Thinking about booking a world-class tour but hitting a roadblock when choosing between two operators who offer seemingly similar trips? Both Intrepid and G Adventures have spectacular selections of tours to choose from, but how do you choose between them? Here’s a side-by-side glance at both operators.
Group size, age requirements and travel styles
Both operators offer a variety of trips that adhere to different travel styles.
G Adventures offers tours to independent travellers aged 18 and up. There are no upper age limits on most tours, but they do have YOLO tours that are restricted to 18 to 39-year-olds based on the nature of activities appropriate for that demographic.
Their Family Adventure travel style has tours available to families with children aged 5 to 17. All other trips (with the exception of YOLO) are open to kids aged 12 and older when accompanied by a parent. The average G Adventure tour has 10 people on a tour but allows a maximum of 15.
G Adventures also has a partnership with National Geographic (called National Geographic Journeys) and offer trips that can be considered premium excursions. These trips offer more inclusions, interactions with local experts, comfortable accommodations and transportation options as well as smaller group sizes.
Intrepid also allows travellers under the age of 18 on their tours, so no worries about having to leave your 15-year-old sister behind on your Euro-trip.
Similar to G Adventures, Intrepid offers Family Adventure styles of travel that have a range of minimum ages depending on the destination and level of difficulty. While most trips are available to travellers 15 years old and up, all travellers under the age of 18 must have an adult accompany them.
Intrepid does have a youth-orientated trips called 18 to 29s, which is similar to G Adventure’s YOLO tours in that the tours are available only to 18 to 29-year-olds and are budget-friendly. Other than the 18 to 29 tours, there is no maximum age limit on most tours.
The average Intrepid tour has 10 travellers but allows up to 16 on overland trips but most max out at 12 people. They have some trips that allow up to 24 travellers. Intrepid offers a premium travel experience with their brand Peregrine, similar to G Adventure’s Nat Geo Journeys, for travellers who aren’t restricted by a budget.
Physical requirements
Both operators offer tours that have stricter physical demands than a typical trip.
G Adventures offers many tours under the umbrella of their Active travel style. These trips vary from trekking to the top of Kilimanjaro, rock-climbing, dog sledding, cycling through China’s countryside and more.
You’ll absolutely need to be in good shape to have the best time possible on these types of tours.
Intrepid has their Cycling and Walking & Trekking travel styles that offer tours that require you to be in good physical shape. You can expect to be working your muscles every day on one of these tours!
While Intrepid’s Overland trips don’t focus as heavily on constant physical activity, they do recommend that you are reasonably fit in order to fully participate in this trip style.
Accommodation
G Adventures rarely have a mandatory single supplement while Intrepid steers clear of them entirely.
For solo travellers, both companies will typically match you with a traveller of the same gender to share your room with. The standard of accommodation will vary with both companies depending on the type of trip you decide to take.
For example, nearly all tours will include air-conditioning and heating but if you’re travelling to a rural destination or a homestay you should adjust your expectations for the facilities.
Transportation
Both operators provide a variety of transportation options based on the trips.
G Adventures and Intrepid use a combination of private buses and public transit to get you where you need to go.
In most cases with G Adventures, you’ll be using public transit but both operators offer very similar transportation options.
Most of Intrepid’s Overland trips have vehicles that come with their own power supply so that you able to recharge your devices on board.
Destinations
G Adventures and Intrepid offer tours to the following locations: North America, Latin America, Polar Regions, Central America & the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand
Intrepid and G Adventures go to many of the same destinations but Intrepid has a larger selection of tours on all continents.
Cost
G Adventures is slightly more affordable for budget travellers with their average price per day sitting at roughly USD $220.
They keep costs low with the use of exclusions. While their trips always include the highlights of a destination they also leave out some activities you’d considered “can’t miss.” You’ll pay for that separately in addition to the listed tour price.
Intrepid can be considered slightly more expensive as their average price per day costs approximately USD $245. Why the slight spike in pricing you ask? Intrepid’s tours generally have activities included in your tour price.
There are many factors that affect the price of accommodations, which either increase or decrease the price of the overall trip. With G Adventures you’ll likely find cheaper rates in their South America destinations and with Intrepid, the same can be said for their Southeast Asia trips. Travellers should compare individual trips to ensure the best price.
Looking for more info? Find reviews for Intrepid Travel here and reviews for G Adventures here.
