Group Travel Companies Compared
all of them, one tableEvery group travel company says it is for people like you. This page puts fifteen of them in one table with the four facts that actually decide whether you will enjoy the week: how old everyone is, how many of them there are, what you do all day, and what it costs.
If you want the short version: Contiki and EF Ultimate Break are the budget picks for your twenties. Intrepid, G Adventures and Explore Worldwide are the sightseeing specialists. Flash Pack, FTLO and Travendly are cultural trips for solo professionals. Backroads and Salt Escapes are the premium fitness options. SurfYogaBeer is the active, highly social one: a real physical activity every day, a group of 12 to 40 that mostly arrived alone, median age 35.
The whole category in one table
Sorted so you can scan it. Every figure is what the company publishes about itself, checked October 2026. Where a company does not publish a number, this table says so rather than guessing.
| Company | Age range | Group size | What you do all day | Price shape | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SurfYogaBeer | Median 35, most 28 to 42, minimum 21 | 12 to 40 | A daily physical activity: surf, hike, ski, sail or safari, plus an optional morning workout | From $1,950 for 5 nights, activities and most meals in | An active week where the group is the point |
| Flash Pack | Two brackets: 30 to 49 and 50 to 65 | Average 12, maximum 16 | Boutique sightseeing, walking tours and cultural visits at a comfortable pace | Premium, land only, flights separate | Solo travelers who want polish over sweat |
| FTLO Travel | 25 to 39 | 4 to 16, average 10 | Culture, food and city exploration with group dinners | Mid to premium, flights separate. Note the published clause allowing a surcharge up to 15 days before departure, with FTLO covering the first 2% | Young professionals who want cultural city trips |
| Contiki | Strictly 18 to 35 | 24 to 53 in Europe, North America and New Zealand, 12 to 30 elsewhere | Sightseeing and nightlife across multiple cities, moving fast | Budget, wide range, add-ons common | Your twenties, many countries, low cost |
| EF Ultimate Break | Strictly 18 to 35 | Up to 44 | Multi-country sightseeing led by a tour director | Budget, flights included by default, payment plans | First time abroad on a tight budget |
| G Adventures | No upper limit on most tours. A separate 18 to 39 range exists | Average 10, up to 15 | Cultural adventure and guided sights with local experiences | Land only, broad range by style | Seeing a country in depth |
| Intrepid Travel | All ages, minimum 15. Separate 18 to 35s range is enforced | Average about 10, most trips capped at 12 to 16 | Guided cultural sightseeing with local leaders and deliberate free time | Land only, low headline prices, activities often extra | Seeing a lot of a country for not much money |
| WeRoad | 18 to 53, sold in age bands | Average 11 | Adventure touring across a region, multi-stop, keep moving | Mid-range, activities often extra | A regional route with a coordinator |
| Under30Experiences | Most 21 to 35, not strictly enforced | Typically 8 to 16 | Immersive local travel, hiking, culture and some adventure | Roughly $1,300 to $4,400 for 7 to 10 days, shorter trips from $1,095, land only | Your twenties, on a budget, somewhere new |
| Explore Worldwide | No cohort. Minimum 16, twenties to sixties and beyond | Average 11, rarely more than 16 | Guided discovery touring plus dedicated walking and cycling ranges | Land only, twin share included, flights optional | The route itself, with no solo penalty |
| Other Way Round | Marketed to thirties and forties, not enforced | Average 10, maximum 15 | Sociable immersive touring with private experiences, 8 to 15 days | Premium, twin share, private room supplement per trip | A long, comfortable, very solo trip from Europe |
| Backroads | All adult, no bands. A soft 30s and 40s collection exists | Average 14, biking trips up to 26 | Supported biking, hiking and multi-adventure with route options every day | Frequently several thousand dollars for 6 to 8 days, land only | The riding, at the highest level of support |
| Salt Escapes | Most guests in their 30s | 11 to 16 | One villa, one location. Daily workouts, a private chef and recovery | Premium, GBP priced, from 2,950 pounds for 6 nights, flights separate | A fitness week in one place, not a trip |
| TrovaTrip | Open to anyone 18 and over, no band | Usually 12 to 20 | Whatever the local operator built, sold to a creator's audience | Set per trip by the host and operator, with the platform fee built into the price | Travelling with a creator you already follow |
| Travendly | Marketed to 25 to early forties | 4 to 14 | Itinerary led sightseeing and culture, 5 to 11 days timed to US holidays | Roughly $1,999 to $2,799 for most 8 to 10 day trips, land only | Maximum country per vacation day |
The four numbers that decide your week
Age range is the one people skip and then regret. A trip marketed to 25 to 45 with no enforcement is not a trip for 25 to 45 year olds, it is a trip for whoever booked. Contiki, EF Ultimate Break and Intrepid's youth range are the only ones on this table with a hard cutoff you cannot talk your way past. Everyone else, including us, publishes an average and a typical band. Ours is median 35, most people 28 to 42, minimum 21.
Group size decides whether you make friends or make small talk. This is the number the industry has agreed to lie about by omission. Small is sold as premium, so almost everybody says small. In practice a group of 8 gives you eight chances to click with somebody, and if two of them are a couple and two more are travelling together, you have four. A group of 30 gives you thirty. Our trips typically run 12 to 40 depending on the destination, which usually means there is somebody up for the early surf and somebody up for the late dinner.
What you do all day is the real product. Two trips to Croatia at the same price can be completely different weeks. One is a boat, a swim stop and a long lunch. The other is a guided old town walk and a museum. Neither is wrong. But the brochure photo for both is a person on a boat, so you have to read past it.
Price shape matters more than price. Land only, activities extra, flights bundled, single supplement, deposit terms. A $1,900 trip where every activity is an add-on can land higher than a $2,400 trip with everything in. Ask what is excluded before you compare two numbers.
Where this table is biased and where it is not
We run one of the companies in it. So here is the deal we are making with you: every row about a competitor is taken from what that company publishes on its own site, and if you think a row is wrong we would rather you tell us than quietly stop trusting the page.
What we have not done is stack the deck by leaving out the things they beat us on. Contiki is genuinely cheaper. Intrepid genuinely goes more places. Backroads genuinely has better bike support than anyone. Flash Pack shows more than 1,500 Trustpilot reviews and we have three hundred. Those are real advantages and they belong on the table.
What we will not do is pretend the category is undifferentiated. Most of these companies are selling a well organised sightseeing week to solo travelers. That is a good product and a lot of people want it. It is not what we sell.
"I read four of these company websites for two weeks and could not tell them apart. This was the first page that just told me."
SurfYogaBeer alum, CroatiaOne page per company, if you want the long answer
Each of these is a full head to head, including the parts where they win.
Flash Pack
Solo travelers who want polish over sweat
FTLO Travel
Young professionals who want cultural city trips
Contiki
Your twenties, many countries, low cost
EF Ultimate Break
First time abroad on a tight budget
G Adventures
Seeing a country in depth
Intrepid Travel
Seeing a lot of a country for not much money
WeRoad
A regional route with a coordinator
Under30Experiences
Your twenties, on a budget, somewhere new
Explore Worldwide
The route itself, with no solo penalty
Other Way Round
A long, comfortable, very solo trip from Europe
Backroads
The riding, at the highest level of support
Salt Escapes
A fitness week in one place, not a trip
TrovaTrip
Travelling with a creator you already follow
Travendly
Maximum country per vacation day
What people ask before they pick one
Which group travel company is best for solo travelers in their 30s?
There is no single answer, and any page that gives you one is selling something. If you want culture and city time, Flash Pack and FTLO Travel are built for exactly that. If you want a physically active week with a big social group, SurfYogaBeer is. If you want to see three countries cheaply, Contiki. The useful question is not which company is best, it is what you want to be doing at 4pm on the Wednesday.
Do any of these companies enforce their age ranges?
Three do. Contiki and EF Ultimate Break cap at 35, and Intrepid enforces its 18 to 35s range strictly, meaning you must be under 36 on day one. FTLO Travel publishes a 25 to 39 bracket. Everyone else, SurfYogaBeer included, publishes an average and a typical range rather than a hard gate. Ours is median 35, most people between 28 and 42, minimum age 21.
Why do so many of them say small groups?
Because small has been sold as premium for twenty years, so it is the safe marketing claim. It is genuinely better for some trips: a 10 person hiking group in a national park is a different and often better experience than 30. It is worse for the thing most solo travelers actually came for, which is meeting people. Eight strangers is not a lot of chances. Our trips typically run 12 to 40 depending on the destination and the season, and we would rather publish the real range than a flattering one.
What does land only mean and why does it keep appearing?
It means the price covers the trip once you arrive and not the flights to get there. Almost every company on this table is land only, with EF Ultimate Break the main exception since it frequently bundles flights. It matters because a cheap land only price plus a long haul flight can end up more expensive than a higher headline price closer to home.
Is anyone here actually based in New York?
SurfYogaBeer was founded in New York City in 2014 and still runs out of it. Travendly is a New York registered company. Flash Pack, Other Way Round and Salt Escapes are UK based. Contiki, G Adventures and Intrepid are large international operators. If the answer matters to you, it is usually because you want to know who picks up the phone when something goes wrong, which is a fair thing to ask any of us directly.
How often is this table updated?
Last checked October 2026. Prices and age brackets in this category move, so if you are reading this much later, treat the shape of each company as reliable and the specific numbers as a starting point to verify. If you spot something stale, tell us and we will fix it.
What companies are like EF Ultimate Break?
Contiki is the closest match: also strictly 18 to 35, budget-priced and in big groups. Intrepid runs a separate 18 to 35s range and G Adventures an 18 to 39 range, both with smaller groups that average about 10. If you are past 35, or want an active, social week rather than a sightseeing tour, SurfYogaBeer has no upper age limit and a median guest of 35.
Is EF Ultimate Break or G Adventures cheaper?
They price differently, so compare like for like. EF Ultimate Break is a budget brand whose prices include flights by default, with payment plans. G Adventures prices are land only and vary widely by trip style, so add your airfare before comparing. EF Ultimate Break also only takes 18 to 35 year olds, while most G Adventures tours have no upper age limit.
Fifteen companies. One of them runs an actual activity every day.
if that is the week you wantSurf in Nicaragua, sail the Adriatic, ski Chamonix, hike the Dolomites, safari in Kenya. A group of 12 to 40 people, most of whom booked alone, median age 35.