Private Tours Vs Large Groups And Traveling Solo
How does a private tour compare to a group tour or sightseeing on your own?
We believe private tours can give you the best experience when sightseeing.
One of the big issues in big groups are… the other (often annoying) people in the group. You might be lucky and hit a group when everyone is nice and knows how to behave, but chances are there’ll always be someone that doesn’t follow the guide’s pace, gets lots, constantly interrupts with (unnecessary) questions… It can be quite unnerving. Plus the itineraries are rigid and the timings are strict and often rushed. You don’t get a personal experience, but a cookie-cutter tour.
As for traveling on your own, it’s always fun but it often requires A LOT time spent on researching and planning beforehand, good orientation skills and you don’t get to interact much with locals (specially if you don’t know the local language) nor get most of your questions answered. And there are so many things that you can easily miss!
Private tours combine the best part of group tours (the information and the planning) and the flexibility and personalization of going on your own, plus at the end of the tour you’ll have got a good orientation of the city and your guide can give you lots of tips so you can continue exploring it on your own much more efficiently.
BETTER THAN HOP-ON HOP-OFF BUSES...
BETTER THAN FREE TOURS...
AND AGES AWAY FROM LARGE GROUPS:
skipping lines makes such a difference
Who hasn’t wasted hours in a line to get inside a monument? It can be so frustrating, not to say boring! And that results in way less time to enjoy your sightseeing. But there are two solutions: you can buy tickets online, or you can join a tour (besides traveling off season or getting there super early or super late to avoid the crowds, but that’s not always possible and limits your vacation options).
Buying tickets might seem easy… if it’s just for one site. But if you have to buy tickets for several sites, it starts to get trickier: how long does it take to visit a site? how long do I need to get from that site to the next? what about a lunch break? Creating a successful timing can be a nightmare… unless you are a pro, of course!
In a tour all this is organized for you, sparing you the trouble. Large groups will buy every single ticket needed for their itinerary, but tickets are timed and that results in a quite strict tour timing. In our private tours, we only buy in advance the tickets for Sagrada Familia and Park Guell because they sell out. At all the other sites, our guides just skip lines. The time lost at the ticket office is minimal, but that allows for much more flexibility during the tour, so we can linger longer somewhere you liked, or spend less time if you are done with a site. We love how that allows us to make our tours much more personal and relaxed!
You'll see and learn much more
WE'LL KEEP YOU SAFE
Pickpockets are a reality. And while they aren’t as massively spread as they were some years ago, you might still be crossing them during your stay. There are things you can do to protect yourself when you are on your own (we discussed them in our blog). But did you know they often target large groups of tourists because they are distracted and the guide can’t keep an eye on them all the time?
Instead, for a private guide it’s easier to be alert since our group is small and we can quickly detect when someone suspicious is around us. We know how pickpockets look like and how they act, and can take measures to protect you even without you noticing it. The prove is that we very rarely get pickpocketed in our tours (less than once a year, and we give over 500 tours a year!). And if ever that happened, we are there to help you getting to the police and doing anything possible to ease the consequences and comfort you. Much better than going through that horrible experience on your own!
But pickpockets aren’t the only thing that can go wrong on a trip: lost items? strikes and demonstrations? heavy rain? We are there to smooth your stay up.
NEED SOME MORE REASONS TO TAKE A PRIVATE TOUR?
is money an issue?
Well, that subject would allow for a whole chapter by itself… 😉
If you still need more reasons to convince yourself that our tours are well worth your money, here you’ll find more information and real testimonials of other travelers like you.
And in this post in our blog we share tips and tricks that will help you make the most out of your money so you can afford your private tour.