What is the difference between a tour and a list of places?

A list of places is judged place by place. A tour is judged by what happens between the places: its shape (order of stages, arrival and departure gateways), its rhythm (full days, days with no plan, repetitions) and its nights per stage.

How do you count the nights per stage of a tour?

By zone, not by bed. A stage is named by the zone you visit there, then by the place where you sleep. Across the operator itineraries that we counted, a different lodging about every day and a half, which does not stop you staying more than two nights in a row in the same zone.

What is the rhythm of a tour?

The alternation of full days and days with no plan, and the variety of what you see. Any run of more than seven full days in a row is a signal (a threshold of the engine, set per traveller).

A tour is not a list of places

A tour is not a list of places: shape, rhythm, nights per stage

By Matthieu Silbermann

In one sentence

A list of places is judged place by place; a tour is judged by what happens between the places: the shape of the route (order of stages, arrival and departure gateways), the rhythm of the days, and the number of nights at each stage, counted by zone and not by bed.

A list of places is judged place by place. A tour is judged by what happens between the places: the shape of the route, the rhythm of the days, the number of nights at each stage.

This study gives those three benchmarks, with the definitions we use. It contains no catalogue.

Shape

Shape is the order of the stages and the arrival and departure gateways. It fixes where the tour begins and where it ends, and therefore what is left to drive in between. Two tours that contain the same places, in a different order or with a different way out, are two different tours.

Legs are part of the shape: real distance and time, feasibility, stops and detours. Each one is a task of the work done by hand, as how long to build a tour itinerary sets out.

Rhythm

Rhythm is the alternation of full days and days with no plan, and the variety of what you see.

Full days in a row. Any run of more than seven is a signal (a threshold of the engine, set per traveller). Is your itinerary too packed sets out this count, and the day with no plan gives the definition.
Stops that look alike. That is register saturation: the unrequested repetition of one kind of experience.

Nights per stage

A stage is not a lodging. It is named by the zone you visit there, then by the place where you sleep: see stage or lodging.

Counting nights by zone, not by bed, changes the diagnosis. Across the operator itineraries that we counted, we found a different lodging about every day and a half; that does not stop you staying more than two nights in a row in the same zone. Eleven hotels in twenty nights sets out this count. The number of nights per stage is therefore a design decision, imposed by the map or chosen, and not a result of chance.

Why the list misleads

A programme that ticks twelve places looks more generous than one that ticks six. The list says nothing about shape, rhythm or nights: that is what a reviewed tour shows. The checks of a review are in how to check a tour itinerary.

See the result

Two published itineraries show what a shape, a rhythm and nights give, with their choices explained: Scotland and Stockholm. If you want to see what the engine would say about one of your tours, that is the feasibility check, in beta.

To learn to read that report, see Reading a feasibility check; for what the engine proposes when the shape of a tour does not hold, see the corrected variant.

If you want to talk it through

The beta form on /pro puts you on the list, or you can ask for a demonstration.

What we do not know

Shape, rhythm and nights per stage are our way of cutting it. Another cut might count more.

The thresholds cited are parameters of the engine, set per traveller, not rules.

We do not say what makes a good tour for your clientele. These benchmarks say how to read one, not what to put in it.

Three benchmarks: method definitions. Observations: operator itineraries, counted night by night.

A benchmark looks wrong to you? Write to us — corrections are published.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a tour and a list of places?: A list of places is judged place by place. A tour is judged by what happens between the places: its shape (order of stages, arrival and departure gateways), its rhythm (full days, days with no plan, repetitions) and its nights per stage.
How do you count the nights per stage of a tour?: By zone, not by bed. A stage is named by the zone you visit there, then by the place where you sleep. Across the operator itineraries that we counted, a different lodging about every day and a half, which does not stop you staying more than two nights in a row in the same zone.
What is the rhythm of a tour?: The alternation of full days and days with no plan, and the variety of what you see. Any run of more than seven full days in a row is a signal (a threshold of the engine, set per traveller).

Method — The three benchmarks (shape, rhythm, nights per stage) are method definitions. The observations cited come from operator itineraries, counted night by night; the thresholds are parameters of the engine, set per traveller.