Travel expenses depend not only on the season, weather, significant events, etc. How much you spend on vacation also depends on the destination and on whether you buy a tour package or book your own hotel and air tickets. AiF.ru compared the prices for the countries popular with our travelers and found out where it is more profitable to go on the tour, and where - "savage".
Turkey
Turkey is the absolute leader in terms of the number of Russian tourists. Last year, according to the local Ministry of Tourism, 4.5 million of our fellow citizens visited the republic's resorts.
Now a last minute ticket to Turkey can be taken for 26 thousand rubles, but to make the experiment fair, we compared (here and in other examples) the prices for travel in September - experts recommend buying tickets, tours, and booking hotels exactly three months before the trip.
A week in a four-star hotel in Marmaris will cost 69400 rubles for two (all inclusive, 150 meters to the beach, direct flight, transfer, insurance).
A hotel of the same category in the same resort will cost 36,100 rubles for self-booking. Plus air tickets for 17,350 rubles (34,700 rubles for two). Total - 70,800 rubles. Add to this two or three thousand for the transfer and medical insurance. All the same, it turns out slightly more expensive than a ticket.
Greece
In Greece, all inclusive is not as common as in Turkey, but in local restaurants and taverns in Hellas, food is no worse than in hotels. Therefore, we chose tours (and hotels) with breakfast meals. A trip to the island of Crete, for seven days with accommodation in a two-star hotel, costs 43,600 rubles for two. Hotel 400 meters from the beach.
A similar hotel with self-booking will cost 15,500 rubles. Flights from Moscow to Crete and back - 44272 rubles for two. In total - 60,772 rubles. It turns out that it is more profitable to buy a ticket to Greece.
Montenegro
By the way, you need a Schengen visa to travel to Greece. And if you do not have it, then these are additional costs. And you don't need a visa to Montenegro. The cheapest ticket to this country with a departure in September, which AiF.ru managed to find, is offered for 50,400 rubles for two. For this money - a week in a two-star hotel in Budva, no meals. The beach is 800 meters away.
Now let's look at self-booking accommodation. A week at the hotel - 10,340 rubles. Tickets from Moscow and back - 34196 rubles for two. Total - 44,536 rubles. Almost 6,000 rubles cheaper than the voucher.
Czech Republic
It is also cheaper to travel to the Czech Republic on its own. A weekly trip with self-booking will cost 35,000 rubles for two. The price includes a flight on the Moscow-Prague-Moscow route (20680 rubles for two) and accommodation in a three-star hotel four kilometers from the center of the Czech capital (14370 rubles), as well as breakfast.
A voucher for the same dates and in a hotel of a similar category will cost at least 43,200 rubles. The difference is 8150 rubles.
France
A ticket to Paris costs 75,460 rubles for two - a direct flight, accommodation in a two-star hotel located 2 kilometers from the city center, plus breakfast.
And this is how the costs of organizing a trip to Paris look like - 28706 rubles for air tickets for two (14353 rubles for one) and 39583 rubles for staying in the same hotel as in the tour package. Total 68289 rubles. It is more profitable to travel to Paris on its own by more than seven thousand rubles.
Bulgaria
It is almost twice cheaper now to independently plan a vacation in Bulgaria - it will cost 23,768 rubles (17068 rubles for air tickets to Varna and back for two, and 7,700 rubles for seven nights in a two-star hotel).
But a ticket to the same resort can be bought for 40149 rubles for two.
Thailand
On the other hand, air tickets to Thailand alone are more expensive than a ticket - 60,556 rubles for two, and even not direct ones, but with a transfer in Doha. Plus at least 6500 rubles for a double room in a three-star hotel located in Pattaya. Total expenses of 67,056 rubles for two.
Vouchers to the same resort in similar hotels are currently offered at 50,300 rubles. In addition to the direct flight, this price includes transfer and medical insurance.
Spain
On a voucher in the Spanish resort of Costa Brava, you can relax for 56,500 rubles for two. For the money - a two-star hotel with good reviews, located 300 meters from the beach, but no food.
If you book on your own, the trip will cost 41,840 rubles, where 26,840 rubles are air tickets for two and 15,000 rubles - a weekly hotel stay.
Is it true that traveling through a travel agency is several times more expensive than traveling alone? Is it always booking. com, agoda and other online services provide prices lower than tour operators? Are travel agencies necessary and is it profitable to use their services? What do travel agency managers know that cannot be found on the Internet? Who usually travels "on their own" and why?
I will try to answer your questions and, as usual, dispel some myths. And also I will try to identify the winner in the duel between SELF-TRAVEL AGENT and TRAVEL AGENT-PROFESSIONAL.
Since I am a travel agent, they expect from me that I will begin to persuade all potential tourists without hesitation to run to a travel agency and buy a tour and scold all "independent travelers". But I will not do this. And that's why.
- There are a number of objective arguments both in favor of organized tourism and in favor of vacationers from the # self_travelant category.
- There are certain categories of tourists who are categorically not suitable for package tours, as well as those to whom I would not recommend an independent vacation, even at gunpoint.
- Each tourist destination must be considered separately. Certain directions are simply "sharpened" for a tour operator's product, and an independent trip there will be much more expensive, and it will not bring pleasure.
Who is there?
Let's start with the main thing: who are all these people who help in organizing vacations and other trips?
Tourism managers or travel agents are, as a rule, people with special education, who know not only geography, but also the peculiarities of organizing recreation in a particular country, who have studied the hotel base of most popular tourist destinations and have experience of their own travel.
For example, our company can boast of a personal acquaintance with resorts, hotels and excursion routes in more than 30 countries (thirty!). Tourism managers know how to use all known booking systems. All of them are specialists who attended many seminars and trainings and inspected all those hotels that are ready to offer you, visited all the resorts where you want to go.
An experienced travel assistant (a fashionable word nowadays), as a rule, will not only help in choosing the direction of rest that suits you, but will also tell you how to make the trip not only the most comfortable, but also profitable. For example, he will advise you to change the departure date if he sees that the cost of the trip during the selected period is unreasonably high. He will tell you how to get to the hotel by public transport, if you do not want to pay for the transfer, will advise on visa issues and help in processing documents for obtaining visas. Will help to make an excursion program.
Who's there?
To travel on your own, you also need to have certain qualities.
So, if you know how to use booking systems, speak a foreign language, are not afraid to take risks associated with various unforeseen situations, do not guard the boundaries of your comfort zone, then VELKAM is in the SAM_SEBE_TURAGENT group. And one more thing: you must have free time. As one of our independent tourists, whom we help from time to time with advice, says, it takes her 2-3 hours to organize the route every day for three to four weeks.
As a rule, independent tourists include easy-going young people or experienced tourists who know what they want, who can easily navigate the place, those who are ready to sacrifice comfort, often buying cheap tickets with several transfers on the Internet. Here we also include those who do not like to get attached to groups, calmly drive a car in a foreign country, get tired of having a guide nearby, prefer to read about everything on their own in guidebooks and not depend on anyone in making the decision "to be or not to be." Organized tourism is not suitable for those who are used to changing their place of deployment every day, not bothering about where to live, not at all tied to comfort and wanting to explore the country deeper, moving in the direction "wherever they look."
Where is cheaper
"More expensive in travel agencies!" - you say. “Not always,” I will answer.
Example 1.If we take the most popular mass tourism destinations - such as Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and even Thailand and sightseeing tours in Europe - don't even try to argue.
Tour operators take in colossal volumes. Hence the more favorable rates for hotels, transport and air travel. The prices for charter flights will also be lower due to the organization of charter flights and the purchase of seats in large blocks in advance. And not only to the resorts of the Turkish Riviera, but also in almost any direction where the charter program is built.
I do not exclude that if a tourist wants to go on his own, he will still find a ticket cheaper, but I am 120% sure that this flight will be with a transfer, or even with two, while the charter companies provide exactly the possibility of a DIRECT flight. Therefore, it would be incorrect to compare the cost of a flight in these two cases, since they are not comparable either in terms of comfort level or in the length of time spent on the road.
Example 2... Many argue that in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, in most European countries, accommodation will be cheaper if you travel on your own. Here I will not argue. I will only add a remark: it will really be cheaper if you choose a hostel, guest house, private apartment as your place of residence, or simply rent an apartment.
But if we return to the coordinate system of hotel accommodation, then the travel agent will definitely not lose, and perhaps even win.
Precisely because travel agencies do not work with hostels, guest houses and other private accommodation options, the opinion that booking.com is always ready to offer more profitable options has become stronger. Moreover, the policy of many large companies provides for the revision of rates for hotels and / or services in the event that a similar product is found at a lower price. And these are not empty words (# tested by ourselves).
Try to combine
Well, and a few more examples both in favor and against independent travel. This will help you navigate which option is right for you.
- The tourists decided to go to the UAE. They bought a tour to a very expensive hotel on booking.com 3 months before the trip, they also bought tickets in advance ... But they forgot to open a visa ...
- The tourist checked all the options that we offered him with booking.com. Our offers were more profitable. But the tourist was determined to travel on his own and found a hotel that seemed cheaper to him. But after payment, it turned out that breakfast was not included in the price.
- The tourist bought tickets on the airline's website from Bishkek to Canada in transit through Europe. Transit passengers do not need a visa in such cases. But there were two transit points. And in this case, a visa must be opened. And the tourist found out about this when, 2 days before departure, she received a call from the airline to clarify whether she had an appropriate visa. She had to pay $ 500 extra to buy new tickets.
- Last winter we were unable to help a large group of friends rent a villa in Phuket. Our options were more expensive than those offered by airbnb.com.
- Once we sent the guys on an excursion tour to Italy. A lot of excursions, every day - a new city, everything is very intense. On about the third day they called us and began to ask us to "detach from the group." They were tired of following the schedule, they were late everywhere and everywhere, and, in general, they were not interested in excursions either. They "just wanted to go to Europe."
Summing up, I will say: you can still describe many and tediously all the ways of travel, you can give a thousand and one arguments in favor of travel agencies, but it would be foolish to deny the fact that travel "on its own" has a place to be and is the only possible way of rest for a certain category of people ... We are all different, and when going on a trip, we always draw ourselves pictures of a happy and serene pastime in the circle of close and pleasant people. And everyone draws pictures of a perfect vacation with their own colors. The main thing is that the picture remains bright, memorable and positive!
There are still few Russian tourists who organize their holidays abroad on their own. The percentage ratio of such travelers to the total flow of tourists is still equal to 15%, but at the same time, the figure is increasing every year.
Holidays organized by yourself
According to statistics, from 2014-2015, the number of travel companies decreased by almost 70%, from 2050 to 650. However, experts say that the epidemic of bankruptcies has been left behind and in the near future travel companies will feel comfortable, as only the strongest players remain on the market ...
Self-organized tourism is increasing due to the fact that Russian tourists want to conquer non-standard and new places for recreation. At the same time, if we talk about places in popular resort countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Greece, then it is more convenient to buy package tours here. This is exactly what most of our compatriots do, namely tourists with children and lovers of all-inclusive recreation.
But, during a holiday within the country, it is much easier for vacationers to book a hotel and tickets on their own.
Distribution of countries
For your convenience, we have made 6 groups of countries for recreation:
1. The first group includes countries where the rest of the savage is much more profitable than the tour. The difference in money can be up to 50%.
2. In the second group of countries, the benefit is up to 20%.
3. In the third group, the cost of a ticket and self-organized rest are the same.
4. The fourth group includes countries where package tours are 15% more profitable.
5. The fifth group includes countries in which it is 65% more profitable to vacation on package tours.
6. In the sixth group of countries where you can travel only on your own.
We compare the benefits of an independent trip and a package tour
So, if you have made the decision to escape to some exotic place, then you definitely need to plan your vacation yourself. But those who want to relax without unnecessary adventures and hassles can safely choose a tour on a voucher. Note that in both cases, you will need travel insurance when traveling abroad, which you can choose directly on our website using the price comparison calculator below.
Share of Russians who independently organize their own tourist trips abroad, while it is small. According to various estimates, it is 10-13% of the tourist flow. Despite the growing market for self-travel, more hotel and ticket booking systems are emerging, competing more with each other than with package travel sellers. Adherents of the organized visiting tourism among Russians it is still much more. However, underestimate the segment's growth prospects independent travel not worth it. In order to stay afloat, many Russian travel companies will have to not only increase their offline sales, but also offer a gentleman's set of "savage": hotel reservations, air tickets and excursion programs. The losers will have to leave.
"Savages" and gentlemen
The market for online shopping for travel services grew in 2013 by 33% compared to 2012. According to statistics from online travel agencies BiletixIn 2013, the total volume of the travel segment of chain trade amounted to $ 8.3 billion. Of these, 57% fell on the sale of air tickets, 29% - on the sale of hotels, 10% - on train tickets, and only 4% - on the online sale of ready-made tour packages. It would seem that the aggressive segment of self-tourism has incredible prospects in Russia. However, things are not so simple. As it turned out, independent tourism is not only troublesome, but also expensive.
Independent tourists are usually understood as those who plan their travel itinerary, book their own hotel accommodation, flights, transfers or a car, and also draw up visas and medical insurance. “There is an opinion that people become independent tourists because they want to save money. This is not entirely true. Most Russians who organize their own tourist trips do so because of the absence or small number of package offers for countries that are unpopular with mass tourists, ”says Andrey Borodin, founder and CEO of service OnlineTur. ru... It should also be borne in mind that the separate booking of all segments of the future travel to popular destinations, according to the expert's estimates, costs an average of 30% more. At the same time, the price at which self-tourists make reservations includes a commission for booking systems, no less than the one that is included for travel agencies in the cost of package tours. In this case, saving is not about independent travel.
According to Borodin, the growth of independent tourism is primarily due to the fact that our tourists strive to conquer more and more new destinations. If we are talking about holidays in popular countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, then it is more profitable to buy package tours to these countries. This is what the majority of Russian “organized tourists” do - first of all, families with children, adherents of the “all-inclusive” system, people who want to save their time on booking certain services and get full service for their money and save money.
According to Borodin, the operators of domestic tourism suffered the most, since it is not so difficult for a Russian to book a hotel in his homeland and he does not need a tour package. Only niche tour operators operating in such countries as France, Italy, England, Portugal felt the competition from independent tourists in the outbound market. To a lesser extent - Spain and Greece.
Preference Map
The conclusions drawn by Andrey Borodin are confirmed in practice by other participants in the tourism market. So, Alexandra Vyal, the owner of the travel agency "Barceloner", decided to help our compatriots save money at the stage of travel planning. She came up with and created in practice an interesting tool for testing the estimated cost of a future trip.
“We have compiled a special map, highlighting the most popular tourist destinations in different colors, which are cheaper for Russian travelers to go on their own or with the help of a tour. Everything is very simple and clear, ”says Vyal. According to her, the development team has identified six types of countries for potential travelers.
Source: Barceloner.com
The countries of the first type, where it is much cheaper to travel on their own than on a voucher, include Cambodia, China, Singapore, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland and Switzerland. The difference between the cost of a tour or paid tickets and the hotel can be from 45% (Cambodia, Singapore) to 70% (China, Switzerland, Ireland).
A trip to countries of the second type: Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Thailand, the Philippines on a voucher will be about 10-20% more expensive than a savage.
The cost of a trip to Finland, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, the Maldives or Israel is the same for both a self-tourist and a “packer”.
It is worth buying a tour to Turkey, Croatia, Latvia, the UAE, it will be 15-25% cheaper than an independent trip.
It is much more profitable to travel as part of a travel group to Malaysia, the savings are 65%, to Greece - 60%, Sweden and Tunisia - 30%.
But it is easier to go to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal or Serbia on your own, because ordinary tour operators do not have such tours.
“Spain is a separate country. According to our calculations, by going on a trip on your own, you will save 10-20% of your money. Despite the fact that this direction is very popular among tour operators (you can easily find dozens of tours of different lengths for any wallet), ”says Alexandra Vyal.
A tribute to tradition
According to Irina Tyurina, the press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), although the bankruptcy of tour operators has spurred the general public's interest in organizing travel independently - many think that it is safer and cheaper. However, this is not always the case. “Traveling independently or through a travel agency is everyone's personal business. There will always be people who sew for themselves, but this does not prevent them from buying ready-made clothes. Everyone knows how to cook, but at the same time they are willing to visit restaurants, ”says Irina Tyurina and gives several arguments in favor of traditional tours.
According to Tyurina, not all resorts have regular flights, and it is not so easy to buy charter tickets: they are sold only on a leftover basis, and whether or not it remains is a question. “A hotel in the booking system is not a fact that it is cheaper. Because, as experience shows, many, for example, do not notice that the price is shown without breakfast. Or they do not pay attention to the conditions for canceling the reservation, and they can be very harsh. In addition, the picture with the image of the hotel on the Internet can be very different from reality, ”continues the PCT representative.
And the most important argument, according to Tyurina, is that an independent tourist must understand that he takes all responsibility for organizing the tour, and if something happens, he will be left to himself. “In 2010, after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which interrupted flights over Europe for a long time, there was a trend opposite to independent tourism,” the expert sums up. - Independent tourists found themselves face to face with a force majeure situation that no one could foresee in advance. Tourists traveling on tour packages were looked after by their agents: they provided hotel rooms at their own expense, organized other possible modes of movement, and so on. This trend intensified when an Italian company went bankrupt in August 2012 Wind jet... Tourists realized that they have to pay for independence, and as a result the tour package turns out to be cheaper. " And this, according to Tyurina, is the main reason for the emergence of the opposite trend: some of the tourists who have gone on their own voyage return to travel agencies. Global Business Travel Association, having surveyed several thousand business tourists from all over the world, states: 35% of respondents return to traditional travel schemes, because they do not know who to turn to for solving any unforeseen problem while traveling.
Jump into the net
“Traditional travel agencies shouldn't be afraid of online sales growth. As world experience shows, a significant part of consumers will remain faithful to the traditional scheme: buying a tour in an offline office. For some time more our tourist will go online, but the sale of tour packages will slow down significantly due to mental characteristics and other reasons, "- said Sergey Agafonov, CEO of the management company "Hot voucher shops"speaking at a special section of the largest Russian tourism summit - MITT, organized with the support of the PCT.
According to Agafonov, even in such a developed market as the United States, network sales have no advantage. Rather, there is a steady equality here: 50% of sales are online and 50% are offline. This is the largest indicator of network sales in the world. At the same time, 80% of Americans travel around the country and only 20% go abroad. The vast majority of them do not have language problems while traveling.
“In Europe, the business model is different. The share of online sales to offline is only 30% to 70%. A large share of "real" sales is due to the fact that a picky European tourist, coming on vacation, wants the representatives of the host to speak the same language with him, "Agafonov said.
“The mentality of Russians is pushing them to 'need to talk'. They need attention and communication. People can study the offers of companies on the websites for weeks, but they often come to buy a tour in a regular office. That is, they use the Internet for informational purposes only. Such clients are welcome guests for any travel agency. They know what they want and come to the office to make the final choice and buy a ticket, ”says the head of the IHL.
In his opinion, Russia is nevertheless closer to the European than the American version. Now sales of tour packages in the Russian Internet account for only 5-7% of the total. Online will not win in the near future, although the share of online bookings will grow every year.
Reason for communication
According to Agafonov, the use of convenient online services will allow agencies to retain clients. “If you don't limit it to offline only, the client will remain and will be loyal. Even if a tiny number of transactions go through the website of the tour operator or agency, it is very important that the agent declares this service. It is in trend, it gives the client additional opportunities, "Agafonov believes. In his opinion, it is very important to use the power of the Internet for the benefit of online business. Including the possibilities of new media, social networks, which tourists themselves use more and more actively every year to search for information and reviews about trips. Today the share of such tourists has reached 70%.
“In its development, the tourism market today must rely on technological advantages, the development of online booking services. Most likely, it is these advantages that will become the main factor in the achievement of leading positions by travel agencies in their industry in the coming years, ”Borodin says.
| Independent travel | Package tours |
| Unlimited travel geography | The best prices for tours to popular tourist countries |
| The ability to create your own complex routes (visiting several countries within the same trip, accommodation in different hotels, departure from outside the country of arrival) | No need to independently apply for visas, insurance, transfers |
| Possible more favorable prices than those of tour operators for individually developed routes | Support from the tour operator, his responsibility for the tourist |
| A wide range of non-standard accommodation options - for large companies, historical buildings, campgrounds and so on | Extreme ease of booking for a tourist |
| Large selection of online services for booking travel services | Travel agency assistance in organizing a trip (consultations, selection of a tour, reception and paperwork) |
Comparison according to OnlineTur.ru
A photo:pixabay.com
Yes, anyone else. I personally hate organized tours.
Cons of organized tours:
often they include unnecessary sponsored trips to a jewelry or fur coat store (encountered in Paris and Turkey);
you partially depend on other tourists in your group (they need to pee, souvenirs, they have a baby crying on the bus);
tours are usually the most popular excursion destinations that you have already paid for. And if you want to go to a non-tourist place, but you are going to Versailles with a bus, you are sorry to refuse, you have already paid.
Pros of organized tours:
no need to think about anything: what to do with yourself, how to get to the museum, where to eat, what to see. True, it is not a fact that all the places will be good.
usually it is cheaper due to travel agencies, hotels on the outskirts, or those in which travel agencies have special prices, sponsors, to whose store you will be taken on a tour, etc. Also, bus tours, such as 7 countries in 5 days, are very cheap.
there are very cool tours that are not for everyone, but especially for you. For example, in Ukraine there are guys who take designers and architects on tours. They plan well and with them you can go, for example, to the workshops of famous architects, where you yourself would never go. Or there are photo tours. In short, highly specialized tours that will interest you. Or very expensive and rare tours, such as a cruise near Antarctica.
That is, you can enjoy the tour if you get hysterical from planning and if you don't worry too much about what you will see on the trip. Paris, okay, it doesn't matter what you see (the Eiffel Tower and Louvre, you will see 100%). Or if you find a unique tour.
If independence and quality are still important to you, it is better to do everything yourself.
Pros of self-guided tours:
what you want, you do - you visit the places you want, the plane or the bus - you choose yourself, you choose the hotel yourself, everything is up to you.
sites for the selection of tickets, hotels, restaurants, establishments and entertainment give complete freedom (tickets.ua, tripadviser.com, hotels.com, anywayanyday and other hundreds of sites).
a guidebook (booklet) often tells everything that is needed, and if you choose it correctly, you can do without a guide on the bus, as in an organized tour. The Internet, again, knows everything.
you can go to non-tourist spots, which you will learn about on some local site, rather than to tourist mass-market places where the quality is designed so that you will never return, and others will come tomorrow.
many interesting routes are not the subject of organized tours. Fuck, we would see Scottish northern castles, climb the highest point in Great Britain, visit Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oberdeen, Inverness, Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye in one organized tour. And independently it is quite real.
Cons of self-guided tours:
you have to plan a lot and rely on yourself. Often this means buying tickets to the museum on the Internet, otherwise you will have a huge queue (Uffizi, Louvre);
you can get to a bad hotel with bedbugs (Paris :)), travel agencies usually choose proven hotels, because the reputation and everything;
some places can be reached only with a group, or it is easier to get with a group or an organized tour (in some collections, excursions are only for groups, cruises, etc., most often this is an organized tour).
it is a little harder to find yourself a tour guide. I don’t know, somehow we never had the practice of ordering a city guide from the Internet without recommendations. It is always either a blogger-guide whom I read long before the trip (London, Stockholm), or on the recommendation of friends (Tallinn).
In short, independent travel is usually easier and more pleasant to organize for yourself to simple places (cities and countries of Europe and the USA). It is easier and calmer to take a tour to exotic countries, as I understand it
It's not the same for everybody. Last year my friend and I were looking for where to relax, looking for options where you can surf (I dreamed of trying for many years). The beginners themselves did not know how to do anything. First, we wanted to get there ourselves, find a rental of boards and try ourselves somehow, but in the end we decided to choose a paid surf tour. And you know, we didn’t regret it at all! chose the surfvan camp at their own peril and risk - thank God. everything went very cool))))
Reply
Better independent travel. Get out of your comfort zone, upgrade your languages, ride local public transport, rent accommodation from locals, eat with locals, go not where everyone is, see what the group leaders don't show, get into stories that will be interesting to tell. Take risks and discover new things. And you will be happy!
An independent journey is definitely better, and here's why:
Self-planning is a way to travel on any budget. No one in the chain between you and the computer has their own margin on food, flights, housing and all that.
Self-organization is Zen. No one but you is responsible for the shoals, delays and failures. And since there is no point in blaming yourself, you will only have to accept the universe with all its surprises.
Complete freedom of movement. Nowhere and never will you feel so much emotion as at the Bangkok train station without scoreboards and signs.
Go for it, friends.
Better water or beer?
Here is the same thing. You need to ask yourself a few questions, in the spirit of "what do I want to get from the trip? What resources do I have (time, money, etc.)?", And accordingly, based on the answers, it will be clear which is better in this case.
If you want to lie on the beach for a week in Turkey, because the budget is limited, you are too lazy to organize, and besides, you do not know the languages \u200b\u200band are afraid that they are needed (in fact, not), then why not buy a tour.
And if you are interested in walking around Venice, then on the contrary - there is no point in contacting the company - you will overpay for the tour, and the hotel will most likely offer you hell knows where.
1) If this is a European city, then, of course, an independent journey. Book a hotel on one of the many sites, buy a "city_card" upon arrival (in many European cities such cards are sold for a period of one to 3 days, usually they provide free travel on public transport and free or partially discounted passes to museums), There is public transport in the suburbs, you can take an audio guide there, and if you arrive before the opening, then walk along the sights in front of all the tourist crowds. Nishtyaks from such a trip: you don't depend on anyone, you walk wherever you want, eat where you want, merge with the city, and not with the herd of the guide. But for this: you need to plan in advance what you will visit tomorrow, after tomorrow, etc., do not spare your feet, because there is a lot of walking, it is desirable to know English.
2) If this is a trip around the country, then the question is in the budget. Everyone writes about tours as huge buses filled with time-forgetting women, unsobbed men and their screaming offspring (hello, typical Turkey). Of course, such a journey is comparable to the descent into Hell. Another case: a driver-guide in a good car for a small company or family (suppose that you are not driving / are afraid of getting tangled up in the maps / not being able to control on unusual terrain / taking a break from the steering wheel and calmly looking out the window) - believe me, this is very good and helps to get to know the country from the inside. However, this is a tour and not an independent journey.
3) There are concept tours, it's a completely different story.
4) Direction: the difference between East and West is great, if you are not going to arrange an experiment for yourself, placing yourself in the condition of a newly hatched chick, then it is better to use a tour operator.
Agreeing with all those who unsubscribed, I will add that if you are just starting to travel abroad, you are not very fluent in the local (where you are going) language and not very much in the topic of where to find out, buy, live, be, I would advise you to go with a group a couple of times. You will take a closer look, find out the basic things that relate to travel, etc. And then you can go to an independent level. I went with groups for several years, and then it so happened that I went to Ireland as a "savage" - with a plan drawn up, a hotel reservation, a paid excursion to the cliffs. After this trip, I realized that I would not go with the group anymore))) This is such freedom! But it requires at least minimal travel training :)
For me, independent travel is preferable. Sometimes you start preparing in six months, and this is already a great pleasure. I buy a bunch of books, a map, watch historical films, read reviews from other travelers. Finding housing is a special pleasure. When traveling in Europe, we ignore hotels, we book accommodation on airbnb.com We always take country houses close to the area we want to explore. Having a good kitchen is so important! You can live very inexpensively in a real medieval house! But about the cost of independent travel, I disagree with those who write that you can save on this. Traveling in a rented car in Europe will still cost at least 2 times more than a package tour, although it is worth it.
Depends on what you want from this trip. I will write about excursion trips, as I am not a fan of beach holidays.
Buying a ticket through a travel agency, you, of course, overpay, but you do not bother with the route (just pre-select from several presented), accommodation, excursions, guidebooks, method of transportation. Sometimes you don't even bother with food. They just pick you up at the airport, put you on a bus and take you wherever they planned. You just have to relax, listen to the stories of the guide and buy souvenirs. And one more bonus: most often, groups enter museums faster than individual visitors.
When planning your trip on your own, you take it all upon yourself. You need to shovel a lot of information about the city or country where you are going to find out where and why you should go there :) You buy air tickets, look for accommodation, figure out how to get to this accommodation. If there are transfers, you also need to buy train / bus tickets. But on the other hand, it has its advantages: you go wherever you want, you do not need to listen to the rantings of the guides (if it depressing you) and make sure not to lag behind the group; you are the king and boh of your journey, everything completely depends on you; you can go to super-interesting, non-pop places; you lie down and get up when it suits you. It's also much cheaper!
Personally, I went on tours and independent travels. I love this and that. Mostly I go on my own, but when there is extra money and there is no strength to study the country on my own (before planning a trip), but I want to go on vacation, I go to a travel agency
There is no definite answer to this question. Depends on the direction and what you want.
Usually an organized tour, especially if it covers several countries or cities, allows you to free your head from organizational issues and put all your energy into the perception and development of what you saw. Here you pay for relative comfort and efficiency in terms of time by standardization and a somewhat incubatory approach.
Traveling on your own is more fun because you can fully customize it to suit your needs, interests, budget and pace of learning. However, this requires a lot of time, emotional and physical costs, which are rewarded with interesting discoveries and adventures.
Some companies offer a combination of these two approaches, and this is probably the most beneficial option. Last year I had a chance to go on a two-week trip to Vietnam with the world famous company Intrepid. We organized basic things, such as transfers between cities and overnight stays in hotels. Everything else was optional - additional excursions, entertainment, going out, dinners and so on. And we ourselves, as from Lego, put together the most interesting and relevant program, while there was enough time and opportunity to master the area on our own.
I am always in favor of independent travel, because it assumes that there will be unforeseen circumstances that need to be solved, you can run into some adventures and so on, in general, everything will not be monotonous.
I watch a lot of opponents of the organized tour and put in my five cents in defense of the tours. Firstly, an organized tour is often cheaper, this applies of course to the known directions. Let's say a direct flight, accommodation, transfer and insurance are cheaper than if you collect everything yourself, all thanks to the charters from the operator, and by the way, a big plus is often a direct flight. Secondly, no one will keep you in the hotel, they will bring you in and tell you what's what and then do whatever you want to travel around the country itself, it's like an independent journey. In fact, the operator does not organize your trip, he simply brings you to the place and picks you up with comfort, and then you are free to do whatever you want.
