5 Best Sites for Booking Tours Worldwide
With the emergence of Airbnb and the glamour of seeing your favorite travel bloggers tour around the world doing all kinds of amazing activities on social media. Today it’s easy to share your experiences sky diving, rock climbing, wildlife viewing, volcano trekking, or even on street food walking tours, with all your friends and family back home. The big question is where should we look to find the best deals? The best tour operators for destination around the world?
When I travel, I don’t book much in advance. I like flexibility, but I often find myself relying on hostels and the recommendations of other travellers I meet for things to do nearby. Sometimes my experiences are amazing, like the time I explored Phong-Na Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam. Other times I end up in the saddle (on an actual horse) with a tour guide that doesn’t really speak English, who can’t tall me anything about the small town, the local history… and I feel like I missed out a little. So here is the first of three articles on booking tours. This one covers the largest and rapidly growing tour booking websites. Next week we’ll cover the best adventure and outdoor booking platforms, followed by the best sites focusing on local tour guides. In the list below, I review the booking & cancellation policies, payment methods and pricing.
Global Tour Booking Standards
Over the last few years several major companies have jumped into the Activities and Tours Booking industry. From Airbnb Experiences, to small start-ups like Ceetiz from France, or Klook from Hong Kong. Each one is vying for supremacy as the world’s biggest tour booking platform.
Before jumping into each website’s tour offerings, cancellation policies, and what kind of guarantees they offer travellers, I want to explain a few booking standards.
Vouchers
Online booking platforms don’t sell you tickets, they usually sell ‘vouchers’ that are redeemable for tickets at the independent tour operator, museum, cruise, show, event, etc… Each tour operator chooses to honor these vouchers and may set their own terms and conditions for things like cancellations, refunds, age restrictions etc… When you make a booking, they will confirm it with the tour operator. You won’t be charged until they receive confirmation. This can take up to 2 days. Some may request printed vouchers, while others use QR or Barcodes they can scan from your phone.
Required Travel Documents
Booking websites aren’t responsible for ensuring you have proper travel documents or tour requirements. You are responsible for having a valid passport, getting your entry visa for other countries, and even having travel medical insurance. Get a Free Quote – Visitors Coverage, a decent health insurance provider. An adventure tour operator may have medical insurance as a requirement and request proof. Others will ask for government ID for proof you are over 18 for alcohol, gambling or other services with legal are requirements.
Fees Not Included
Even all inclusive vacation packages do not cover all the costs. For activity booking websites, you may be required to pay additional fees for Airfare, Park Entry Fees, Customs, Local Taxes, Entry Visas, Travel Insurance, Tips to Local Guides, Extra Food & Drinks, Transportation to the Event or Destination etc…This is especially important on multi-day tour packages. Read the fine print!
Payment & Points
Most online booking platforms accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Some like Expedia even accept Unionpay from China, or Discovery card. Debit cards can be accepted as well, although credit cards are usually preferred. Some platforms like TourRadar allow for reserving an activity or tour with a Deposit. Other required Payment in Full up front.
Collecting Points is a popular loyalty program for booking websites. Earn points when you book and redeem them on future travels and bookings. The best part about points is that they can be used up first. Say your tour operator charges a small cancellation fee, your points would be deducted before any charges are placed on your credit card. Collecting points can be very useful for serious travellers, but not that important for the average person who only vacations for a few weeks each year.
‘Genuine Reviews’
There is almost no way to prove the reviews are real or credible. I can buy 1000 5 star reviews from companies online for $100 that look VERY authentic, even ones that have photos (stolen from social media profiles). It’s easy to do!
Booking website and tour operators often fake reviews at first because no one will use a service that has no reviews at all or no users. I only look for 1 or 2 star reviews because I want to know what went wrong, there should be at least a single 1 star review… Find that one person who was unhappy and find out why.
Look up the tour you are interested in on Tripadvisor, on multiple booking websites, or other travel forums. Join Facebook Groups like Canada Backpackers or Southeast Asia Travellers to ask for more feedback from your fellow travellers. Be smart, be skeptical and ALWAYS do your due diligence.
- Price Rating: 9/10
- Tours: Multi-Day, Single Day Tours from Independent tour operators and local guides
- No. Countries: 75+
- Regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, Oceania & Africa
- Tourist Age: All Ages, age restrictions set by each independent tour operator
- Payment: Full payment required on booking. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Card
- Guarantees: Worry-Free Shore Excursion Guarantee – for cruise boarding, all transportation costs (up to $1,000 USD) will be covered if the tour does not return you to your boat in time to board. Best Price Guarantee
- Cancellation Policy: Dependent on each tour operator’s cancellation policy. The ‘Standard’ is 100% refund for cancellations at least 24 hours in advance of the tour date. No refunds in the 24 hours before the tour starts.
- Customer Support: 24/7 online support
- Notes: No background checks on private tour operators booked through Viator.
2. Expedia Things to Do
Expedia Inc. is one of the three largest hotel, flight and vacation booking companies in the world. The other two are Tripadvisor and Priceline Group. I personally use Expedia for flights and hotels, but have only recently look at their website for activities and things to do.
When I can’t book something directly, I use Expedia. When I tried to book my flight to China, Air France‘s website wouldn’t accept my booking, I got bounced out. Well, Expedia has their own agent only ways to contact airlines, hotels and tour operators, I got the cheapest flight, confirmed within 20 minutes and saved $400. Expedia can just do things we can’t, reliably. 24/7 customer support is the real deal.
- Price Rating: 8/10
- Tours: Full Vacation Packages, Multi-Day & Single Day Tours, Tickets from independent tour operators.
- No. Countries: 180+
- Regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, Oceania & Africa
- Tourist Age: All Ages
- Payment: Full payment required on booking Visa, Mastercard, American Express, China UnionPay, Discover Card, JCB
- Guarantees: None
- Cancellation Policy: Most activities are eligible for a full refund, cancellation dates are set by the independent tour operators.
- Customer Support: Expedia Local Expert (ELE), a local who you can call for assistance for activities, local transportation, and dinning recommendations. Online support, 24/7 call service.
Ceetiz is a French Start-Up founded in 2012. They came out of nowhere and now offer activities, tours and tickets in cities around the world. They are still scaling, meaning they have a lot of listings for famous tourist cities like Paris, London, New York, Tokyo or Dubai… But they don’t have the depth and reach of the larger more established websites like Tripadvisor and Expedia.
Ceetiz is worth taking a quick look at because they have deep discounts on feature activities, filters for family friendly things to do and a price guarantee no longer offered by the larger booking websites.
- Price Rating: 7/10
- Tours: Tickets, Single-Day Tours and Passes from independent tour operators.
- No. Countries: 80+
- Regions: Most Major Cities or Tourist cities in Europe, North America and Oceania.
- Tourist Age: All Ages, may be restrictions for alcohol or other activities based on local laws.
- Payment:Full payment required on booking. Visa, Mastercard, American Express
- Guarantees: Best Price Guarantee: If you find an identical tour or ticket from a competitor within 24 hours of your booking with Ceetiz, they will refund the difference or allow you to cancel free of charge. Email: bestprice@ceetiz.com. Beat-The-Queue offers on select tours, basically you can skip the lines because you already have your ticket.
- Cancellation Policy: Varies by individual tour operator but generally no cancellation fees more than 7 full days in advance of the tour, 50% refunded between 7 and 2 full days before and no refund less than 2 full days before the tour begins. Email: cancellations@ceetiz.com to cancel tours.
- Customer Support: >Online Support – Open a ticket for help.
Klook is a start-up based out of Hong Kong. They have mainly focused on the Asian countries, trying to bring the local tour operators online and really pushing for local guides to sign up from small villages. If you’ve been to Thailand or Vietnam, you’d know that all the locals have smartphones, but booking the actual guide can be a challenge. I usually used my homestay, hostel booking services to get a tuk tuk driver or hiking guide because I couldn’t find any online. Klook is really trying to change that.
Klook is also expanding to offer deeply discounted tours, tickets and event bookings for other destinations around the world, these are limited to popular tourist cities for now but keep an eye open for deals for future travels in Asia.
- Price Rating: 9/10
- Tours: Single Day Tours, Tickets, Festivals, Events from independent tour operators and local guides
- No. Countries: 100+
- Regions: Mainly Asia, Some destination and major cities in North America, Europe and Oceania.
- Tourist Age: All Ages, Some minimum age requirements set by each tour operator
- Payment:Full payment required on booking. Visa, Mastercard, American Express
- Guarantees: Best Price Guarantee:Refund double the difference if you find the same tour offered for cheaper on another website within 48 hours of booking, or once you arrive at the tour destination
- Cancellation Policy: Vary by the terms of each independent tour operators, refunded in full in the cancellation period. Otherwise
- Customer Support: Online support – submit a ticket at support@klook.com
5. TourRadar
TourRadar has a large selection of multi-day full vacation package tours . This 14 day National Parks of the Canadian Rockies Eastbound Tour from Vancouver to Calgary operated by G Adventures can be booked through TourRadar. Other tours can be a few as 1 to 3 days or several months.
TourRadar has a selection of multi-day tour packages in destinations around the world, from Beijing to Mumbai, Santiago, Moscow and even tours going through Little Rock Arkansas. The tours are full packages, meaning they aren’t for travellers looking for a simple day trip or tickets. The tours take care of everything from hotels, buses, and even choose where you will eat in some cases.
TourRadar has extremely deep discounts on ‘Last Minute Deals‘ around the world. Up to 50% off, so it’s always worth checking out.
- Price Rating: 10/10
- Tours: Multi-day full vacation packages
- No. Countries: 160+
- Regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, Oceania & Africa
- Tourist Age: All Ages, Some minimum age requirements set by each tour operator
- Payment:$99 USD Deposit, Full payment required on booking confirmation. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Paypal & Maestro.
- Guarantees: Best Price Guarantee: Email: support@tourradar.com with a screenshot of the identical tour on another website and they’ll match the price.
- Cancellation Policy: If the tour operator cancels the tour, TourRadar will look for a suitable replacement tour. If no other similar tour can be found, they will issue a full refund of the deposit and booking fee. Cancellations by the travellers are subject to the terms of each independent tour operator, read the listing fine print.
- Customer Support: 24/7 Customer Support, can call for assistance locally in multiple different languages.
Disclaimer: Viator, Expedia, Klook, TourRadar, Ceetiz, Tripadvisor, Priceline, AirFrance and Visitor Coverage are Affiliate Partners of Tallypack Travel. We make a small commission on bookings at no cost to you.
Booking Hostels
Researching a hostel for each destination on a trip is tedious. I’ve been there, so I put a master list of the best hostels for each country and highlight their best features they offer like location, air-con, English proficiency, social vibes (parties) and cost!
Click on the photo below to check out our article on the Best Hostel Booking Apps and the best hostels for each country.
Travel App Guides
Check out our extensive list of app articles, from the 15 Essential Travel Apps, to specific apps to use in each of our featured countries.
