G Adventures?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone used them? We are considering a trip to the Canadian Rockies but they are not a company we are familiar with. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

It's a Canadian company. I don't use travel companies but know of people who have used G adventures -
mostly for travel outside of Canada - and were happy.
If I were that type of traveller I'd be comfortable booking with them based on what I have heard.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

They been around for awhile. I used them a decade ago when they were known as gap adventures in my thirties. I liked them, and had great times in africa and south america.

[Anonymous]

I've also used them a while ago as Gap Adventures. I'm sure the company has evolved since then but I had a great time.

[Anonymous]

Why would you need them to go to Canada? I mean, it's Canada, not Paupa New Guinea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you need them to go to Canada? I mean, it's Canada, not Paupa New Guinea.

Some people prefer to have some of the decisions making and transportation taken care of for them regardless of the destination . G Adventures seems like a mix of planned itinerary and options.

[Anonymous]

We did one of their family tours, co-branded with Nat Geo. It was fine -- not upscale but not budget. My biggest complaint was I found it very difficult to get their reps on the phone.

[Anonymous]

Bumping because we just got back from a G Adventures Family Tour with National Geographic on a 14 day tour through Vietnam and Cambodia. We all had a fabulous time!

We're usually pretty independent and adventurous travelers, but I was in a busy season at work and didn't have time to plan a trip so we picked a tour. Plus the grandparents wanted to come too and that decreases our flexibility--it's easy to misjudge walking distances, tour lengths or get a bit lost when you're DIYing and that just doesn't work with older grandparents in the heat.

As the family planner, I really enjoyed handing off the job and just being able to enjoy the vacation. Our guides were always available on WhatsApp so if we wanted to do an activity that wasn't part of the tour they'd give recommendations, set up local transportation and help with logistics. We could just send them a message and they'd respond with a restaurant or bar recommendation, or a tuktuk would magically show up, or the tour bus with AC to save the grandparents. We felt super well cared for. The itinerary was busy, but still left daily pool time for the kids. There were also free windows to do your own thing if you wanted (though some families weren't comfortable being independent and just hung at the hotel). The guides also checked us in to every flight, dealt with changing operating hours at sites, weather snafus, road closures, hotel room issues, ran to the pharmacy for meds when someone was sick, got a local hotel room for the sick person to sleep on a tour day, etc. They took care of everything.

Our kids were huge, huge fans of having other kids to play with on the trip. They had tons of fun on the bus and in the pool. It was a big plus.

We learned that the National Geographic tours with G Adventures have two local guides, upgraded accommodations, flights between cities, and more included activities. The normal G Adventures tours have one guide, slightly downgraded accomodations, more train/bus travel vs flights, and fewer included activities.

Tour sizes cap at 20 people and the family tours require everyone to have at least one kid in their group. We had a group of 19 with 7 kids between 8-15, with most being 5th-7th grade.

In the end, I think if I'd planned the same trip myself we would have been a bit more adventurous and physical--longer bike rides, kayaks, hikes, etc. We would have had to split up from the grandparents for these, but that happened anyways with the grandparents opting out of the most active activities anyways.

As a con to doing it independently, we would have wasted a lot more time on transfers and logistics. With the tour we often left suitcases on a bus instead of having to go back to the hotel to get them, plus the guides had pre-purchased tickets and knew just where to go. This really compensated for the lag that comes with moving with a group.

All in all, I'd recommend the tour to others who are interested in SE Asia. It felt like a lot of value.

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much for that report— glad you had a great trip!

[Anonymous]

Just back from the Peru family adventure trip with G Adventures. The local guide we had for the whole trip was great. Kids made friends and loved it.

Where they fell short was on some of the logistics. For example, on Friday, we had a 1:20pm flight from Cusco to Lima. It's a short flight, but because of the flight time, it meant we couldn't do any activities in either Cusco or Lima that day. Travel took from 10:45am to 4:45pm from one hotel to the next. (They pad the drive time far more than I would like, but I get it.) We were in Cusco the full day prior, so there was no good logistical reason we couldn't have taken an early flight, leaving us with at least the afternoon to enjoy in Lima. It felt like a wasted day - there were earlier flights. We also had days that were just too long for young kids - like up at 5am, leave the hotel at 5:50am and dinner at 8pm. Not sure why we couldn't have stopped for dinner so that we could go straight to the hotel after returning. I had to go find takeout dinner because my kiddo was done (and he is a strong traveler).

We went to a lodge in the Amazon. The lodge guides asked us what we'd like to see - and then did absolutely nothing to ensure that we'd get to see any of it. Why ask?

I was also surprised by how much pressure there was to join the group meals that weren't included in the trip. We needed a break, a bit of space; but felt a bit awkward going off on our own. We still did it.

And it was a 9-day trip with maybe four days of activities. This is my fault. I failed to more closely read the itinerary. But I mention it so that those of you who are considering the company (or really any tour) don't make the same mistake I did. With this context, $10k seems like quite a bit for this trip for four passengers, especially as the hotels were very basic.
Day 1 - Travel to Peru.
Day 2 - Travel to jungle + 1-hour night hike.
Day 3 - Activities.
Day 4 - Travel from jungle to Cusco.
Day 5 - Travel from Cusco to Machu Picchu town.
Day 6 - Machu Picchu + travel to Cusco.
Day 7 - Activities.
Day 8 - Travel to Lima.
Day 9 - Travel home.

All-in-all, I'm still satisfied. I would use them again if we decided to do another group tour.

[Anonymous]

I did two trips with them pre-kids and loved them. We did Costa Rica and Peru. Earlier this year I know an older couple who used them for Japan and loved it. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again, but we typically do the planning ourselves these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just back from the Peru family adventure trip with G Adventures. The local guide we had for the whole trip was great. Kids made friends and loved it.

Where they fell short was on some of the logistics. For example, on Friday, we had a 1:20pm flight from Cusco to Lima. It's a short flight, but because of the flight time, it meant we couldn't do any activities in either Cusco or Lima that day. Travel took from 10:45am to 4:45pm from one hotel to the next. (They pad the drive time far more than I would like, but I get it.) We were in Cusco the full day prior, so there was no good logistical reason we couldn't have taken an early flight, leaving us with at least the afternoon to enjoy in Lima. It felt like a wasted day - there were earlier flights. We also had days that were just too long for young kids - like up at 5am, leave the hotel at 5:50am and dinner at 8pm. Not sure why we couldn't have stopped for dinner so that we could go straight to the hotel after returning. I had to go find takeout dinner because my kiddo was done (and he is a strong traveler).

We went to a lodge in the Amazon. The lodge guides asked us what we'd like to see - and then did absolutely nothing to ensure that we'd get to see any of it. Why ask?

I was also surprised by how much pressure there was to join the group meals that weren't included in the trip. We needed a break, a bit of space; but felt a bit awkward going off on our own. We still did it.

And it was a 9-day trip with maybe four days of activities. This is my fault. I failed to more closely read the itinerary. But I mention it so that those of you who are considering the company (or really any tour) don't make the same mistake I did. With this context, $10k seems like quite a bit for this trip for four passengers, especially as the hotels were very basic.
Day 1 - Travel to Peru.
Day 2 - Travel to jungle + 1-hour night hike.
Day 3 - Activities.
Day 4 - Travel from jungle to Cusco.
Day 5 - Travel from Cusco to Machu Picchu town.
Day 6 - Machu Picchu + travel to Cusco.
Day 7 - Activities.
Day 8 - Travel to Lima.
Day 9 - Travel home.

All-in-all, I'm still satisfied. I would use them again if we decided to do another group tour.

I'm the pp from the Vietnam trip. I think it helps a lot to think of the tour as a framework that you can add on to with things you want to do. It's not a full plan. We got up early a few mornings to do extra activities and the guides helped us set these up. We also booked a couple of local tours that we wanted to do during the breaks in the G Adventures tour--we had things we can wanted to see and do that didn't work for even a 20 person group. Others in our group went out drinking every night with one of the guides and then slept in.

When meals seemed too late for kids, our group did speak up and the guides adjusted things. We did skip several group meals for a bit of space or because they were late for our family. The guides always had suggested restaurants and were fine with us doing our own thing. One time the guides even went and picked up Bahn Mi for the whole group and brought it to the hotel because they knew the kids were beyond tired. It was great.