Hot answers tagged tours
16
Don't book before you get there. The prices quoted by silent1mezzo are staggeringly expensive, compared to what you can get once you're actually in Peru. Most 5day tours should run for less than $200USD.
The first step is to get to Cusco. You can fly there (landing there is pretty spectacular) or you can get a cheap bus from pretty much anywhere else in the ...
15
I did a long distance drive about ten years ago via the I-40, and decided to check out the Canyon so long as I was passing by.
I switched to State Route 64, which took me directly to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), near the South Rim. There are 2 or 3 companies there selling helicopter flights over the canyon.
There are no special documents or ...
15
There are a number of different types of these "Free" walking tours, with the business models varying dramatically. In some countries you can expect to end up at the guides "cousins" carpet shop, where the guide will take a kick-back for any sales. Some tours are run by the local community and/or volunteers and truly are free (although with the potential ...
13
Yes, there are many different helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon. Most are out of Las Vegas. You can estimate the cost to be $300 USD or more per person.
Here's a sample of the view when flying to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas:
As a bonus, you also get to see the Hoover Dam and the Strip from a different angle.
13
Ozbus offer a 29 week tour of south america, starting and finishing in Quito.
http://www.oz-bus.com/oz-bus-south-america/oz-bus-south-america.aspx
Update:
Ozbus have sadly ceased trading as of april 2012
11
If you're willing to visit filming locations on your own, the LOTR Location Guidebook is nice.
Often, local tour operators will cover the filming locations nearby or even offer specific half-day or day tours to more remote/harder to reach places. If there's anything LOTR-related to see in the area, there will always be someone more than willing to show it ...
11
I have not been to Brazil myself yet, but this is on my list, so here is what my research thus far has found.
As hippietrail pointed out, the Carnaval in Rio (and in Sao Paulo) has grown to be a huge event that requires a purpose-built stadium in each city. These Carnavals are put on as big mega-parades by Samba Schools and are nowadays meant to be seen ...
11
This russian company offers a world-wide cruise for the 140 days, from New Zealand to Norway (being honest, there are no countries from both Americas :).
There are over 100 cities in 31 countries being visited during this cruise.
Places are from $77,270 to $261,070 per person, trip is being made on Seven Seas Voyager.
I think search for another world-wide ...
11
Yes - CERN has an outreach program which does tours along with other activities. From their Visit CERN page:
CERN welcomes the general public to visit and tour its exhibitions,
experimental areas and other facilities. The admission is free. The
permanent exhibition “Universe of particles” and the Microcosm
exhibition can be visited from Monday to ...
10
An e-mail to Kahlúa asking about tours was answered with:
Thanks for your email and your interest in Kahlúa.
Unfortunately we don't currently offer a tour of the Kahlúa facilities.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Best regards
Martin
10
My experience with Vietnam was that it really didn't matter - there are literally hundreds of travel agencies and many of them share the same tour operators. You get picked up at the travel agency you booked at and the bus continues on to 5-10 other places to pick up everyone else. The only thing you really need consider is the price (which shouldn't vary by ...
10
Would going on a cargo ship count as a tour? In that case there is a tour operator offering various tours, of which their offers on oceania, are quite long. One example being
Rotterdam-Dunkerque-Le Havre-New
York-Savannah-Kingston-Manzanillo-Panama
Canal-Papeete-Laukota-Noumea-Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-Tauranga-Napier-Panama
...
10
City bus tours are commonly known/called Hop On Hop Off in London and the UK. There is no need to book the tickets in advance, you can find the tour company representatives near most of the tourist attractions. But on of the advantages of booking the tickets in advance is, you might get them cheaper. Couple of tour operators that I recommend - The Original ...
10
The answer depends on (at least) two things. Whether you want to do the 'proper' Inca trail or one of the alternatives and what time of the year you are going.
If you want to do the proper trail in high season you should book in advanced. Sometimes it is fully booked for 3 months.
I was there in October (not high season) and I stayed in Cusco for two weeks ...
10
The main campus of Penn State University has an educational nuclear reactor facility, the Breazeale reactor, that offers tours to the public. As part of the tour, they take you through the reactor room where you can see the Cerenkov radiation from the uranium. The reactor itself is submerged under something like 15 feet of water, which is ample protection ...
9
I've only been to a couple of different places, but Hobbiton was pretty cool and I'd definitely recommend it.
You can also take a tour of the Weta studios in Wellington. It's really neat, and best of all it's free.
Good luck!
9
I went to Cotopaxi, several hours south of Quito:
Image source: Peter Hahndorf
It is not active and you can go all the to the top. I know people who did this themselves but it is recommended to do it with a tour.
Most people however just drive up to a parking lot and then walk about an hour to a mountain refuge. From there it is another 30 minutes to ...
9
UKTOOZ appears to offer a 28 Week London to Sydney trip
http://uktooz.com/
A 28 week in-depth overland expedition from London to Sydney visiting the highlights and natural wonders of over 23 countries including Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia!
9
From the FAQ of that tour operator:
What trips may have a kitty and what is it?
On some of our Overland and Basix trips we operate a 'kitty' system
for our travellers. The kitty is a cash contribution to a central fund
and overseen by the travellers and the crew. It helps fund
accommodation, camp meals or activities for the entire group.
...
9
Smugglers used to have trails across the Swiss/French border in the alps. I just checked, and indeed there is someone offering a tour:
Tour des Ruans -
On the smugglers' path between France and Switzerland
On the web, the tour organizer writes: We will explain how smugglers and customs officials played a cat and mouse game during many years, and how ...
8
I found tour radar was quite useful for finding different tours from non main stream companies as well as all the regulars. You can choose tours that go through a specific country or ones based in just the country you select. There are also plenty of options to weed out those that aren't suitable, such as age, duration, price, trip type, group size, dates ...
8
If you're into hiking (or tramping as we call it down here) I can heartily recommend getting off the road and into our backcountry. You'll be rewarded with majestic scenery while taking in Lord of the Rings locations at the same time. The country has a series of premier "great walks" which are detailed on the Department of Conservation website.
For example, ...
8
We do it from Peru side. You have to go to Puno port and buy one of the excursions they sell that could be just for a lake trip or you can stay one night with a family in Taquile or Amantani islands. That option is very recommendable.
You also have the option to talk with a fisherman and negotiate a better price, but my advice is to buy a tourist ...
8
Since we don't really care about the mode of transportation:
143 nights: http://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY121024H/Itinerary.aspx
115 nights: Silver Sea World Cruise
115 nights: Holland America World
At one point there was a 335 night cruise but as far as I can tell that company is now out of business 2010.
Had to add this
Around the world by Freighters:
...
8
Got the below information from an article on a travel site called "The Circumference". I've put the gist from that site here for easy reading.
Best time to visit the Eye is around December.
May be reached through several access countries like Mali, Niger and Mauritania.
Tours can be booked in Atar, Mauritania which include four wheel drive to Richat and ...
8
The Esplanade itself conducts guided tours. If you have at least 20 people, then you can get a group tour (they say you've to book it two weeks in advance, but there should be some leeway in that):
The tour is for a minimum pax of 20. Each Tour is about 45 minutes.
Tour would begin from the Concert Hall Information Counter and end at
the Esplanade ...
8
Here are 2 sample companies organizing these trips as a group tour:
Koridoor
Panmunjom
There are several different places to see, such as the DMZ with its fences, some tunnels and the border crossings of course. Because of the many different combination of locations that you can see in a half-day or full-day course, the prices also vary a lot, between ...
8
Many "Aboriginal tours" and "Aboriginal experiences" exist but, while you will have Aborginal guides, in many cases these operations are not majority or even largely operated or owned by 'Aboriginal persons' - some care will be needed in discerning which are 'authentic' in this respect.
Mild warning: You are probably aware that the subject of the rights ...
7
Gap Adventures has tonnes of Machu Picchu trips (80 in the search) that go around and trek through Machu Picchu. They're not overly expensive (21 days is only $2800). Gap always have very experience guides.
Contiki Tours also have a few trips through Machu Picchu. I haven't been on one of their trips so I can't vouch for them. Contiki looks a little more ...
7
The Umoona Opal Mine in Coober Pedy tour seems to be one of the more popular ones. You can also stay in underground bunkhouse-style rooms there, for average hostel prices.
There's another good tour at the Old Timer's Mine in Coober Pedy. It's won some state tourism awards, if that's anything to go by.
There's also the Chamber of the Black Hand tour in ...
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