The arithmetic
When a private tour becomes the cheaper one
Every listing quotes a per-person price, and for two travellers that is nearly the whole story. Add children and one number stays still while the other falls. Here is exactly where they cross.
| Party size | Private, per head | Shared, per head | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $149 | $85 | 75% dearer |
| 3 | $99 | $85 | 17% dearer |
| 4they cross here | $74 | $85 | 12% cheaper |
| 5 | $60 | $85 | 30% cheaper |
| 6 | $50 | $85 | 42% cheaper |
| 8 | $37 | $85 | 56% cheaper |
Median advertised from-prices across 67 per-group and 650 per-person experiences, from the 717 we count across 5 cities. Medians rather than averages, so a handful of private charters cannot decide the story. Refreshed daily.
Two medians drawn from different sets of tours cannot be compared to the last dollar, which is why we say a private tour costs about the same at five rather than exactly the same. The direction is the finding, and it is unambiguous: the gap closes as the party grows, crosses at five, and keeps widening after that.
Why the two behave differently
A per-person price multiplies by everyone you bring, so the cost per head never moves — $85 each whether you are two or eight. A per-group price attaches to the booking itself, so the same $298 splits further with every person added: $149 each for two, $60 each for five, $37 each for eight.
The industry prices, photographs and advertises for two travellers, so the point where this flips is never mentioned. It happens to be exactly the party size that makes a family stop fitting anywhere else.
What this does not mean
- Not that private is always better. Below five people it is straightforwardly worse — 75% dearer per head for a couple. The claim is about a crossing point, not a winner.
- Not that these are the same product. A private guide and a coach tour differ in more than price. What the table says is that at five the price stops being the reason to choose the coach.
- Not a quote. These are operators’ advertised from-prices, medians across a large sample. Your dates, your children’s fare bands and your exact party all move the real number, which Viator confirms at checkout.
How to use it
Enter your family once and every card on the site prices itself for them — per-group experiences showing the total and the per-head split, per-person experiences showing the multiplication. The one-price filter on any city page narrows to the experiences where this arithmetic applies, and the methodology sets out how the figures are computed.