I am taking a cruise around the UK first part of September this year. After that I plan to spend 2-3 weeks touring Great Britain. My travel partner Beverly is leery of independent travel so I am compromising and looking at escorted tours in England, Scotland and Wales. I’m looking for recommendations for tour companies. I’m not a fan of bus tours, I prefer rail but in the pursuit of compromise I will take a bus tour if that’s the best itinerary.
Rick Steve tours will not work from us. I’m having spine surgery in March so his “carry your own luggage” isn’t going to work for me, and Bev also has limitations.
Thanks in advance fir your help!!
Posted by
Reno, NV, USA
2535 posts
I would suggest Odysseys Unlimited. They are small group tours and handle one piece of luggage for you. They are pricier than RS but stay in nicer hotels. I also find them less fast paced, more relaxing than RS.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17244 posts
Road Scholar offers lots of options for touring the UK, most with an educational focus.
https://www.roadscholar.org/collections/united-kingdom/
And here are a couple of options for tours by train:
https://www.greatrail.com/holiday-destinations/europe/rail-tours-uk-ireland/
https://www.audleytravel.com/us/united-kingdom
I have no experience with or knowledge of the two rail tour companies, but we have done one Road Scholar tour (Puglia) and thought they did a great job.
Posted by
Charleston & Birmingham
4562 posts
I'm not sure if they handle your luggage, but they could definitely put you in hotels with elevators. I would consider doing 3 Rabbies tours. They use small buses and the guides are great.
Posted by
Freedonia
16070 posts
With Rabbies, you can also choose your own hotels if you prefer.
Rabies uses 16 passenger vans so they won't have to drop you off blocks from your hotel.
Rabbies is really the halfway point between a guided tour and independent travel.
Odysseys are small groups in full size coaches so you have plenty of room. Bag delivery from coach to room and return, in most cases wine and beer is included in group dinners and a group get together for a drink may happen more than once per tour.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14582 posts
I've done several Road Scholar tours in England as Lola linked to the RS site. I've done a London tour that is not offered right now, a hiking tour which was a higher activity level, the tour to Wales (Snowdonia and Pembrokeshire) and the one to Cornwall. They were all excellent but you should be mindful of the activity levels. Road Scholar re-did their activity levels a few years ago and they are pretty accurate at present so make sure you are looking at programs that will suit your current activity levels.
I will also add that while Road Scholar says they will porter your bags, the last tour I took with them in May 2022 to Belgium and Netherlands neither hotel had the staff to handle the bags so we had to do them ourselves. I had no problem but I pack light and handle mine on and off trains for solo travel BUT there were some folks with giant suitcases who had difficulty. I think part of the issue was that all hotels were short staffed after Covid so perhaps by the time you travel staffing in most areas will have returned to normal.