Guide

Children on a Package Tour: Ages, Rooms and Prices

2026-10-31 · TourFax editorial team

Children on a Package Tour: Ages, Rooms and Prices

Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0)

Taking a child on a package tour is governed by three separate clauses that rarely sit next to each other: a minimum age, a supervision rule, and a rooming rule. All three can rule out a trip that looks suitable.

This guide reads the published booking conditions of G Adventures, Intrepid Travel, Exodus Adventure Travels and Trafalgar, checked October 30, 2026, plus the Angkor Enterprise ticket rules for a worked example.

The minimum age depends on the trip style, not the operator

There is no single number. Each operator sets a default and then overrides it for family or teenage trip styles, and the trip notes can override that again.

  • G Adventures (USA booking terms): "Unless otherwise indicated in the Tour description or by the Tour Operator, the minimum age for minors travelling on any Tour is 12 years old."
  • Intrepid (special conditions, family trips): "All family trips have a minimum age of 5 years old at the time of travel except our 'Teenage' trips which require a minimum age of 10 years old."
  • Exodus (US booking conditions, clause 2.9): minors aged 16 or 17 may accompany a parent or legal guardian on any vacation; those under 16 only on family adventure tours, subject to the minimum age in the trip notes.
  • Exodus polar voyages: minors aged between 10 and 17 may accompany their parents on the booking.
  • Exodus booking rule: "Only those who are 18 years of age or over can make a booking with Exodus."

Read the trip notes rather than the brochure. Exodus states elsewhere that its trip notes form part of the contract and supersede the website where the two disagree.

One adult cannot escort a whole group of children

G Adventures sets a hard ratio. Its terms state that anyone under 18 on the date of first travel is a minor, that "minors must always be accompanied by an adult", and that "one adult may accompany up to two minors."

The same clause makes every adult on the booking jointly and severally responsible for the behaviour, wellbeing, supervision and monitoring of the minors on it.

It also removes any expectation of childcare: "The Tour Operator does not provide care services for minors and expressly disclaims any responsibility for chaperoning or controlling any minor(s)."

Bookings that include a minor are not automatically confirmed either. G Adventures states that all such bookings are "subject to review and approval by the Tour Operator."

A family trip may require a family

Both operators gate their family product rather than discounting a standard one, which matters if you planned to put two adults on a family departure for the slower pace.

G Adventures defines a Family Unit as "a group of two or more persons travelling and booking together, where at least one person is a minor in the care of at least one of the accompanying adults."

It reserves the right to cancel the booking of anyone travelling on a Family Tour who, in its sole discretion, does not properly constitute a Family Unit. The same rule is repeated for National Geographic Family Journeys trips.

Intrepid uses a shorter version: "All bookings for our Family trips must include a child under the age of 18."

No operator guarantees a triple room

This is the clause that reshapes a family budget, because the alternative to a shared room is usually a second room at close to full price.

Intrepid's family special conditions say it directly: "we cannot guarantee triple or adjoining rooms for families; accompanying adults may be required to share with others in the group on a twin share basis."

Trafalgar prices its trips "per person, based on two persons sharing a room with private bath or shower", and says triple rooms "may be available on selected vacations in limited numbers."

It also warns what a triple actually is: "Triple or quad occupancy rooms may utilize rollaway beds and three adults may find these rooms small."

On its Nile cruise product the conditions state that triple rooms may not be available at all. Special room requests, including adjacent or connecting rooms, "are not guaranteed and are based on availability at time of check-in."

If the plan depends on three people in one room, treat it as a request rather than a booking. Our note on the single supplement covers the same arithmetic from the solo side.

Bali package checklist

A child price is checked on the day of travel, not the day you book

Intrepid's special conditions set out the rule and the consequence of getting it wrong.

"Our child rates apply at the time of the trip, not the time of booking. Proof of age must be available for inspection on the day of travel."

If a traveller is found not to qualify, the conditions say they "will be required to provide the balance of difference between the adult rate and child rate for the trip before being permitted to start the trip."

In plain terms: a child who turns the threshold age between booking and departure pays the adult price, and pays it at the start line rather than at home.

Carry a passport or birth certificate for every child on the booking. Our note on changing a name on a tour booking covers what happens when the paperwork and the ticket disagree.

Attraction tickets have their own age rules

The operator's child age and the site's child age are set by different bodies, and they do not match.

Angkor Enterprise, the official seller of Angkor Archaeological Park tickets, states that children under 12 are exempt from the entrance fee and do not need a ticket, but "may be required to show a passport as proof of age."

The same page adds a physical restriction that has nothing to do with price: children under 12 "are also not allowed to climb the Upper Tower, as the steep steps are only accessible to visitors aged 12 and above."

Checked on the Angkor Enterprise site October 30, 2026. Our note on Angkor pass prices and validity covers the ticket side in full.

What to confirm before you pay a deposit

  • The minimum age in the trip notes for your exact departure, not the general minimum on the terms page.
  • The adult to minor ratio. G Adventures allows one adult to two minors and no more.
  • Whether the departure is a gated family product that requires a qualifying family unit.
  • Whether a triple room is confirmed or requested. Intrepid says it cannot guarantee one; Trafalgar says limited numbers on selected trips.
  • The age a child rate stops applying, and whether your child crosses it before the departure date.
  • Whether the physical rating of the trip suits the youngest traveller on the booking.

Bottom line

The brochure photo of a family on a tour is selling a product with three separate gates on it. Check the age, the supervision ratio and the room before the price.

The room is usually the expensive surprise, because an unguaranteed triple becomes a second twin at full occupancy rates.

Our note on what a tour's physical rating means helps judge whether the days suit a younger traveller, and small group against coach tour covers the pace difference.

Ha Long Bay package checklist

Sources