Travel on your own

Is it better to travel with a travel agency?: advantages and disadvantages

Bruges Canals in Belgium
Bruges Canals in Belgium

When considering a tourism trip, you have several options to plan and carry it out, and one of them is to hire a tourist trip with a travel agency.

Who we like organize our own trip, which is now much easier thanks to the Internet, we must be clear about the differences compared to the trip already organized by a tourist agency.

The truth is that this type of trip also has its advantages, which in many cases are not negligible for various traveler profiles.

Depending on your profile and how you like to travel, use a travel agency may be the ideal solution.

Furthermore, due to the evolution that the world of tourism, with an ever-increasing supply of platforms and services in Internet that make it easier and easier organize a trip on your own, the type of service offered by the travel agency It adapts more and more to your needs.

In order to make a decision on your part, below we are going to highlight, from our point of view, the main advantages and disadvantages of signing up for a trip organized by a travel agency.

Advantages of a trip organized by a travel agency

The first advantage of traveling with an agency is that You don't have to “think” or spend much time preparing your trip..

Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg
Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

You won't have to plan the route, nor worry about the hotels where to sleep, for the restaurants (usually half board), for the local trips by plane, train or coach, or by visits and excursions to be carried out, and at all times accompanied by a tour guide.

If you decide to opt for this formula, al hire an organized trip with an agency you are going to meet almost everything solved, while if you travel on your own, you will need time to prepare all aspects of the trip.

Al travel by agency, you make sure that you are going to make essential visits and more common among tourists; Come on, you're not going to leave anything important out.

With a trip organized by agency They also usually include shows or more tourist activities, or at least they will offer them to you as an additional option at the destination.

En trips to exotic or conflictive countries, you will appreciate having the company of a Spanish speaking local guide that will help you with any of the incidents that may arise.

Ta Prohm Temple at Angkor in Cambodia
Ta Prohm Temple at Angkor in Cambodia

Especially in those countries with “strange” languages, where it is not common to find people who speak international languages, such as, of course, Spanish, English or French, when going on an organized trip you will greatly appreciate having assured help in Spanish for the main questions during the same.

And there are also certain destinations that, due to its characteristics, the ideal is make the trip with the help of an agency, and that regardless of whether you may be very used to it and prefer to travel on your own.

This would be the case, for example, of Greenland, where there is no minimum structure to do tourism on your own.

Traveling with an agency does not mean that you are going to go with a group of dozens of tourists who are going to harass you; On the contrary, trips organized with very small groups of people, who in the end will become friends.

Nor does it mean that you have to adapt to a fixed itinerary in which there are visits that do not interest you; there's a lot specialized agencies en tailor-made trips, so that they help you plan the different aspects of the route you want to take.

Pool activities at TRS Yucatan Hotel in Riviera Maya
Pool activities at TRS Yucatan Hotel in Riviera Maya

In certain destinations or types of trips, when contracting with an agency you can benefit from advantageous prices by being “packaged” or by taking advantage of specific offers from wholesalers in certain seasons.

Finally, the price you pay usually already includes the cost of a travel insurance which includes medical care and assistance in case of incidents.

Disadvantages of a trip organized by a tourist agency

With a trip organized by an agencyIn general, the route of the trip and the visits are already defined in advance, except in the case of possible optional visits that they will offer us.

This can lead to “skip” visits that may seem interesting to us.

On the other hand, on certain organized trips the hotels are already selected, and you do not always have enough information about them, but sometimes if you want to get the advantage of a good price for the agency tourist package, you have to accept the hotels included in the package. same.

Trekking through the Qalerallit Glacier in Greenland
Trekking through the Qalerallit Glacier in Greenland

The same happens with the restaurants in the quite common case of having half board included.

The Schedules and times for travel and visits are highly regulated throughout the trip, so you will have to adapt to its rhythm.

And this includes possible early risers, long trips sometimes at ungodly hours, very hurried visits and possible delays and incidents that occur when the group is large.

Trips with an agency tailored to you

After what has been said, obviously, the ideal solution is hire an agency to plan us a trip totally tailored to us.

It is the way to have the best of both options: we define the route, the visits, the type of establishments where we want to stay, and the agency solves all the procedures for us.

Of course, this solution may be, by far, the least economical; It will depend on your budget, but it is undoubtedly ideal.

Bon voyage!

About the Author

José Luis Sarralde

Journalist and traveler throughout his life, José Luis Sarralde is the founder of Guías Viajar, where since 2008 he has been capturing his travel experiences around the world, specializing in cultural and scenic destinations in Spain and Europe.

Comments

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  • Well, I traveled to Greenland on my own in 2016, to Ilulissat and Narsarsuaq. I booked boat excursions online to see whales, icebergs, etc., and we did the trekking on our own.
    Accommodations and flights also online.
    It is not difficult at all.

    I have traveled a lot and always on my own. Same for Faroe, Oman, Morocco, even in Bali we rented a car as we do in all countries and we moved around in total freedom.

  • To the extent that I can, I prefer to make the trip independently, since I prefer to move freely and not be tied to a schedule, and to know much more than what the agencies propose. Without exception, for them it is always obligatory to stop for about two hours for lunch (a big waste of time and they are generally hooked on the owner of the restaurant) and also at a store selling trinkets (although expensive). where they have the excuse of going to the bathroom or showing that the garbage that is manufactured there is very important. In general, what you see in the morning is interesting, but after noon it is almost all a waste of time.

  • Hello travelers. Thanks for the hint. My husband and I really like to travel, we are from the time when English was not studied at school and little by little we are adapting to new technologies. Empszamis traveling with agencies and wholesaler trips that made us waste a lot of time in stores and commercial visits. We found the solution in a small custom travel agency, I really like to prepare my trip and with them they schedule my flights and hotels within my established route, they also provide me with a telephone number in the country of travel in case I have any problems. On the other hand, if I travel through Europe, I don't want to just go on a weekend getaway, I travel completely on my own. But my comment may also be of help to you. Good health and many kilometers to all.

  • Hello, I am Latina. I took a 28-day trip to Europe through an agency, everything is actually designed, the hotels, the sites, etc. I didn't like that in our case the longest journeys (Madrid – Paris) were two and a half days away by bus. Amsterdam – Berlin, a day trip. Venice – Barcelona two days trip and Barcelona – Madrid one day trip. In total I was on the bus for seven days where I only appreciated the landscape. At night we came to the hotel to sleep. I do not detract from the hotels, they are good hotels, the breakfast is very good. But the bad thing about the trip is that seven days on a bus does not seem logical. I prefer to do it on my own or travel at night to enjoy the hours of sunshine.

    • There is always the option of flights. The agency should have offered you. Although the cost of air tickets is higher, you optimize time, that is, instead of spending so much time on the bus, you can take the opportunity to get to know the city more.

  • When I started traveling, I always did it through an agency and the advantage was that it made everything easier for me, I enjoyed it, but I got to know the places completely as a tourist, but as I gained experience and experience, I started doing it on my own and two of the great advantages It is about really getting to know the country you are visiting, as a local and not as a tourist. In short, it is more of an adventure and super exciting and there is a good degree of adrenaline and you feel free. It also makes you feel more confident in yourself. and independent, but if you like to be in a comfort zone, without worries or surprises, the best thing is an agency.

  • Hello, Miguel: Among the more than 1 photos that my father and I have taken, I think there will be some cool one. Thank you, I'll stop by there. In April, Jorge Juan Morante

  • What you say about the differences between traveling independently or through an agency seems very accurate to me. You put the advantages of each option and avoid the radicalisms of the 2 options.

    You have helped me a lot, since I almost always travel alone to Asia, and I have no choice but to do it through an agency, and I always debate with myself if it is the best option. But doing it alone, I don't think I have much choice.

    After having a downturn reading people who are free and who say they enjoy it more, reading your page has given me a lift. Thank you so much.

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