Which locations are best done on a tour vs. independently

A few more details would help definitely because Europe is huge.

Sure there are some common basics which make a tour more meaningful versus solo trip such as
- foreign language
- location / orientation
- trip organization
- focus of travel purpose

On the other hand traveling independently supported by local guides can bring you much closer to people of the country. Sometimes travel groups have their own "universe".

Therefore the answer to your question is not so easy because we so not know your abilities / skills (e. g. languages) and preferences.

As said: if you would provide some interests this would help to propose destinations for tour and independent travel.

Also the question where in Germany you have been because one part of Germany is not whole Germany. Even our top 5 cities do not prefer the same bread, beer or food. ;-)

I think it matters a lot what sort of things you like to do while traveling. I'm a big fan of art museums as well as some specialized museums. I've observed that tours spend less than half as much time in small art museums as I do (if they go there at all); I'm sure the difference is even greater for large museums. I imagine they're doing what's right for their typical customers, but being rushed through a museum would drive me nuts.

On the other hand, I don't have much interest in pre-20th-century historical sights, so a lot of the popular tour stops would not be on an itinerary I designed for myself. That includes the Colosseum and any number of Greek ruins. Thus I deduce that I'm not a good candidate for multi-day tours to most European destinations. A tour focusing on scenic rural areas might work, though.

There are massive logistical advantages to having dedicated bus transportation in areas where public transportation is non-existent or infrequent if the traveler for some reason is unwilling to rent a car. This is all the more true for folks with limited vacation time and a long list of places they want to go. Two examples of areas where I was constrained by my reliance on public transportation: rural western Scotland (where the situation was aggravated by iffy weather) and the Dordogne. I managed pretty well in Sicily and Puglia, but that was because I'm retired and was willing to be flexible about how long I stayed at each base. (There aren't all that many buses rolling through rural parts of southern Italy on Sundays.)

Then there's the language issue. I travel because I like to experience different environments. Being surrounded by a foreign language is something I normally enjoy; I like the challenge. Some folks are uncomfortable being on their own in areas where English isn't widely spoken. More and more Europeans are able to communicate in English, but no-English-spoken can still be the situation in smaller cities and towns a bit off the beaten tourist path. I had a few awkward moments in Ukraine (not in Kyiv, L'viv or Odesa), and I'd be prepared for the same sort of thing in Turkey outside Istanbul and the coastal beach resorts.

We did a driving tour of Ireland. Unfortunately my husband, the driver, did not get to enjoy the scenery much. He was busy paying attention to the road. Also, most of the roads in Ireland have high stone walls on either side of the road. A bus tour would give you a much better view of the countryside.

Almost any city is easy to tour solo unless you think language will be a problem. The advantage to a tour in a city is that you can skip the line at many sites and the tour efficiently gets you from place to place, reducing wasted time trying to find your way around. However, if you are not wanting to visit a large number of museums and tourist sites, then a trip on your own may be more spontaneous and enjoyable.

Germany is easy to get around the country by train. However, other countries don’t all have comparable public transportation. In those countries a tour or a car rental might be a better option. It really boils down to the country, how much moving around you are doing vs staying put in a city, and what sightseeing activities you want to do. If you have specific countries and cities you are interested in, folks might be able to give you better insight.

More about me-
I am an mid 30's male, HS music director by day. I also teach a dual credit humanities course, so I truly do love experiencing lots of things when I travel, i.e. history, music, arts, churches, language, food that I can share with my students. I took 2 years of French in HS (but remember little to none) and 2 semesters of undergrad German (not fluent by any means, but can introduce myself, read a menu, identify businesses/professionals, ask for directions, etc.)

Places I have been-
Vienna & Salzburg: would like to return to each of these cities, as my last trip was a music performance tour, and we were limited in our time to see attractions since we were rehearsing and performing part of each day. A couple highlights of my trip were hiking in Berchstegarten and enjoying the food/drinks/concert scene in Vienna
Munich: I really enjoyed Dachau and the BMW Museum. Would like to go back (possibly fly in or out of) to spend more time in the city...walking tour, Residence, etc.
Luther Cities: spent 1 night in Erfurt with side trips to Wartburg Castle and Bach sites
Berlin...loved the German History Museum, city tour, Reichstag. Would do back and look at doing some day trips and more specialized city tours, such as the food/drink or graffiti tours.
Dublin...stayed at Trinity College. Took a great walking tour and toured the Archaeology and Decorative Arts/History museums. Realized that I had little knowledge of this part of the world prior to my visit.

I used trains throughout German and public buses in Dublin.

Places I think I'd like to go someday:
Great Britain (London-British Museum, library, historic colleges, Scotland - family has roots here/Presbyterianism)
Ireland (more time in Dublin, countryside)
France (Normandy, Paris)
Germany (mentioned above, Cologne, Stuttgart - car museums, Frankfurt, Nuremberg-WW2 sites)
Switzerland (hiking, Geneva - Presbyterianism)
Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome, Cinque Terra - hiking and beaches)
Prague
Budapest

I had a long post ready to send, and then decided to cut to the chase and suggest your next destination be Italy, no matter if independent or by tour. We could have done it on our own, but found the tour with a guide made efficient use of our time. Not to push Rick Steves tours, but they do have the My Way tours which are a compromise. Their regular tours also provide a lot of "on your own" time.

The short answer for me is that organized tours are best for itineraries where train transportation is harder to manage by train, bus, etc.

But, our initial trips to Europe as a couple (I traveled after high school) going on RS tours were SO valuable compared to what we would have seen and experienced traveling by ourselves! Later, I spent countless hours and turned Europe travel planning into a major hobby of mine. These independent trips are just as memorable and the way we prefer to travel now.

Your idea for a tour for Ireland makes sense. Another location I would definitely take a RS tour is Croatia. For a 2-week trip, I would consider the advantage you will receive on a RS tour that will maximize every day. For flights from your area, probably Paris would be a handy location, so you could begin or end with 4 days in Paris (be sure to take a day trip to Chartres) and then meet up with a RS France trip, for instance.

Hi, just read your reply after I posted an answer. From your description, I think you would love the France trip I took last year if you decide to travel independently. Here’s the trip report:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/our-combined-solo-couple-vacation-in-france-2019

And since you like music, here’s one where I attended the Stresa Music Festival (had planned to go again this year....) and an opera in the Roman Arena at Verona:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-trip-to-italy-2018

We travel independently in Europe except for one alumni college. We use tours for more difficult locations in the world, third world places, some areas of SE Asia etc..and Asia, Africa.

So what makes a place potentially better for a tour?
1. difficult or nonexistent public transportation combined with reluctance to drive.

2. language issues--more remote places usually have fewer people who speak English and that can be daunting to people
3. ways of doing things that are very difficult to navigate if you have no experience with them (my friend who has traveled extensively in Europe found Japan a totally different ball game)
4. no time or lack of interest in planning or researching a trip

There is a place for both, but it’s an individual preference. My wife and I travel independently because we don’t like being on the tight schedules tours put you on. One can also stay longer, or leave earlier, than one can on a tour, i.e. more flexibility. The only tour we did was in Peru and we opted for a tour due to the numbers of different type transportation connections that needed to be arranged. For some people, independent travel is outside of their comfort zone, so tours work well. In Europe, we also prefer to have a rental car rather than taking public transportation simply so we can stop at the small out of the way places not regularly serviced by public transportation.

I travel independently but would consider a tour for places with challenging logistics. Examples might be a very different language (different alphabet or otherwise making phrase books/online translators hard) and little English spoken. Or very obscure so I couldn’t find information. Or legal challenges with visas for independent travel. Or safety concerns (I wouldn’t be comfortable traveling solo as a woman in some countries, but none of these are in Europe). Or some specific activity in which local knowledge and a guide is beneficial.

In Europe if I wanted a trip to a capital or other city/big town I’d do it myself. Same for smaller towns in most countries. FYI Greece has a challenging language but there is a lot of English spoken in most areas so I would travel independently anywhere in Greece I wanted to go. Same for Iceland.

An off-the-beaten-path tour of Bulgaria would warrant a tour for me due to logistics. Same goes for a lot of rural areas in far Eastern Europe.

I think Russia requires a lot of visa legwork that might be easier on a tour.

I love French wine but don’t speak French. I visit France independently but I’d love a tour of the wine regions, with stops at smaller vineyards and tastings. That’s something that would be very hard for a non-French speaker to put together themselves. Plus driving and wine do not mix and a lot of vineyards are only accessible by car.

Fellow Missourian here living in the middle of nowhere and also a teacher at a High School. Springfield or STL are my "local" airports. To get cheaper airline tickets to Europe, I have purchased tickets out of Chicago and made connections from Springfield or St. Louis (using airline points or just buying a separate ticket). There are risks involved in this, so make sure you have plenty of time for connections, I sometimes fly to Chicago the night before or take the first-morning flight out of my "local" airport and sit in Chicago waiting on the evening flight to Europe. Just price them and see what a difference it can make to your flight budget. As for your main question, I have done a combination of both tours and independent travel in Europe. Switzerland is easy to do on your own by train. For Ireland, I used a local Irish small group adventure tour company. https://vagabondtoursofireland.com/vagabond-tours. If you like hiking, kayaking, and going off the beaten path then this is a great company that is reasonably priced. Great hotels and tour guides.
Margaret

I have been to 78 foreign countries including 3/4 of Europe.

1) Places were a guided tour works best are Russia, China, India and Egypt. These places have either languages that make on your own travel difficult or personal security is a key issue.
2) Places for North Americans to do on their own easily are those countries like the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, Switzerland. English is widely spoken in many European countries, but take a phrase book just in case for those other countries.
Personally, I wouldn't rent a car in Italy, since getting a huge expensive ticket is a high risk.
3) Some places are amenable to cruises, like the Greek Islands or the coast of Norway. You can visit a lot of ports that are more difficult to visit otherwise.
4) Taking the train is recommended if you don't wish to drive. Highly recommended in Italy.
5) River cruises are excellent, but a bit expensive. Great for northern Portugal, SE France or on the Danube or Rhein.

If you plan your own trip, planning can take some research. The more research and planning the more you can see and enjoy.

Everywhere that I have visited, I have enjoyed, some places more than others. My favorite countries to visit in Europe are Italy, UK, Norway, Greece. Switzerland and Scandinavia are the most expensive.

We had a great time independently in Vienna-the music in the church service in Vienna (I think it's called Augustiner? its the one in the palace complex that RS mentions in his guidebook) was sublime. The Haus of Music is also really good. Most major sites in England are easily reachable by train.

I haven't covered as much ground in Europe as some, but I don't consider Europe as a 'must do tours' sort of place...though, I do look at them as an option. inevitably, my desire to spend more time in museums and seeing key locations of my preference (and the cost in my Cdn$) means I go to DIY.
There are the options of shorter local tours to augment a DIY trip. Maybe do a 3 day 'Ring of Kerry' or something like that to a DIY Dublin trip. I believe there is a local company I checked out that organizes DIY trips via train for you. They do the planning, you follow the itinerary - by train and on your own.
I use tours either when it is required (Ecuador jungle lodges, Galapagos Islands) or when logistics or experience makes it logical....Peru in 15 days, for example. I didn't have the time to figure out the logistics in 2008 and wanted to cover from Lima all the way to southern border, Lake Titicaca up the Andes to Machu Picchu and back to Lima. Good thing it was a tour, as at the time there were floods that washed out train tracks to MP and mining strikes that closed highways behind us along the coast and closed airports into the jungles. Now, there are hop on/hop off buses to most of these stops so a tour wouldn't be as necessary. For Africa, I first visited with a US tour company, then the same African company that supplied the ground logistics, then a 5 week private trip with car and driver. i planned the itinerary, a company booked the lodges and driver.
Planning confidence or time may also tip to the side of benefits of a tour. That Peru trip was near the beginning of my travels and I would have lacked the confidence to do it right on my own - though I did arrive early to do more activities in Lima. 4 years ago, I thought I would only visit India on a tour (and if I only had 2 weeks, I still would do it by tour), but now I am planning 3 months there after retirement as my 'getting out of Canada' winters travel and will do that independently hiring drivers along the way - without yet having been to India.
Given your interests, perhaps a tour based on music would offer the reward of sharing it with others with the same interests.

To myself and my wife, the issue is language. We are very comfortable in Europe. She speaks French and Spanish, I speak German and can say "Hello" and "goodbye" in Russian, Serbian, and Greek. I can read Russian, Serbian, Greek, and German (that's not saying I can understand the words, but I can say them).

So, we can find restaurants, stores, and so forth in pretty much all of Europe.

Asia is another story. The alphabets are completely different. So, finding a restaurant, store, whatever, would not be easy. While certain parts of Asia are very tourist-friendly (Thailand, etc), other parts are not.

So, if we went to China, we would go on a tour.

I think a great deal of the decision here is what you personally are looking for in the travel experience.
The first question I ask myself is "What interests me in (location name)?" Do tours even go to where I want to go?
The second question is , "How comfortable do I think I will be traveling alone there?" May not be as big of an issue for 30 year old male.
Finally, "How social do I want to be?"

Tours that go where you want to go can be great. If it is a well run tour, you have efficient transportation, knowledgeable guides, and time on your own as well. You have people to experience things with or share a meal. Sometimes, they take you to places you would never have gone on your own and you are glad you were able to experience it.

Traveling independently can be great. You can go where you want and explore your personal interests. Lots of flexibility in schedule and you are more likely to interact with locals than if you already have built in people to spend time with.

Thanks to everyone for your quick responses! They answered many of my questions and more that I hadn't even considered, such as a taking a short, seperate flight from St. Louis or Columbia to Chicago for a lower price flight.

You mentioned "Tours". Personally, with the right guide, I enjoy private guided trips. But private guides are expensive. Fortunately, my favorite part of Europe is Eastern Europe where the dollar has more value. In most of Eastern Europe, in particular those countries outside of the EU, a private guide will cost about $100 a day. Maybe $150 for a guide with a car to drive between cities, towns and villages. That $100 to $150 additional cost is offset by how inexpensive Eastern Europe can be. That $250 3-star hotel room in Rome is $125 in Budapest and $75 or less in Budva, Sarajevo, Sighisoara, Lviv, etc. That $50 perfect introduction to Italian regional food in Florence will cost $15 for the same experience in Durrës.

You like culture? What better way to learn about the culture than have someone to ask questions of all day long? It has gotten me invited home to meet mom and have some home cooking on a couple of occasions.

You are a music teacher? Eastern Europe is the last great bastion of Classical Music, Opera and Theater. Unlike many theaters in the West, this isn’t a tourist attraction; its still a part of the local culture.

The best box seat here will cost you a whopping $35; while you can stand in the balcony for about $5. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cc/9c/5f/cc9c5f9b183fe3ad1db5fe487bd1e615.jpg And every country has one. These, believe it or not, are among the more obscure: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/MWGWB8/the-odessa-national-academic-theatre-of-opera-and-ballet-odessa-ukraine-MWGWB8.jpg and https://s.inyourpocket.com/gallery/114595.jpg and https://www.sarajevotimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/La-Scala-faktor.ba_.jpg and https://i0.wp.com/travellingbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/sofia-opera-and-ballet.jpg?resize=960%2C580&ssl=1

Not into classical? Eastern Europeans have this unexpected affinity for Jazz. Here is one I enjoy: https://opusjazzclub.hu/rolunk but they are all over the region.

Architecture? You have been in a lot of churches. Any like this (pretty common style in Eastern Europe)? https://live.staticflickr.com/2867/13339306414_de0a754648_b.jpg Ancient architecture? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/SpiD8U6U5LYBkyJrNz06CrdtkIES3HEF4HcQ8ureF9Ob18hee5Hf0GwvFfE0MDGtQ0CUF3FPgBv74o0Z6sEWhnBTQQmDazK38NaPPVgnJtaOPOgXxA Relics of the recent past? Okay a tad bizarre, but fascinating history: https://i.insider.com/5554fdea6da811cd66068e3c?width=1136&format=jpeg
The towns are interesting too: https://rolandia.eu/file/MC5kMjU1My5DbG9jayB0b3dlciBmcm9tIFNpZ2hpc29hcmEgY2l0eS5qcGcudHh0 and https://www.adria.travel/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Ulcinj-view-of-old-town-1024x750.jpg

bp0730

If you book R/T from St Louis, most itineraries will probably have you connecting in Chicago anyway. And be careful if you try to book separate flights to Chicago (like on Southwest) they will likely be to Midway Airport, not Ohare.

AND, if something goes wrong with your SW ticket and you miss your connection .......... you eat it.

i would say 90% of the time you can travel by yourself and have no needfor a tour
the other 10% would be for countries with extreme language barrier , transportation between locations and government restrictions

the countries i would consider using a tour for
iran -- mandatory
north korea - mandatory
china - language
there might be a couple of others if i sit down and think about it
If time was a factor i would consider a tour for these : safari , Galapagos , Antarctica

To make it easier for independent travel
get a sim when you land
have these apps and download so you can use offline
google maps
maps.me

google translate
other apps would be
whatsapp
booking.com
hotels.com
hostelworld.com
airbnb
uber
grab
whatever app for transportation (trains and buses) for the country you are in
i also use meetup and couchsurfing to meet locals and other travelers
have a few more apps but those are the ones that can get you everywhere and anywhere

this is based on my personal experience
background
51 , i only speak English , 30 countries in 6 years and 90% of my trips are solo with just a backpack staying in hostels 25%, airbnb 50% and hotels 25%, no resorts or tours used

I have only rented a car twice : 10 days in crete and 3 weeks in costa rica , everywhere was local transportation
some countries that people would consider hard : cuba 4 weeks fairly easy and this was my only 3 trip and 1st to a country that wasn't English speaking , Dominican republic 5 weeks probably the toughest , Egypt 2 weeks fairly easy , Thailand 4 weeks super easy , china 2 weeks not that bad

I will conclude by saying i would understand the need to tours if you have limited mobility and some instances of limited time.

travellingwithtroy, I agree with there being very little "need" for tours these days. The world has gotten small and for the most part safe. There is another thread right now along the same line of "Tour" or no Tour. Personally I'm not comfortable with a group of strangers. Others are and it actually adds to their experience; go figure. But each to their own.

I hesitated to suggest a separate ticket idea as there are risks involved. You need to have a large (6 hours +) layover before your outbound flight to make sure you don't miss it. (walk-up costs for a new ticket would be astronomical). My separate ticket strategy depends on how expensive tickets are out of STL for a particular year. I have seen STL to LHR (return) as high as $1800 and then to check on ORD to LHR and seeing $600 return tickets. When there is this much disparity between pricing, I am going to use points to get to Chicago on AA (which at a web special can be as low as 10,000 points return) and then buy the $600 ORD to LHR return ticket. However, having said this, there is no telling what kind of pricing we will see post-COVID. Just wanted to make sure you know the risks with separate ticket purchases.

Margaret

My preferences are like those you've already read. My concerns are usually logistics and costs. I travel solo which means single supplements on tours but I don't factor that in because I would be paying for single occupancy on my own anyway. All the tours I've taken have been either RS or a local Israeli company whose tours are similar in structure and concept. The tours I've taken are and the factors that mattered:

1. Armenia/Georgia. Transportation, language and knowledgeable guides
2. Ireland. Transportation and knowledgeable guides
3. RS Turkey. I was going to be in Istanbul anyway. In retrospect, I could have seen much of the itinerary on my own but I would have missed so many experiences and insights.
4. Southern Germany. A 6-day tour with 2 college professors focusing on medieval history. I included it as part of a longer independent trip
5. Morocco. Transportation, language and knowledgeable guide. Turned out that the guide was awful but the trip was still worth it.
6. RS Alpine. To see the Alps "efficiently", I used the MyWay tour.
7. RS Greece. Transportation, language and knowledgeable guides.

On the flip side, some of the places I've gone on my own - Poland, Hungary, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

On tours, I've received a lot more insight into the culture, history, politics and much more of the places visited. I can get some of that on my own with day tours and by simply talking to locals when possible (easier when English is widely spoken). I like to go at my own pace, especially in museums. I have rented cars in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal to be able to visit areas not well served by rail.

For flights through Chicago, consider flying to Midway, staying overnight at an airport hotel and then taking the el to O'Hare. It might be worth the money - depending on the flight departure time from ORD.

I’m a Chicagoan and I’d really not like the idea of the Orange line from Midway to the Loop and then the Blue Line out to Ohare. Bare minimum of 2 hours and sounds awful, sorry.

mpaulynsettle:

Sometimes separate tickets work. I generally dont try it unless there are days between legs. I just dont want something to go wrong, but you can save money.

I have a trip planned in September. It is my home town to Houston to Budapest to Tirana to Antalya to Istanbul and then home.

While the Home Town to Houston to Budapest and then the Tirana to Antalya to Istanbul and then home can all be done on Turkish Air with a Code Share flight to Houston. But it turned out to be cheaper to buy a ticket into Budapest and out of Istanbul and then separate tickets for all the other connections. About $500 cheaper; and that is while using the exact same flights that the single ticke would have included. Makes no sense. Because I have multi-day stays at each stop it doesn't worry me. The only change I will have to make is to arrive in Houston the day before and use the time to visit some friends.

Chani

I agree with you. For me travel isnt a competition of how cheap, or how little luggage or how independent of help I can make it. Its about getting as much enjoyment and flavour out of it as I can. You can use busses to get around Bosnia but unless you enjoy sitting on a bus watching the world pass by; why do it when a guide can get you from A to B and you can stop and look at what interests you along the way. You can pick up a free walking tour map for Istanbul but unless you plan on doing hours and hours of reading prior you will never get as much out of it as one guide can provide.

Unfortunately I am a bit uncomfortable in groups so I almost always hire private guides. A small tour is probably a more reasonable solution for most. Even picking the guide is part of my trip experience. I locate 3 or 4 on the internet and then I will spend a month or two "interviewing" them. I am looking for someone who's company I will enjoy for the day. I have only come up short twice out of a dozen. One in Israel and one in Lviv. Of course where I travel has a lot to do with it too. I generally end up in places with limited tourism infrastructure which adds to the guide's value. As for cost, one week alone in Italy will in most instances cost more than one week with a guide in Bulgaria or Romania.

A lot of great replies and advices already.

I like to recommend the northern countries which have regularly good flight offers with SAS and Norwegian. Furthermore the cultural value of the capital cities is very high. Copenhagen and Stockholm offer real enjoyable dives into another culture for a few days. Both are connected by train. From Copenhagen you can also approach Oslo by ferry or Bergen by plane which is a great gate into the wonderful fjord land.

All three countries are similar and also very different if you dive a little bit deeper. mid to late May is a good travel time. May 17 is national holiday in Norway with local parades etc.

Thanks again to everyone for the great discussion. And also to those who commented on non European countries as well...many of them are also on my list, but I didn't include in my original post since most post to this site for EU info. I have not been a frequent poster, but on and off browser, and will definitely come back on to get more info about possible itineraries once I have more details.

James,
Thanks for all your excellent information. You always add a lot to these boards.

You are correct that the World is largely a safer place. However, there are some notable exceptions.
Someone mentioned Iran and North Korea. As an American, going to those countries would be way too risky.
Other countries like Libya, Venezuela, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan would be too risky.

I have been to Egypt twice. Once for a weekend, and again for the full visit including a Nile cruise.
I lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and had several Egyptian friends. This was in the 1980s and they warned me about what not to do. They advised staying in four or five star hotels and dining only in restaurants at that level, never eating street food or in low end restaurants. Even the drinking water, they said, make sure the water bottle is unopened when someone hands you the bottle. Some places will use empty bottles and fill up with tap water. Don't drink the tap water in Egypt. If you think Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico is bad!!!

Also, they warned us not to take just any taxi, but only from the hotel, where the hotel registers the taxi name and name of driver.
Apparently, in the 80s some criminals would take tourists into the desert, rob them, perhaps rape the women and leave them there, sometimes to die.

You can fly into Cairo and find save local tours, but going to Luxor and Aswan, it is best to take a tour. Also, there are places in these cities that you should not visit at all.

geovagriffith

Thanks. I do tend to discount the obvious. Sorry. Like saying its safe to cross the street then watching someone doing it with their eyes closed during rush hour. I guess I should be more concise. I get your point. And my contributions on the forum generally gets me in more trouble than appreciation.... but it's enjoyable.

Some of my favorite travel memories come from Egypt; and that's one place I had a guide and would hire a guide again.

I understand its easier for an American to get into Iran than to get out of it, so I might put that one on hold. But I have several Iranian friends and have been hearing about it for years. It will be tops on my list when the situation changes.

A place like Albania might scare the crap out of some Americans; that one I am doing with a guide, only to get more out of the trip, not out of any particular concern.

I am an old fart, I have a good understanding (I hope) of what makes a victim and I avoid it most often without giving it much thought. Common sense makes most places "safe". But I do agree with your list. I think you would have to add Pakistan to your list.....

My two recommendations are 1) Read Lord of the Flies and 2) https://www.expatinfodesk.com/blog/2011/11/03/11-tips-for-staying-safe-when-living-in-dangerous-countries/

We spent some time in Albania on a group tour and there was nothing scary about it. Our local guide loved the United States because of some aid we gave them after they kicked out the Communists. I've been more scared in certain areas of certain US cities.

I am a solo man traveler. So far I took 4 solo trips to Europe. I have traveled to England, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, and Belgium. I took a 5th trip to Lithuania for a 4 week summer class. I didn't see much. Not sure if this counts as a whole-trip group tour. Sometimes I think the class was a waste of money. At least I got college credit for it. I went to Montreal for 3 days before I went to Europe, when I still thought I could only visit one city per trip. I am thinking that my next destinations will be France, Germany, and Russia.

I would prefer to travel independently. My top reasons are that I would feel out of place if everybody on the trip is couples and/or older retired people; I am not a foodie: I prefer to buy whatever food can be eaten with minimal or no preparation, at markets or grocery stores. I am afraid sitting in restaurants with a tour group would feel like a bad waste of time and/or I am afraid restaurant food is not health enough, or too high in salt, oil, and sweeteners. I know some opinions, including another part of my brain, think I am nuts regarding my avoidance of restaurants.

As for foreign languages: the amount of talking you really have to do in another country is much less than you think. I feel like it is an embarrassment to try talking English to strangers who are not English speakers. My preference Is to buy phrase books and teach myself phrases in the local language before I leave home. Then while traveling I don't talk to most people I see. I may say certain phrases to ticket sellers or others. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that my undergraduate degree in college was linguistics and I may be good at learning languages and pronouncing languages.

Edit: I have not rented a car while traveling yet. My first preference is to avoid renting a car. Perhaps if necessary, I will change my mind.