Family group tours in Europe, on a budget?

[CestLaVie123]

I used to be an ok traveller, but since covid & lockdowns I've lost all my confidence about navigating abroad. We'd like to take DD, 12, to Italy or Greece, but I don't trust myself to plan it all and do it all on our own - also we don't have family or friends to go with, and it would be amazing to go with other families and hopefully children DD can hang out with (she's strangely less enthusiastic about hanging out with just us these days 😫).

So I am looking for any family-oriented tour groups that anyone could recommend? We would be looking at the "budget" end of the price-scale, no luxury for us! Thanks in advance for any advice

My sister-in-law has just been to Italy for three weeks with her two children. They did city hopping so two days here, three days there - rail travel is free for under 14‘s in Italy I believe. She said it was amazing and really child friendly.

Thank you, but no, that's what I want to avoid - trains, planning our own accommodation etc - I am just looking for a tour group who can arrange all that. Plus hopefully other families to travel with

Explore! do family group tours, I’ve never used them but heard some decent reviews. Not sure on the pricing as to your budget, I guess it would depend on when you’d hope to travel too

Intrepid
Stubborn Mule
G Adventures

Not sure how many European itineraries they have but worth a look.

Thank you for the tips, I'll have a look!

Explore are great - but not budget. Normally you pay for the privilege of having all arranged for you. However it doesn't have to be too scary if you break it down. Plenty of people on MN who can help you plan something.
What budget do you have. Do you want to go to one place, or tour various places. Sea, country, culture, food? Do you want to fly, or train, coach options?

Exottica is cheap. Apparently customer service terrible, but assuming you don't need to contact them for anything could be worth a look. We're going to another country with them next month (like you, slightly nervous travellers) so fingers crossed....

I really appreciate the offer and advice @MissAmbrosia but right now the only thing I feel comfortable with is a tour group

What are the specific issues - are you nervous about being abroad full stop and want every thing arranged - eg finding restaurants, historic sights, taken on tours of cities etc.. or do you just not want the hassle of finding and booking travel and accomodation?

If it is the latter then a package deal would be the best thing to look at. As people have said if it is the former I am not sure budget options exist as you are paying for the privilge of someone doing something fornyou that most people do themselves (generally people find holidaying in European countries fairly easy to do themselves, especially if already based in Europe, so fully arranged tours tend to be a bit of a premium option)

Travelsphere or similar might be an option. Years ago we went away a lot with a company called New Millenium who specialised in cheapy tours of central Europe by coach but I don't think they exist any more. Very unfancy, but we had loads of fun.

https://www.harryshaw.co.uk/europe-by-coach/ These seem to include everything and are quite reasonable.

@Ginmonkeyagain as I said in my first post, I've just lost all my confidence to navigate abroad. (So I find the idea of travelling and being in a foreign country extremely stressful and anxiety-inducing, in the absence of a tour and tourguide managing it all.)

And I know that you pay for the organising of the tour, that's obviously fine - by budget I just mean cheaper tours, rather than luxury tours

If you have an idea of budget, there might be other things to suggest.

Would a cruise be of interest? You could do one from the UK and then go on excursions at port

Stubborn Mule are ££££

Try Responsible Travel, they are very much about using small local operators (small guesthouses rather than big chains/5*) and that also tends to mean lower prices

Also price will depend on how many activities are included and what type. So avoid the ones with lots of cookery classes or private gallery tours etc.

Trailfinders might be worth a look too.

Can you say what you’d like to do on the holiday? As in, stay in 1 or 2 places and get to know them. Or visit eg Rome (the sites), up to Venice (see the canals) and then finish off in Naples (eating pizza). Might the former be better to get your confidence back? DD could meet others if you chose an appropriate resort.

Another vote for Explore! Great small group tours, I'm going to India with them this year 😃

What about a cruise? Some are actually quite reasonable.

Also if you call explore they can tell you the ages of other kids booked on the trips so you can find one with similar ages to your dd.

Do you definitely want a tour going to lots of places or would a package in one place work better for a first overseas holiday? There might not be much time to hang out with anyone on a tour.

Drawback of tours are that you are always on the move after 1-2 days in each location. And they are normally linked to sightseeing and Italy or Greece in Summer is just hot and I don't think I would want to spend my days queuing. I still shudder remembering the huge chain of people in Rhodes at 10.30am in full heat trying to get to a mountain temple complex. We were there at 8.30 and came back down from it.

You could look for some guided activity tour depending what kind of things you like to do.

Alternatively - get an independent travel advisor who books you a AI hotel, flight and transport and organises excursions where you are picked up from the hotel and brought back.

Or you could look at Mark Warner or Sunsail, there are tonnes of kids there to mix with?