Audley Travel vs Myths and Mountains - Tour Companies Compared

Audley helps travelers see the world their own way, providing individual journeys crafted just for you by experts who have been there before.

What Makes Audley Travel Stand Out?

• Trips fully customized to your dates, needs and interests
• Hotels with character and thoughtful excursions hand-selected to impress
• Dedicated country specialists who know their destination inside and out

With Audley, you get the peace of mind that comes from speaking directly to a country specialist who’s been to your destination many times before and who will use their insider knowledge to design an itinerary specifically for you.

Your dedicated specialist will listen to what you want, propose ideas to match, and work with you from inception to departure and remain available to answer any questions throughout your trip.

Who Will Enjoy Traveling with Audley?

The Audley traveler is discerning and curious and used to attentive and personal customer service. They’re interested in working with the finest trip planners to ensure all aspects of their trip are taken care of. Audley prices reflect the experience and care that goes into crafting our journeys and we’re happy to say that our customers think we’re worth it.

Where Do They Operate?

Audley Travel has country specialists for more than 80 destinations across every continent. They can plan anything from first time visits to special interest trips in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Oceania, the Middle East and Polar regions. Within each destination, they also have travel advisors that specialize in safari and wildlife, culture, adventure travel, family trips, cruise and more.

Audley Travel Style

With Audley, virtually any travel style or theme is available to you. We’ve broken it out into 12 distinct Vacation Types:

Beach Vacations: Great for combining experiential travel with plenty of rest and relaxation along the way. Audley beach vacations can be planned anywhere from the Seychelles to Thailand and usually feature a resort stay along with some exciting cultural adventures.

Cruises: A great way to cover a lot of ground while only unpacking once, Audley river and sea cruises go all around the world, with a focus on destinations that are just a bit off the beaten path.

Cultural Vacations: For those travelers who want insider insights and to get to know a
destination through the locals.

Family Vacations: No matter how old your family members are, Audley specialists can helpcreate the perfect itinerary for you out to see the world. We’ll suggest the best activities, accommodations, and destinations based on your family’s individual needs, from toddlers to teens.

Great Journeys: Trips on an epic scale, often visiting sweeping landscapes and far-flung
destinations like Antarctica or New Zealand. Honeymoon and Romance Ideas: If you’re looking for a relaxing and romantic honeymoon, with plenty of unique and special touches, Audley can help with private tours all over the world. 

Luxury Vacations: Most of Audley’s trips have luxury components, but these trips take
indulgence to the next level. Everything from the hotels to the transportation will be five-star. We can provide opulence around the world, from Morocco to India to Australia.

Off the Beaten Track: For those travelers who want something both unique and adventurous, Audley's off-the-beaten-track trips focus on places that aren’t easily accessible like Malaysian Borneo or Brazil’s intric maze of Amazonian wetlands.

Rail Vacations: A classic way to travel, rail journeys are great for travelers who want to take it slow. It’s a rare chance to take in the landscape in a way that cars or planes just can’t provide.

Road Trips: Sometimes a good old-fashioned road trip is the only way to go. These self-drive vacations are for travelers who are used to going without a guide but want an expert’s opinion on the itinerary.

Wildlife Vacations: Get up close and personal with unique and hard-to-find wildlife around the world. From pandas in China to orangutans in Borneo, Audley can help you discover species around the world.

Why Travel With Them?

Audley can provide the inspiration and expertise you need to elevate your next trip into an epic journey. Their customized trips are created by experienced travel experts who have been there and know the best way to discover a destination. If you’re looking for personal attention, dedicated experts and local insights, Audley is a great choice.

Since it was founded in 1988, Myths and Mountains has endeavored – and succeeded – in immersing travelers deeply in the culture of destinations where they conduct both group and custom-designed trips. Each itinerary is focused upon one or more “core concepts” intended to provide unique insights into a destination.

What Makes Myths & Mountains Stand Out?

The concepts around which each trip is planned are not intended to limit participants’ experiences. Instead, they provide inspiration to explore a destination more deeply and fully, based upon the unique attributes of the local culture.

For example, depending upon the destination, the “Culture and Crafts” focus might include learning traditional crafts or cooking local delicacies. “Natural Healing” and “Traditional Medicine” may visit a shaman festival or include a visit with indigenous healers in a rainforest. There also are itineraries that explore the “Environment and Natural History” of a destination, and “Religion and Pilgrimage Sites.”

Who Will Enjoy Traveling With Myths & Mountains?

Travelers with Myths and Mountains are seeking to delve below the surface of a country and its culture, and meet and interact with its people. These trips are intended to provide an immersive experience, exploring through doing and getting to know individuals.

If your ideal trip challenges your perspective in ways you never saw coming, provides avenues through which to go off the beaten path, and explores well beyond the classic tourist spots then the Myths & Mountains approach could be for you.

These trips are not for those travelers who are looking to stay in 5 star hotels, or pack a lot of activities in each day. Expect modest but comfortable lodgings, you will be active during the day, and spend a good amount of time outside or in rural areas getting to know the locals.

People who travel with Myths and Mountains to Nepal, India, or Bhutan also have an opportunity to learn first-hand about the company-supported READ Global centers there.

Those self-sustaining projects provide education and community development to residents of isolated villages. In the past two decades, the close to 80 READ (Rural Education and Development) centers that have been established continue to improve the lives of people in countless ways.

Top Destinations

Given its goal of introducing travelers to life-changing experiences, it’s not surprising that Myths and Mountains steers clear of more tourist-trodden destinations. It offers guided trips to six countries in each of Asia and Southeast Asia. A “Customize Your Trip” link to each planned itinerary described on the website enables those who wish to do so to tailor a tour to their own interests and preferences.

Myths & Mountains Travel Style

The term “off the beaten path” gets thrown around a lot these days, but Myths & Mountains creates itineraries with this in mind, and in a more authentic and true way than most. This is somewhat due to the destinations themselves that they specialize in.

Depending upon the location, Myths and Mountains augments familiar ways of getting around with modes of transportation that are indigenous to a destination. They include trekking through stunning landscapes, exploring caves in a sea canoe and hiking over lava fields to a volcano.

Why Choose a Tour with Myths & Mountains?

The Myths and Mountains approach to immersing travelers in the essence of a destination is a major reason why it attracts a very high percentage of repeat clients. You will return home with not only new understanding about a part of the world but also with memories of very personal experiences that will linger for the rest of their lives.

For Myths and Mountains, the belief that “There is no such thing as one itinerary fits all” is not just a slogan. It’s the way the company does business. As a result, travelers benefit in ways well beyond only seeing a destination.

They get to know and understand its history, environment, and especially the people who live there. They come away with an understanding of a new and different society that results from being a participant in its traditions and mores, rather than just an observer.