Viator vs. GetYourGuide: Which Is Better for Booking Tours? An Honest Review
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Trying to decide between Viator and GetYourGuide before your next trip? I’ve spent five years booking through both, and the answer isn’t as simple as ‘one is better.’
When I started planning my travels back in 2006, I wasn’t even aware there were online marketplaces for booking tour guides, excursions, activities, and tickets to tourist attractions.
I assumed they’d be more expensive than buying tickets directly; however, with more people traveling these days, pre-booking is nearly essential, and sometimes marketplaces are the only way to find tickets (I found this out the hard way when I nearly missed David in Florence because I didn’t book ahead).
In this Viator vs GetYourGuide review, I’ll cover how I’ve used nearly 60 tours to experience new places—from skip-the-line passes at the Acropolis to sailboat tours of Belize’s barrier reef.
Whether you’re booking your first guided tour or trying to decide which platform gives you more bang for your buck, I’ll walk you through how to compare pricing, how responsive customer support was when my cousin was injured in San Ignacio, or my ticketing issue in Istanbul, and their overall variety of experiences.
By the end, you’ll know exactly which platform to use and when.
| Viator | GetYourGuide | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ✅ Very easy | ✅ Very easy |
| Tour Variety | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent |
| Pricing | Similar – sometimes slightly higher | Similar – sometimes slightly cheaper |
| Free Cancellation | ✅ On most listings | ✅ On most listings |
| Customer Service | ✅ Responsive | ✅✅ Strong & responsive |
| Solo-Friendly? | Minimum requirements listed | Minimum requirements listed |
| Best For | Unique tours | Tours, tickets, and passes |
Now for the honest pros and cons side by side:
| ✅ Viator Pros | ✅ GetYourGuide Pros |
| – Backed by Tripadvisor’s review system – Lists some tours not available elsewhere | – Sometimes cheaper than Viator for the same tour – Great for tours, skip-the-line tickets, and sightseeing passes |
| ❌ Viator Cons | ❌ GetYourGuide Cons |
| – Can be slightly pricier on some tours – Less variety in experiences (not many sightseeing passes or skip-the-line) | – Sometimes it doesn’t offer just tickets (adds on extras you may not need such as transportation or additional experiences) |
GetYourGuide Review
Let’s start with GetYourGuide, since it tends to appear first in search results, and many travelers (myself included) use it as their default booking platform when planning their trips.
It’s certainly mine as I’ve booked nearly 50 experiences with them!
My Experience
I’ve used GetYourGuide to book tours since 2020 across multiple European, North American, and Asian destinations.
I primarily purchase skip-the-line tickets, food tours, boat tours, walking tours, sightseeing passes, and day trips.
GYG has been my go-to when I’m looking for something a little more affordable, time-saving, or when I’ve found a specific activity or attraction that Viator doesn’t list, which is surprisingly often, as I link to a lot of ticket options on this site and don’t often find them there.
My actual on-the-ground experiences have been excellent. The tours themselves have delivered. And that time when my cousin got injured, I received the support I needed.
Ease of Use
GetYourGuide’s interface is genuinely easy to use.
You can search by destination, start time, places, interests, price, languages, duration, features (small group, wheelchair accessible), rating, or browse by category (for kids, night tours, day trips, food & drink).
Availability calendars are clear, group size selection is straightforward, and booking confirmations arrive quickly via email.
If you’ve ever booked anything online, you’ll have no trouble navigating it.
One note I will make, however, as I’ve seen it recently when updating my 2-day Athens itinerary, is that some attractions offer only the tour, not the entrance ticket. I’ve seen this a lot with the Acropolis lately, so if it looks like a really good deal, double-check what you’re actually getting.
The mobile app works well, too, and offers offline access to tickets and an “Add to Wallet” option, which matters when you’re trying to pull up a ticket on your phone at the entrance to a museum and there’s little to no Wi-Fi.
There’s also a “New Event” button that allows you to create a calendar reminder.
Variety of Experiences
This is one of GetYourGuide’s genuine strengths. Their inventory is huge!
Whether you’re in Paris, Mexico City, San Pedro, or Krabi, you’ll find a solid selection of tours, from the obvious (The Louvre skip-the-line, Venice gondola rides) to the more interesting (Budapest’s Sparty, Krakow’s Auschwitz-Birkenau and Salt Mine tour, Amsterdam’s Red Light District Tour, Mexico City’s Tacos & Mezcal Night Food Tour).
Where GetYourGuide sometimes edges out Viator is in the variety of experiences; I can get everything from a Matterhorn cogwheel train ticket to a steal on Athens’ top attractions.
That said, you’ll notice a lot on their platform. Search for anything popular in Rome or Barcelona, and you’ll get hundreds of listings. The filtering helps, but it can still feel overwhelming.
Worth looking for: The ‘Certified by GetYourGuide’ badge. This indicates a tour, activity, or attraction has been vetted, reviewed, and approved by GYG for quality and reliability.
Price & Value
GetYourGuide is a third-party marketplace, which means prices are typically slightly higher than booking directly.
In my experience, the markup is usually a small fee and worth paying for the convenience, the review system, and the cancellation protection.
Compared to Viator, prices are often similar, but GetYourGuide often wins. When linking tickets for you on this blog, I research who has the cheapest offering, and 9/10 times it’s GetYourGuide.
However, it’s always worth checking both before you commit, and I’ll walk you through how to do that efficiently in the comparison section below.
Quality of Experiences
GetYourGuide doesn’t control quality. It’s a marketplace.
The tours are run by independent operators, and the experience you have depends entirely on which one you book.
I’ve booked wonderful tours through GYG and read reviews in advance, so I’m doubling down on my chances of having a great experience.
My vetting process before booking through GYG: Read the most recent reviews, not just the overall score. Look for reviews that mention the guide specifically. Check when the most recent review was left, as a tour with 500 reviews, but nothing in the last six months is a red flag. If in doubt, Google the operator’s name to find independent reviews outside the platform.
Customer Service
My cousin suddenly got injured during our trip to San Ignacio, Belize.
This isn’t something we could have foreseen, so I’m thrilled with how GYG handled the situation.
While abroad, I didn’t want to pay to call, and I was glad I could reach someone within seconds through the app’s support system.
Typically on their site they list “Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund,” but this was less than 24 hours and they still gave me a full refund without going through hoops.
They said it would be in my account within 3-5 business days, but it was even sooner, 1-2 tops! Which made me feel good as I was able to swiftly return the money to my cousin.
I also had an issue in Istanbul, Turkey, where the instructions for the attraction stated I’d receive a separate email. It didn’t arrive, so I reached out. They checked and confirmed it hadn’t been sent. They then called the provider and eventually directed me to the voucher I could use to enter.
GetYourGuide Verdict: A genuinely useful platform with a great inventory and an easy booking experience. Best used when you’re looking for tours, tickets, and sightseeing passes, or when GYG has a better price than Viator. Just vet your tour carefully before booking.
Viator Review
Viator is my secondary tour booking platform, and has been for the past couple of years.
It’s owned by Tripadvisor, which provides it with review credibility.
I’ve only booked fewer than 10 experiences through them, mostly because their 1:1 tours tend to be more expensive than GYG’s and because their offerings are limited.
But I’ve kept coming back to test it!
My Experience
I’ve booked Viator tours all across Europe, North America, and Asia—Stratford-upon-Avon walking tour, floating market tours in Bangkok, reindeer farm visits in Finland, and ATM Cave tours outside San Ignacio since 2022.
I primarily purchase experiences I can’t find on GYG, or in the off chance Viator is cheaper.
My experiences have been consistently reliable. Not every single tour has blown me away, but the booking process and communication have been solid.
Ease of Use
Viator’s interface is clean, intuitive, and well-filtered.
You can search by destination, tour type (day trips, bus tours, walking tours, cruises & sailing), duration, price range, rating, specials (likely to sell out, skip-the-line), and time of day, which is handy when you’re working around a specific itinerary.
Booking is fast, confirmation is instant, and the app is reliable.
Like GYG, it also offers offline ticket access and an “Add to Apple Wallet” option. Viator also has a PDF download option.
Variety of Experiences
As massive as Viator is, I sometimes struggle to find attractions on it, and when I do, they’re often more expensive.
Take, for example, Barcelona Cathedral; its official site has tickets for $18.86.
GYG has it for $23, while Viator has it for $30.
I can’t see anything in their descriptions that accounts for the $7 difference.
The Viator option is also listed as “Lowest Price Guarantee,” so be wary, as that only applies across their site, not the whole WWW.
However, I do find some activities I can’t find on GYG, such as a sailboat tour of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize.
On GYG, I could only find speedboat tours, and the sailboat my cousin requested wound up being a 100% more relaxing than flying around the open seas.
Price & Value
Sometimes Viator is better priced, but more often than not, I find the same tour slightly cheaper on GetYourGuide.
However, Viator frequently offers deals and last-minute availability discounts, so it’s worth checking if you’re flexible on timing.
For the most popular attractions, book early. Skip-the-line tickets for places like the Alhambra, the Colosseum, or Versailles sell out weeks in advance, and Viator’s inventory goes fast.
Don’t leave it until the day before and expect to find something good, it’s why booking ahead is one of my essential things to do before traveling!
Quality of Experiences
Viator, like GYG, is a marketplace, so quality ultimately depends on the individual operator.
But TripAdvisor’s review system gives Viator a significant edge here, as it pairs two companies with decades of trusted experience and reviews.
Reviews are harder to game, more comprehensive, and more trusted than on other platforms.
You can read recent feedback, see photos from real travelers, and get a much clearer sense of what you’re actually booking.
Specifically looking out for mentions of the guide, punctuality, and whether the tour matched its description.
Customer Service
For the tours I had to cancel in San Ignacio when my cousin was injured, I reached out directly to the tour provider, as the ATM cave activity had already been moved once due to weather, so I already had an open chat on WhatsApp with them.
However, I looked through their app to see if I could open a chat, as I did with GYG in this situation, but I only found “Live Chat” in the tour options, not on their support page, which states it is available at the bottom.
While I’m glad it’s available, it should also be easy to find on their support pages.
Regarding the Istanbul instance where I needed the voucher, Viator advised reaching out to the tour provider, but since they weren’t responding in this situation, that wouldn’t have helped.
Viator Verdict: My second-choice platform for booking tours and experiences. The inventory is okay, customer service is moderate, but the review system is trustworthy. Slightly pricier than GYG, but a good pick if in a pinch.
How to Compare Deals Using Google
Most travelers pick one platform and stick with it.
But taking five minutes to comparison shop can save you a meaningful amount of money, especially on day tours or bucket-list experiences, so here are some quick ways to do it.
Option 1: Search the Tour Name Directly
When you find a tour you like on either GYG or Viator, copy the exact tour name and paste it into Google.
You’ll frequently find the same tour listed on the other platform, sometimes at a different price.
This takes about 30 seconds and can save you real money.
Option 2: Find the Operator’s Own Website
Many tour operators list on both GYG and Viator but also sell directly through their own site.
Booking direct is usually 10–20% cheaper because the operator isn’t paying platform commission.
The downside is that you’ll likely lose the buyer protection and potentially the free cancellation terms.
Whether that trade-off is worth it depends on the tour and your risk tolerance.
For a cheap walking tour? Fine. For a €150 full-day experience? I’d stick with a platform.
Option 3: Use Google’s Ticket Feature
This is the fastest way to compare prices across platforms in one go.
Search “[Attraction name] tickets” in Google.
For popular experiences, Google will now surface a ‘Tickets’ button in business listings from multiple platforms—including Viator and GYG—alongside prices.
There’s also a section lower down titled ‘Admission’ that links to the same information.
Option 4: Check Whether a Promo Code Exists
Both Viator and GetYourGuide run promotions periodically, and first-time user discounts exist on both platforms.
A quick Google search for “GetYourGuide promo code” or “Viator discount code” plus the current year is worth doing before any larger booking.
The savings aren’t always huge, but 10–15% off a €100 tour is €10–15 back in your pocket. Worth two minutes of your time!
Final Verdict: Viator vs GetYourGuide
My overall verdict: GetYourGuide is the safer, more reliable choice, especially for budget travelers who need to know there’s solid customer support behind their booking in case of any trouble.
Viator is a worthy second option with a satisfactory inventory and occasionally better pricing, but its customer service is a real concern.
The smartest approach is to use both! Start with GetYourGuide, cross-check on Viator, use Google to find the best deal, and book wherever gives you the best combination of price and peace of mind.
Related Travel Planning Guides
- How to Plan an International Trip on a Budget: My Step-by-Step Guide
- How to Use Google Maps to Plan a Trip in 9 Simple Steps
- 44 Things to Do Before Traveling Internationally + My Free Pre-Trip Checklist
- Looking for a Travel Companion? Best Questions to Ask Before Your Next Trip
- Viator vs. GetYourGuide: Which Is Better for Booking Tours? An Honest Review
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Your article is based for the end consumer and very accurate. For the vendor, I can attest that GYG is not an easy company to deal with. Their customer service is close to non-existent only providing cut and past short answers that don’t resolve the problem but enough to provide just enough information informing the vendor that it’s their “policy”. They are rigid in their business practices and simply don’t have the time for little vendors like me. I will also mention that because of their stance on a recent issue with them, we have raised our prices just for GYG sales. This is the only way, we can justify their absurd fees and lack of concern.
Hey Noel, thanks for sharing your experience. You’re right. I wrote this from my consumer-side experience. I’m sorry that’s been your experience with them, and I hope they address it, not only for you but for other vendors as well. Especially, as I find it to be a great platform overall for travelers like me to find things to do.