9 Reasons To Choose A Coach Holiday (By Previous Guests)

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Over my 25 year career as a coach holiday Tour Manager I have travelled with thousands of lovely people.

During that time I have learned a great deal about their holiday preferences and why they choose a coach holiday as their preferred option for that particular destination.

Here is a list of the top 9 things my guests have told me about the reasons that made them choose a coach holiday.

Table of Contents

1. Alot Included In A Coach Holiday

If you have done your research and got all your relevant questions answered then you should have a very clear idea of what you are getting with a coach holiday.

You could argue that this applies to any holiday, especially all inclusive for example.

Generally though a coach holiday is going to include much more – local guides, included tours, optional tours, transfers between places if you are visiting different areas, meals, luggage handling and of course a Tour Director and driver.

You should know exactly where you are going to go, what you are going to see and what other things there are you might want to join.

This means all you need to do is to plan how you want to use your free time and of course if you need any help with that your Tour Director will be able to help with suggestions and ideas.

So the fact that there is alot included is one of the main reasons guests tell me they choose a coach holiday.

Single travellers also tell me that being able to budget more easily is an important factor for them and one of the main reasons they choose a coach holiday.

2. There Is A Tour Director

A good Tour Director, (sometimes called Tour Manager or Program Director) can make such a difference to your coach holiday experience.

They can help you with ideas of things to do in your free time, suggest tried and tested places to visit, to eat, to drink etc.

They can also help you include something particular on your tour, whether that be a special celebration, meeting up with people or going off to explore on your own.

A good Tour Director is an often underutilised source of ideas and inspiration as some just view us as there for complaints.

Helping people personalise their holiday and giving them memorable experiences is one of the things I enjoy most about being a Tour Manager.

Tour Managers are a great way to personalise your coach holiday so that it reflects your interests and your pace.

It’s great to hear that Tour Managers really do make a difference to the holiday experience and many guests have told me that having an expert with them is one of the main reasons they choose a coach holiday, particularly for places they are visiting for the first time.

3. The Itinerary is Planned

I regularly have guests turn up on a tour knowing roughly where they are going to but happy to sit back and go with flow knowing that everything is planned for them.

They enjoy the fact that someone else has done all the work in researching the itinerary and program and they can just sit back and enjoy being told what time and where they need to be.

In my experience these people who are repeat travellers with a coach holiday company and as such they trust the holiday company to deliver a great experience.

Of course they know the main highlights of where they are going to go and what they are going to see, which is why they have chosen that particular holiday.

I regularly have coach holiday guests tell me that they love just being told what time to turn up each day and then they just sit back and enjoy a great day either on a tour or travelling.

4. The Tour Covers A Great Deal

Often a coach holiday will pack quite a bit in, whether that be included tours, optional tours, travelling between places, stops along the way and little extras that happen too.

It can often be difficult to match this pace and this amount of activity if you were planning your the trip on your own (as a solo traveller myself I know that it is true).

The amount of planning required to cover the same amount of activity on your own holiday would be expensive and then of course someone would have to drive.

A coach holiday includes a great deal – infact for some people they include too much, especially the travellers who prefer a slower style of travel.

However, if you have done your pre trip research and you know that the pace is right for you then you can also sit back and enjoy your days being full of discovery.

The great news is that there is now a great deal of choice when it comes to tour pace, with companies offering several choices in pace level. There are also lots of choices about the amount of free time and included activities meaning there will be a coach holiday to suit you!

Doing some thorough pre holiday research will help you to choose a coach holiday that suits your style, pace and preferences perfectly. If you need some help with what areas to ask more about check out my 10 Things You Need to Know guide – it’s designed to arm you with the questions to ask to find your perfect trip.

5. Choose a Coach Holiday for a Buffet of Experiences

A coach holiday needs to appeal to a wide range of people. As such there is often a wide variety of experiences including in the holiday program, either as included or optional tours, to get the most amount of people to take the holiday.

In general a coach holiday will likely stay in several hotels, sometimes in different countries, it will include a number of included visits, there will be optional tours, some meals will be included and there will be a variety of guides. There may even be different forms of transport, different coaches and drivers.

It’s for this reason that I often describe a coach holiday as a buffet of experiences.

Like any buffet there will be a dish that you really enjoy which is why a coach holiday can also be a great way to find particular places that you want to go back and explore further on your own.

Many guests tell me that they one of the reasons they choose a coach holiday is that there are so many things included, and they can pick and choose to suit themselves, whether that be having more free time or taking more optional excursions. It’s all about making the holiday your own!

6. Someone Else Does The Driving

I am often told by coach holiday guests that one of the things they like most about a touring holiday is that someone else is doing the driving leaving them to sit back and relax.

As someone who loves driving myself, I know exactly what they mean – I have driven all over the place but if I travel as a passenger, even if it is a route I travel regularly, I always see so much more.

Passengers have also said they find driving in other countries stressful so having someone else drive makes it much easier.

Sometimes guests are just not as confident about driving in another country, sometimes they are not able to because of licence restrictions or health issues.

Whatever the reason being driven around is another reason many guests choose a coach holiday.

7. A Great Way to Make New Friends

I can’t tell you how many times over the years I have had people travelling together who met on a coach holiday.

I regularly have people travelling with companions who first met as single travellers, couples who met while travelling and groups of people who met up on a previous coach holiday and now travel together too.

Coach holidays are a great way to meet like-minded people and make new friends, even if it is just for the duration of the coach holiday.

Many single guests tell me that they choose a coach holiday because they want to travel as a single traveller but they don’t necessarily want to be with a whole group of other single people. There are of course single only departures and single only coach holidays, but all the single travellers I have met have preferred to travel with a mix of singles and couples.

8. Someone To Ask

For some travellers one of the reasons they choose a coach holiday is having someone there to help them – whether that be with ideas of things to do, or to help out if there is an issue.

As I mentioned above Tour Directors are underutilised in my view, often viewed more in the context of complaints and things going wrong.

A great Tour Director can help you with personalising your coach holiday experience, discovering things on your own and adapting the pace of the tour to suit you.

Tour Directors can help with discovering local flavours, finding nice places to eat and local experiences.

They can also help with understanding more about the places you are visiting, learning more about the local culture and history.

Think of your Tour Director like your roaming travel guide.

Of course you cannot expect your Tour Director to know everything about absolutely everywhere but every good Tour Director will do their best to find an answer to question and help you.

9. Someone If Something Goes Wrong

Over 30 years I have seen all sorts of things happen on a tour, from husbands disappearing and leaving wives, to domestic abuse, people falling out and of course plenty of medical issues.

A good Tour Director can help you in the event of difficulty on a tour and I have often been told that having a friendly face when heading to a foreign hospital has been really reassuring.

There are limitations as to what Tour Directors can do in some medical situations. This depends on the insurance company as much as anything (if you want to know more check out my free Ebook which includes a really invaluable tip about this).

As with any medical situation they cannot speak on behalf of patients.

Guests tell me that just having someone who is familiar with how everything works can be really calming and reassuring – especially when there can be a great deal of administration to sort things out.

Single travellers also tell me that this is one of the bigger factors in why these choose a coach holiday. Sometimes this can be because they are new to travelling on their own. This often happens after a bereavement and many guests I have met say having a Tour Manager there if they need help with anything is one of the main reasons that made them choose a coach holiday.

Conclusion

There are lots of reasons to choose a coach holiday – not least because there are now many options available allowing you to find the right paced tour, with the right level of included activities and free time to suit you.

A coach holiday can be a great way to explore somewhere with a group of likeminded people who share a passion for travel too.

Some pre trip research will help find the right coach holiday for you with the right level of free time and organised activities.

If you want some help with pre-tour research check out my 10 Things You Need To Know About Coach Holidays – covering everything to think about before you book.

Coach Holiday Series by The Coach Holiday Expert

Have a look at my Travel Inspiration section for ideas on places to visit.

I’ve also got heaps of resources on how to travel cheaper, helping you to see even more of the world!

Coach Holiday Companies

Here are some coach holiday companies I know. Head to their websites to get some coach holiday inspiration!