You’ll have no worries when you travel with David McGuffin and Exploring Europe.  We take care of you and try to make your journey pleasant and stress-free from the moment you sign up for one of our tours. Visiting Europe and its wonderful destinations is not difficult. The hard part is the six months beforehand trying to plan the adventure on your own: the hotel reviews that contradict each other, the train connection that looks fine until you realize it’s a 40-minute walk between stations, the restaurant that turned out to be a tourist trap with laminated menus in four languages. That’s the part I’ve already done for you.

This year marks my 49th year of traveling to Europe and my 26th year of organizing tours there. I plan and design every itinerary myself, and I keep revising them, because knowing a place well is the only way to show it well. Below are some key questions travelers actually ask me before they sign up for a tour.

Why Our Groups Are Small

My groups range in size from 6 to 18 people. A small group is more flexible than a typical big-bus group, allowing us to see, do, and experience more. We provide a unique travel experience by treating you as individuals seeking to learn about your destination. A group this size can eat in a family-run trattoria that would never seat fifty. It can change plans on a rainy afternoon. And your guide will know your name by the time we head out on our first adventure. Small group travel is the only way to go.

What Makes Our Guides Different?

I still lead many of my tours, but when I can’t, I choose trusted guides who share my love for European travel. What I look for is a passion for teaching, not a script. Our guides like people, they like talking about the places we’re standing in, and they’d rather answer your question than finish their prepared remarks. Our goal is simple: that you get wrapped up in the joy of travel and come home having actually learned something.

How We Find the Restaurants We Take You To

I’ve spent years poking around Europe’s nooks and crannies in search of excellent food, good wine, better beer, and sparkling water. I guarantee you’ll experience some outstanding restaurants serving amazingly fresh, local dishes in an unpretentious manner. Breakfast is included every morning, and we include about half of your lunches or dinners, enough that you eat well without our schedule swallowing every evening. The other meals are yours, and by day three you’ll have your own opinions about where to go.

Why We Don’t Try to See 12 Cities in 8 Days

Because you would see none of them. A twelve-city itinerary is really an eight-day bus ride with photo stops, and the pace has a cost: you check out of a hotel before you’ve learned the way to the corner bakery, and the afternoon you’d have spent wandering gets spent on a highway instead. I’d rather give you fewer places and the time to actually know them, so there’s time to sit in the square, notice how the light changes, and go back to the café where the owner recognizes you. I labor over every detail of the itinerary so we’re not waiting needlessly in a line, hunting for a site, or circling the block looking for a hotel. What we buy with that restraint is the part people actually remember.

What’s Actually Included in Your Tour?

Nearly everything: accommodations, admissions into attractions, transportation once we’re there (airfare is the one exception), all breakfasts and about half of your lunches and dinners, and all tips and gratuities. The price you pay is all-inclusive, which means you will not be nickel-and-dimed with pricey optional excursions, driver and guide tips, or the surprise line items that show up on so many group tours.

There’s also a best price guarantee. Once you pay your deposit, the advertised price is locked in. If my costs rise or the exchange rate jumps, that’s my problem, not yours. We will never come back and ask you for more money.

Who Are My Tours NOT For?

My tours are for active folks. We will put in several miles of walking and standing each day to experience the sights and immerse ourselves in the destination’s culture. But don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to slow down and experience the locale on your own and at your own pace, too! Each day you’ll have a window to explore on your own: visit another museum, linger over a quiet dinner, or just find a bench and enjoy the ambiance.

So, if you’re looking for a resort week by the pool, or you need to stay seated on a coach most of the day, this isn’t the right tour and I’d rather you know that now. If you’re willing to walk a few miles for an experience or a view worth having, you’ll fit right in.

Where Will We Sleep?

I choose hotels that are clean, safe, centrally located, and have private baths, often family-run places that carry the local flavor of the area. Many of them have hosted our groups year after year and know us by now. I’ve personally selected every one for quality, cleanliness, comfort, and location. Occasionally that means stairs instead of an elevator, bringing your own hair dryer, or a room without air conditioning. The trade is a safe, central hotel with real service, a good night’s sleep, and a genuinely European stay rather than an interchangeable box out by the ring road.

What If I Have to Cancel?

Your deposit is fully refundable for a specified period spelled out in your tour contract, and you’ll get the full details when you sign up. A full refund is available within 30 days of the date we receive your application and payment or deposit. If you must cancel within 90 days of departure, your deposits and payments can be applied to a future tour. And if Exploring Europe cancels a tour, you choose: a full refund or credit toward a future trip.

So, Will You Come With Me?

We believe you can see and do more on a well-planned group tour than you could pulling it all together yourself. Add up the hours you’d spend comparing hotels, decoding train schedules, and second-guessing restaurant reviews. Then consider that we do this for a living and have had decades of practice refining it. My mission has always been to get Americans out into the wider world through travel that’s engaging rather than exhausting.

So pick a country you’ve been thinking about. Come find out what a small group, a good guide, and an unhurried itinerary feel like. I’d be glad to have you along for the adventure.

After decades of leading tours across Europe, there’s one habit I recommend to every traveler, every single time: wear a moneybelt. It’s not glamorous, it’s not exciting, and it’s not fashionable. But it’s one of the simplest ways to protect yourself — and your trip — from disaster.

It Starts Before You Even Leave Home

I still remember packing for one of my very first tours back in 1997. Amid the rush of last-minute errands, the bank run for traveler’s checks, and the scramble to get everyone out the door, one step always stood out: the “passport and moneybelt check.” Before we ever climbed into the car for the airport, we made sure everyone had their valuables secured. That habit has stuck with me for nearly three decades, and it’s saved me — and the travelers on my tours — more headaches than I can count.

What Actually Goes in a Moneybelt

A moneybelt isn’t for everything in your wallet. It’s for the things you truly cannot afford to lose: your passport, credit cards, medical information, and the cash you are carrying around. I keep my passport tucked inside a small plastic sandwich bag before it goes in the belt, just to keep it dry and protected. If your passport is ever lost while you’re out of the country, you’ll be looking at days of delays and a mandatory trip to a U.S. embassy to get a replacement. That’s not how anyone wants to spend their vacation.

As for cash, I don’t recommend carrying hundreds of dollars around, whether it’s in your wallet or your moneybelt. I do keep a small amount of U.S. dollars tucked away, mostly out of habit and for a bit of comfort — it’s nice to have something familiar when you land back home. But the bulk of your spending money should be in the local currency, exchanged at an airport or a reputable location, or ATM machine once you arrive, not carried in bulk from the start.

Wear It, Don’t Just Pack It

The key word is “wear.” A moneybelt does you no good sitting in the bottom of a suitcase. It needs to be under your clothes, against your body, out of sight. I keep mine on throughout the day when I’m out exploring, and I transfer what I need once I’m settled “in country” and in my hotel room. The goal is simple: your most essential items should never be in a bag that can be snatched, unzipped, or set down and forgotten.

Don’t Let Your Guard Down

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: don’t trust everyone you meet on the road. Most people you’ll encounter while traveling are kind and helpful, but it only takes one bad moment — a distraction, a crowded platform, a friendly stranger with the wrong intentions — to lose something important. That’s the whole point of a moneybelt. It’s not about assuming the worst of people; it’s about making sure that if something does go wrong, it doesn’t wreck your trip.

The Bottom Line

A moneybelt is one of the least expensive, least complicated things you’ll pack for a trip abroad — and it might be the most important. It keeps your passport, cards, and cash close, secure, and out of reach of pickpockets and thieves who specifically target tourists. Make it part of your routine before you even leave the house, and keep it on throughout your travels. It’s a small habit that provides real peace of mind, and after all these years of touring Europe, it’s one I’ll never travel without.

Of all the places I’ve traveled across Europe, Paris keeps its place at the top of my list. It has the grand boulevards, the boutiques, the outdoor cafés, the monuments and museums everyone comes for — and it has the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. But none of that fully explains why it’s my favorite. What does is something quieter: the way Paris rewards you for slowing down.

It’s a City of Neighborhoods, Not Just Sights

Ask me why Paris beats out every other city I’ve visited, and my answer is that it isn’t really about the landmarks. It’s that Paris is made up of dozens of distinct neighborhoods where I can step away from the tourist crowds entirely. You should absolutely see the big attractions — but there’s so much more to the city than one more museum or one more church.

One of my favorite escapes is the Canal Saint-Martin, a canal dug in the early 1800s to move grain and building materials into the city. I once spent an entire late-September morning just walking one bank and back down the other — watching kids float leaves and toy boats, moms pushing strollers, cafés and bistros getting ready for the lunch crowd, all happening beneath the amber and gold leaves of the ubiquitous plane trees. No horns, no traffic, no tour groups. Just Paris living its ordinary life.

I feel the same way about the streets near the Eiffel Tower, Champ de Mars, and Pont de l’Alma, where 18th-century blocks between Rue Saint-Dominique and the Seine are full of actual Parisians going about their day. After reading Julia Child’s biography, I learned she once lived in a small upper-floor apartment on Rue de l’Université. I still find myself walking that street, looking up, wondering who lives there in her old apartment now.

Slow Down — You’ll Enjoy It More

Paris can wear you out. I’ve led groups through two packed days trying to hit the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries, Luxembourg Gardens, a Seine cruise, Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur, the Champs-Élysées, and a picnic on the Champ de Mars — and by day two, travelers from age 13 to 80 are all asking for the same thing: more time to breathe, to slow down, to get a break.

That’s why in the past decade I’ve moved toward longer stays and fewer forced stops per day. The sights will still be there. What people remember afterward isn’t how many boxes they checked — it’s the afternoon they didn’t rush, sitting at an outdoor café with a drink, or enjoying a quiet corner in a park on a shaded bench.

A City Built for Eating Well

Paris might be the best city in the world for a meal, whatever form that takes — a picnic along the Seine, a coffee and croissant to start the day, or a proper multi-course dinner. My rule of thumb: skip anywhere with a big multilingual menu posted outside. That’s a sign the kitchen isn’t cooking for repeat customers — it’s cooking for someone who’ll only ever eat there once.

Instead, look for where the locals eat. Avoid the tourist traps in the Latin Quarter, around the Louvre, Champs-Élysées, or up on Montmartre. Instead, find a secluded neighborhood and a small restaurant. Look for handwritten menus of the day, often sitting out front on a black chalkboard. I love starting with escargot and a good baguette, then moving to confit de canard — duck leg and thigh cooked slow in its own fat until it’s falling off the bone. Near Notre Dame, several small places tucked into a sandy little triangle of a square called Place Dauphine serve a seasonal formule menu — try the bœuf bourguignon or onion soup (but only if you’re there in winter or fall).

A few practical notes that catch people off guard: drinks don’t come with refills or much ice, though tap water is free if you ask for une carafe d’eau. Meals are a social event, not a race — your waiter won’t rush you, and you shouldn’t rush yourself either. And a service charge is already built into your bill, so tipping is a nice gesture, not an obligation.

Even the Hard Days Are Worth It

I was in Paris in April 2019, just days after the fire at Notre Dame. The mood on the streets was nothing like the Paris I knew — shock and quiet disbelief where there’s usually so much energy. Rounding a corner onto Rue Saint-Jacques and seeing the burnt-out cathedral for the first time stopped me in my tracks, and I wasn’t the only one. Even now, with most of the restoration complete, that image is part of the city’s story — a reminder that Paris isn’t just postcards, it’s a living place that endures.

So, Go — But Go Slowly

Climb the Eiffel Tower. Walk the Champs-Élysées. Stand in front of the Mona Lisa if you must. But don’t let the checklist run the trip. Find a bench in a park, a table at a sidewalk café, a canal to walk beside. Paris rewards the traveler who’s willing to slow down and just be in it.

That’s why, after all these years and all these cities, Paris is still my favorite. Next month, I’ll tell you my secret to landing a table with a view at the Eiffel Tower… for a reasonable price. Until then, au revoir.

Curious what island-hopping through Croatia is really like? Come find out over wine and cheese! We’re hosting two casual meet-and-greets in Clay County and St. Johns County, Florida — drop by for great conversation, a short audiovisual preview of the tour, and time for all your questions.

All are welcome, but please let us know you are coming.  We want to make sure there is plenty of food, fun, and information!