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Planning a faith-based trip with a group can be a powerful way to connect with fellow believers and enrich your walk with God. But with so many Christian travel companies to choose from, how do you decide?
In this blog, we'll review over 10 popular Christian travel group providers so you can determine the best fit for your next adventure!
Factors For Comparing Christian Travel Groups
As Christian professionals in our 20s and 30s with limited vacation time, we sought budget-friendly travel opportunities to connect with like-minded believers. We compared Christian travel companies across these key factors:
Cost: How budget-friendly their travel options are
Audience: How well they catered to individuals in their 20s-30s
Experience: How much variety of travel length options were to adapt to different amounts of work availability
Destinations: Whether their destinations included leisure travel opportunities
Group Customization / Flexibility: How easy it is to make a customized trip with friends
Convenience: Depending on the business, the amount of things included and how streamlined the booking process is
Activities and Experiences: How many different types of travel styles are accommodated
Social Aspects: The company's level of emphasis on Christian fellowship
Faith: How much of the trip planning emphasizes Christian Bible studies, tour guides, and worship services
This overview of popular Christian travel companies was based primarily on an analysis of their websites, as we have not personally traveled with each provider. We aim to provide a helpful tool for comparing travel options through a Christian lens. Keep in mind, websites only tell part of the story - actual experiences may vary.
While we are thankful for the many organizations catering to faith-based travel, no single group will be the perfect fit for everyone. We hope these summaries offer a starting point to explore what Christian travel providers may align best with your travel interests, budget, and desire for spiritual community.
Christian Travel Businesses Reviewed
If you want to jump to a specific review, please click the links below.
Reviews
Christian Travelers Network
Overall: 9.7 | Cost: 10 | Audience: 10 | Experience: 10 | Destinations: 10 | Customization: 10 | Convenience: 9 | Activities: 10 | Social: 10 | Faith: 9
Cost: membership is $15 annually, plus splitting the cost of any group activities
Audience: You must be at least 18 years old to join the platform, although it is largely designed for young professionals between 25-35 years old
Experience: This platform is for the DIY Christian traveler looking to connect with like minded believers on adventures you are already planning or join the adventures of others.
Destinations: Anywhere in the world
Group Customization/ Flexibility: Because these aren't professionally organized tours, you and your group are in charge of how and when you want to explore God's creation! The platform makes it easy to share your trips plans, invite others on your trip, and promotes it to other members on the site.
Convenience: Unlike tours that predetermine where you will stay and what you will eat, you have the ability to make each adventure what you want. With the help of chat features, fellow travelers can easily give their input.
Activities and Experiences: God made each person's travel interests unique, and this platform excellently reflects that. You can create personalized trips and communities that reflect any of your interests from: active and adventurous, beach and island getaways, camping/nature, family vacation, luxury, multi-country, rail travel, retreats, road trips, cruises, small group tours, and more. And if your travel interest isn't listed there, Christian Travelers' Network asks that you message them so they can add it!
Social Aspects: The platform is designed to help to make it easy to make new Christian friends - whether that's sending friend quests, messaging people through the chat function, joining communities, or trips - there's a way for everyone to connect with like-minded believers.
Faith: Unlike other companies that determine what your worship adventure will look like, your trip and community are encouraged to set the tone. If you choose to organize and trip or community, you are encouraged to pick a Biblical theme or topic. If you join a trip or community, you are encouraged to share your faith with members and connect with your leader to help enhance opportunities to grow in your relationship with God and with others.
Christian Travelers' Network is an excellent way for the frugal Christian traveler who wants to explore God's creation while also connecting with other believers. Rather than being confined to a tour group with pre-determined itineraries and budgets, this platform allows Christians to build and join excursions tailored to their travel interests and budget.
Trip organizers do not profit from planning trips, but rather split the cost of any shared expenses with the group, keeping costs realistic rather than inflated. With an annual membership of only $15, this platform is a great way to be a good steward of your money.
Unlike other travel groups whose destinations are limited to one particular area, the options are as vast and numerous as the travelers on the platform. In doing so, Christian Travelers' Network celebrates the diversity not only of the people God created, but also the richness and beauty of the landscapes He created. Members with diverse travel interests can thus share their experiences, interact with like-minded travelers, and glorify the Lord!
Thus, Christian Travelers' Network is rated at a 9.7.
Faith Travel
Overall: 8.6 | Cost: 8 | Audience: 7 | Experience: 10 | Destinations: 10 |Customization: - | Convenience: 10 | Activities: 10 | Social: 7 | Faith: 7
Cost: $0 to use their site, but then a cost to join the tour group
Audience: all ages
Experience: Their website provides a place for different Christian tour companies to list their tours in one portal, making it easier for Christians to find the adventure that best suits them.
Destinations: Anywhere tours are offered
Convenience: Information is all in one place and clearly lists what each trip offers (flights, accommodations, meals, sight seeing, Christian tour leader, Christian fellowship, cost, etc.)
Activities and Experiences: Any that are currently offered
Social Aspects: Faith Travel's goal is to help you travel the world in the company of like-minded people. However, while all tours are Christian based, the level of focus on Christian fellowship depends on the tour operator.
Faith: All trips listed on the site have a Christian tour guide and are offered by Christian tours
Unlike some of the other Christian travel groups that were reviewed, Faith Travel is a free tool designed to help you find tours operated by other Christians. I found this to be a very unique concept and a great way to do initial research on different Christian tours. Each tour conveniently listed what I could expect in terms of Christian tour guides, accommodations, etc.
The only real downside, is that while it is free to use, you ultimately do end up spending money on the tour - and while many Christian tours are listed, you still need to do additional research about each tour company to determine how much emphasis is placed on Christian fellowship during the trip. Additionally, it's parent company was down I researched them, so I am concerned about the longevity of this platform.
The overall rating for Faith Travel is 8.6.
Christian Fellowship Tours
Overall: 8.3 | Cost: 4 | Audience: 7 | Experience: 10 | Destinations: 6 |Customization: 9 | Convenience: 9 | Activities: 10 | Social: 10 | Faith: 10
Cost: $4200 - $24800, with flights included if applicable
Audience: All ages with family options
Experience: 5-36 day tours focused on Christian camaraderie that can be leisure, adventure or a faith journey through Biblical lands. All trips have some sort of social impact.
Destinations: Leisurely destinations in Australia, South Pacific, Portugal, Spain, France, along with tours to lands of the Bible
Group Customization/ Flexibility: Willing to help with customization of group itineraries and provides a tour guide, tailor to your groups needs, but no minimum number of participants for a group was listed.
Convenience: Packages include flights, accommodations, meals, tour guides, etc.
Activities and Experiences: There are options for every kind of traveler including: island time, rainforest retreats, Christian heritage, Christian pilgrimages, land of the Bible, etc.
Social Aspects: Christian fellowship is their primary focus of their trips
Faith: all holidays have a Christian tour leader for escort, offer daily devotions and Sunday worship
Overall, Christian Fellowship Tours seems to be an amazing travel company that puts a high emphasis on helping Christians connect with each other and with God through experiences. If you are looking for a tour experience, they offer quite a wide variety of options from travel time to experience type. They also put a large emphasis on fellowship, worship, and Christ tour guides which I highly respect.
The areas where they fall lowest are cost and destinations. While I really respect that they include flights into the cost of their itineraries, their destinations are more touristy driving up the cost. Additionally, they are focused largely in the South Pacific and the Holy Lands, limiting your travel destinations if you are looking for a broader look at options.
Their overall rating for is 8.3.
Burke Christian Tours
Overall: 7.5 | Cost: 5 | Audience: 7 | Experience: 9 | Destinations: 6 |Customization: 3 | Convenience: 9 | Activities: 10 | Social: 9 | Faith: 10
Cost: $160 to $8000 per person
Audience: Multi-generational groups
Experience: 1-15 day motorcoach tours. Most months offer over 20 different tour options to pick from!
Destinations: North America, some international and cruises
Group Customization/ Flexibility: If your group has over 30+ people they help build a tour based on your group's destination and specifications
Convenience: Transport, hotels, attractions, meals included in packages
Activities and Experiences: They have all different kinds of travel options from Christian-focused experiences (visiting the Ark Encounter in KY) to more destination-focused experiences (Christmas lights, cruises in Europe, visiting National parks, the US capital, etc.), and mystery tours!
Social Aspects: Their vision is to bring together Christian people to tour with what we assume were Christian tour guides
Faith: Trips specifically include attending Church on Sundays, having Bible Study each day of the week, and having Sunday School while in transit (usually) on Sundays.
In reviewing Burke Christian tours, what stood out was the diversity of activities and plethora of choices. With over 20 tours a month going to National Parks, cruises, music concerts, and Christian destinations like Sight and Sound and Ark Encounter - it has something for everyone. Their prices seem reasonable for motorcoach tours and their tour guides were raved about. We also loved their emphasis on intentionally incorporating Christian devotionals and worship time in their tours.
On the other hand, while they do have some international trips, they have a wider selection of tours in North America, making it a little limiting for those who want a broader travel experience. Also, compared to other travel companies the number of people needed in your group to create a custom group trip was rather high, with a minimum of 30 people.
All in all, this is a wonderful tour company and we have rated it a 7.5.
Pilgrim Tours
Overall: 7.2 | Cost: 7 | Audience: 9 | Experience: 8 | Destinations: 5 | Customization: 8 | Convenience: 7 | Activities: 7 | Social: 7| Faith: 7
Cost: not all prices were listed, but noted pricing from $2500 - $7600
Audience: no age unspecified, but no family trips listed so assume it is largely meant for adults
Experience: 5-22 Day Tours, bringing Evangelical Protestants together to places of Biblical and Christian historical significance, tracing the heritage of different denominations, as well as leisure tours.
Destinations: Israel, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Costa Rica, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, US, and Canada
Group Customization/Flexibility: They offer discount for parties of 6 or more. Individuals wishing to lead a tour will receive assistance with customizing their trip and promotional materials
Convenience: Packages include breakfast, dinner, lodging, travel, and sightseeing. Options to book airfare are available at an additional cost.
Activities and Experiences: Their trips largely focus around touring places of historical and Biblical significance as well as tracing Christian heritage in different countries, but there are also cruises and tours for unique destinations like Hawaii and Alaska.
Social Aspects: while largely advertised to all Evangelical Christians some of the tours on their website specifically fall under the "Christian Tours" category, implying that others may not be as narrowly focused on believers.
Faith: Most but not all tour guides are Christians, though all tour guides are familiar with the company's Evangelical Protestant/ Baptist testimony. Trip devotional leaders present encouragement from this perspective.
In reviewing Pilgrim Tours, we felt like this was sort of an average tour company. While they provide some leisure travel, they are primarily focused on places of historical significance to the Christian faith. I appreciated that they take Christianity into account with devotionals, but not all of their tour guides are Christian, which makes me question if the tours themselves are more focused on learning facts than a relationship with God. (Not to say that it's impossible for it to be both.)
Their biggest strength was their customization of group trips for smaller groups, helping them to achieve their travel goals. Their other strength was the variety of travel time with options for both short and long travel trips.
Thus we gave them an overall rating of 7.2.
Living Passages
Overall: 7.1 | Cost: 5 | Audience: 7 | Experience: 7 | Destinations: 5 |Customization: 5 | Convenience: 10 | Activities: 6 | Social: 10 | Faith: 9
Cost: $4000 - $10,600
Audience: All ages with family trip options
Experience: 7 - 18 day tours and cruises with groups of 15-40 people. Their primary focus is taking you to destinations that brings the bible to life, with the top scholars in biblical archaeology and history, luxury hotels, cultural food experiences.
Destinations: Greece, Italy, Scotland, Germany, England, Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraqi Kurdistan, South Africa and the Grand Canyon
Group Customization/ Flexibility: They'll help you create a custom tour if you have 25+ people for a bus tour or 18+ people for a ship based tour.
Convenience: Packages come with bookings, connections, flights, lodging, and most meals. They can even help people plan their solo trips, though often more expensive.
Activities and Experiences: archaeological explorations, safaris, yacht cruises through Biblically significant places
Social Aspects: They emphasize making friends and fellowship with other Christians
Faith: Tours are led by teachers of the Bible with an in-depth Bible study at each stop.
Living Passages puts a high emphasis on bringing together Christian community on their trips. On their website, they said you could expect Bible studies at every destination and Christian leaders to help bring the Bible to life of every trip. This paired with their emphasis on bringing Christians together with fellowship piqued my interest, though it is worth noting that they specifically advertise towards Berean (protestant Christians.)
Their destinations are specifically focused on areas of biblical and Christian historical significance, thus if you are looking for a vast array of travel options or leisurely experiences they are semi-lacking. That said, their website made it clear that to distinguish themselves from different Christian tours they put a high emphasis on luxury experiences, and unique explorations (Safari's archaeological explorations, yacht cruises, etc.) They also are willing to help individuals plan their custom trips, but groups are required to have a rather larger number of people to qualify for custom trip creation.
All in all, they seem to be a decent travel group with a high emphasis on community, luxury, and Christian history. Thus, we rated them at 7.1.
Maranatha Tours
Overall: 6.1 | Cost: 6 | Audience: 8 | Experience: 9 | Destinations: 3 |Customization: - | Convenience: 9 | Activities: 4| Social: 4 | Faith: 6
Cost: $3300 - $6000
Audience: unknown, though felt more adult-driven
Experience: 2-14 day tours to visit places in places from the Bible or Christian history. Some tour experiences are with particular Christian influencers.
Destinations: Italy, Greece, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Ireland,
Group Customization/ Flexibility: unknown
Convenience: Packages have all-inclusive options, handpicked hotels, meals (excluding lunch), flights, transport, etc.
Activities and Experiences: Tours of holy land
Social Aspects: Christian audience assumed
Faith: Biblical tour guides have full knowledge of both the Old and New Testament, no mention of church or bible studies
What makes Maranatha Tours unique are their Christian tour guides and their custom tours. Custom tours give you the potential to travel with Christian influencers (podcasters, Pastors, etc.) They also have a decent amount of flexibility with trip length as trips range from two days to two weeks.
On the other hand, they have a narrow focus on places from the Bible or Christian history, thus not having tours directed at leisure travel and only a few destination options. Compared to other platforms, their website was vague in terms of the emphasis on Christian fellowship, devotionals, or worship while traveling.
With that in mind, they received a 6.1 rating.
American Christian Tours
Overall: 6 | Cost: - | Audience: 3 | Experience: 6 | Destinations: 3 |Customization: 5 | Convenience: 9 | Activities: 4 | Social: - | Faith: 6
Cost: unknown
Audience: students
Experience: Customized educational travel programs for all students from a Christian perspective. Their focus is on teaching His story through history and travel. They aim to make a difference by bringing up world changers, teaching historical truths, and imparting personal responsibility to communities and the world.
Destinations: California, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Arizona, Ark Encounter, Jamestown, Chicago and Springfield, IL
Group Customization/ Flexibility: Groups require a minimum group size of 20 people.
Convenience: Packages include hotels, medical services, meal packages, tour leaders, admission fees, etc.
Activities and Experiences: Historic Christian Tours in the United States.
Social: Travel with your school peers
Faith: Godly focus in the presentation of historic materials.
American Christian Tours is excellent for Christian educators and students in the United States who want to organize a trip with a Godly focus. However, for young professionals or other adults seeking to explore the world through a Godly lens, find Christian community, and try different styles of travel - this likely is not the tour group for you. That said, we pray they continue to make a wonderful impact on the next generation.
Overall rating: 6.
Friendship Tours
Overall: 5.7 | Cost: 5 | Audience: 9 | Experience: 5 | Destinations: 3 | Customization: 5 | Convenience: 9 | Activities: 4 | Social: 6 | Faith: 6
Cost: The average cost is around $4000 per 7 days
Audience: Unknown, though it seemed more adult-driven
Experience: 10-15 day tours with optional 4-day extensions, focused on visiting His land. Tours have 20 or more passengers and they don't book individual passengers.
Destinations: Israel, Jordan, Italy, Greece, Rome, Turkey
Group Customization/ Flexibility: one free trip for five paying travelers, custom tour with own private motorcoach in groups of 20 or more
Convenience: Packages are all inclusive tours with airline, hotel, motorcoaches, and most meals (although you're responsible for lunches.) They note that if a trip doesn't meet your needs they will adapt it.
Activities and Experiences: Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and places of Christian
Social Aspects: The assumption would be that most attending would be Christians, but it wasn't super clear on the website
Faith: It focuses on Christian destinations and much of their website messaging is Christian, but I couldn't find information about Bible studies, church attendance, etc.
Friendship Tour's takes large groups to places of Biblical and Christian historic significance. As a result, they don't offer much variety in terms of places, activities, or trip length. Despite their company name, their website places less focus on the Christian camaraderie than other platforms. It also fails to specify what sort of devotionals, worship experience, or tour guides you will encounter on the trip. The ambiguity of it all, combined with the lack of travel variety, made me feel less inclined to travel with them.
Overall Rating: 5.7.
EF Go Ahead Tours
Overall: 5.7 | Cost: 8 | Audience: 7 | Experience: 5 | Destinations: 6 |Customization: 7 | Convenience: 7| Activities: 6| Social: 3 | Faith: 3
Cost: approx. $3000
Audience: all ages
Experience: The company offer all kinds of tours, but we specifically reviewed their faith based ones. They only offered three Christian tours, making it appear as though they serve as primarily a travel agency for any faith based experiences.
Destinations: Faith based tours were in Israel, Greece, Spain, France, Portugal. However, the company as a whole travels Europe, Americas, Africa, Middle East, Australia, and Asia
Group Customization/ Flexibility: They'll help you plan your customized trip with meals, transport, lodging, guided sightseeing, etc. For every six travelers you bring you get one free traveler.
Convenience: Packages include handpicked hotels, sightseeing tours, local guides, and most meals (excluding lunches)
Activities and Experiences: Tours of holy land or whatever you request
Social Aspects: This is largely determined by you, because if you plan the trip you can invite whomever you wish.
Faith: They list local and experience tour guides, but no mention of Christian tour guides, devotionals, or worship
Unlike some of the other Christian travel groups, EF Go Ahead Tours, seems to be more of a travel agency than a tour company. They only have three religious trips planned this year, making it seem as though they are willing to help with Christian tours if you request a custom one. So, if you want to go to some more unique destinations with your group that is totally possible.
However, unlike other platforms Christian travel seems to be more of side option to their larger and broader travel options. Thus, the experience you have in terms of Christian fellowship and community is largely based on what you make out of it. You likely won't get a Christian tour guide, but I do anticipate that you would have the control to build your own itinerary and insert the amount of worship, devotionals, and team building that you would choose.
As a result, EF Go Ahead Tours received a rating of 5.7.
Choose The Best Christian Travel Group For You
We understand that every Christian traveler has different goals for their adventures, so we hope these Christian travel company overviews help you find the right fit for your faith, budget, community, and travel aspirations. Let us know if you think of other Christian travel companies to review!
Unlike other travel platforms that focus on organized tours or mission trips, Christian Travelers Network is here for the DIY Christian who likes to travel and connect with like-minded believers on their weekend trips, vacations, and holidays. As we build out this new platform, you can help shape the future of Christian travel by joining now. Enjoy free early access for the first two months and help us create the features, resources, and community you want to see. Let's reimagine Christian travel together! Get early access today!
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