Information for Solo Travellers

We receive a large number of enquiries from solo travellers who would like to join a group wine tour in one (or more) of our destinations.

With the exception of our Premium tours which run on set dates in May, June, September and October in Champagne and Bordeaux, our wine tour packages are not fully escorted as part of a group. Although guests may well join a small group tour for a day or two on some of our standard breaks, our packages are very independent in their style and therefore guests will always travel alone to the region / between the regions and some of the tour days may include travelling to various wineries/Champagne Houses independently as opposed to with a group. As such, our tours may not be appealing to single travellers who are looking for a fully escorted experience as part of a group from start to finish.

The standard package prices which you may have already come across on our web site are based on two people travelling together and sharing a twin or double room. Although for solo travellers, a simple, single room supplement can sometimes be applied to the package price (which is the case for our Premium tours), a significant number of our packages are unfortunately not feasible for single travellers, primarily due to European transport licenses.

The majority of our tour partners, have elected to procure tourism licenses which state that tour vehicles must transport a minimum of two passengers (as these licenses are far cheaper than taxi / transport licenses which don’t carry this restriction) and as such, in the event that a single travellers has booked onto a small group tour but no other guests have booked, the tour, unfortunately, would have to be cancelled (and this can often happen at the very last minute). As our Essential breaks usually consist of small group tours, we are only able to book a solo traveller onto a tour when other guests have also booked, so that minimum numbers are met. Although we could book a solo traveller onto a tour at short notice, the hotels tend to have become booked up in the meantime, and the trip is therefore potentially still not viable.

Despite these restrictions, we endeavour to do our utmost to accommodate solo travellers and as the majority of local chauffeur companies (as opposed to tourist operations) possess the necessary license to legally be able to transport one passenger, we are able to arrange private tours for single travellers. This can, however, be very costly as a private driver for the day alone costs approximately 600-800 Euros per day without then adding the cost of accommodation, winery visits and meals. To give you an idea of pricing, we would expect a two to three night break in 4* accommodation with a full day private wine tour and a lunch to cost somewhere in the region of £1,000-£1,500 (GBP).

In addition, we have found that a number of solo travellers prefer to tour as part of a group as opposed to touring alone and as such, the private experiences may be of less interest than a fully escorted tour.

In the event that as a solo traveller, you would like us to arrange a private experience for you, or if you would like to join one of our Premium tours operating on set dates, please don’t hesitate to contact us on +44 (0) 1920 46 86 66 or at info@grapeescapes.net.