Why customized group tours can be the best way to travel
From snacking your way through Portugal with fellow foodies to exploring filming locations with like-minded movie fans, our custom tours deliver handcrafted itineraries just for you and your group.
A Go Ahead group tour is an immersive way to travel: You’re led by Tour Directors who are experts in their destinations, and you’re getting the opportunity to see the world with other travel lovers. The only thing that can possibly make it better is to have the chance to create the trip of your dreams with our customized group tour option. That’s right, with the support of our team of experts, you can opt for a Customized Tour and build the perfect travel itinerary that will check off everything on your group’s bucket list. Plus, you get to do it all alongside your favorite people. Because whether it’s your multigenerational family, a school reunion, a church group, a book club, or your very best friends, there’s no better travel experience than doing it with people you cherish.
Not convinced yet? Here are five ways Go Ahead can help make your travel dreams come true through our immersive, fuss-free custom tours.
You’ll enjoy your trip, your way
If you’ve never taken one of our Customized Tours or Private Tours, one of the most important things to remember is that our custom tours are a collaborative experience—after all, it’s your trip! We want to ensure that everyone gets what they want out of it, whether that means prioritizing Michelin-starred meals, seeking out the best independent art galleries, or building an entire tour around your Celtic heritage. Our team of experts is here to guide you through the process and help make your travel dreams come true, regardless of how specific your interests are. That’s what group travel and custom tours are all about.
Take our traveler Lisa, who designed a Customized Tour themed around the filming locations of the hit television series “Outlander.” Using one of our classic Scotland tours as the foundation, Lisa built her “Outlander” filming locations tour from there. Our team helped her add stops at destinations that provided the backdrop to the characters’ exciting adventures—taking the sites from fiction to reality for her group. Remember that on a custom tour, the itinerary is shaped however you and your group want. For many, this is the number one reason why private group travel is their favorite way to travel. “I have done nothing but Customized Tours with EF and Go Ahead since 1987,” traveler Barb said. “It's so nice to be in your own private group and do whatever you want to do. It's nice getting off the beaten path more often, too.”
(We’ll be talking primarily about our Customized Tours, which are personalized, fully tailored itineraries for groups of 14 or more. But if you’re more interested in our Private Tours, you just need to gather 10 or more people to fill up any of our tours, making it a private experience for your group.)
You’ll get dedicated support from the planning stages until you board your plane home
When it comes to our Customized and Private Tours, we take support seriously. Whether you’re the one organizing the tour or you’re considering joining a trip that someone else is putting together, rest assured that Go Ahead’s team of experts is there to guide you every step of the way. Your group trip will come with your very own Tour Consultant to help with the planning and designing, and a Tour Director to guide your adventures during the actual trip.
Plus, if you become a Group Coordinator with us, you’ll earn your spot on tour for free when you get six or more travelers to join you. Which is perfect for anyone considering our Customized Tour options, since they require at least 14 travelers! Group Coordinator Pam has been a loyal traveler with Go Ahead for years. “Go Ahead has guided me through crafting some itineraries that have completely amazed group members because, while I can come up with some great ideas, they expertly help me hammer out the logistics,” she said. “It has been a sweet partnership, and I am always ready to start planning the next adventure.”
You’ll see the world with your favorite people
With travel—and anything else in life, what you do is important, but perhaps more important is who you do it with. With our custom and Private Tours, you get to build the trip of your dreams alongside people you know, which only makes the experience even more special.
Build your own group tour with your best friends, your church group, or your book club. Traveler Debbie and her daughter customized a tour for fellow fans of Harry Potter. “As a Potterhead herself, my daughter helped curate this itinerary, and we worked closely with Go Ahead to build the perfect tour for our group of Harry Potter fans,” she said.
Maybe there’s a big family reunion in the works. You can curate a private or custom tour for that, too, when you work with our team on an itinerary that will appeal to every member of a multigenerational family, from school-age kids to grandma and grandpa and everyone in between. Yes, we love making new friends on tour, but let’s face it: There’s nothing like getting to travel with friends and family!
You’ll get to craft every detail
Deciding how busy or how easygoing you want to be on tour is one of the real perks of private group travel. But because flexibility is key when you plan your own tour, this goes beyond pace. With a custom tours, you don’t need to follow our schedule of tours. You and your group can decide when you travel and for how long. You can even plan your itinerary around specific special events and festivals that align with the interests of your group. For instance, what could be better than bringing your church group on an Italy tour to see historic cathedrals over the holidays? Or how about a trip to Ireland for St. Paddy’s Day? And maybe your tennis league would love to attend Wimbledon together with a custom England tour?
The beauty of planning your own trip is the amount of flexibility you can enjoy. Joining a pre-arranged tour means following the schedule and pace of the existing itinerary. But when you customize a tour, you decide where you go, when, and how long you stay.
Group Coordinator Pam couldn’t have said it better: “My group’s custom tours are action-packed because my group literally wants to see everything there is to see in a particular area,” she explained. “I also have to provide lots of shopping time because they are all shoppers as well.”
You’ll rest easy with value you can trust
Go Ahead has decades of experience in planning group travel of every kind, for all types of travelers. For over 60 years, we’ve led immersive, life-changing trips all over the world, whether it’s a classic European tour, a customized Food & Wine tour, or a tour themed around “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” We’re a trusted voice in group travel because of the value we put into crafting an itinerary, which only increases with our Customized Tours. Remember that all our trips include the following:
- 4+ starred hotels
- 24/7 On-Tour Support
- Transportation to and from the airport
- A dedicated Tour Director
- Local guides who are experts in their field
- Optional airfare packages—so all you need to do is show up at the airport!
On top of making sure you have all you need to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, we also include flexible payment plans and risk-free booking policies, because we know that travel is an investment.
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