31

I remember 6 years ago, discovering "The Great South American Journey" operated by Gap adventures (now G Adventures), a 5 month trip around the continent (although essentially a bunch of their smaller tours joined together).

Then this year, I found this: a 43 week tour of Africa, covering something like 28 countries in that time.

I was wondering - two parts, what's the longest official tour offered in the world in terms of time travelling, and which official tour covers the most number of countries?

Improve this question
10
  • 2
    Wow! I did the trans-Africa route back in the early 80's and it was only half that long!
    – Loren Pechtel
    Commented Jan 29, 2012 at 4:53
  • what route did that entail back then??
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 29, 2012 at 9:36
  • Basically, South Africa -> Kenya -> Nigeria -> Algeria -> Morocco -> Spain -> London. (Obviously that list isn't complete, I'm just giving the basic turning points.)
    – Loren Pechtel
    Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 0:25
  • I heard back in 2006 or so that companies were starting up some round-the-world cruises. I don't know if they actually did them, but that might be interesting to look into.
    – Beaker
    Commented Jan 31, 2012 at 3:07
  • 2
    @MarkMayo: it may also lead to an enlightenment to what one's real goal in life is (rather than just M-F, 9-5)
    – Jake Berger
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 16:00

12 Answers 12

Reset to default
24

A two-year tour of World Heritage sites (962 places) is now available, offered by a British luxury company. By the way, it costs about 1 million pounds. It claims to cover all the sites if they are safely accessible.

The Daily Mail lists some of the stops.

Improve this answer
2
  • I was about to add that one....
    – Washu
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 15:20
  • 5
    I don't think this tour is still being offered.
    – MastaBaba
    Commented Sep 21, 2015 at 3:56
16
+50

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 tours by ship is very perspective.

Improve this answer
1
  • while it's not as long in length of time, it does sure have quite the country count, so awarding the bounty for that.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 11:46
12

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

Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    I applaud those who can spend 7 months travelling.
    – Karlson
    Commented Feb 11, 2012 at 15:32
  • Website appears to be offline.
    – MastaBaba
    Commented Aug 6, 2012 at 20:23
  • 4
    Yeah they went bankrupt in April, apparently.
    – zeocrash
    Commented Aug 7, 2012 at 9:40
  • What's with the random downvote i got 8 years on. The answer was correct and accurate at the time of posting. The answer was updated to reflect the fact that OzBus have ceased trading. It seems a little harsh to down-vote me because my powers of clairvoyance weren't up to scratch.
    – zeocrash
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 16:03
11

Sydney - London by bus was the longest i could think of, but it's only 92 days and crosses 18 countries.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    oz-bus no longer operates.
    – MastaBaba
    Commented Sep 21, 2015 at 3:57
11

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 Canal-Manzanillo-Savannah-Philadelphia-Tilbury-Rotterdam, duration ca. 84 days

Especially since they offer intermediate stops, you can prolong this "tour" for quite some time

Improve this answer
11

MadVenture Travel is now offering:

LONDON TO SYDNEY OVERLAND (via Africa & central Asian silk road)

map of the crazy route that they're doing

which promises to be a 64 week, 61 country odyssey!!

From their site:

A 64 week in-depth overland expedition from London to Sydney travelling through Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and Australasia visiting highlights and natural wonders of 61 countries including UK, France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.

Improve this answer
2
10

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!

Improve this answer
3
  • Website no longer seems to work.
    – MastaBaba
    Commented Sep 21, 2015 at 3:58
  • Website redirects to madventure.co.uk now.
    – mundeep
    Commented Sep 21, 2015 at 11:20
  • Indeed. Not yesterday when I checked. They have some awesome concept tours listed.
    – MastaBaba
    Commented Sep 21, 2015 at 13:36
10

One day, while travelling online with google maps, I zoomed onto Ushuaia and got caught by a ship named Peace Boat.

This ship takes passengers for cruises around the world that last about 100 days.

EDIT, Nov,2016: Google Maps has updated its satellite imagery. Peace Boat is no longer visible.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    hah, I was speaking to someone recently whose sister just finished a stint on that. Well spotted sighting!
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 21:19
9

G Adventures still has an 82 day trip.

Improve this answer
9

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:

125 days starting from Houston

Improve this answer
4

Viking offers a 245-day round-the-world cruise, which starts (and ends) in London. It visits 53 countries on six continents.

Itinerary of Viking World Cruise

Improve this answer
1

This one kinda straddles the line between accommodation and travel, but I believe it still qualifies.

There are several cruise ships that offer the public a chance to lease a cabin for an extended period of time (in some cases up to 60 years) and live there full time if you so choose. These vessels are called residential yachts. You can live (and sometimes work) on board the ship as it travels round the world. The destinations are usually voted on by the residents.

These leases can be quite expensive and also come with a monthly fee to cover cost of living, maintenance and upkeep of the ship.

A notable example was the MS The World (wiki), launched in 2003. Currently all of its cabins are owned, but there are several other residential yachts that (as of 2020) have available cabins.

Two such ships (as of Mar 2020) are :

These aren't cheap, but i think you'll struggle to find a longer tour than a 60 year lease on one of these vessels.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .