Have you ever wondered: what’s the difference between a private tour and an escorted tour?  

Sometimes it can get confusing when the same term is used to describe different things. Here’s what we mean with our terminology: 

Private Tour

A private tour is completely custom-tailored to you and your requests. You work with your tour company and guide to create an itinerary and sightseeing stops that are customized for you and your group’s interests. A private tour with a personal guide offers a more exclusive and intimate travel experience usually at a slower pace. 

These tours can be day tours (a few hours or all day), or they can be multi-day tours. Private tours are the ultimate in flexibility, cultural engagement, and personalized travel. These tours are typically a higher cost because of the individual attention and customization that private tours provide. 

Europe Wine Guides prefers private tour options, and we highlight this premium style of travel for the luxury it affords travelers. 

Escorted Tour

An escorted tour is one where everything is arranged for a large group of travelers. The dates, accommodations, sightseeing, and transportation are all pre-arranged as a package. Escorted tours typically refer to multi-day travel packages without any customization for travelers.

You’ve likely seen large tour buses with large groups in your travels, and this is what we envision when we think of escorted tours. 

Escorted tours are a good choice for those who want to visit multiple destinations in a limited amount of time, with the convenience of having everything pre-arranged and pre-booked. And while they’re usually less expensive than private tours, they offer less flexibility and a less personalized experience.

Day Tour

Tour companies and guides may offer day trips that last a couple of hours up to an all-day adventure. These can be private or small group tours or offered as an option to an escorted tour. Day tours will typically include transportation. And although we refer to them as ‘day’ tours, they might sometimes take place in the evening.

Multi-Day Tours

Yes, this means a tour that is arranged with multiple days of travel. These can be private or escorted tours. If you choose a private multi-day tour, you’ll work with your tour company or guide to complete your itinerary based on your preferences. Many times, a tour company will have sample itineraries and experiences to give you a reference point to start your planning.

Small Group Tours

Unfortunately, you’ll find several different definitions of “small” with one well-known tour company saying that it’s up to 30 people. That, in our mind, isn’t small. We look for tours with less than 10 people to be considered for small group tours. 

Typically, small group tours will have a designated meeting place and time, will have a pre-set itinerary, and include travelers other than you and your travel companions. There will likely be a minimum number of travelers as well as a maximum number. These tours can be a more budget-friendly option for independent travelers than private tours. It’s a good choice for travelers who want to have a unique cultural experience and don’t mind meeting new people by sharing an organized tour. 

City Tours

City tours are usually small group or private tours that take place in a city for a few hours. These can be walking tours, or maybe segway or bike tours. They can offer a personal guide to give an overview of the city’s highlights, or they might focus on specific experiences like shopping, local cuisine, history, or art. 

If it’s your first time visiting a large city, we like city tours to help you get oriented and learn a bit about the city without much time commitment so that you’re free to discover more on your own time. 

FIT Travel

You might run across the acronym FIT in your travel research, and it used to mean “Foreign Independent Travel”, but now the term more commonly means “Fully Independent Travel”. This refers to travelers that forego any organized tour and they travel independently. Every aspect of the trip is booked separately by a travel consultant or by the traveler themselves. You’ll likely see some travel consultants offer “bespoke” or “custom” travel and they’re referring to FIT travel.

In many cases, you can mix and match a few different tour styles. For example, a traveler that is booking their own independent (FIT) travel might decide to take a four-hour walking tour (Day Tour) offered by their hotel for a group of up to six people (Small Group). 

Or in another example, two couples are traveling in France and want to visit a few different wine regions. They could find a day tour of vineyards and historical sites with a small group that leaves from their hotel in Provence.
Then continue on their itinerary and travel to Burgundy either by rental car or train where they’ve hired a private guide for three days with tours of vineyards, meeting with winemakers, and enjoying gourmet dining experiences.
From there, they’ve arranged with another guide to stay for a couple of days at a chateau in the Loire Valley where their guide has arranged a small group biking tour with wine tastings and lunch in a vineyard. 

There really is no limit to the types of travel you can create for yourself. If you can dream it, there’s a tour company and guide ready to make it happen.