Private or group
The difference is not comfort, it is control over pace and dates. Here is the comparison, the arithmetic behind the price gap, and the cases where the cheaper option is the better one.
The comparison
| Set-departure group | Private trek | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is with you | Up to nine other travellers you have not met | Only your party |
| Dates | Our published dates | Any date the guide and houses are free |
| Pace | Set by the group; the guide walks at the back | Yours, including stopping early |
| Itinerary changes | Almost none once published | Rest afternoons, market days, vehicle options for one person |
| Price for 2 walkers | Lowest | About 1.5 times the group price each |
| Price for 4 walkers | Lowest | About 1.2 times |
| Price for 8 walkers | About the same | About the same |
| Price for 10 walkers | Higher | Lower |
| Confirmation | Runs at four walkers; below that we offer private or a refund | Confirmed the day your deposit arrives |
| Ta Nang | Runs from four walkers | Not offered below four walkers, at any price |
Why the gap exists
A guide costs the same whether one person or ten walks behind him. So does a vehicle, a driver, and the driver's room and meals. Those three lines are between sixty and seventy per cent of the cost of a short trek, and they do not shrink with your party.
| Party size | Fixed cost per person, roughly | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 walker | 100% of guide and vehicle | Roughly 2.4 times the group price |
| 2 walkers | 50% each | Roughly 1.5 times |
| 4 walkers | 25% each | Roughly 1.2 times |
| 8 walkers | 12.5% each | About the same as the group price |
| 10 walkers | 10% each | Cheaper than joining our own group |
This is the whole explanation, and it is why we publish the party-size bands on every tour page instead of quoting on request. If a private quote does not fall as your party grows, ask why.
When the group departure is the better choice
We sell more private treks than group ones and they are better business for us. Here are the cases where we tell people to take the group anyway.
- You are one or two people and price matters. At two walkers a private trek costs half as much again per head for exactly the same route, houses and food. The only thing you buy is the absence of strangers.
- You are travelling alone and would rather not walk alone. Four days of one-to-one guiding is intense for both parties. Most solo walkers enjoy the group more.
- Your dates are already flexible. If you can move to one of our published dates, you get the cheaper price for no loss.
- You want to meet people. Obvious, and it is the most common reason people give us after the trip.
- It is your first multi-day trek. Walking in a group of eight tells you a lot about your own pace, and there is no penalty for being the slowest when four other people are also finding out.
When private is worth the difference
- Your party has a wide fitness spread. On a private trek we can put one walker in the vehicle for the hard afternoon without asking eight strangers to wait.
- You have children or teenagers. Family pace is different from adult pace, and a set departure will not slow down for it.
- Your dates are fixed by flights and do not match ours. Common, and the usual reason people go private.
- You want a market day or a specific village. Building the route around Sunday at Dong Van, or around a particular house, only works privately.
- You are nine or ten people. At that size private is cheaper as well as better, and there is no reason to consider the alternative.
Parties of eleven or more asking for a private trek at the ten-person price. We do not run twelve on the northern routes with one guide, and running two guides costs what two guides cost. Ta Nang takes twelve because it needs two staff anyway.
How a group departure actually runs
- A date goes up with four to ten places on it.
- It confirms when four people have paid the deposit. Until then it is provisional and we say so in writing.
- Two weeks out, if it is still below four, we offer everyone booked the private price for the party that exists, or a full refund of the deposit. Most of the time two or three people take the private price and the trip runs.
- The cap is ten and it is hard. We have turned away an eleventh booking on a Sa Pa departure more than once, and we will do it again rather than split the group across two houses.
- You get the names and countries of the others a week before, so nobody arrives blind. The booking page covers what happens after that.
Not sure which?
Send us your party and dates and we will tell you which is cheaper for you.
Questions travellers ask most
Can we join an existing group departure as a family of four?
Yes, if there are four places left. It is the cheapest way for a family to walk with us. The thing to weigh is pace: a set departure will not stop for a fourteen year old who has had enough at kilometre twelve, and a private trek will.
How many people are usually on a group departure?
Six to eight on Sa Pa and Pu Luong, four to six on Ha Giang, and Ta Nang typically runs at exactly the four or five it needs. We have never run a northern departure at the full ten more than a handful of times, because the cap is set where the walking stops being good rather than where the vehicle fills.
Do private treks get better guides?
No, and we would rather say that plainly. The same guides run both. What a private trek buys is the guide's attention undivided and the ability to change the day, not a different person.
Can we book a private trek and then invite friends later?
Yes, and the price per person falls to the new band automatically. We will not raise it if someone drops out inside thirty days; the band is fixed at the point the balance is paid.
Read next
Tell us about the trek you have in mind
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.