Solo Traveler on Rick Steves tour

Hi George,

I went solo on the Eastern France tour in 2009. I didn't pay the single supplement, so I roomed with other single women on the tour. I would imagine that if you pay the single supplement that you are going to get the same rooms as everyone else, hence the reason for the additional charge. I would call the RS tour office though and ask them to be sure.

As an aside, this was a great way to travel single. There were other single people on the tour and we all meshed well as an entire tour group. I made friends on that tour that I still talk to and visit with.

Last year my boyfriend and I took the Best of the Adriatic tour. You will love it!!

Welcome George,

i will state that i havent done any of RS tours yet, but i will give you my experience traveling solo in Europe.

just a comment. you dont really say what exactly youre concerned about in the single room. it would help so that we can address any issues/concerns you have with out guessing.

i fly solo so i try to stay/find single and less expensive rooms where possible.

Ive had single rooms where they were just about the size of a dorm room i had in college but without (w/o) the other bed. if you never been in a dorm than it wont help. Some were ensuite - with bathrooms inside the room and some werent. all of the rooms i had so far w/o the ensuite had a sink in the room. Also any rooms that were not ensuite had several bathrooms on the floor. The bathrooms could be just a toilet & sink or a full bathroom.

all of this varied with the place i stayed too.

Also, some of the rooms i stayed at were large considered it was a "single" room. IE, in Copenhagen, i stayed at the Cabinn - city. They were designed like a ships cabin, hence the name. My "single" room had a bunk bed with a pull out under it. It was more than large enough for 3 people. the bathroom was just large enough to do what you needed to do.

so, it will depend on where you stay or where the RS guides have you stay.

also, consider this. You are there to travel and to sightsee and do things. the room is a place to place your stuff, sleep, shower and use the crapper.

happy trails.

I too went solo on a Rick Steves tour, but didn't pay the supplement. That said, I've stayed in Single Rooms in hotels that Rick Recommends. The room will be small. It will be a single, twin bed, not a double bed. It's all you need. You will likely have a chair, but you may find that you need that space to put stuff rather than to sit. :) Travel light and you'll be fine.

BTW when I traveled solo, we switched off room mates for the first half and then settled in to the same room mates for the latter half of the tour. We had one person who decided that she absolutely had to have a single room for the last three nights. She had to pay and I suspect it was more than an advance payment for a single supplement would have been.

Pam

I have been on 5 RS tours, 3 as a single. One I shared with a roommate they matched me with and two I paid the extra supplement. For those two, some of the rooms were the same as everyone else, but some were the smallest, least attractive rooms. I definitely think couples get the better rooms You will probably get a combination of nice and very basic, but the tour will be so great and the friends you meet so incredible that I would still recommend you go.

I did Heart of Italy paying the single supplement. The room in Rome was t-i-n-y with a single bed and the bathroom even smaller. However, in the other 3 hotels I had rooms with queen beds and similar size as the other tour members. You will probably find with the hotels Rick uses that all the rooms even within each hotel will be different!

I will also say that I spent very little time in the room, so the miniscule room in Rome didn't really bother me.

I also did a couple of Road Scholar tours in UK and found that in London the single room was again miniscule but outside of London I had the same size rooms as others.

I don't know how this would compare to the rooms on the Slovenia and Croatia tour though. My feeling was things were so expensive in London and Rome that any real estate is precious.

I haven't traveled solo, but I've been on lots of RS tours and I've had plenty of opportunities to chat with solo tour members. The consensus seems to be that some of the rooms are pretty equal, but not all. I know sometimes the solo rooms are considered small and less desirable. I've never heard a solo tour member regret taking the tour, though. You also need to consider that, even among 2-person rooms, there can be great variations. The tours tend to stay in small family-run hotels that don't have a large number of identical rooms. By the way, we loved the Adriatic tour!

Hi George, I've traveled solo and paid the single supplement on 3 RS tours (Paris in 7 Days, Paris & the Loire, and Germany, Austria & Switzerland). Some of the rooms were small but always clean. In one instance (in Vienna) the tour guide offered to trade rooms with me if I thought mine was too small (I didn't trade, it wasn't a problem). At the end of a long day I really needed and appreciated the time alone. I'm signed up for my 5th RS tour this year - it's a way to experience Europe and I'm sure you will have a terrific time!

I have been on 11 RS tours, on two tours I went with a girlfriend, the rest I went alone and had a my own room. Depending on the hotel, your room can be very nice or very basic. I have had both. One of the nicest rooms I had was at the hotel in Istanbul. It really depends on the hotel. I also had some very nice rooms on my Ireland tour and a huge room in Northern Ireland. You never know what you are going to wind up with. Go on the tour and have a great time! You really are not in the room that much. I find the bathroom more important than the room. In my experience on the 11 tours, more single women go on the tours solo than men. You may pay the single supplement and be the only male on the tour. When booking call the company and see if there are any other men going alone. If there is not, then don't pay the single supplement and you will still get your own room. It is hard for singles as the company takes your single supplement money and even if you are the only male, you will not get a refund on the single supplement. But if you really want your own room, then you pay the single supplement as there are not many rooms they sell for singles. It is gamble. But I can say this, the tours are excellent, you will have a wonderful experience, it is nice to have your own room as a solo and it is worth the money for the tour and single room. I had nice rooms in Florence, a basic room in London, a nice room in Paris, just depends on the hotel. Go and have an super time.

Hi, George. I've paid the single supplement on six RS tours. Yeah, it eats into my budget a bit, but I've never regretted it. Not only do I love having those fews hours of alone-time, but I also like being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, for as long as I want, with the TV on, and all the lights on. I don't need to worry about taking too much time in the bathroom, or staying up later than usual because there's a really good movie on, or even just walking around in my underwear. Plus, I snore like a hibernating grizzly bear, and I really don't want to put a total stranger through that! :) So that's why I pay the supplement.

As for the rooms, they will range from "Are you quite sure this isn't a broom closet?" to "Holy cow, I could do cartwheels in here!" The guides are usually pretty good about remembering that you got a tiny room on the first two stops, so you will get a bigger room for the next stop. Apart from one very small room on the BoE tour that I didn't feel at all comfortable in (but for two nights, it wasn't that big of a deal), the only thing that has ever mildly disappointed me about the true-single rooms is that they often have a view of a service courtyard or an air shaft, so you might start to feel a teensy bit claustrophobic. But seeing as you're only awake in the room for a few hours a day, it's not that bad.

As Rick says, many hotels will carve out a weirdly-shaped room in order to be able to offer a single; it may be wedge-shaped, etc., so the space may be less than the double rooms. But, as you've read in the above comments, you may hit the jackpot on occasion.

These won't necessarily be skanky broom closets; they just may not be as large and 'fancy' as the others. When your room doesn't have as much wall space, for instance, you may not have pictures on the wall (perhaps that's a bonus!), and your window may not be as large...that's all. If the owners think they can fit a twin bed in a space, they probably will.

DO sign up! And have a great time!

George,

I've taken a number of RS tours and have travelled solo on each one and except for one, have always paid the single supplement. I've found that in some cases I've been provided with a single room that's somewhat smaller in size with a smaller bed, but still very adequate and comfortable. In other cases I've been placed in a double room with a queen-sized bed and much more room. Which type of room you'll get will depend to a great extent on which tour you're taking, which hotels are used on that tour (different hotels can be used on each tour to the same destinations depending on availability) and which of their rooms are available at that time. I find that I'm only in the room to sleep, shower and check E-mail, so having a smaller room has not been a huge problem.

Keep in mind that some of the smaller family run hotels are located in very old buildings and they've "shoehorned" rooms in where there was space. Regardless of what type of room you get, you may still have to deal with the smaller showers found in some European hotels, typically about 3' x 3' or perhaps slightly larger. Not much room but adequate.

I'd suggest not "contemplating" too long as it looks like the Adriatic tours are booking up quickly.

Happy travels!

"...shoehorned..."

THAT'S the word I was searching for! Thanks, Ken.

Hi George. I have travelled solo 3 times on a RS tour and once with a friend sharing a room. The room size varied greatly, some were huge, others small. I did not feel that as a single my room was always smaller than the couples. Some hotels were simpler, some great.

I agree with other posters, you do not spend much time in your room besides sleeping & showering. Usually there is a day with some free time, sometimes I slept in, other free days, I was out wandering with other tour members.

Have a great trip!