booking tours in advanced or wait? what type of tours?

[Jennifer White]

Hello everyone,

I was talking to my sister about our next travel experience... and I just figured that I am more likely to search for a website to explore tours / activities / things to do than her. She is more in the mood of just reserving flight tickets, accommodations and maybe ticket entrances to a museum or something like that, and then... when she is in the place, she tries to do 1 or 2 tours depending on recommendations of people around. She tend to do some walking tours or historic tours, and I am more like to fun adventurous tours.

So, now I am curious on knowing what are you more likely to do? book tours in advanced or wait until be there? if you book tours in advanced, do you do it through a travel agency, directly through the tour operator or do you search for directories like Tripadvisor, Tiqy, Expedia? and what type of tours?

Thanks in advance for your answers and opinions

- Jennifer White

 

[Ian Sutton]

Hi Jennifer
I only book what I have to book for it to be practical (e.g. a food or wine producer visit, or a special event). However I'll prep for much more than it would be possible to do, such that I have pre-prepared options on hand to suit the mood / energy levels / where we are at the time. These might be found on tourist office listings, planned from other sources (e.g. wine books) or from searching for events in the region on a plethora of Italian sites with listings.

For me this strikes a nice balance between the extremes of a 'timed to the minute' itinerary and the sense of feeling lost and clueless of turning up and hoping to wing it. It also helps focus on what we want, whereas winging it can often mean falling into the usual tourist trail (and I'm not happy in over-touristic places).

 

[GailS]

I am a planner by nature so like Ian I will have a list of options researched for what to do in a destination. Sometimes it may be many visits to a location before I actually do some of the events I've researched (like my recent trip to Venice where I finally rented bikes to ride from the Lido to Pelllestrina for an amazing seafood lunch). I keep everything in an app in the cloud so I can update over time and access via my phone.

There are some tours that you may need to book in advance due to limited availability. Try to identify those so you are not disappointed by trying to book when you are there and there is no availability. For example, the wonderful Luisella Romeo in Venice who I discovered due to recommendations on the old Slow Travel site is popular and can book up well before you arrive. I always book as directly as I can (this goes for everything - airlines, hotels/apartments, etc.).

I prefer sites like this to sites like TripAdvisor for better advice. I find the community here matches better my travel style and expectations. If you have any questions on what to do in a particular destination asking advice here would probably yield good results.