SurfYogaBeer vs Other Way Round
closest neighbour on the mapOf everyone in this comparison, Other Way Round is aiming at the most similar person to us: solo, in their thirties, wants a real group. So the differences are the interesting part.
Pick Other Way Round if you want a longer, slower, hotel-forward trip in a very small group and you are based in the UK or Europe. Pick SurfYogaBeer if you want a shorter, more physical week you can take without burning your whole holiday allowance, and you are flying from the US.
The quick comparison
The closest company to us on this whole site. Here is where we diverge.
| What you are comparing | Other Way Round | SurfYogaBeer |
|---|---|---|
| Age | Marketed to thirties and forties, not enforced | Average 34, most 28 to 42, minimum 21 |
| Group size | Around 10 to 15 | 12 to 30 |
| Trip length | Mostly 11 to 15 days | Mostly 5 to 8 nights |
| What you do all day | Sociable immersive touring with private experiences | Surf, hike, sail, ski, ride and train, then go out |
| Solo share | They publish more than 90 percent solo | The large majority book solo |
| Rooms | Same sex twin share, private room supplement priced per trip | Shared spots as standard, private upgrade on most trips |
| Where they are based | London, UK | New York City, USA, since 2014 |
| Best for | A long, comfortable, very solo trip from Europe | A hard-working week that fits US annual leave |
Where Other Way Round wins
A small operator doing something specific very well.
An extremely high solo share. They publish that more than 90 percent of their travelers come alone, which is about as solo-first as this industry gets.
Very small groups. Around ten to fifteen people, so it is intimate by design.
Comfortable hotels and included internal flights and transfers, which removes a real headache on multi stop itineraries.
A clear thirties and forties framing, which is rarer than it should be.
Where SurfYogaBeer wins
Where the overlap ends.
Trip length that fits a job. Most of our trips are five to eight nights. Theirs mostly run eleven to fifteen, which is a big ask against US vacation days.
The days are physical. Surfing, hiking, sailing, skiing and training, not primarily touring between hotels.
A bigger room. Ten people is lovely if you click with them. Thirty means you certainly will.
Scale and track record. 500 plus trips run since 2014 for more than 5,000 travelers, and 55 percent of people come back.
"Five nights and I still talk to eight of those people every week. Efficient, honestly."
SurfYogaBeer alum, CroatiaWhy we are shorter and why that is deliberate
Other Way Round mostly runs eleven to fifteen days. We mostly run five to eight nights. That is not us being less ambitious, it is us designing around a different customer.
The average American gets around two weeks of paid leave a year. A fifteen day trip is most of it, plus flights, plus the recovery day. A five night trip over Thanksgiving costs two or three days of leave and leaves you enough to do it again in February. A significant chunk of our travelers do exactly that, which is where the 55 percent return rate comes from.
The cost of the short format is honest: you see less of a country. Five nights in Nicaragua is Playa Maderas and the surrounding coast, not a tour of the country. We would rather you know one place and thirty people well than see six cities with ten.
The deciding question
Book Other Way Round if
You have two weeks free, you are flying from Europe, and a group of a dozen with good hotels sounds exactly right.
Book SurfYogaBeer if
You have one week, you are flying from the US, and you want to come back tired in the good way.
Other Way Round vs SYB FAQ
Are both companies only for solo travelers?
Neither is exclusively solo, but both are designed around it. Other Way Round publishes a solo share above 90 percent, which is about as high as this industry gets. On our trips the large majority book alone and the itinerary assumes it, from the shared meals to a first night built around introductions.
Which is better value?
They are hard to compare per day because the trips are different lengths. Their eleven day trips sit in the low four figures in dollars before flights. Ours start at $1,950 for five nights with activities, meals and transfers in. If you count vacation days as part of the cost, the shorter trip usually wins for an American traveler.
Is a group of thirty too big?
It is the question we get asked most and the honest answer is that it depends on the leadership. Badly run, thirty is a coach tour. Run properly, with the group split into small crews for every activity, thirty means you get to choose your people rather than tolerate them. We would not run it this way if the return rate had gone down.
Do you go to the same places?
Barely any overlap. They run longer itineraries in places like Colombia and Thailand. We run Nicaragua, Croatia, Bali, Belize, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Turkey and the Alps. If you want somewhere neither of us goes, that is a good reason to look at a third company.
Five nights. Same result.
short trip, long group chatMost of our trips run five to eight nights, timed so you barely spend vacation days. From $1,950.