GeoCultura FAQs

• We recommend you check your government website for the latest advice and make sure you meet any vaccination and passport requirements before joining your tour.
• From 2 April 2025, all visitors who do not need a visa, except British and Irish citizens, will need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) – a digital permission to travel to the UK. Please check the UK Gov website for more information.

• We try not to use the term luxury tours as it means different things to everyone. The late AA Gill (restaurant critic) once said “Luxury is better than I have at home”.
• For us at GeoCultura, it’s about not misleading or overpromising. We look beyond the photos on websites because these can so easily be out of date.
• When choosing hotels for our tours, we start by creating a shortlist of ones that look suitable, using independent guides, such as the Good Hotel Guide and by reading the hotels’ online reviews (especially the low-scoring reviews) before a hotel makes our shortlist. If there’s any hint of shabbiness, “in need of refurbishment” or poor standards of cleanliness, we look elsewhere. Our guests send us plenty of valuable feedback after each tour, and that is hugely important.
• We are proud to work with some very special hotel partners, where the whole team deliver a superb experience. We look for privately-owned hotels where the staff are well-looked after and it shows. Look at our Scotland and Ireland tours to read about our favourites.

• No, we ask all guests to arrange their own travel to and from the tour destination, but we are happy to advise on travel options and routes.
• Depending on where you are travelling from, some of our tours are ideal for flight-free travel, e.g. the UK to the Spanish Pyrenees.

• All the Scottish tours – even the Shetland tours as there’s an overnight ferry service from Aberdeen.
• There’s a good train service to Edinburgh from London – only 4 and a half hours
• Our premium Ireland tour is perfect if you want to avoid flying as there are two ferry ports in Wales with routes to Ireland and one from Scotland.
• Our 6 night Aragon and the Spanish Pyrenees tour can easily be joined at Barcelona using trains from London (Eurostar).

Anyone curious about the world’s landscapes and stories who likes to travel with a small group — from lifelong learners to casual explorers. No scientific background is required, just an interest in how the Earth and human culture connect.

Yes. We generally have a good mix of solo travellers, friends and couples. With small groups and shared discoveries we create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere from day one. 

Our solo guests always have their own double-bedded room. The single supplement charge varies, depending on whether the hotel offers reductions for solo travellers. See the ‘Need to know section’ for each tour.

Groups are small — typically 6 to 12 guests. This means we can visit places which only allow entry to small groups, and use private skippered boats for some our island-hopping.

In hotels our GeoCultura guests can enjoy the same menu choices, service and welcome as individual guests.

Most tours involve light to moderate walking on uneven terrain, such as coastal paths or countryside trails. Each itinerary clearly describes the expected activity level, but please call us (or email) to talk through what will suit you and we can advise. Some of our tours have the ‘Leisurely’ badge. These may suit you best. Just give us a call and we can help you decide if our tours will suit you. 

Our tour guides and our bus driver are there to look after you.  They can make arrangements if you need to sit out for any of the activities. 

When you book a GeoCultura tour we ask you to specify your dietary requirements. We make every effort to ensure we can accommodate these, sending the dietary information to the hotel with the rooming lists. We also check with the individual pubs and restaurants in advance of the tour departure.

The tour leader will be made aware of any allergies and ensure hotel and restaurant staff are reminded at each location.

Of course. Many of our guests choose to arrive a day or two earlier. We can always book extra nights at the first hotel, or at the end of the tour. We will add this additional cost to your final invoice.

We can also provide ideas if you want to extend your holiday. Just call or email. We’ll be happy to help.

A non-refundable deposit of 20% is payable on booking with balance due 60 days before the tour begins. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions page for additional details.

This is a very frequent question! We know this is often an issue for guests, so we aim to get the balance right.

For example, we don’t attempt to do ‘Edinburgh to Skye’ in a day, or even two days. There is so much to see on the way that we take our time, with an overnight stop at a particularly good hotel, or even two nights before arriving on Skye. You need at least two nights on Skye to see the best bits, so that’s what we offer.

We know our guests don’t want an overly early start either. Breakfast is the real treat on holiday. You want to be able to enjoy it and chat about the day ahead. Time is allowed for packing when there is a change of hotel too. All this means less time in the bus each day, apart from the tours where the distances between the main sights are long, e.g. in Utah or the Rockies.

For our Isles of Scilly tours, there is no time on the bus – just passenger boat trips. We use small private motor cruisers and Jet Boats, which are coded for not more than 12 passengers. Using  private boats means we can be more flexible. The Jet Boats offer a very exhilarating trip and take you speedily from island to island!

We make sure there are enough stops for coffee and comfort breaks, and with groups as small as ours, (maximum 12 in a group) the tour guide or leader will always be happy to adapt an itinerary to suit the group.