Caravan Tours is a US-based tour company offering lengthy tours (8-10 days) of some of the most beautiful regions in the Americas. Want to get to know the Canadian Rockies? Are Guatemala’s Tikal ruins on your bucket list? Never seen a Grand Canyon sunset? Caravan tours can get you there, and will be your guide for the surrounding area. Sounds like an awesome idea.
Caravan Tours has an interesting history. They first began offering guided vacation packages to curious travelers in 1952. Not long after beginning their operation, they were awarded the ceremonial Key to Dublin for being the first American tour company to bring a group to Dublin since the beginning of the Second World War. The caravan has only increased its standing since then.
In the 1960s, the company made headlines again when PBS aired a two-hour travel special, featuring journalist Roger Mudd as he travelled across Europe on a Caravan Tour. This in turn led to the full-length feature film If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium directed by Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and starring Suzanne Pleshette and Ian McShane. This charming classic film follows a motley crew of tourists on an 18-day tour of Europe. While Caravan Tours are always exciting, they are generally free of the mishaps that befall this fictional group.
Caravan Tours continues under the same ownership and management as when they began operating, but since then they have stopped offering tours of Europe, instead focusing on the rich history available in North America. In fact, Caravan is the largest company offering tours in Nova Scotia and in Panama.
The tour company’s popularity has only grown in the past sixty years, and this has been vital to their business model throughout its history. One of the great advantages that Caravan Tours has is its low prices compared to self-organized vacations: they are able to do this by delivering a high volume of curious travelers to hotels and tourist destinations, which lets you take advantage of their bulk discounts.
Caravan has, furthermore, always offered a striking balance between the comfort of traveling with an experienced guide and the independence of traveling alone. Each of their tours comes structured with a reasonable amount of free time, allowing you to strike out on your own and see what you want to see, all the while feeling confident that you’re not missing any of the most interesting and historical parts of the local landscape. Caravan ensures that your free time is your time: They do not offer sneaky ‘upgrades’ for this time that can add hundreds of dollars to your expenses.
With fairly structured itineraries, Canyon Tours sets the pace of your vacation from day-to-day. Does this compare favorably to the alternative-booking everything yourself and setting your own schedule? At the end of the day, only you can decide that. But you can be certain that, with its rich history, Caravan Tours has the experience to ensure you have a safe and satisfying vacation, whether you want to see Costa Rica or Mount Rushmore.