Our wide range of self-guided itineraries across the USA and Canada have been designed to afford you as much freedom as possible to explore what interests you, at your own pace. We take care of the logistics: we supply you with lodgings in charming inns and B&B’s, mountain huts, and 2, 3 and 4-star hotels chosen for their location and local flavour; we provide route maps and information about sites you can visit; we generally include daily breakfast, packed lunches during remote hikes, and often dinner; we organise for your luggage to be transferred daily; on cycling trips we supply rental bikes – typically modern 21-speed bicycles, with the option to upgrade to electric-assisted (ebike) models.

Fitness is an important aspect of our trips, with each itinerary carefully-graded for ease of selecting the trip that best suits you. Detailed information, including suggested pre-trip training, can be found in the trip notes and pre-departure information. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the physical requirements of your trip and speak to our staff if you have any questions. View our trip grading system for more detail as to how we grade the activity levels on our adventures and the suggested physical preparation.

On a number of our self-guided tours, transfer services are shared so you will meet others along the way and need only pay the cost of covering single room accommodations. On select self-guided tours which operate using private transfer services, we offer Solo Friendly departures; Solo travellers can sign up on these departure dates and we will match them up with other solo travellers. And, for those who are happy to go it alone, there is an option to pay a solo traveller supplement for private transfer services and accommodation throughout. Please check the trip notes or ask one of our agents for more details.

Tips and gratuities are not included in the trip cost, unless listed under the trip-specific inclusions. Tipping is customary in the USA and Canada but is a completely personal thing. Guidelines are provided in our pre-departure information upon booking.

It is our aim to ensure that we incorporate as many inclusions as possible in your trip to minimise any out of pocket expenses while you are away. It is important that you refer to our trips notes for the exact inclusions. On most trips, all meals and arrangements are included from the start of the trip right through until the end.

Each family is unique in their interests, abilities, and composition. Many of our self-guided tours are appropriate for families with up to two or three children who are physically active and are experienced with the outdoors. Child discounts are listed, where this is possible given the exact tour itinerary and are generally based on a maximum of 2 children sharing a room with 2 full paying adults. Our guided, small group adventures are typically geared toward adult travellers, but we sometimes make exceptions for mature, exceptional children (12 and older) who are accompanied by an adult. Bottom line: Please ask! If our advertised itineraries and pricing do not suit your family, we are happy to customize a tour just for you.

You are welcome to bring your own bike, if you are up for the challenge of transporting it to your tour destination. If you choose to bring your own bike, be sure you notify us well in advance of your trip and we will let you know if any discounts are possible for that specific tour. We do recommend using the bicycles that are included in the tour package as they are good quality bicycles suited for the terrain on which you will be cycling. The majority of our bicycle rentals are replaced each season and we are always sure to tune them up between uses, so you can feel confident in their performance.