Escorted Small Group Tours Across the World

Odyssey Traveller: Small Group Package Holidays

The Educational Small group Tour Specialists.

We specialise in educational small group tours tours for solo traveller or those travelling with their partner, exclusively for senior or mature travellers, typically for groups of between 6 to 12 people, and no more than 16 travellers. Odyssey’s package holidays are tailored for the reasonably active senior or mature traveller, whether you are seeking over 50, 60 or 70 travel groups, to travel as a couple or looking for solo travel tours. Odyssey has been offering this style of adventure and educational programs to since 1983, not just as small group escorted tours of Australia but all around the world.

Odyssey was originally developed by a collection of member Universities across Australia, New Zealand and Asia to lead the way in providing escorted, an educational small group tour for mature aged and senior travellers, to unique and intriguing parts of the world with a tour director and tour guide.

Odyssey offers a wide range of educational, cultural and heritage journeys as an organised tour that expand horizons and broaden the mind with some 300 tours listed on the website, from Dinosaurs in Mongolia to a Walking tour of the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain or the Wildflowers in Western Autralia. Designed for active, inquisitive travellers in a small tour group environment with a set itinerary. Tour attendees typically number between 6 to 12 and are a couple or solo traveller. This emphasis on small group travel with a tour leader ensures a friendly and personal tour environment for you and your fellow traveller, which is at the heart of our philosophy. Simply put, Odyssey Traveller provides holidays with an itinerary for couples and holidays for solo travellers over 50.

Unique tour format tailored for Mature & Senior travellers

Tours typically span between two to three weeks in duration. An Odyssey small group tour seeks to stay typically 2 to 3 nights in each location in good 3 or 4 star hotels. These are an escorted tour that have evolved to be a good blend of touring and seeing. As well as opportunities to spend time in key places to take a half or full day break from the group enabling you should you with to be a solo traveller for a few hours or explore with a travelling companion a particular place or take time out for a break, before we travel on to our next destination. For the solo traveller, Odyssey has a expansive range of holidays for solo travellers over 50 to choose from, though we do not offer a regular river cruise or a dedicated solos holiday or solo travel tours.

For the solo traveller there is a single supplement charged on all of Odyssey Travellers small group tour programs. The single supplement reflects the cost of single occupancy of a hotel room with a double bed in your own room (generally, no single bedded rooms are offered across Europe) or a single cabin on a cruise. There are no additional charges made any client booking holidays for solo travellers over 50 years of age, just the single supplement, we like to keep a level of transparency in the prices charged.

Escorted Small Group Tours Across the World

Odyssey Traveller offers tours all over the world. We have a range of tours across Europe, The British Isles, Asia, Africa, The Middle East, and The Americas. We can take you to see the Northern Lights in the outermost regions of Norway. You can travel with us to the jungles of Madagascar to experience its magnificent landscape and wildlife or see the ruins of Machu Picchu in South America. Or take a journey through history with a tour with the theme of Britain’s canals and railways. If you enjoy a spot of cruising, join our Journey through Mongolia and Russia which includes a 10 night river cruise between Moscow and St. Petersburg, or our Egypt tour with an amazing Nile river cruise. If you prefer to stay closer to home, we have a great selection of tours in Australia to Western Australia, Flinders Island and Tasmania as well as New Zealand, visiting both North island and the South Island including the east coast, Rotorua, Milford Sound, and Queenstown.

Whatever your fascination, Odyssey is certain to have an organised tour that sparks your interest or travel style. Visit a place you’ve never been such as our outback Australia tour, or return to somewhere you know and love in western Australia national park and see it from a completely new perspective on a scenic flight while traveling solo or with a partner as part of an organised tour. There’s no age limit for group travel or solo travel tours over 50, 60 and beyond! Solo female travellers will find in Odyssey small group tours are safe and respectful environment to explore the world with like minded travel companions.

Odyssey’s small group travel tour itinerary typically depart with a tour guide from a major centre such as Perth or Hobart, making it easy to for you join the trip. Single travelers or couples arriving early will often meet the tour leader earlier at the hotel. Otherwise you will meet your travel director and group travel friends on the first evening of the tour, before we start our adventure and venture off the beaten track with you new fellow traveler friends, usually our travel is by coach tour exclusive to the group. We work with reputable local tour companies in each destination to better support the local economy. We also assist you with independent travel plans before or after the group travel so you can have a perfect trip and return home with wonderful memories.

All inclusive Specialty Tours for mature travellers

Odyssey Travellers’s fully escorted travel programs offer a unique opportunity for the discerning adult to make the satisfying leap from tourist to traveller. By also adding value to your travel we enhance your travel experience and create more meaningful memories.

Many of our tours are organised around a particular theme, so the tour group bonds around its shared interest, and you will travel off the beaten path with experienced and knowledgeable tour guides and tour director. Themes include archaeology, architecture, ballet, fine art, gardens, and performing arts.

Each Odyssey tour you take as couple or as a single traveller counts towards your membership of our Alumni program. Bronze membership starts at the conclusion of your third international tour with us. Membership steps steadily up to Platinum when you can receive a 9% discount of the list price of any international Odyssey small group package holidays offered.

Let us take care of all the details while you concentrate on enjoying the experience. We include many extra services at no extra cost: With Odyssey Traveller there are no hidden extras. In order to find what is covered by the tour, simply refer to the “Incluides/Excludes” section on the tour page.

Small Group Holidays for Senior couples or single travellers

Whether travelling solo, in a couple, or with friends, Odyssey Traveller caters primarily for travellers over 50, over 60, over 70 or 80 years of age. Therefore, your travelling companions are sure to share your interests. They will want similar experiences in an environment of mutual understanding. We design all programs with the mature traveller in mind. Travelling solo does not mean travelling alone, so when there’s free time to explore you’re sure to have another solo traveler or couple ready to join you if you wish. Single travelers make about a third of our groups and many a repeat travelers!

All Odyssey Traveller participants want more than just a blur of museums and monuments. We work to create a lively learning experience and cover some of the world’s most fascinating destinations and authentic cultural experiences. We are also, of course, aware of your need for free-time, so many of our itineraries allowing space for you to explore, or simply relax on your own.

Odyssey is focused on the cost of our tours to ensure our prices represent good value to our customers.

Odyssey offers a collection of genuine small group tour(s) Odyssey tours are priced to reflect that these are small group tours. Typically this means you are part of a small group of 6 to 12 people, not part of a group of 18 or more. Small group means you and fellow traveller enjoying an evening meal around one dinner table. So, we do not achieve the economies of scale of 18 plus on a coach that a larger tour operator would offer, because this is not the type of trip or touring experience our clients seek from us.

Odyssey tours are genuinely based around;

• A Small group tour of less than 16 people for the mature traveller as holidays for a couple and holidays for solo travellers over 50.
• Knowledgeable local expert guides and a great tour leader who has an interest in the theme of the tour.
• Inclusive pricing, including all entrances, tipping and the a range of meals included. That means, no hidden extras with respect to cost. Transparent pricing of the single supplement for the single traveller.
• A learning based guided tour with a like minded fellow traveller.
• Accommodation in 3 & 4 star hotels and self catering apartments.
• A blend of group learning, touring activities and free time to explore a place further, whether on a discovery or walking holiday program.
• No name badges or flags to follow when out and about.
• Travel to places that extend your learning and curiosity, often where others will not follow.
• Spending typically between 60 to 85% of the operating cost of the tour in the country visited, benefiting the local communities directly.

An Odyssey escorted tour is based around the premise that you pay less in comparison to a similar small group tour offering. You can make all the arrangements by e-mail, web chat, direct on- line or by mail or telephone from the comfort of your own home. Odyssey arranges everything from educational content, accommodation, to meals, field trips and coach or train travel. We also market directly to you with no hidden extras. We’re also happy to help with advice on every aspect of your trip, whether it be tips on what to pack, to the fitness level required for a walking holiday. Additionally, we can assist with your flights and travel insurance requirements, at your request. If you are travelling solo and wish to share with another single traveler we can assist with pairing you up, just let us know when booking your trip.

If you want to learn more have a look at our articles with plenty of travel advice and travel inspiration about all our destinations. Our article on Single Traveler may be of particular interest to those exploring the option of a solo trip for the first time.

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About Odyssey Traveller

We are a small team based in Sydney Australia, led by Mark Banning-Taylor who joined Odyssey in 2011 with a vision of raising customer service and refreshing the product offering to our key client group. Mark then purchased the company in 2018.

We research, prepare and post all our articles on travel and travel advice to our existing and potential customers who are considering joining us on one of our tours.

Published March 2nd 2016; Last updated Jan 28th 2025.