The Best Small Group Tours for Travelers over 60

Close your eyes and picture your dream trip. Where have you always wanted to travel? Italy’s sparkling Amalfi Coast? Morocco’s inspiring kasbahs and lively souks? Timeless and traditional Japan? The rugged Canadian Rockies? 

Wherever your wanderlust guides you, traveling in a small, congenial group will enhance your experience. With over 25 years in the travel industry, and more than 45 distinct itineraries to choose from, we here at Odysseys Unlimited invite you to discover the world with the leader in small group travel for those over 60.

Why Travel in a Small Group?

Small group travel opens the door to more destinations, experiences, and cultural encounters than would be possible traveling on your own. You’ll see the highlights of your chosen destination, while also unlocking access to home-hosted meals, private concerts, behind-the-scenes tours, and much more.

For sophisticated travelers 60 and above who are accustomed to planning their own adventures, small group touring with Odysseys offers an ideal mix of service, independence, and value. While you may find lower priced tours with unwieldy groups of 40 or more, or small-group “deluxe” tours (with prices to match), you won’t find our combination of quality, value, superior accommodations and amenities, ample leisure time, and guaranteed small groups.

And best of all, our comprehensive itineraries and included entrance fees allow you to skip the work of making the arrangements and handling all the details, and just savor the experience.

Benefits of Small Group Travel with Odysseys Unlimited

1. Guaranteed small groups – just 12 to 24 guests. Since opening our doors 27 years ago, small group travel has been our sole focus. We’ve found that this specific group size offers the perfect balance of independence, flexibility, and camaraderie, enabling us to see all the major sites while also enjoying unique experiences along the way.
2. Expert Tour Directors. Each of our small group tours is led by an experienced, professional Tour Director. And in such a close-knit group, these men and women function as much more than guides – they are do-it-all problem solvers, local experts, and genial traveling companions dedicated to making your trip genuinely special.
3. Unique small group highlights. We design tours specifically for small groups, allowing you to experience the culture of your destination in ways you never imagined. 
   1. Encounters with local people – home-hosted meals and visits to indigenous communities and schools, among other experiences
   2. Unique cultural immersions – cooking classes, artist demonstrations, sheep-shearing experiences, music events, and much more
   3. New perspectives on cherished sites – camel rides, hot-air balloon flights, sunrise excursions, and private cruises, to name just a few
4. Distinctive hotels and unique lodgings. We select beautiful, well-located hotels in larger cities, so travelers are able to discover their destinations at their own pace. Best of all, many of our tours include stays at unique lodgings – a converted French farmhouse, a historic Portuguese pousada, a riverside African safari lodge – unavailable to groups of 40 or more.
5. Award-winning service. From the moment you call in to talk to one of our professional Travel Counselors, to the time spent on tour with our expert Tour Directors, you’ll enjoy a brand of personalized service that has seen Odysseys garner seven Travel+Leisure® World’s Best Awards. At Odysseys Unlimited, our goal is to deliver travel memories that last a lifetime.

Top Small Group Tour Destinations for Travelers over 60
Italy

Guests exploring Sicily’s charming town of Monreale with a local tour director during our Sicily in Depth tour

This Mediterranean charmer looms large in the travel dreams of many Americans, and with good reason. From the sun-splashed shores of Sicily to the skyscraping peaks of the Dolomites in Italy’s northern Alps, every inch of Europe’s boot is suffused with memorable natural beauty, culture, cuisine, and history. On one of our five small group tours to Italy, you can experience la dolce vita for yourself in a variety of ways: 

• Dig into the local cuisine. Prepare traditional delicacies alongside an Italian chef, sip wine at a vineyard on the slopes of Mt. Etna, enjoy lunch at a working Sicilian farmhouse, and more.

• Walk through living history. Come face-to-face with Italy’s legendary past, from an exploration of Pompeii’s preserved streets and homes to viewing Michelangelo’s larger-than-life sculptures and far beyond.

• Appreciate the natural splendor. Boat tours on lakes and along the iconic Italian coastline, cave explorations, a visit to Sicily’s salt flats and another to the jagged Dolomites highlight Italy’s varied topography.
  

• Engage with locals. Learn for yourself why Italians are among the world’s most hospitable people, with multiple cultural immersions on each Italy trip.

To explore everything that Italy has to offer, peruse our five small group tours to Italy here.

Japan and Southeast Asia

Experiencing a traditional Japanese tea ceremony on Insider's Japan

These truly foreign – and truly fascinating – lands have grown to become some of the most popular destinations for travelers over 60 in recent years. Delicate art, bustling commerce, rich traditions, and dizzying modernity all collide in a a jumble of sights, sounds, and tastes, where you can do all of the following:

• Take part in cultural exchanges. Learn the ancient art of calligraphy, enjoy a traditional tea ceremony, give alms to local Laotian monks, and more.

• Experience the rich tradition. Stay the night at a traditional ryokan in one of Japan’s many hot spring resorts, explore a communal Laotian rice farm, wander the pedestrian-only Old Town in Hoi An, Vietnam, and more.

• Spend solo time exploring. With suggestions from your expert Tour Director, enjoy free time in Tokyo, Kyoto, Saigon, Bangkok, and more. 

• Soak up the history. Museum visits and guided tours of some of Asia’s most significant sites, including Japan’s Imperial Palace and the Golden Temple, Vietnam’s One Pillar Pagoda, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, and more.

Explore all of our small group tours to Japan and Southeast Asia here.

Africa – Safaris and Beyond

Guests enjoying a day on safari in Tanzania

A small group is the ideal way to enjoy a classic African safari, and the perfect method for exploring the treasured sites and spirited cities of Egypt and Jordan. On an expertly planned adventure, you’ll be able to:

• Get closer to iconic wildlife. Small-group game drives with experienced guides provide opportunities to spot everything from giraffe to hippopotamus, wildebeest to zebra, the tiny dik-dik to the majestic lion, and much more.

• Go (and stay) off the beaten path. Discover smaller, less-visited national parks and preserves, and stay in magnificent, small-group focused safari lodges. 

• Visit humanity’s greatest architectural triumphs. The Pyramids of Giza. Abu Simbel. Petra. Luxor. Explore all this, and much more, without lifting a finger to plan the visits yourself.

• Ride in style. Float above Luxor in a hot-air balloon. Embark a traditional felucca for a day sail along the Nile. Spend multiple nights cruising the Nile and Lake Nasser.

Whether your travel dreams take you to ancient Egypt and Jordan or the game-filled plains of sub-Saharan Africa, explore these tours here.

South America - Patagonia to Peru

The alleys of Peru's legendary Machu Picchu

From the bottom of the world at Tierra del Fuego, to its very center at Ecuador’s Mitad del Mundo, South America provides travel rewards wherever you step. On an Odysseys small group South American sojourn, you’ll:

• Follow in famed footsteps. Stay four nights in the Galapagos, Darwin’s “living laboratory.” Cruise through the Strait of Magellan in Patagonia. Discover the once-hidden mountain citadel of Machu Picchu – and much more.

• Marvel at nature’s beauty. Spend full days exploring majestic Torres del Paine National Park, multiple Galapagos islands, and the Amazon rainforest, among other natural treasures. 

• Engage with local traditions. Visit the floating islands of Lake Titicaca’s Uros people. Enjoy an asado lunch at a Patagonian ranch. Stroll through vibrant markets and colorful town centers, both on your own and with the group.

• Travel hassle-free. Rest assured that your park entrance fees, guide gratuities, and cruise fees are included – as they are on all Odysseys tours.

From Patagonia to Peru to the Galapagos, explore all that South America has to offer here.

North America's National Parks

Walking on Athabasca Glacier during our Canadian Rockies Explorer tour

There’s so much to see in our own backyard – and an Odysseys tour opens the door to more local adventures than you ever believed possible. Traveling in a small group through North America allows you to:

• Board unique local transport. Leave the motorcoach behind for a ride on an Ice Explorer to Canada’s Athabasca Glacier, a trip along Montana’s Going-to-the-Sun road aboard the famed Red Jammer buses, and a Pink Jeep tour of red-rock Sedona.

• Immerse yourself in the landscape. Fill your water bottle with ice-cold glacier water in Alaska. Step through natural stone archways at Bryce Canyon National Park. Float past sandstone cliffs along the mighty Colorado. 
• See the continent’s greatest natural wonders. From the peak of Denali to the depths of the Grand Canyon, gain a firsthand view of North America’s most breathtaking sights.
• Connect with the land’s heritage. Visits to the Alaska Native Heritage Center, ancient petroglyph sites, and more enhance the import of these uniquely American journeys.

North America’s greatest destinations are calling – find your adventure here.

Odysseys Unlimited Tours for Travelers over 60

On an Odysseys Unlimited small group tour, you’ll experience all the highlights of your chosen destination. But it’s the personal, cultural, and spontaneous encounters that set our tours apart. You’ll dine with gracious locals, take part in unique cultural celebrations, stay in distinctive accommodations, and enjoy the services of a world-class tour director at every turn. 

Best of all, the small size of each group, just 12-24 guests guaranteed– may very well turn your tour group into a collection of new friends. 

When you’re ready to experience the small group difference, explore every one of our 48 small group tours on our website here. And when you’ve found the trip for you, call one of our Travel Counselors at (888)-370-6765, and we’d be happy to make your travel dreams a reality.