Insight Vacations alternatives when you travel alone: a host and a small group

If you are looking at Insight Vacations alternatives because you travel on your own, Spice Escapes runs small hosted group holidays where most people have booked alone and a host travels with the group. Insight sells premium guided coach tours, with an average of 33 guests on its Classic Group tours, while our groups are around fifteen people, and some reach twenty. The closest match to Insight's everything-arranged style is All Inclusive Perfect Paris, 3 nights on a river boat by the Eiffel Tower.

Below, Insight's own figures on group size, coaches and rooms for one sit beside four hosted Spice Escapes holidays. Every Insight fact comes from its UK website this autumn, and we have no connection with Insight, so check the detail with them before you decide. When one of our holidays fits, see the dates and book online on its page.

What Insight offers someone travelling solo, in its own words

• Touring by coach. Insight lists more than 130 premium tours across five continents, and says it seldom drives more than a couple of hours without a photo stop or a visit.
• Group size. Classic Group tours average 33 guests, capped at 40. Small Group tours average 16, capped at 24.
• The coach. Its coaches are reconfigured to 40 seats with business class legroom, and the Travel Director rotates seats daily so everyone gets the views and a chance to meet fellow travellers.
• What the price covers. Hotels, the sightseeing and admissions in the itinerary, transport on tour, a Travel Director, the meals shown, luggage handling and tips for hotel staff and porters. Flights are extra but can be added when you book.
• Rooms for one. On most tours you can be matched with a guest of the same sex to share a room at no extra cost. A room of your own carries a single supplement, reduced or even free on select tours.

Spice works the other way round: the group comes first

Insight says its guests travel solo, as couples, with families or with friends, from all over the world. On a Spice Escapes holiday most people have booked on their own, so arriving alone is the usual way to start.

The host is part of the group from the start, and three of the holidays below plan the first evening together: a themed night in Paris, a walk to a local restaurant in Athens and a hosted orientation walk in Rome. Some sightseeing is included, more is offered as an optional extra, and you can always wander off with a map. There is more in what makes a Spice Escape different.

To be plain about cost, every Spice Escapes holiday carries a single supplement or a cost for a room to yourself, explained on our single supplement page. If a free room share matters most, that weighs in Insight's favour.

Who will be happier with Insight

If you want several countries in one trip, with a Travel Director and a coach driver moving you on, Insight is built for exactly that. The same goes for a guided tour of North America or Latin America, where we have no holidays.

We suit people travelling on their own who want a host, a small group and company from the first evening.

Paris with almost everything included, from a boat by the Eiffel Tower

On All Inclusive Perfect Paris your hotel is the MS Botticelli, moored a short walk from the Eiffel Tower, the Trocadéro Gardens and Les Invalides. All meals and drinks on board are included, so the wallet stays in the cabin. Two guided tours come with it: a panoramic coach tour of about two hours, and about three hours on foot around Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur.

Evenings bring a gala dinner and, river conditions permitting, a cruise through Paris after dark. You make your own way by Eurostar or by air, and people arriving together can link up for the transfer. Hosted by Samantha Pike, departing 3 Feb 2027 – 6 Feb 2027, from £679. More in seeing Paris from the Seine and on our France holidays page.

Athens on foot, five minutes from the Acropolis

Ancient Athens is 4 nights at the Acropolis Select or a similar hotel, about five minutes' stroll from the Acropolis and the Plaka.

Beyond dinner together on the first night, the days are offered rather than fixed: a city tour with a licensed guide through the Acropolis and the Ancient Agora, a food tour of more than eighteen tastings, and a half day at the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. Hosted by Jackie Whyte, departing 10 Mar 2027 – 14 Mar 2027, from £579. More in Greece.

Rome first, then the Mediterranean on the Costa Toscana

Mediterranean Cruising Italian Style with WingsItaly starts with a night in Rome, so a delayed flight cannot cost you the cruise. WingsItaly meet you at the airport, and there is an optional first group dinner at your own cost, cooked by the sisters at Palazzo Lante near the Pantheon.

On board, your drinks package and gratuities are included, and Andrea Moro of WingsItaly and Claire Dymond host throughout. One night after Barcelona the ship heads for a dark stretch of open sea so everyone can gather on deck under the stars. 8 nights, departing 6 May 2027 – 14 May 2027, from £1,679. More under cruise holidays.

A week in one Spanish town for the total eclipse

Chasing the Eclipse bases the group in Vejer de la Frontera, in the path of the total solar eclipse. You stay in a restored 17th-century Franciscan monastery, and Dr Matthew Bothwell, the University of Cambridge Public Astronomer, is with the group for the week.

Around the eclipse, the plan offers a day in Jerez for sherry and flamenco, time in Cádiz by the Atlantic and a guided walk around Vejer. Rob Thompson hosts, 7 nights departing 31 Jul 2027 – 7 Aug 2027, from £2,899. More under Spain.

Questions people ask

Is Spice Escapes part of Insight Vacations or Trafalgar?

No. Insight's booking conditions name The Travel Corporation UK Limited as the company you book with, and its website lists Trafalgar among the same group's brands. Spice Escapes is a separate UK tour operator with no connection to either.

Do Insight and Spice charge a single supplement?

Both do for a room of your own, though Insight reduces or waives it on select tours and offers a same-sex room share at no extra cost on most tours. Every Spice Escapes holiday carries a single supplement or a cost for a room to yourself.

Are Insight's Small Group tours like a Spice holiday?

In size they are close: Insight gives an average of 16 guests, and our groups are around fifteen people, and some reach twenty. The difference is that most of our travellers booked on their own, and each holiday on this page stays in one or two places.

Is my money protected?

Insight's booking conditions say it is a member of ABTA. Our flight-inclusive holidays are ATOL protected under licence 9046.

Choosing between us and Insight: what to do next

Each holiday page has the live dates, the price and a Book button, so when one fits, see the dates and book online there. All Inclusive Perfect Paris, hosted by Samantha Pike: 16 places left.

To talk it through first, ask Rosie, the chat on every holiday page, how we differ from the bigger operators, or contact the team. Rob Thompson, who owns Spice Escapes and hosts the eclipse week himself, can answer questions before you book. For a first trip on your own, read our guide for first-time solo travellers and our over 50s solo holidays page.