A muddy river winds past a small village nestled among limestone peaks near Nong Khiaw, Laos.

Planning

Private or small group — and when to choose the cheaper one

We sell both, and we make a larger margin on neither. What follows is the comparison we would give a friend: the table, the arithmetic behind the price gap, and a clear statement of the cases where the group departure is the better trip and not merely the cheaper one.

Plan my trip See the price breakdown

maximum on a group departure: 12
minimum on a private trip: 2
typical price gap per person: 25-40%

The comparison, side by side

Same route, same hotels, same guides. Everything in this table is a structural difference, not a quality one.

	Small group, up to 12	Private, from 2
Price per person	USD 3,340 on our fifteen-day route	USD 4,480 at two travellers, USD 3,340 at six
Departure dates	Fixed, published, roughly two a month in season	Any date you choose
Who else is in the vehicle	Four to eleven strangers, usually from three or four countries	Nobody
Daily start time	Set by the itinerary, typically 08:00	Set by you, the night before
Changing the plan mid-trip	Not possible; the group votes with its feet or not at all	A phone call to your guide
Pace on a sightseeing day	The pace of the slowest walker, by design	Yours
Guide attention	Shared across the group	Entirely yours, which some people find intense
Hotel rooms	Standard category, allocated by the hotel	Category and view chosen at booking
Single travellers	Welcome; supplement applies or we can room-share on request	Welcome; supplement is larger
If someone is ill	The group continues, one guide stays back	The whole day moves
Meals	Mostly together, at tables booked for twelve	Where and when you want
Risk of cancellation	Real below four bookings; we confirm or offer alternatives six weeks out	None once deposited

Why the price gap exists

The gap is not a premium for exclusivity. It is division. Four costs on an Indochina itinerary are charged to the trip rather than to the person, and the number of people sharing them is the entire story.

Cost, charged per day not per person	Typical figure	Per person at 2	Per person at 6	Per person at 12
Private vehicle with driver and fuel	USD 110 per day	USD 55	USD 18	USD 9
Licensed English-speaking guide	USD 70 per day	USD 35	USD 12	USD 6
Boat charter, Lan Ha or the Mekong	USD 420 per charter	USD 210	USD 70	USD 35
Entrance fees and hotel rooms	Charged per person	No change	No change	No change

Across a fifteen-day route with a guide on eight days and a vehicle every day, those first three lines come to roughly USD 2,000 for the trip. Split between two people that is USD 1,000 each. Split between twelve it is USD 167 each. That single arithmetic accounts for almost the whole difference between our private price at two travellers and our group price.

The hotel, the flights, the entrance fees and the meals cost the same whether you are two or twelve. This is why a private trip for six costs almost exactly what the group departure costs, and why a private trip for two costs a third more.

What this also tells you

If you are four or more travelling together, the private trip is close to the group price already. At six people the two prices converge. The decision only carries real money for couples and solo travellers.

When the cheaper option is the right one

Six situations where we recommend the group departure over the private trip, and we mean recommend, not permit.

You are a couple on a fixed budget. The USD 1,140 per person you save on a fifteen-day route is three extra nights, or an upgrade to boutique hotels throughout, or the Ha Giang extension. Spent on those, it does more for the trip than a private vehicle does.
You are travelling alone. A solo private trip carries the whole vehicle and guide cost on one person. It is also two weeks of one-to-one attention from a guide, which many solo travellers find draining. A group of eight is usually a better fortnight and costs half as much.
It is your first trip to the region. On a set route the itinerary has been run dozens of times and the rough edges are gone. A private trip is more flexible, and flexibility is less useful when you do not yet know what you want to change.
You like other travellers. Some people come back talking mostly about the people they met. If that is you, paying more to be alone is paying to remove the best part.
Your dates are flexible and a departure already exists. If a published date suits you, there is no argument for paying the difference unless one of the reasons below applies.
You want the decisions made for you. A private trip involves choices every day. Some people want a holiday from choosing.

When private is worth the money

Equally direct, the other way. These are the cases where we would tell you to pay the difference.

Children under about twelve. Nap times, a bad morning and an unplanned swimming stop are all impossible on a fixed group schedule, and the group will not thank you for them.
Anyone with limited mobility or a medical condition that sets the pace. A group itinerary cannot bend around one person for two weeks without resentment forming.
Photographers. Group departures leave hotels at 08:00. The light you came for is gone by then, and no group of twelve will get up at 05:00 twice in a week.
Special interests. Textiles, food, architecture, birds. A private guide can be chosen for the subject; a group guide has to cover everyone.
Four or more travelling together. At this size the price gap has almost closed, and there is no longer much reason to travel with strangers.
Fixed dates outside our published departures. Sometimes the calendar makes the decision for you.

Five questions, in order

Answer these in sequence and you will usually have your answer by the third. We use exactly this order when someone asks us to decide for them.

01
How many of you are travelling?
Four or more: book private, the gap is small and the freedom is free. One to three: keep going.
02
Are your dates fixed?
If they are, and no departure falls inside them, the decision is made. If a published departure fits, keep going.
03
Is there one thing in the trip you refuse to compromise on?
Sunrise photography, a child who naps, a diet that needs planning, a hill you want to walk up slowly. One genuine non-negotiable points to private. Wanting things generally nice does not count.
04
What would the saving buy instead?
Write the number down and name what you would spend it on: extra nights, better hotels, an extra region. If the alternative is more attractive than exclusive use of a minibus, choose the group.
05
Do you want to meet people, or not?
This is the honest tie-breaker and the one most people answer last when they should answer it first.

Plan My Trip

Still unsure after five questions

Send us your dates and party and we will quote both, side by side, with the difference broken out line by line.

Get both quotes

What does not change between the two

So the comparison stays clean, these are identical in both formats and we will not pretend otherwise to sell an upgrade.

Same

Guides

The same people work both. We do not keep a better tier for private clients.

Same

Hotels

The properties named in a route are the properties you get. Category, not view, is what differs.

Same

Route

A group departure follows the published itinerary; a private trip starts from it and changes what you ask.

Same

Support

One number in country, 24 hours, on both.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

How many people are usually on a group departure?

Seven or eight is the average. Twelve is the cap and it is genuinely a cap, not a target we push past for one more booking. If fewer than four are booked six weeks before departure we contact everyone and either run it smaller at the same price or offer a date change.

Can we join a group departure and then break off for two days?

Yes, and people do. It is priced as the group departure plus a private vehicle and guide for the days you leave the group. Say so at booking rather than in country, because the hotel nights have to be held either way.

Is a private trip always more expensive?

Not at six travellers or more. At that size the vehicle, guide and boat costs divide the same way they do in a group of twelve, and the two prices converge. The gap is real for couples and solo travellers and small for everyone else.

Who else will be on my group departure?

Most often couples and solo travellers between their late thirties and late sixties, from Britain, France, Australia, the Netherlands and North America. We can tell you the age range and nationalities of anyone already booked on your date before you commit, without naming them.