Senior Tours and Vacation Travel

Adventure Travel is Ageless and Memorable

Pilot Lars (right) and ElderTrekkers, Robbie and Liz, relax in the balloon basket while flying high over Cappadocia from Hot Air Ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey. Photo by Senior Travel Editor Alison Gardner

Most travelers today .... want memorable short-term experiences and adventures of one week to a month. Certainly, it is possible to plan and carry out independent alternative travel holidays with great success. But the two audiences who make up the vast majority of travelers today—older travelers and women—are far more inclined to research and select a carefully-planned small-group tour, a volunteer program, or an expeditionary cruise where the destinations, total expenses, and range of experiences are clearly defined. — Alison Gardner

Global Aware Adventures in Service Volunteer Vacations for Retirees This nonprofit currently offers volunteer projects in 18+ countries worldwide. Adventures in service focuses on cultural awareness and sustainability. All program costs, including airfare, are U.S. tax-deductible, though airfare must be purchased independently. Volunteers are of all ages, with an exciting emphasis on multi-generational family groups.
	Dates: Start at 1 week Contact: Globe Aware, 6500 East Mockingbird Lane, Suite 104, Dallas, TX 75214 Tel: 1 877 588 4562 Email: office@globeaware.org Website: www.globeaware.org
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Volunteer in Ecuador and Galapagos Lead Adventures offers volunteer and adventure programs in Ecuador and the Galapagos suitable for "grown-ups" and seniors, providing full immersion in traditional Ecuadorian culture. You will learn about and share your knowledge of biodiversity, conservation, social causes, organic agriculture, animal welfare, and community building. Tailored group and individual customized options are available. You may choose to stay in a hostel or a hotel for more independence, and have your travel arrangements customized for your specific needs.
	Dates: Year round Contact: Lead Adventures, Juan Leon Mera 1574 y La Pinta (2nd floor office 2A) Quito - Ecuador Tel.: US/Canada 1 800 579 3905 or Ecuador 5 932 254 1633 Email: info@lead-adventures.com. Websites: www.lead-adventures.com
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Live With and Teach English to a Family in France This volunteer program is a great opportunity to experience French lifestyle and improve your linguistic skills at a low cost. You live with a host family and in exchange for your own room and meals, you share your English language skills for around 15 hours a week. This program has a focus on cultural exchange, it is designed for those of you wishing to experience French culture in depth. Placements are usually in Southern France, however, positions are available in Paris and other areas in France. Seniors welcome!
	Dates: 1-3 months placement, available all year round. 1 month placements in July and August. Cost: From 500 Euros. Contact: ALIORE, Worldwide Workshops, 23 rue Jean Giono 34080 Montpellier, France Tel.: 00 33 951 79 79 72. Email: infos@aliore.org Website: www.Aliore.org
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Road Scholar: Educational Travel and Learning Vacations for Adults and Seniors
Offers tours, 5,500 learning adventures in 150 countries and all 50 states in the U.S., serving more than 100,000 participants per year. Road Scholar was founded by Elderhostel, a not-for-profit, in the summer of 1975 and began as a learning program conceived to combine not-for-credit classes with inexpensive lodging for older adults. The adult and senior tours range from small to large in size, and combine educational, cultural, and adventure travel.

Adventures Abroad Senior Tours
Small-group tours for "mature" travelers (those 50+) around the world. The focus is on cultural immersion travel, adventure travel, and traveling off-the-beaten-path. Meet, eat, dine, and converse with locals rather than staying in more conventional tourist locations while being guided by experts in destinations.

Rick Steves’ Europe Tours
Currently offers over 40 small-group tours and hundreds of departures reflecting the "Europe Through the Back Door" grassroots philosophy of his acclaimed European guidebooks and public television travel series. With a good mix of ages from 30 to 80 (about 60 percent women), more than half of participants are over 50 on the 2- to 3-week country and region tours, while they make up 30-40 percent on the 1-week city tours.

European Waterways: Hotel Barge Cruises
A tour operator that is a bit more on the luxury side, these cruises provide senior-friendly tours through many beautiful rivers, towns, sites, festivals and more in Europe. There are also many barge tours with small companies in Europe and worldwide that you should cosider to enjoy Europe in a relaxing mode. Read our guide on Barge Tours in Europe: Best European Barge Cruises for more.

Walking the World — Tours
Offers adventure travel tours for people 50 and better. Adventure travel is a way of experiencing the world, not as a passive observer, but as an active participant. And walking, more than any other type of activity, allows you to experience firsthand not only a country’s majestic natural areas, but its rich and varied human cultures as well. With Walking The World, you’ll be walking through small villages, meeting the local people, and sampling some of the world’s finest food and drink.

Stride Travel
A metasearch site for senior tours, meaning it allows easy searches across over 700 tour companies and presents discounted options you should find of interest, most with reviews by people who have actually taken the trip.

Oceanic Society Expeditions
The Oceanic Society is a nonprofit organization working to protect marine wildlife and the marine environment through conservation-based research and environmental education. Half its itineraries are volunteer holidays, the rest are educational. Participants become research assistants, working side by side with academics and field researchers, logging, recording, and collecting data, including coral reef health monitoring and measuring nesting sea turtles. These expeditions occur in Central and South America and the Pacific Ocean region. Sixty percent of clients are older adults.

Overseas Adventure Travels
Specializes in small group tours and expeditions for those over 50 to destinations around the world. The organization, based in Boston, Mass., offers to "take you off the beaten path so you can participate in everyday life in your destination," allowing opportunities for as much cultural interaction as possible with the local culture as you explore.

Discover Corps
An organization that offers multi-generational volunteer vacation packages to countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Discover Corps specializes in volunteer trips for seniors and their families. The 1-2 week multi-generational family trips combine citizen diplomacy, responsible volunteering, hands-on volunteering, cultural connections, and developing an authentic and meaningful travel experience.

Archaeological Institute of America Tours
A wide range of small-group land tours and small-ship voyages led by practicing archaeologists who offer behind-the-scenes commentary and insight that only an expert scholar can provide. First-class luxury is the norm on these senior tours with about 90 percent of clientele over 50.