What is usually included

Accommodation, transport between destinations, a tour director or guide for the duration, and most sightseeing described in the itinerary.

Some meals. This is the first big variable. Breakfast daily is close to universal. Dinners range from all of them to two in a fortnight, and each dinner you buy for a family of five is a real number.

Entrance fees to the sites named in the itinerary. Read whether the itinerary says visit, which means you go in, or see and view, which frequently means you look at it from the coach.

What is usually not, and where the money goes

Flights. Most tour prices are land only. Adding international flights for a family can double the number, and the tour operator’s flight package is not always the cheapest way to buy them.

Optional excursions. These are sold on tour, often daily, and they are how a lot of operators make their margin. A tour with a low headline price and a long list of options can easily end up costing more than the inclusive competitor.

Tips. On some tours these are genuinely substantial, covering the director, the driver and local guides, and on American-market tours they are frequently expected rather than discretionary. Ask for the recommended amount in writing before you book.

Drinks with meals, almost always.

Single supplements, which matter to families more than people expect. If you have an odd number of travellers, or a teenager who needs their own room, the supplement can be brutal. Ask early.

The optional excursion question

My honest view is that heavily optional-based tours are worse value for families, because you either pay for everything and lose the price advantage, or you skip things and watch other people go and do them.

With children, watching everybody else get on the coach for the thing you did not buy is a genuinely miserable dynamic. It is worth paying more upfront to avoid it.

Before booking, ask for the full list of optional excursions with prices. A good agent will get it. If the answer is that they vary, treat that as an answer in itself.

Comparing two quotes properly

Build both to the same specification. Same flights, every meal counted, every optional you would actually take, tips at the recommended rate, and the room configuration your family actually needs.

Then compare. The result frequently reverses the order of the headline prices and it takes about half an hour to work out.

This is the single most useful thing an advisor does on guided touring and it is why I ask for the itinerary rather than the price when somebody brings me a comparison.

Group size and what it buys

Large coach tours, forty people upwards, are the cheapest and the most restrictive. Fixed timings, a lot of waiting for stragglers, and big-group logistics at every stop.

Small group, generally under about twenty, costs more and buys flexibility, smaller vehicles, access to places a coach cannot go, and less time standing around.

With children the waiting is what matters. Children handle activity and they do not handle standing in a car park while a guide counts heads for the fourth time.

Family departures

Several major operators run dedicated family departures, and they are a different product rather than a discounted one. Pacing is adjusted, activities replace some museum time, and crucially other families are on board.

They cost the same or slightly more and they are worth it. A family on a standard adult departure is a family whose children are the only children.

They are limited and they sell out for summer a long way ahead. Book early or accept what is left.

Questions to ask before booking

How many people are on this departure, and what is the maximum. What is the average age on this specific departure. How many meals are included and which ones. What are the optional excursions and what do they cost. What is the recommended tipping. Is there a single supplement and does it apply to a child in their own room. What happens if we skip a day.

Any operator that will not answer those clearly is telling you something useful.

Questions people actually ask