Considering a first RS tour

For a long time, I was usually the younger person on a tour. And now, I've brought my daughter on tours - first as a pre-teen, and then more recently as a late 20-something. All times were fine. We were the youngest people - by decades - on our most recent tour. One was Rick Steves (not a family tour), another one was Odysseys. Heck, I brought 3 young adults along on a Gate 1 Japan tour and my daughter bonded with a 75-year old from San Clemente who she still emails with. We always have a blast. Travelers are a fun group.

We've been on 3 RS tours and two of them have had young adults. One couple (30's) were on their honeymoon and this was just one part of their extended trip. One had a 30 something son (very fun guy) traveling with parents and we also had a 40 year solo traveler who was a doctor. Everyone is welcome and young energy is appreciated. And considering that you are doing 7 day Paris, that doesn't even involve long days on a bus. A perfect tour to get your feet wet. My young adult kids have said they'd love to do a RS tour with us. They don't care about being the youngest; they're friendly and well traveled internationally and just open to new experiences!

Keep in mind the tours we've been on are just regular non summertime tours; you'd obviously get a wider berth of ages including children on the My Way or even perhaps something like the 7 Day Paris tour if it were in the summer. We took our first RS tour and went with a 9 day to decide if the group tours were for us. So a 7 day is a nice amount of time without a long time committment! The average age on tours is older, but not always exclusively. Enjoy! You'll have a great time.

We've taken a few tours in the fall (Sept or later) and it has been pretty unusual to have kids or younger adults on them. Maybe more during the summer?

I am debating whether to try a guided tour just to mix things up a bit,

It's not really what you asked about but I'd suggest doing anything but a city tour if you want to try a RS tour (or someone else's). IMO a tour shines when it does things it would be hard to do on your own.

In a multi-location tour such you get the benefit of easy transportation and local guides, plus someone else has made all the hotel arrangements. The bus picks you up at the hotel in the morning and takes you direct to the places you are visiting. When it's time to move on you just step aboard. Getting around by train means their schedule becomes your schedule, making the 2-3 hour lunch stops in a small town or the morning excursions the tour does impractical. Compared to driving, parking is the bus drivers problem after you're dropped off as are the tolls and other driving hassles. Larger cities have public tours but in smaller towns you'd have to hire a private guide which would be quite expensive if you tried to duplicate what the tour provides. When you arrive at a new stay your RS guide will give an orientation walk which isn't going to happen on your own. And if there is a local museum to visit tour groups often get a reserved admission time which may not be available to the general public.

But on a city tour like the 5 Day Paris tour (billed as "7 days" if you use what I call "tour math") there is no bus, you get around like any other tourist on public transit. You stay at a single hotel you could have booked yourself. In Paris and other large cities there are tour companies like https://www.paris-walks.com/index_m.html that have public tours covering much if not all of what the group tour covers. With the cost for 3 people on this tour of about $9K you could instead find a hotel on your own, take public tours, spring for a private tour or two, still coming out way ahead costwise.

I just returned from 7 day best of Paris with my 15 year old daughter. She loved conversing with the adults (who were refreshingly interesting and well-read). We did arrived 5 nights early, most people arrived 1-2 nights early. There was another mother-daughter pair with the daughter in her (probably) early to mid 20s, and a daughter-father pair with the dad in his early 80s, I believe. Anyway, it was a great tour, and I think everyone in the group loved it.

We did the RS Paris tour in 2019 and our daughter in her mid thirties came with us. There were several other women around that age on the tour. They all fit in well and had a great time. During our 12 tours, we have had a number of couples and singles that were younger than us “old people.” It makes for a more interesting travel group, in my opinion.

Disclaimer, I've never taken a Rick Steve's tour. However, I agree with John. Paris is so easy to do on your own, especially after successfully planning your London trip. I would save the tour for a trip that is a bit more complicated to put together.

We've done over 20 RS tours, and offhand, I can only think of one, maybe two, where all the participants were over 60. Our second tour had 3 or 4 20-somethings; our Basque tour had 2 brothers 29 and 30, and it is not at all uncommon to have tour mates in their 40s.

Every RS tour we've taken has been well worth it.

Their pacing, perfect curation, and outstanding local guides are assembled better than we have done ourselves. I've been to Europe a couple dozen times and we've been on four (soon to be five) RS tours. We also took our college aged children on one the tours too. They have been uniformly excellent. Our kids loved the tour.

His tours have always exceeded what we've done on our own (even with his books and using his recommended local guides.) We've used other tour companies for other parts of the world and even once in Spain and Portugal when we missed the signup for Rick's tour. They were good. Our self-help tours were also good. Rick Steves tours have been outstanding.

With all of this said, it certainly possible to have great trips without guides and/or with other companies.

All I can tell you is that we are extremely happy with decisions to use Rick Steves.

Happy travels!

Such thoughtful responses, thank you all so much. It is great to read about some of your experiences and the fact my concern about their ages is seemingly a non-starter should I go this route. John and jeanm you both bring up a very interesting point. I’m a very frugal traveler and I was wondering about the cost factor as it relates to what I am used to doing planning on my own. It might be worth my time to do a cost breakdown just to have more information.

I’m just wondering if we would learn so much more if we did have a guide for Paris. Here’s an example that my daughter brought up last night. When we went on our Thames River cruise we had the most delightful guy giving the tour. He was so personable, funny and full of great stories as we went through London. It was a great 45 minutes and we loved it. If we had that type of experience while in Paris each day, I think it may be worth spending the extra money to book a tour vs. going on our own. I’m still chewing on this obviously, so any more thoughts you all have would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve only been on two Rick Steves tours, and my husband and I were in our 40s-early 50s. It seemed like most of the people were in our general age bracket. There were also some 60+ members, but everyone was up for the activity level and both groups were congenial. Both times there were older teens/20s kids traveling with parents. We had a great time on the tours and are looking forward to the third in June:)

"I’m just wondering if we would learn so much more if we did have a guide for Paris."

THIS ^^ ^^ is exactly WHY I did the Best of Paris tour.

Back story: I returned to international travel in 2013 after not having traveled to Europe since the 80's. I had been to Paris in 1973, 1974, 1976 and just didn't enjoy it. A good friend loves Paris and so many here on the forum seemed to love it that I thought I must be missing something.

So...in 2014 I did the 21 day Best of Europe which ends with 2 nights in Paris and decided to tack on the Best of Paris plus an additional week with my friend who loves Paris. Well for me the Best of Paris was money well-spent....or not! depending on the status of my retirement accounts because I can't stay away. Just getting around Paris with the RS guide and having her teach us practical skills as well as cultural things was priceless. For instance, one of the first mornings when we were waiting for a Metro train, she whispered into our whisper sets something like...."See that lady in the red sweater? She is lined up wrong and because of where she is standing she will p*ss off a lot of the locals." (I think it must have been Line 1 with the automatic doors and the person was standing in the middle of where the door opens instead of lining up to the side. Valuable info for someone who has never lived where there is public transit!)

It will always work out cheaper to DIY but the added value of the experienced guide + the RS concept of "teaching" people to travel was a win for me and well worth the money.

FWIW, my first RS tour was the Heart of Italy which I did with my brother, SIL and their 2 young adult sons - ages 24 and 20. The "kids" had a fabulous time. We were just reminiscing yesterday at a family dinner.

I’m a very frugal traveler and I was wondering about the cost factor as it relates to what I am used to doing planning on my own.

From past posts we're aware that you're a very thorough planner, so you're usually doing work that you would otherwise be paying RS to do. In addition, with three of you, wouldn't you need to pay the single supplement for lodging?

I did a self-directed trip to Poland last year, following the basic RS itinerary, and my cost including airfare was less than the RS tour price.

As others have said, Paris is easy to visit - if you'd like more context, watch some YouTube videos before you go, read some good guidebooks, and maybe hire a local guide for a session or two.

The major point, also made above, is that a RS tour is more likely to be worth the extra cost when it includes destinations where transportation is more challenging - Sicily and Turkey, Best of Tuscany, etc. And riding the tour bus may be the biggest variable vs. Independent travel, and you need to try it to determine whether it works for you.

Tours are efficient, and sometimes time is more valuable than money.

Note that on the tour, there is still a lot of free time for you to plan on your own.

As noted, a wide range of ages are typically present on RS tours, based on my experience skewing toward retirement age. As long as your son and daughter are engaged, interested in the tour and subject matter, and willing to have conversations with interesting people they will be just fine. I've been the youngest person on tour by 20+ years and never felt unwelcome. One couple informally adopted me as their west coast daughter and I'm in still contact with them going on 15 years.

Re: the discussion about whether a city tour is "worth it" I think the answer is different for everyone. My personal calculus for "tour or not to tour" involves evaluating things like: airfare options to destination (sometimes tours start/end in less advantageous locations for my flight options), the complexities of transportation, the specific itinerary (i.e., how easy is it to do on my own), language barriers, and how much personal bandwidth I have available to plan a complex trip. As you are a frugal traveler, you'd want to pencil out costs for things included in the tour versus doing those on your own. The only thing you can't "price" is the logistical efficiencies that a RS tour can provide - such as knowing how to get in/out of places before they're busy, educational information provided by guides, not having to worry about getting from point A to point B, etc. For myself, even though not tangible, these benefits have certainly carried great value to me. I've not regretted any of the 5 RS tours I have taken even when it would have been cheaper to do it on my own.

FWIW, for Paris you could also hire a private guide or take group day tours for portions of days (plenty of good ones and the forum folk would have good rec's). That would give you some of the flavor of a guided tour without committing to a full 7 days with one group.

It is definitely cheaper to do it on your own, but I am still glad we did the tour (even though by the time the tour started, my daughter and I were using the Metro on our own and such). Having our tour guide share stories, and the neighborhood walks were things we wouldn't have had on our own. The meals were all great, too, and it was nice meeting 21 other people and sharing some of the day with them (but not every waking hour, which I appreciated, too). I watched a (granted, promotional) video by RS regarding his tours and he said you'll see about 30 percent more with a tour. But I do agree that a city tour is not the time when a tour is needed the most. I was not confident enough just to go to Paris with my daughter entirely on my own, but by the time I left, I was definitely confident enough to return on our own (and I'm planning a family trip for next year right now).

I’m just wondering if we would learn so much more if we did have a guide for Paris

I believe you would, and I love guides. But in a city like Paris there are companies like Paris Walks (linked to earlier) that provide tours similar to that you'll get on the 5 days of the RS tour. And if there's a special interest you have or you want a more in-depth experience at some site(s) you can even splurge on a private guide once or twice and still come out ahead of the RS price for three travelers.

I just did a RS Rome tour this year with my adult son and there was a young couple and a man with his two adult sons. Our group spanned the decades.

Edited to add, I had visited Rome independently before but I learned SO much from the guides on this recent tour. Having the guides provided a much more satisfying and insightful experience.

I have been reading through the additional replies, thank you all. Also, I have read a few posts from other members who have bought up the same question about going on own vs. the tour, so I am not feeling totally alone lol. Pat, in particular, had many of the same concerns as me. What did you decide to do? At least the kids ages question is sorted in my mind, so that’s a good start!

I obviously don’t have any experience with the daily structure of a tour. I know they are active, which we have done before when we went to London. I like taking it slow, too, which I am hoping for with our Scotland trip. The only thing that I wonder about is when I read about the late dinners, which I assume means late night bedtime. I’m normally an early dinner time person and usually in bed around 10. I don’t have to be so rigid with that scenario, but it is what my body/ mind is used to. Would that be problematic with a tour such as this?
Obviously my kids would be way better at conforming to a late dinner/ bed schedule. They do that now.

To answer an earlier question, yes, we would need a single supplement for my son. He said he would be ok paying that if we decide to go with this option. I funded the other trips, aside from airfare, but this one they would do all on their own.

If anyone has gone on this trip that could kind of give me an idea about the evening schedule (not the daily itinerary, I did see that breakdown online) I would appreciate it. Thanks again everyone.

Day 1 - evening dinner. I think we were done by 8 but could have left a little earlier. We walked to the restaurant from the hotel so some people left earlier than others.

Day 2 - group activity was done around 1 p.m.

Day 3 group dinner at 6, boat cruise started at 8, done at 9 then walk 15 minutes back to hotel

Day 4 - Louvre evening, Louvre stays open til 9 but could leave by 7:15 or so p.m. , Metro back to hotel about 20 minutes.

Day 5 - all day at Versailles, no group evening activity , come back on the train when you're ready

Day 6 - group dinner, we were up late for this one, maybe we were back after 9? Then we stayed to say some good byes. We had a flight the next morning but I felt like I slept pretty decently for a night-before-a-flight.

This didn't have as many late nights as the only other tour I took (with a different company, best of Italy). And I guess late is relative, but we met between 8:30 and 9:30 each morning (specific time, but that was the range) after having breakfast at the hotel.

Thank you for the breakdown pbscd. That certainly looks like a schedule that would work for my body’s clock/ routine. What I was worried about was going strong each day then not eating until after 8 each night and not getting to bed till 11 or so. That type thing would break me lol.

Pam and pbscd your points about taking a tour, then utilizing the lessons/education about intl travel you received from it to gain more confidence to go again on your own really struck a note with me. My young travel partners would benefit , too, I am sure.

I appreciate all of you taking the time for the thoughtful responses. I am sure we would have a ball either way we decide to do this. They obviously have their own positives!

The only night my daughter and I were up really late was of my own doing because I found a Bach concert I really wanted to go to. It was worth it because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but the tour schedule was not wearing us down. Actually, we were ready for the tour to start so that we could get on their easier pace versus my pace for the previous days. There's so much to see and do in Paris, at some point I just had to accept that we would see what we would and just would miss some, too. I don't think you can go wrong either way with this decision. I am very frugal (travel is about the only thing I enjoy spending money on outside of bare necessities) but I do not regret doing this tour.

I did really like that we didn't eat really late at night. That did interfere with my sleep on the Italy trip.

Just a few thoughts:

A group tour will be significantly more expensive for three people than an independent tour.

As others have pointed out, group tours are useful when a destination (or series of destinations) would be difficult to manage independently. Accommodations and transportation in Paris are relatively simple.

On group tours, you will primarily mingle with other members of the tour. Independent travel facilitates interaction with "locals." Tour companies sometimes arrange visits or dinners with "a typical local family." These are carefully selected families who, at least in part, earn their living by repeatedly hosting travelers. They are not "typical." I've enjoyed long spontaneous conversations with "locals" on trains, during casual dining, and in historic sites. These encounters probably would not have happened if I were with a tour group.

Whether you plan an independent trip or travel with a tour group, you can research the sites you will be visiting and learn as much (or as little) as you want before your trip. In addition, many historic sites have signs, audioguides, and docents which will provide lots of information, and your smart phone will be helpful, as well.

Finally, independent travelers choose accommodations, food options, and destinations to meet their interests and needs. Independent travelers can also pace their trip as they want, which means you can be an early-riser or sleep in, or you can plan a midday nap or an early evening bedtime. There is also far more flexibility in independent travel, so you can modify your plans as you go. Perhaps you decide mid-trip that you just don't feel like going to the art museum you had planned to visit, but after seeing Notre Dame you're curious about where French royalty was buried. So, you can spontaneously plan a visit to St. Denis.

Finally, feeling reasonably safe and confident in your ability to manage a trip is a factor in whether you travel independently or on a group tour. Vacations should be enjoyable. If planning a trip is truly overwhelming or if a trip feels in any way dangerous, then the support of a group tour might be the better option.