Scotland Tour - Odysseys’ vs. OAT

Sorry, I can't help with OAT's tour, but we did the Odyssey tour in 2024. I really, really enjoyed it. Both our guide and driver were friendly and knowledgeable. Very helpful with suggestions or directions for things to do in our spare time. There was little to no hiking on our tour, just walks. I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by "culture sheltered". It was because of our great impression of this tour that we took their Egypt tour the next year.

I'm also interested in this as we are debating the same - we are also highly considering CIE Tours this time as we have many friends who rave about CIE. Will be interested in following this post. We, of course, are looking at RS tours also, but lately have been underwhelmed with the food options on our RS tours, but absolutely love the tour itself.

"I am ok with its itinerary (includes a lot of key sites) but it does not go out to IONA or Mull (as RS’ and OAT’s do) so i wonder if I am missing a lot?"

This may be an unpopular opinion for those who have done the RS tour but I thought the Mull/Iona day was not worthwhile. Too much bus/ferry time, weather severely impacted this day.

Here's how it went on my tour: Boarded the ferry in Oban for Mull. At the port in Mull were met by our tour bus in the rain. Drove hell for leather down Mull to the ferry site for Iona with no stops. Boarded the ferry over to Iona and were told because of a storm moving in with high winds forecast the ferry captain was doing the 3P trip back over to Mull but that would be the last one for the day. We were to be back at 230 to meet our guide and board. We had about 1.5 hours on Iona....enough to walk to the Abbey, look around and walk back. No time for lunch, not that we needed it. The guide arranged for the bus driver to go get sandwiches for a picnic lunch on the bus on our return. As we headed back to Mull harbor we again did not stop anywhere along the way as the guide was concerned about the return ferry to Oban being cancelled and did not want us to miss our sailing.

So....while I enjoyed Iona's cultural heritage, I did not enjoy the day mostly spent on bus and ferry. Your opinion might be different but I would not take this tour just because Iona was included.

And sorry, I haven't taken tours with either of your top contenders.

Unlike Pam, we enjoyed our short day trip on Mull and Iona. We were not on a Rick Steves Tour, but booked the West Coast Tours 2 Island Tour.

Beautiful day with wonderful views on the drive across Mull. The driver provided commentary on the bus from Craignure to Fionnphort. We had a nice lunch on Iona, visited the Abbey and other sights on Iona, even stopped in a couple shops. On the drive back to the ferry in Craignure we were treated to some Hairy Coos along the road.

However, as lovely as our day was, I wouldn't dismiss an itinerary that didn't include Iona if the tour offers everything else that ticks your boxes. There is so much beauty in Scotland.

Enjoy your trip!

We have taken one OAT tour, Sicily in 2024. Our first RS tours were Ireland and Scotland just 2 months ago. No experience with Odyssey.

We were very happy with our OAT tour. One thing we loved was that their land-based tours are limited to 16 participants, a lot fewer than other tours we've taken. Unlike the RS tours, where they use a full "coach" sized bus with twice as many seats as needed, we were usually on smaller buses that were JUST big enough for the group. (We didn't have the same transport for the whole trip.) Sometimes it was a little cramped, but the bus time wasn't excessive so it was OK. Scotland is bigger, so if room to stretch out is important, that's something to think about. Hotels were rated as 4 star; they all had AC and American-sized queen or king beds. (That's key for us, since my husband is 6'4"; a too-small bed would be a quick way to ruin our trip. For our RS tours, we requested twin beds, since we were warned that in some properties a shared bed would NOT be as large as an American queen.) The food on our Sicily trip was good, in some cases outstanding. The guide was great, and we saw some wonderful sights.

I think I understand what you mean by "culture-sheltered," and OAT definitely tries to give you some local immersion -- hence the "home hosted meal." They split the group up into 3-4 smaller groups and you have lunch or dinner with a local, in their home. It's a staple of their tours.

We would take another of their tours, and considered it when we decided to visit Ireland and Scotland, but couldn't get it to work in the time frame we wanted. They offer tours ALL over the world, but tend to have few options for a given location. One of the people on our Sicily tour was on her TWENTIETH tour with them.

Thank you all for your responses!

CJean - I am happy to hear that you were happy with the Odysseys tour. What I meant by odysseys being more “culture-sheltered” is precisely as MJH-travel says - Less direct interaction with the local people/culture i.e. home served meals etc.. which seems to be an OAT hallmark..

Pam - thank you for explaining that the RS trip out to IONA/Mull could feel a bit too rushed and it seems that it might be better approached with one of those smaller day trips that are offered by local companies as was experienced by jeanM.

***ChinaLake67* Interesting what you say about the food on RS tours. I was on an Odysseys tour where people were comparing/contrasting RS vs Odysseys. (At that time, I’d not taken an RS tour) The conclusion was that RS emphasis was 1 food 2 hotel while Odysseys was the opposite with hotel quality was 1 followed by food. I have since experienced both companies and I don’t think it’s that cut and dried. I have been on 3 Odysseys and 2 RS tours and I’d say that it depends on the country. The food on the Spain, France tours were meh. (Yes really. Such a disappointment ) Southern Italy was far too carb-heavy and protein light - but I also concede that is the Cuccina Povera style. Food was excellent on the Germany and Northern Italy tours. I do give the edge on Hotel quality to Odysseys BUT they were not always in or close to the city center (this is a major drawback as you can’t necessarily explore if you’re stuck out somewhere) Since they disclose the hotels, I will only now only consider Odysseys after evaluating their hotel locations. Obviously, for the Scotland trip, I’m not dinging it for some of the remote area hotels.

In general, I think I prefer the vibe of the RS tours as everything is so transparent, which is the polar opposite of Odysseys, where everything is centrally controlled - the tour directors have no discretion on anything (not local guides, not snacks, nothing) and they do not publicly display any reviews. I really like the daily plans that the RS guides put up. I’ve even been in hotels where OAT has put up their daily schedule. Odysseys will not allow their guides to put anything in writing out for public view. Thus any suggestions for possible extra-curricular activities or places to eat can only be communicated verbally. Sigh. My preference is to read things esp. in foreign language. Despite all this, I still consider them a good tour company but admit to looking at the RS itineraries and scrapbooks first. But am open to trying out new companies, which brings me back to - yes I will take a look at CIE - a new one for me!

Anyway, your responses have been very helpful!

“In general, I think I prefer the vibe of the RS tours as everything is so transparent, which is the polar opposite of Odysseys, where everything is centrally controlled - the tour directors have no discretion on anything (not local guides, not snacks, nothing)”

Oh, I didn’t know that about Odysseys.

The RS guides do have some slush fund money to use at their discretion. In Venice just after Covid when there was still concern about social distancing, the RS guide used some of her money to book private water taxis for the group from the tour bus parking area to the hotel and back. That was really nice because people were really jammed on the vaporettos. Another time in Netherlands to avoid being caught in the Keukenhof flower parade, the guide took us to lunch at a nearby beach which was quite fun and different!

I’ve been on half a dozen OAT tours, although not Scotland. I like them a lot and agree with what has been said about them on this thread. They do emphasize local interaction (while giving full attention to regular sightseeing as well) and the guides, who have all been very good, have the same kind of discretion that has been noted of RSE. The only experience based comparison I can make is with Road Scholar, two tours with them, and they were pretty similar to OAT.

"Odysseys will not allow their guides to put anything in writing out for public view. Thus any suggestions for possible extra-curricular activities or places to eat can only be communicated verbally. "

That is...bizarre! I've never been on any kind of organized trip (cruise, river cruise, land tour) where you didn't get a regular daily schedule, and often supplementary info (restaurants, etc). It's also unfortunate that the guides have no discretion or funds for on-the-fly experiences. You have to be prepared for the plan to change when circumstances arise!

We have found the RS approach to travel works quite well for us. Although we mainly travel independently (making extensive use of RS guidebooks) we have been on a few RS and other tours where we felt that would be more useful than going it alone. In Scotland (specifically Iona, Mull and vicinity) we picked up a short term Rabbies tour primarily for transportation efficiencies. But it turned out we got sooo much more. Highly recommend.