Unable to do a Rick Steves tour this year, I’m looking at other options.

We haven't used them ourselves but I've read good things about Rabbies tours. Here's some feedback from RS posters who have used them, most in Scotland but some in England as well.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?utf8=✓&query=Rabbies+tours&button=

Thanks Kathy….. I know of them from a previous trip to Scotland…wasn’t impressed…but thank you 😊

Oops. Sorry that wasn't helpful but good to know that they weren't all that for everyone!

Check out Odysseys Unlimited. They are similar to what RS offers but one step up.

The prices on their website include airfare but you can call them for land only prices.

I've taken a few tours with them.

Thanks Frank…..

We are great fans of HF Holidays in the UK. We just did a week in the Cotswolds in September and will be doing a rail trip from London to the Black Forest in June. Lots of choices
https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/

There are several people who have taken Seymour Tours and have raved about them, so I'm sure they will stop by to give their opinion. I know that their groups are very small and the destinations are very well researched.

In the meantime, here are a few trip reports of Seymour Tours that you might like to read:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/seymour-travels-scottish-island-tour-orkney-and-shetland
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sw-england-tour-with-seymour-travels-2-weeks
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-ams-paris-london-mark-seymour-s-northern-england-tour-april-10-may-19-2023

Atlas Obscura offers some interesting small-group tours, such as this one in Scotland, with a group size of 10:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/adventures/trips/scotland?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAlcyuBhBnEiwAOGZ2S4Oh5ztsnglUSyTjV3AROPwAxywuIoLLmrASoKpYY1AFRLJGv6QbWBoC1b4QAvD_BwE

Full disclosure: I have no experience with this company other than their website

I do, however, have experience with HF Holidays; we are members and have enjoyed several walking holidays with them. Their programs are geared toward walking/hiking, but some have a sightseeing/cultural, or interest-based component as well (photography, yoga, bridge, writing workshops, etc.). They tend to be based at one of their country homes for 2-7 days, so you can get an in-depth look at one area, not a general tour.

I've done 2 Seymour Travels tours, have one in October to France and have THREE for 2025. I've got dibs on 2 more for 2026! I LOVE them! (Thank you Mardee for the head's up on this thread!)

I started following Mark's Touring Britain FB page and was enchanted with his little vignettes of people who live in the places he visits on tours. The one that caught me was about a soldier in the Roman army stationed at Hadrian's Wall. He was a Spanish conscript and was writing home to his Mom to ask her to send him warmer underwear as he was cold. Mark based this on some small metal tablets the archeologists have unearthed at Vindolanda.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/284251339675804

I did the Northern England tour last May which was excellent. We toured Yorkshire and Northumberland. I went for that one because I'd always wanted to go to Lindesfarne/Holy Island and it's harder to get to with public transport. That tour only had 5 tour members plus one of Mark's other guides, Lorraine who was doing some tour research as well as Mark who drove the van. We saw so much and learned so much!

I had so much fun on that tour when I got home I immediately signed up to do his Orkney and Shetland tour in August. That completely surpassed my expectations. Orkney and Shetland blew me away. Mark and his co-lead Liz, were awesome, filled with knowledge that they willingly passed on.

The tours are very active and I was in about the middle of the pack fitness wise. The Orkney portion included crawling on hands and knees into a chambered cairn and since I have FOMO I did that as well. Not everyone went in but I would not have missed it! Mark gives a LOT of information and it is awesome to have a small enough tour to have 1:1 time with an exceptional guide. On Lindesfarne I was walking toward the Abbey and he came up beside me as we walked thru the Abbey and church. There were signs which were explanatory but Mark can't help himself and talked me thru there.

Here is my TR from Orkney and Shetland.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/seymour-travels-scottish-island-tour-orkney-and-shetland

Mark, Liz and Lorraine have all guided for Rick. I'm told (by another tour member, not) Mark and Liz are doing one Best of England tour for Rick this summer but they're so busy with their own tours they won't do many.

Down side - they fill fast! They only do 1 or 2 of each itinerary each year so they may not have anything running in your time frame. They are rotating their tours so are not running the same ones every year.

https://www.seymourtravels.co.uk/upcomingtours2024

Ask me any questions!

One other thing of note is that Seymour Tours does not charge a single supplement ever. I signed up for a tour because of that in part (unfortunately had to cancel for personal reasons) but that's a considerable savings if you are a solo traveler.

Thank you so much Mardee…..
You’ve been a great help! I think I’ll go with them. Many thanks 👍

Ooh ! Thank you very much for the warning Pam, and for the tour reports.

Thank you Jane

I'll add that I've done 12 Rick tours and 13 Road Scholar tours. I was not sure I'd like the very small group format. What if there was someone who was "a pill" as my Mama would have said. What if "I" was the pill?? Well, it worked out great. Small groups don't take as long for bathroom breaks, haha. Everyone was on time, every time, for both tours. As mentioned I loved the unlimited guide access. Mark does a LOT of research for his tours and knows so much and is always willing to talk. Plus he must drink about 6 espressos a day so is ready to go, haha!

On the Shetland portion of our tour, one of the guys bought a bottle of whisky and had a little tasting in the living room of the hotel for a couple of nights until we killed the bottle. I'm not much of a drinker and really don't drink whisky but this was very good and I enjoyed chatting with the others.

There are fewer meals provided on Mark's tours than on Rick or Road Scholar and really this was fine by me. I just don't like big meals every night. On the nights there were no meals provided on the Northern England tour he made sure to orient us to the nearby restaurants. On Orkney and Shetland he usually made a quick stop (literally 15-20 minutes) at one of the grocery stores in case people just wanted to pick up a prepared sandwich or salad for dinner.

I would also say there are less free time opportunities than on a Rick tour but really it's just done a bit differently. Free time was usually when we were taken to a site, oriented, given a talk about the history/geography, etc, then let go to explore on our own whether it was some place like Fountains Abbey or the Cliffs at Yesnaby (Orkney).

You've got me looking at what's open this year. I'd love to do any of his 3 tours in England that still have room. ALL would be interesting.

BTW, he usually comes up with some kind of "field trip" that's not listed on the itinerary, lol. On the first night of the Northern England tour one of the folks asked whether there were any canals or locks in the area. He said he didn't think so but would look. The next day we went to Haworth of Bronte fame. After we regrouped, he said...field trip?? Oh yes, we chorused. So during our time in Haworth, he'd found a canal with a 5-lock set up nearby. Drove over there to scope it out. Talked to the volunteer docents on duty that day who were fine with a small group coming and made arrangements for us to visit. It was such fun. I'm really not much on seeing sites from the Industrial Age but wow, this was really interesting and a complete surprise, lol!

I will now shut up.....

The Bingley 5 rise staircase locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Unlike normal locks, where there is a gap (technically a pound) in between locks the bottom gate of each lock forms the top gate of the next lock down- so just 6 lock gates for 5 locks.
Not unique on the system, but very unusual.

The steepest fall of any locks in the country- falling or rising 59 feet in 320 feet (so a gradient of almost 20%). Because of the unusual set up they can only be worked by a lock-keeper (paid or docent). Almost unique in that respect in the UK.

A Grade 1 listed structure.

(The resident canal bore will shut up now!

Thank you again Pam.
This forum has been great and you’ve been very helpful.!
Seymour Travels is the company I shall use.

Keep talking, Pam - and others! For those of us with little to no group travel experience, reading all the information and comparisons is gold. Thanks to the OP for starting the conversation and all who are contributing!

Look at what Rabbies offers in the UK. We did their 5-day tour of central England and Wales and it was great.

Consider Blue Roads Touring, an England based company that does small group tours in the UK and parts of Europe. I have done 1 of their tours and would do more.
https://www.blueroadstouring.com/

Thanks Cala….
But I’ve had a bad experience with Rabbies…..
But thank you.

Will you share your bad experience with Rabbies please? I really would like to know because I signed up for 3 of their multi day tours this May. The online reviews are all great so it would be very nice to hear about your experience.

To the canal bore, I'm sure you have seen all the barging episodes of Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Just discovered them all over the Youtubes. Calm and delightful, in spite of her failing health.

I am not in this board a lot, but saw this thread.

I have been on Seymour tours three trips . I am going on my fourth , leaving in 38 days for River cruise , free time on our own in Belgium then his No England tour.

My next in will be 2025 in October for France on my own. No hubs this time. Do I do appreciate single at no extra charge.

I love the small groups. Not sure when I will return to Rick. ( cruise is a chartered group with my work)

Our trips were Shetland/orkney, Sw England and 12 days of Christmas. I have enjoyed these small groups. You can get in and out of places big buses can’t get to.

Have met people who are friends now. Plus will travel again with her again and again in 2025 to France.

I have a couple of trip reports out there .

Kim