“My Way Tours” Vs Rick Steve Guided Tour Advice

Hi. You’ve posted this in the “Trip Reports” section. You’ll probably get more replies if you post this in the “Rick Steves Tours” section. Good luck with your travel planning!

Just looking at the posted costs, the PER DAY on the guided tour of the Best of Spain vs My Way Spain is about an $80 per day difference. So, the My Way tour may save you $880.00 per person for the entire trip. You have to ask yourself whether or not you will spend $160 per day for the both of you on meals and guided tours. Probably not. The My Way is less expensive.

Guided tours of any kind are never cheaper than traveling on your own. However, both these tours take the work of planning hotels and transportation off your plate. Both tours do make you travel on a set schedule and you have no real flexibility in how much time you spend in a city as you know.

I cannot speak about meeting other travelers on the My Way, but I would imagine you would find people like yourselves who would enjoy some meals together or splitting the costs of a guide with you. It is hard to predict. Enjoy your trip.

I’m getting ready to post my tour report from our My WAy Spain tour next week, but I can quickly address the group dynamic part. Our tour group was very surprisingly cohesive. From reading the reviews, it appears some of the guides will arrange for optional group activities and that was the case for us. There are chances to gather at breakfast, on the bus and comfort stops as well as gathering in the evening. We had an optional orientation walk in every stop and then the guide was available each morning to help with questions. Make sure you book tickets early, especially for La Sagrada Familia and The Alhambra (Nassrid Palace).

I like some of the perspectives shared by experienced "My Way" travelers, as we've only done the RS guided tours. The guided tours always come with comaraderie, and I would expect that "My Way" draws the same, generalizing of course, types of travelers. But, people would be signing up for "My Way" because they want to be independent, so you can't fault people for wanting to do their own thing on a "My Way" tour. I guess I feel you shouldn't expect comaraderie, but be pleasantly surprised if it occurs.

But, people would be signing up for "My Way" because they want to be
independent, so you can't fault people for wanting to do their own
thing on a "My Way" tour. I guess I feel you shouldn't expect
comaraderie, but be pleasantly surprised if it occurs.

I'm thinking the same. KD. Others may have opted for that tour not necessarily to save some $$ but because group travel isn't their style or they like the freedom to see what they want, when they want to, and for as short or long a time as they wish to. If ending up largely on your own except for the transport from one place to another will be a disappointment, then a My Way may not be for you.

Full disclosure: we haven't taken either a My Way or escorted RS tour yet because of the freedom/flexibility factor: we like doing our sightseeing independently, and don't mind doing our own research about what we'll be seeing (we very rarely book day or attraction tours). There's no right or wrong: it's whatever suits your personal style and/or budget. But I did say that we hadn't done one "yet": we'll very likely book an escorted or My Way style tour down the road for the transport benefits, and we like people so it might be fun to travel with some of those too!

We took a couple of My Way tours when we first started international travel in earnest, but after the second one we decided we would be better off doing it on our own. Those tours allowed us to experience Europe with a little help, and learn how things are done. But independent travel is way cheaper for us, even using private guides and transfer services when we need to.

Also, I love the planning aspect of travel, so if you don't like that part, maybe a tour would be better for you.

Regarding the comradery, our first My Way tour was fantastic. We made friends we still keep in touch with over 10 years later. The second tour was not so great in that department. We were happy to leave that group.

I loved the My Way Spain tour, pre-Covid. I appreciated having the travel between cities taken care of, as well as the hotels. As an experienced solo traveler, I was starting to have concerns that, if something happened to me, nobody would know- at least, for awhile! Being at least nominally able to check in with someone each morning and evening was reassuring, for my family as well.
I was fine booking the several reservations needed on my own. I'm an introvert and was happy to be spared paying for and attending group meals that are a challenge for me on "real" tours. On the other hand, I bonded with a couple and we took the day train together one day as well as finding our way back to the hotel in Seville.
If the camaraderie is a plus for you it's a big enough group there should be at least someone congenial?
Another thought is to just use the tour itinerary for your own planning. You're likely then able to control the costs, say for the hotels and go only to the places you want to go.
I save a lot of money by skipping restaurants and eating from grocery stores.

In 2024, we took our first RS tour which took up just over one-third of our 30 days in southern Italy. We spent another one third of our time on a self-guided bike tour. And just under one-third of our time ‘travelling on our own,’ a few days with a rental car, more time with public transport.

The RS Guided tour was the priciest, per diem. Rightly or wrongly, I attributed that to the costs of guides, including six specialty guides. We thought most of the specialty guides added quite a bit to our experience. 3 out of 6 were really quite excellent. So was our one overall guide.

Haven’t done the my way tour, so I can’t speak to its value, nor to your ability to schedule or plan meaningful time on your own that aligns with the RS my way travel requirements.

FWIW our TR from this past April (including some price comparisons) is at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel

Hello. I have participated in 12 RS tours, one of them MyWay Alpine. Our MyWay group was quite cohesive. In fact, I gave up my usual independently planned activities to take more of a vacation and spend time with new friends/group members. It was fun and very relaxing. I was happy to have Rick Steves take care of the hotel and transportation. There is a tour manager with the bus/group to answer questions and provide support. We had a first night town walk; at least one group meet-up in a tour member's room; and a final evening dinner. We frequently found ourselves in the same restaurants in the evenings. I enjoyed the tour very much and am thinking of taking it again.

Thank you to you all for your feedback and comparisons of the "My Way" RS Tours vs. Fully guided RS Tours especially as they relate to cost and group camaraderie.

My husband and I were on a My Way Spain tour in 2022, it was great to have the hotels and transportation determined for us as Europe was opening up after COVID. The tour manager was so helpful and arranged the group outings that Patty mentioned in her tour report. The group was congenial when together, but each had the freedom to pursue their own passions each day. I am an architect and love modern art, we saw one cathedral: Sagrada Familia and one palace: Alhambra. It was the greatest hits! However, my favorite was the Barcelona Pavillion in Barcelona by Mies Van der Rohe, not many tour companies cover that. We did an e-bike tour in Barcelona, paella making in Seville which we pulled another group from our tour into. A couple from our tour pulled us into a tour of the Seville Feria and we joined them for an elegant dinner on a terrace in Ronda while others in the group went out for 1 euro tapas. It was fun to hear the exploits of our fellow travelers: those that went to a bullfight in Madrid, others went to a tennis tournament, while my husband and I went to art museums and the park. I loved having someone guide us into each hotel and city, and connecting with fellow travelers as our passions aligned. But best of all we were able to focus our tour of Spain on the things we enjoy.