At TourScoop, we’re tour experts who don’t sell tours, we just give real-world, real-person advice. In this story, I’ve distilled everything you need to know about Tauck, an upscale tour company with a loyal following, to help you decide if it’s the right fit for you.
Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025, Tauck has been helping travelers see the world for a century. Now in its fourth generation of family ownership, this upscale tour company has enjoyed plenty of word-of-mouth recommendations from past guests (and has done minimal advertising as a result).
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A frequent travel industry award winner, Tauck prides itself on curating exclusive, authentic, behind-the-scenes experiences in the places it visits. (For example: Tauck guests typically tour the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel in the early evening after they’re closed to the general public.)
TourScoop takeaways: Tauck
- Continents covered: 7
- Tour size range: Tauck’s classic land tours average between 35 and 44 guests, and its river cruises max out at 130 passengers. Its always-popular (and growing) “Small Group” land tours average 24 guests, and new for 2025, Tauck is launching “Smaller Group” tours with an average of 15 travelers.
- Tour types: Land tours, safaris, Small and Smaller Group tours, European river cruises, small-ship cruises, and family travel tours
Credibility check
Tauck is an active member of both the United States Tour Operators Association and the European Tourism Association. The company has earned many awards over the years, including appearances on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards in each of the last 27 years and recognition as “Best Tour Operator” in Travel Weekly’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards 25 times (in multiple categories) since 2003. Guests tend to be big fans too: More than half of Tauck tour participants are returning guests.
Tour destinations
In all, Tauck offers more than 170 tours and cruise itineraries to more than 70 countries on all seven continents.
New tours for 2025
New land journeys for 2025 include four new tours in Europe, as well as the new Music of America: Nashville to New Orleans tour exploring the roots of country, blues and jazz music. Tauck is also introducing two new small ship cruises, Aegean Voyage: Istanbul to Athens and Rome, the Amalfi Coast & Sicily, as well as two new river cruises, Romantic Capitals: Paris to Prague and The Seine: Holiday Magic which explores France’s traditional Christmas markets during the holiday season.
Tour types
Tauck offers land tours, safaris, small-group tours, European river cruises, and small ship cruises. Its Tauck Bridges collection of family travel tours and cruises has been around for 25 years.
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Tour guides
Tour guides—known as Tauck Directors—average 10 years of service with the company. Tauck offers a generous compensation package that helps it attract top-tier candidates who remain loyal to the company and develop a high level of destination expertise over their tenures. Guides come from some 40 countries, collectively speak a total of approximately 50 languages, and have diverse backgrounds and past work experience (including a former priest, former college professors, and classical musicians).
Inclusions and extras
Tauck tours include almost everything but airfare. Tauck land journeys include all gratuities (except Tauck Director gratuities), all taxes and fees, all sightseeing and entertainment, most meals, and airport transfers. In some stops, a lunch or dinner may not be included to allow guests to explore the destination at their own pace.
Tauck European river cruises and small-ship ocean cruises include all shore excursions, all gratuities, all taxes and fees, all onboard beverages (adult and otherwise, in most cases), most meals, all sightseeing and entertainment, and airport transfers. Many cruises also include either a pre-cruise or post-cruise hotel stay (or both) accompanied by Tauck-guided sightseeing guides.
Typical travelers
Many of the company’s travelers tend to be in their 50s and older. Family groups on Tauck Bridges trips tend to fall into one of three categories: conventional family groups (parents traveling with young children), grandparents traveling with grandchildren, or multigenerational groups including grandparents, their adult children, and their grandchildren.
Communication
Tauck communicates with guests throughout the entire process, from booking to pre- and post-departure. Guests receive their personal travel documents via email 60 days prior to departure for cruises and 30 days prior to departure for land journeys.
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Documents include info about pre-trip requirements, packing suggestions, information on local currency and weather, emergency contact information, and a day-by-day itinerary. The company also offers travel protection plans.
Private options
Tauck offers private group departures with a minimum of 10 guests that work well for family reunions or milestone celebrations.
Sustainability efforts
Tauck has focused on the cultural preservation side of sustainable travel through efforts like a guest-volunteer program in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and support of nonprofit Tourism Cares.
As European river cruising has become a larger part of the company’s business, Tauck has worked in partnership with Scylla (which owns and operates Tauck’s fleet of European riverboats) on a number of initiatives, including using cleaner-burning GTL fuel on riverboats when available, and limiting single-use plastics.
Health and safety practices
The company’s small-ship ocean cruises have a physician aboard each departure. European river cruises do not, but the boats are never far from shore and local medical facilities.
Tauck stays in constant communication with its on-the-ground partners in the regions where it travels and monitors all U.S. government-issued travel advisories and media reports. Its cross-departmental Global Response Team can quickly respond to any situation 24 hours a day.
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