Guided tours - good or bad?

[Zanzibar]

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[spain]

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Good.You get what you pay for.I went to Morocco for the first time with www.moto-morocco.com in 07 then went back alone 3 months later after getting the confidence to do it after being with them .They are a good outfit.
www.altoturiaride.com are another good company based outside Valencia in Spain.Good guided off-road tours around Spain and north Africa.

[Snaphappy]

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[spain]

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... is morse code for ...any info don`t u know.

[tedmagnum]

If you only have a few days then yes... A guide will take you to all the best places and routes which you would probably never find..

I just did a 3 days trail/enduro ride with hired bikes in Spain and it was fantastic..

Anything longer than a few days would drive me mad though.. being told where to go, what to do , where to sleep etc... As well as potentially being in a group of whining strangers..

I toured South America for 7 months and I met a few people on the Globebusters tour from Alaska-TDF. As well as paying 3x what I did for their trip, imagine being told what to do for that amount of time and being stuck with people you may potentially hate..

NO THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!

[raymo]

I did the Stella Alpine with the Big Trail bike Club
http://www.bigtrailbike.com/

Just rode the bike.. no worries

Its a great 'safe' way to get an intro into Long distance touring and off road..

I did the Artic circle on my own the year before, that was brill but I was in overdrive all the time making sure I HAD FUEL FOOD .. ACCOM.. FERRIES etc.. thats part of the fun I know.. but the Stella trip was a breeze.. all I had to think about was riding the bike and enjoying the views


Ray

[chris1201]

In my experience.............I have no experience of guided tours, but there is a very good reason for that. I don't think anyone can say tours are the best or the worst way of travelling because everyone will have different desires and fears. A friend of mine went on one a few years ago and he said it was quite good. On the other hand I have heard of people who say they are expensive and strict on timing etc so who's to say one way or the other if they're good or bad.

Anyway, getting back to my "very good reason" for not having any guided tour experience............
When I go on a foreign holiday on my bike (which I have done every year since 2002) I just don't believe the guided tour route is the one for me, and for a number of reasons:

1. I like the sense of adventure of not knowing exactly where I'm going to be on Day6 or whatever day you care to mention.

2. I like the idea of leaving on a pre-booked date but not knowing exactly when I'm coming back. The trip might be 10 days or it might be 15 days (last year it started off as 14 but turned into 33!)

3. I always start a trip with a vague idea of where I'm possibly likely to go. For example, last year I was going to France, Spain, Portugal and Germany (in no particular order). As it turned out I went to France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland. Things (good things!) just transpired and developed as I went along to lead me in the direction I ultimately followed.

4. If I'm away and I stumble upon a great town or other attraction (last year there was a pretty French madam in the equation!) I might like to stay there for a few days, drink lots of lovely beer and not worry about being over the limit the next morning like I would if I was working to deadlines.

5. And this is probably the most important reason for me........I just like the damned freedom of stopping, starting, staying without anyone telling me I'm holding them back. I like a simple life and this is what works for me.

So there you go........5 reasons why I wouldn't do a guided tour. But for every person like me who says "Non!" to a guided tour there will surely be another who says "Oui!" Make up your own mind if it's right for you and go for it if you think it is. If you're really interested in the tour routes they offer you can use their websites to get ideas then go it alone much cheaper, without the restrictions and with twice the excitement. MCI Tours is a good site to visit. They won't tell you every road to go on but there'll be enough clues to make it interesting and enough gaps to make it exciting. And surely that's what bike touring is really about after all. Isn't it?? This year I'm heading for Spain and Portugal........but something tells me I could easily end up in Czech Republic and Italy instead!!!

Whatever you do and wherever you go.....enjoy.

Chris

[davsato]

not a guided tour in any sense of the term because we were left completely to our own devices, but it was good fun;

did MSL tours trip to the moto piston rally in northern spain last october. we only did it with them because it was £350 and that was less than we could've got the santander ferry and a (supposed) 3* hotel half board for.

it didnt matter that there wasnt a guide because the travelling was minimal, with a one base trip. peter and gloria were there at the hotel every evening to see if there were any problems, and sorted the only one there was.....

dont believe hotels star ratings. and avoid half board. our hotel was nice enough, no roaches or nits and clean comfy beds etc, but "our cuisine is famed around the area" etc etc it was pants. traditional northern spanishi food should be meat, with meat stews and meat with maybe an apple in its gob. we go slightly less than this, and one day pudding was actually tinned fruit cocktail. would i do it again? yes, maybe. go out for dinner though.

another thing, northerners, please remember that different countries have different ideas about sausages and bacon and just because a spanish hotel has spicy sausages and doesnt serve yorkshire bacon doesnt make them bad people. rejoice in the differences, and if you feel that way why did you come abroad? and the southerners who just want to sit in't bar and get quietly smashed dont need to hear the same moans every night.
thankyou.

[MCsanandreas]

i did a trip to India a few years ago with Blazing Trails and it was great! i think for a place like that local knowledge counts for a lot and must have seen things that the avarage tourist never would.

[pdsquire]

All these answers say the same thing: a guided tour is excellent but not for more than a few days.

I went to Bolivia and the day spent with an experienced guide literally changed my life - I'd never ridden before, now I ride every day. But you can quickly pick up enough knowledge about local conditions for the guide's skills to be less essential, and as biking is about freedom I think my limit would be two days.

Look for an outfit that you can sign up for two days and add another if you feel the need.

Have fun!