Reviews for Gate 1 Travel

We have been on 8 total tours with Gate 1 in Europe, North America, and Central America.

Likes: Hotels are centrally located in a walkable area--in the city center or very, very near the city centers, excellent guides, itineraries that have a good balance between guided tours and free time, local guide tips included, reasonable prices when booked with their weekly deals discount, all groups we have been with have been enjoyable, no fancy attire required, tour guides are great at moving the group efficiently--even groups with up to 42 people--so it doesn't seem like too many people.

Dislikes: I wish they would include tour guide tips in the base price--only because we basically pay for everything now with our watch or phone, so going to an ATM to get cash is kind of a hassle.

I have never booked without the discount that is sent out in their weekly deals email. Be sure to sign up for that if you aren't already. They put pretty much all their tours on sale at some point, so be patient. Even if the email says a discount is available on an 8 day tour, click on it and look. It may also be available on the 10 or 12 day version of that tour as well.

I have contacted Gate 1 customer service a number of times, and I have always received a prompt response.

I'll edit this post if I think of anything else.

We don't have a tour booked with them now, but we won't hesitate to book with them again.

I've done three Gate 1 tours. I only do the Small Group ones - max of 22. I just did one a couple of months ago - northern France - and there were only 14 in the group. The guide was great and the hotels were fantastic. I would not hesitate to travel with them.

Do look for their coupons - it can save you a lot. They have a small group Morocco tour that is well-priced.

I’ve done two Gate 1 trips - South India and the Baltic countries. Both were “Discovery tours” which are limited to 22 travelers and are more inclusive of activities. Be aware that their other categories of tours may have up to 42 people and often have many “optional “ activities that cost extra (this is how they keep prices down.) The India tour was excellent and the Baltic tour was very good.

You might also look at Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). Their tours are limited to 16 tour members. They include activities such as home-hosted meals, discussions about “controversial” topics, etc. I have traveled with them five times and the tours have been excellent. My most recent trip was in Patagonia and it was one of the best trips ever.

I’ve done tours in Turkey, Poland, and Maritime Canada with Gate 1. I’ve also done two river cruises, one of which had an extension of a tour through Romania. I have been pleased with each experience. I have also done 6 Rick Steves tours so I can compare/contrast fairly honestly.

Pricing: Gate 1 has pricing that varies on what it includes. Essential tours are the closest match to RS My Way tours. They include lodging, transportation, a tour manager, breakfasts (perhaps one dinner) and orientation sightseeing in each location. Optional tours are available and you choose which you want to participate ( and pay for) and which you don’t. Very easy to do your own thing. Classic tours have larger groups and more included meals and sightseeing, with some optional choices still available. Groups for me have varied between 26-32. Discovery Tours are smaller with even more inclusions and corresponding higher prices. These are closest to a typical RS tour. For all tour, Bags are handled by porters. Local guides tips, housekeeping tips, included meal tips are all part of the base price. Tips for the tour manager and bus driver are not. As mentioned earlier, there are often sales to watch for. If you sign up, you receive a weekly email with current offers.

Gate 1 will count your travel day to the start of the tour as day 1 as they provide the option to include airfare as part of the tour if desired. A 15 day Gate 1 tour would directly correspond to a 14 day RS tour.

Gate 1 generally has a more diverse clientele than RS in my experience and often some of the group will be younger than what one typically sees on RS.

I feel both companies provide a good experience for travelers and the quality of hotels may be slightly higher for Gate 1. I personally find I am leaning a bit more to Gate 1 in terms of value and variety of itineraries.

I am currently signed up for Gate 1 tours in January 2027 (Thailand), May 2027 (China), and November 2027 (Morocco). I think that is a pretty good indicator of how I feel about my past experiences.

We have done 7 Gate 1 tours and loved them all.
They offer several types of tours, for example a small group tour, that include fewer touring, but cost is a little more.
We find that few tour companies can beat Gate 1 Travel's prices.
Another good company is Road Scholar, but they are more expensive.

I am likely the outlier here. I have had wonderful experiences with RS ( several "regular" and 3 "My Way") tours as well as Odysseys Unlimited and Intrepid (Premium, for Morocco). I have just completed a very small (8!) Seymour Travel tour with several Gate 1 encounters along the way (more on that in a minute). And I took the 11 day Gate1 Scotland "loop" tour last year after hiking in the Outer Hebrides prior. Here are my thoughts:
For overall affordability and safe transport with very nice hotels and portered luggage from major site to next major site I can understand the appeal of Gate 1. In my case there were a few local professional guides who were excellent. But the tour leader/primary guide was just awful, and having never experienced that, I realized I took for granted the excellence of all my others!
He talked incessantly- and repetitively- on the bus rides. At stops he took off for breaks immediately. For example, at the sheep herding demo I sort of kept watch on a few folks with mobility issues as they navigated the uneven terrain to get where we were going. And the group was just way too large (for me).
At the sites when the big Gate1 bus pulled into the parking lot on my most recent trip the bathroom scene was a mob and then tour members were hanging about waiting for the rest to be finished. That's lost time. My caveat would be to choose the smallest option and definitely not the ones that can be up to 40 people. Could you get lucky and have less? Sure- but if not, and only my opinion, it's too many.
We were in a small chapel for frescoes with the Gate1 group lined up outside (kept running into this group!). There was no way they were all going to fit inside and my guess is the experience would be a cursory look at the famous frescoes before needing to be on the way again.
This is only my experience and opinion and travel preference. So many others have only positive reviews of Gate1. I will add that OAT is highly reviewed as another company for comparison as you do your research.

If I signed up for a tour with Gate Ona and discovered that there were 40 others on the same tour, I think I would bail out!

So is Gate 1 considered the budget option for touring? Or are there well-known companies that cost even less? (I'e not taken paid tours before but I am trying to persuade my cousin to look into a few and don't even know where to begin..)

I've done 5 Gate 1 tours so far and I'm signed up for 2 more in 2027. Our first one, Vietnam in 2023, had 36 people but our tour manager was absolutely excellent and it didn't feel that big. China was 22 people because that's all that signed up. Morocco was a Discovery tour (limited to 22) and that was excellent. Egypt was another big one (36) but the tour manager, while knowledgeable, didn't manage the group well. Our last one was a river cruise and we realized that river cruising just isn't our vibe.

We're going to concentrate on small group tours going forward. We like the hotels that Gate 1 selects, often nicer than we would book for ourselves. We appreciate not having to handle our luggage. And we've had tour managers on 2 different tours go above and beyond for us, so we're happy to continue touring with them.

https://www.gate1travel.com/package-categories
I think the confusion might be what "small" means!
"No more than 22 travelers" is the Gate1 definition here and that to me is on a par with RS (24 ish)?
If the group size matters that will narrow the tour company options. Both Intrepid and Odysseys Unlimited cap "small" as 12 in that price class.
It seems the price goes up as the size goes down!

We have do small group tours that had 12 and 16 persons. Also, we had one of their economy tour that only had 21.

Thanks. I know next to nothing about tour companies. Another cousin has gone on several Tauck tours and has recommended them, but I think those are more pricey than Gate 1. Apart from better hotels, what would a tourist gain from taking a tour with an expensive (?) group like Tauck as opposed to budget lie Gate1?

I want to urge my cousin to start traveling! She has so far taken one tour, to Italy with Oat and she had a great time. I think Gate1 is less expensive than OAT (??)

Yes, Gate One provides good value at a lower price point. Tauck will include more meals and sightseeing up front. Often, the hotels are the same. One tour mate once told me that she took a Tauck tour and she would not go with them again because it was too much detail. Obviously, everyone will react in different ways depending on their needs and interests. That is why such a variety of tour companies exist. There is something for everyone.

Your friend needs to decide just how much hand-holding she wants/needs. Also, she will want to consider how much free time she would like each day.

I always encourage people to try a tour and see for themselves if it is a match or not. People who try something before making up their minds are the ones I respect.

My in-laws took several Tauck tours. As noted, they are high end and expensive. You will be very well catered to. From what I’ve seen, Gate 1, as noted, are fine but more of a budget option. One way they make money is that more of the activities are optional (meaning you pay extra if you want them), rather than included in the tour price as with Tauck. Another difference is the demographic. Tauck patrons are almost exclusively affluent Americans, typically (but not always) retirees. That is a good feature for some in that demographic who prefer to travel with people like themselves. I think Gate 1 tends to be more diverse in terms of age and nationality.

We always book all or almost all of the optional tours with Gate 1 Travel when on a tour.
Gate 1 STILL beats all the other tour companies that we check.
We have never been disappointed in the hotels where we stayed or the guides that we had.

I have never done an arranged tour before until September when I completed a hiking/walking small group tour with Adventures Abroad (AA) in Switzerland and we traversed the country on many different modes of transport seamlessly. We had 16 people max and I would say I would not want many more than that. My experience with AA was very good and the tour guide was awesome and SO attentive. All tips were included except the final tip for our main tour guide. We knew this upfront and knew to have cash on hand just for her. This just gives you perspective of another tour company for comparison. And I did not pick the Rick Steve's tour only because of the locations and itinerary as I have already spent extensive time in Germany in his Swiss trip spends a lot of time outside of Switzerland.

The Rick. Steves 12-day “Best of Switzerland” is ENTIRELY inside Switzerland.