Coach Excursions: Optional & Included Things to Know

Heard the term coach excursion? Not sure what it means?

A coach excursion is a tour that takes place during a coach holiday. There is usually a mix of included excursions in a holiday. These are included in the overall price of the holiday.

Optional excursions are extra tours that you pay an additional fee for – either in advance when you book your holiday or whilst you are away.

With 5 million people taking coach holidays each year, there are an awful lot of excursions being organised.

Here’s everything you need to know about each type of coach holiday excursion.

Read on to learn everything you need to ask before you book your coach holiday.

What is an Excursion?

Coach Excursion – What Does It Mean?

Table of Contents

What Is an Excursion?

A coach excursion is a trip taken by a coach when travelling on a coach holiday. There are included excursions. These are included in the cost of the holiday. There are also optional excursions. These cost extra, on top of the cost of the holiday but they are entirely optional – you don’t have to book them.

When you book a coach holiday you will be booking a package of things. This may include the following;

Travel to and from your home address or pick-up point
Travel throughout your holiday
Hotels
Meals
Coach holiday driver
Coach Holiday Tour Manager
Local Guides
Included excursions – trips out that are included in the holiday price
Optional excursions – trips out that are extra and not included in the holiday price

Coach Excursion

Included Excursions

The itinerary you look at when booking your holiday should always indicate which excursions (trips) are included in your holiday price and which are extra.

Included excursions are ones you have paid for when you book your holiday – you don’t need to pay anything extra to do them. Sometimes there may be optional extras in included excursions. Here’s an example;

On an Australian touring holiday, a trip to the mountain village of Kuranda on the train was included. Travel back down the mountain on the bus was included. There was an option to pay extra and travel back down the mountain on the cable car.

Things To Ask About Included Excursions;

Are these run by the Tour Manager/Tour Guide or a local contractor?
What are the arrangements/alternatives if the excursion can’t run – perhaps due to bad weather?
How much travelling is there on the excursion?
Are there any meals included – if so what type of meal and are drinks included?
Are there are extras that you might need to pay for on an included excursion?

Professional Traveller Note

One thing I often remind guests is that they don’t have to do every included excursion if they don’t want to. Sometimes guests get tired during a coach holiday, or they simply want to spend a day by themselves or doing something else. Just because an excursion is included doesn’t mean you have to go on it!

Whats an Excursion?

Optional Excursions

An optional excursion is a tour that you need to pay extra for. Some holiday companies print the prices in the holiday brochure so you can see how much these are before you book your holiday. Some do not and if there are lots of optional excursions this can add up to a significant sum.

Some coach holiday companies offer the chance to pre-book your optional excursions when you make your holiday booking, usually for a discount. Some holiday companies only take bookings whilst you are away, and sometimes this has to be in cash. (This is often because commission needs to be paid from these optional excursion sales and it is easier to pay this in cash.)

There is no requirement to book optional excursions when you take a coach holiday. They are optional because it is entirely up to you if you want to do them or not.

The questions to ask for optional excursions are the same with the addition of;

Is the excursion subject to minimum numbers?

Coach Excursions

Optional Excursion Commission

Sometimes Tour Managers will get a commission from the sale of optional excursions. The standard commission is around 10%. This can mean that some Tour Managers push optional excursions to increase sales but most will want happy customers so they will give you the information to let you decide for yourself.

Coach Excursion

Optional Excursion Minimum Numbers

Often on a coach holiday, there is a minimum number of bookings required to operate an optional excursion. This can be higher if a local coach company or tour operator is going to be used. It can be difficult to achieve these numbers if the number of travellers on holiday is smaller. Hopefully, the coach holiday company will take this into account in these situations.

I once had a group of 4 guests on a coach holiday – that was the total amount of passengers. 2 wanted to do an optional excursion but the minimum number was 10. I explained to the holiday company that 50% of the guests wanted to do the tour and they relented. We went to Monaco with 2 people on a 49-seater coach!

Coach Excursion

Optional Excursions Operated by Local Tour Operators

Sometimes optional tours are operated by local tour operators. This can mean that when you book an optional excursion you can be part of a larger group, which may be a different nationality and language. It is always worth double-checking before you book who will be providing the optional excursion – your coach holiday driver and guide, perhaps with a local guide or a local tour operator.

Coach Excursion – Summary

Check at the time of booking how many excursions are included and how many are optional.
If you are considering booking an optional excursion check whether it is being run by the coach holiday company or a local provider.
Remember – you don’t have to go on every included excursion if you don’t want to!

Links You Might Find Helpful:
Huge Selection of Escorted Tours from Tour Radar
10 Must Know Things Before Booking a Coach Holiday
Coach Holidays – Everything You Need to Know

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