Included Meals on a Tour: What B, L and D Really Cover

Every multi-day tour page carries a meals line: a count of breakfasts, lunches and dinners folded into the price. It is precise and it is incomplete. The count tells you how many sittings are paid for, not what those sittings are, whether drinks are included, or what the other twenty meals on a ten-day trip will cost. This note reads the meal lines on two Morocco trips from G Adventures and Intrepid, both checked October 10, 2026, and explains how to turn a B/L/D count into a food budget before you book.

The count is honest; the rest is up to you

G Adventures Classic Morocco (DCMM) lists 8 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 2 dinners across 9 days. Intrepid Classic Morocco (XMKN) lists 7 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 3 dinners across 8 days. Eleven meals each.

Now count the meals that exist. Nine days is up to 27 sittings; eight days is 24.

After the included eleven, that leaves 16 meals on the G Adventures trip and 13 on Intrepid's that you pay for yourself, before drinks and snacks. The meals line is correct. It just describes the smaller half.

Breakfast is almost always the included one because it comes with the hotel room. Lunches are included when the group is somewhere a restaurant cannot be found, a community lunch, a desert camp, a trek.

Dinners are included when they are part of the experience: a pastilla dinner in Fès, a camp meal in the dunes.

One operator budgets the gap for you

On the G Adventures page the line under the meal count reads: 'Allow USD270-355 for meals not included.' For 16 uncovered meals that is roughly USD 17-22 per meal, editorial arithmetic on the operator's own range, and it includes the drinks and cafe stops the operator expects a traveller to buy.

The Intrepid page for its Morocco trip does not publish an equivalent allowance, and the operator's FAQ does not give a general one either.

That is not a mark against the trip; it means the budgeting is yours. Thirteen meals at a Moroccan mid-range restaurant price, plus mint tea and water, is the exercise.

When an operator does print a range, use it. It is built from leaders' reports on what the group actually spends in that country, which is better data than any guidebook average. When it does not, ask the booking team; most can quote a typical daily food spend for the route.

Which meals are included matters more than how many

Two included dinners in a city with good restaurants are a convenience. Two included dinners at a remote camp where there is nothing else to eat are a necessity, and the operator is doing you a favour by stating them. Read the day-by-day to see where each included meal falls.

On the Intrepid trip, the included dinners fall on Day 2 in Fès, Day 4 at the desert camp and Day 6, with lunch on Day 7 at the AMAL women's training centre.

The Day 1 dinner in Casablanca is not included, which is normal; arrival days rarely are. The optional final dinner in Marrakech is a group booking you pay for yourself.

That pattern repeats across operators. Expect the first night and the last night to be on you, the remote nights to be covered, and the city nights to be a mix of one included 'welcome' or 'farewell' dinner and free evenings.

• Mark every included meal on the day-by-day, then look at the gaps. A run of three uncovered dinners in a city is normal; an uncovered dinner at a remote lodge is a question to ask.
• Check whether included meals are set menus. Most are, and a set menu suits a group but not a strict diet. Dietary needs go in at booking, not at the table; health preparation covers how to brief the operator.
• Assume drinks are extra unless the page says otherwise. Water at an included dinner is sometimes included, wine almost never.

Group meals you pay for are a cost line of their own

Leaders organise optional group dinners most evenings, and they are usually the best part of the day. They are also a cost that sits between 'included' and 'free choice'. You can opt out, and some people do, but the social pull on a small-group trip is strong.

Under both G Adventures' and Intrepid's booking conditions, a meal that is not expressly included is an optional extra outside the contract, which means the restaurant sets the price and the leader simply books the table. Optional excursions explains the same clause for activities.

Tipping is the last line. Leaders typically suggest a per-meal or per-day amount for restaurant staff and drivers. G Adventures' Morocco page suggests about USD 3 per day for small service providers; money on a tour covers how to carry it.

Where food is the point of the trip, read the inclusions harder

In central Vietnam, the cooking class, the street-food walk and the market tour are often what sells the itinerary, and they are the lines most likely to be optional.

Check whether the Hoi An cooking class is an included activity with lunch, an optional with a price, or free time with a leader's suggestion.

The same applies to Japan, where a kaiseki dinner or a ryokan half-board night can be the single most expensive meal of the trip.

If a page says 'experience a traditional dinner' without a B/L/D tick on that day, it is describing an option. How to read a tour itinerary covers that wording.

Coach operators tend to include more dinners than small-group operators, often at hotel restaurants. That reduces the budgeting work and also the choice; small-group or coach tour sets out that trade-off.

Turning the meal line into a number

• 1. Count total sittings: days multiplied by three, minus the arrival-day breakfast and the departure-day lunch and dinner.
• 2. Subtract the included B, L and D from the trip page.
• 3. Multiply the remainder by a per-meal figure. Use the operator's printed allowance where there is one; where there is not, use a mid-range restaurant price for the country plus 25 percent for drinks and tea.
• 4. Add the optional group dinners you expect to join and the tipping suggestion.
• 5. Add this total to the tour price, the optionals and any single supplement before comparing two trips. Comparing look-alike itineraries shows the full side-by-side.

Questions people ask

Does 'breakfast included' mean a full breakfast? It means whatever the hotel serves. In Morocco, Vietnam or Peru that is often bread, fruit, eggs and coffee; in some budget hotels it is less. The trip page does not grade breakfasts and no operator we read promises a buffet.

Are drinks included with included meals? Usually not, and the page rarely says. Water is sometimes provided at camp meals. Assume you pay for drinks and treat anything else as a bonus.

Can I get a refund for an included meal I skip? No. Under the operators' booking conditions, unused services are not refundable once a trip has started. The meal is priced into the package whether you sit down or not.

Bottom line

The B/L/D line is accurate and partial. Count the sittings it does not cover, use the operator's allowance where one is printed, and ask for a figure where it is not.

Note where each included meal falls, because a dinner at a remote camp is worth more than one in a city. Then put the food number next to the tour price before you decide which trip is cheaper.