Should You Pay for a Guided Tour on Your Next Vacation?

Is It Worth the Money to Buy a Guided Tour of Your Destination?

Tourism is a huge industry for many countries around the world, and one of the most popular ways that locals can tap into that economy is to provide guided tours of their cities or of various famous sites around the region.

On my first international trip to England, I didn’t pay for anything other than my British Isles hotel stays (well, they were mostly Bed & Breakfasts, but same thing), food and eating out at restaurants, and my travel. I didn’t actually book a single tour the entire three weeks I was bouncing around England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. I did pay a few entry fees to some tourist venues, but nothing that would be considered a tour.

Fast-forward a few years and I head to Iceland, where I book a few tours but design most of the vacation as a road trip where my traveling partner and I would drive ourselves somewhere and then explore whatever it was we wanted to see on our own.

Then, I traveled to Vietnam, and decided that just about every step we took around the country would occur with a local at our side. The only time we didn’t enjoy the company of a tour guide was one afternoon in Hanoi (but looking back on it, I probably should have gotten us a walking tour for Hanoi, too).

As you plan your itinerary, it’ll probably come down to a few different factors as to whether you want to follow the guidance of a local or explore on your own. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons you may want to hire someone to show you the local sights on your next vacation.

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Factors That Influence Whether to Book a Guided Tour

Believe it or not, price isn’t the most important factor when it comes to booking guided tours or going out on your own to explore a city or venue. Guided tours are often quite affordable, particularly so in countries that have a less expensive cost-of-living than your own.

For some of our Vietnam tours, for example, the entire cost was less than $60 for both of us, and that included a pick up in a taxi or some other sort of benefit beyond a simple walking tour. We always tried to tip well in such circumstances because it felt a little strange getting so many hours of someone’s time for such an affordable rate.

Rather, one of the most important factors in deciding whether to book a tour is the combination of available transportation and the language.

If you’re visiting a country where you don’t know the language and you’re not even remotely familiar with the culture, a personal or group tour with a local can mean the difference between seeing all the cool stuff and missing the inside scoop.

If I compare my ability to get around and see what I wanted to see in Hanoi while walking around without a guide versus a guided tour, I definitely would have seen more of the city with a guide. We walked around and saw some of the tourist attractions I found on the internet, but we would have learned more about the history of the city with a guide.

On the other hand, when I visited Iceland, we didn’t book a guide for our time in the capital of Reykjavik yet were able to walk around to see a lot of the sights with ease and without a guide. I briefly weighed a food walk of Reykjavik, but we ended up going to a local Thai restaurant that evening (yep, Thai food in Iceland; it was great!).

I think some of that ease comes from the fact that our native language is English and virtually everything was written in English around Iceland. We never had any communication problems or trouble finding roads or anything.

Compare that to the other countries we’ve been to – Vietnam in particular – and we were very thankful we had a guide to lead us around. We did take a walk on our own down to the riverwalk in Hoi An and enjoyed ourselves, but even that solo stroll might have been more fun with a guide. I briefly considered a night walk through the market but our plans changed a little, and I decided to remove it from the itinerary.

Arranging a Variety of Different Tour Lengths

If you’re new to booking guided tours, there are a few things you can do to make things smoother along the way. Booking an itinerary where you weave in a variety of activities takes a bit of juggling.

One thing you want to avoid is booking tours that last all day every day of your trip. If you’re traveling for at least a week in another country, it’s essential to make sure that you schedule in some rest days or at least a few hours into your days. You can definitely book an exciting vacation while still enjoying some downtime along the way.

I have a few rules when arranging tours for my international vacations. These rules have come about through experience.

Never book a full-day tour the first day you’re traveling or the moment you get off the plane.

If you book an eight-hour tour the day after you get off a plane, having traveled thousands of miles for more than a dozen hours, you might feel a little ragged running around that first day.

I try to book a half-day excursion, and usually something that isn’t going to get my heart rate up beyond mild excitement. For example, when we went to Colombia, we enjoyed a late-day walking tour of Bogota the first day and a fun hike to a waterfall the second day. We were sufficiently rested up for that second day and had no issues completing the adventure.

“Book” at least one-half day of rest for every week you travel.

I always try to sneak in a half day of rest somewhere in my vacation. It’ll usually be somewhere in the second half, close to the end of our journey.

We took a whole afternoon to rest in Cartagena in Colombia after a brief morning city tour of the Walled City of Cartagena during our eight days of traveling. Similarly, we rested for a half day in Hanoi on the day after we had a tour of the Vietnam countryside that left at 6 AM and didn’t return us to our hotel until well after dark.

Weave full-day and half-day tours back to back each day you travel.

When I arrange an itinerary, we usually stay in one town for two to three days, and I try to arrange us a big outing for at least one of the days, maybe two, and a half-day outing for the final activity.

For example, I might book an evening camel ride in Marrakech one day and a full-day excursion to see some waterfalls and enjoy a boat trip the second. Okay, I actually did book these tours, as well as a few others in Marrakech.

Exploring a Different Country On Your Own Without Guides

One thing to remember here is that traveling internationally doesn’t 100 percent require tour guides at every stop. I think that there are always opportunities to explore on your own, especially if you’re comfortable traveling in a different country.

However, having experienced guided tours on four continents, I can safely say I’ve never had a bad experience or felt that my tourist dollars weren’t wisely spent. While some tours have been better than others, I’ve always felt like I learned more about my destination than I would have as a traveler without guidance from a local.

In my opinion – and note that this is only an opinion based on my own experiences – an unguided trip is appropriate if you’re renting a car and visiting various tourist stops on your own – and even then, you might throw in a few tours here and there when you visit a substantial location.

If I had it to do over again, I’d definitely arrange my Iceland road trip the same way. I’d rent a car and drive around, visiting different awesome sites with a few tours thrown in every few days. One day you’re driving around visiting waterfalls and the coast, and the next you’re on a guided snowmobile trip over a glacier. An excellent balance of exploration and guidance.

In the future, I plan to adventure my way through Norway in the same way – I’ll rent a car (or, well, I’m considering trains at this point) and will enjoy a few tours but will also enjoy some self-guided time at Norway’s most amazing vistas.

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