel planning company (which also plans one-off, private trips) specializes in itineraries to Mexico, Italy, France, Spain, California, and Hawai’i.

A guided food, fashion, and wine trip to Northern Italy, for example, includes checking into luxury boutique hotels, a cocktail crawl, interactive cooking class, a truffle hunt, boating around Lake Como, a 3-star Michelin meal, and more. A group trip to Mexico City, on the other hand, might include visits to design studios, dinner at Pujol (where the Michelin-starred restaurant books up months in advance), and a street food tour.

Private day trip planning is also available.

Follow your curiosity, no matter the subject matter, with Atlas Oscura’s group trips around the world. Choose themed trips focused on history, arts and culture, photography, and more. For example, its 12-person max Artisans & Exiles itinerary to Japan’s Sado Island includes a visit with metalworking artisans, a history lesson of Sado’s exile and gold rush past, an electric bike tour through the island’s paddy fields, and an overnight at a traditional onsen (hot springs). 

Other itineraries, which range in activity level from moderate to challenging, might include tracking wolves in Sweden’s forests, exploring Romania’s castles and medieval villages, and trekking through India’s remote jungles (categorized by Atlas Obscura as “challenging”). Itineraries also outline where meals and transportation are included. 

About half of Atlas Obscura trip guests are solo travelers, and each itinerary includes 24/7 access to the emergency assistance organization Global Rescue.

With over five decades of expert cruising tours to remote locations around the world including the Falklands and the Marquesas Islands, Lindblad Expeditions partners with National Geographic to provide sea-based adventure experiences that offer guests up-close wildlife and sealife encounters in the middle of seldom seen natural surroundings.

Their carbon neutral fleet ranges from massive sailing yachts to expedition ships custom-built for arctic adventures. Each Lindblad ship caters to a different need: Their Egyptian Oberoi Philae is designed for luxury and relaxation on the Nile, while the National Geographic Explorer ventures to the Arctic, Antarctica, and Patagonia.

Groups range from 28 to 148 guests, depending on the ship. Two new Alaska itineraries launched in 2022, including a 15-day cruise along coastal British Columbia, and the fjords and villages of its Inside Passage, uniquely navigable by the nimble National Geographic Orion.