You’ll have no worries when you travel with David McGuffin and Exploring Europe. We take care of you and try to make your journey pleasant and stress-free from the moment you sign up for one of our tours. Visiting Europe and its wonderful destinations is not difficult. The hard part is the six months beforehand trying to plan the adventure on your own: the hotel reviews that contradict each other, the train connection that looks fine until you realize it’s a 40-minute walk between stations, the restaurant that turned out to be a tourist trap with laminated menus in four languages. That’s the part I’ve already done for you.
This year marks my 49th year of traveling to Europe and my 26th year of organizing tours there. I plan and design every itinerary myself, and I keep revising them, because knowing a place well is the only way to show it well. Below are some key questions travelers actually ask me before they sign up for a tour.
Why Our Groups Are Small
My groups range in size from 6 to 18 people. A small group is more flexible than a typical big-bus group, allowing us to see, do, and experience more. We provide a unique travel experience by treating you as individuals seeking to learn about your destination. A group this size can eat in a family-run trattoria that would never seat fifty. It can change plans on a rainy afternoon. And your guide will know your name by the time we head out on our first adventure. Small group travel is the only way to go.
What Makes Our Guides Different?
I still lead many of my tours, but when I can’t, I choose trusted guides who share my love for European travel. What I look for is a passion for teaching, not a script. Our guides like people, they like talking about the places we’re standing in, and they’d rather answer your question than finish their prepared remarks. Our goal is simple: that you get wrapped up in the joy of travel and come home having actually learned something.
How We Find the Restaurants We Take You To
I’ve spent years poking around Europe’s nooks and crannies in search of excellent food, good wine, better beer, and sparkling water. I guarantee you’ll experience some outstanding restaurants serving amazingly fresh, local dishes in an unpretentious manner. Breakfast is included every morning, and we include about half of your lunches or dinners, enough that you eat well without our schedule swallowing every evening. The other meals are yours, and by day three you’ll have your own opinions about where to go.
Why We Don’t Try to See 12 Cities in 8 Days
Because you would see none of them. A twelve-city itinerary is really an eight-day bus ride with photo stops, and the pace has a cost: you check out of a hotel before you’ve learned the way to the corner bakery, and the afternoon you’d have spent wandering gets spent on a highway instead. I’d rather give you fewer places and the time to actually know them, so there’s time to sit in the square, notice how the light changes, and go back to the café where the owner recognizes you. I labor over every detail of the itinerary so we’re not waiting needlessly in a line, hunting for a site, or circling the block looking for a hotel. What we buy with that restraint is the part people actually remember.
What’s Actually Included in Your Tour?
Nearly everything: accommodations, admissions into attractions, transportation once we’re there (airfare is the one exception), all breakfasts and about half of your lunches and dinners, and all tips and gratuities. The price you pay is all-inclusive, which means you will not be nickel-and-dimed with pricey optional excursions, driver and guide tips, or the surprise line items that show up on so many group tours.
There’s also a best price guarantee. Once you pay your deposit, the advertised price is locked in. If my costs rise or the exchange rate jumps, that’s my problem, not yours. We will never come back and ask you for more money.
Who Are My Tours NOT For?
My tours are for active folks. We will put in several miles of walking and standing each day to experience the sights and immerse ourselves in the destination’s culture. But don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to slow down and experience the locale on your own and at your own pace, too! Each day you’ll have a window to explore on your own: visit another museum, linger over a quiet dinner, or just find a bench and enjoy the ambiance.
So, if you’re looking for a resort week by the pool, or you need to stay seated on a coach most of the day, this isn’t the right tour and I’d rather you know that now. If you’re willing to walk a few miles for an experience or a view worth having, you’ll fit right in.
Where Will We Sleep?
I choose hotels that are clean, safe, centrally located, and have private baths, often family-run places that carry the local flavor of the area. Many of them have hosted our groups year after year and know us by now. I’ve personally selected every one for quality, cleanliness, comfort, and location. Occasionally that means stairs instead of an elevator, bringing your own hair dryer, or a room without air conditioning. The trade is a safe, central hotel with real service, a good night’s sleep, and a genuinely European stay rather than an interchangeable box out by the ring road.
What If I Have to Cancel?
Your deposit is fully refundable for a specified period spelled out in your tour contract, and you’ll get the full details when you sign up. A full refund is available within 30 days of the date we receive your application and payment or deposit. If you must cancel within 90 days of departure, your deposits and payments can be applied to a future tour. And if Exploring Europe cancels a tour, you choose: a full refund or credit toward a future trip.
So, Will You Come With Me?
We believe you can see and do more on a well-planned group tour than you could pulling it all together yourself. Add up the hours you’d spend comparing hotels, decoding train schedules, and second-guessing restaurant reviews. Then consider that we do this for a living and have had decades of practice refining it. My mission has always been to get Americans out into the wider world through travel that’s engaging rather than exhausting.
So pick a country you’ve been thinking about. Come find out what a small group, a good guide, and an unhurried itinerary feel like. I’d be glad to have you along for the adventure.