Active Group Adventures Bring Friends Together

Published on May 19, 2026

By Molly Waldstein, Travel Writer

If there’s one thing we know for sure at VBT| Country Walkers, it’s that travel is more fun when you do it with friends. Active adventures are a wonderful way to strengthen the bonds of friendship—and even forge new ones.

If there’s one thing we know for sure at VBT | Country Walkers, it’s that travel is more fun when you do it with friends. As a matter of fact, the more the merrier! And if you happen to have a wide social circle of active friends, like active adventure enthusiast Mark Yoder, you might discover that a VBT | Country Walkers private group departure is just the thing to bring all your besties together for the vacation of a lifetime. “My wife and I are both quite active,” says Mark. “And we've been doing more and more active vacation traveling with VBT | Country Walkers. We have a great group of friends who are also quite active, and we started to expand some of our trips to include our friends. It’s a lot of fun to share those experiences with them.” Active adventures are a wonderful way to strengthen the bonds of friendship—and even forge new ones.

VBT | Country Walkers Makes it Easy

If putting together a group adventure seems like a daunting task, think again. “VBT | Country Walkers has some fantastic trips that are just perfect,” says Mark. “Plus, they take care of all the planning—including finding local experts that really know the area. And that makes it easy for me because I don’t have to do all the planning myself. I can have VBT | Country Walkers help with it.” Organizing a group is easy with VBT | Country Walkers—with dedicated group managers to help organize your departure and answer your questions, planning a group walking adventure couldn’t be easier. When your friends are ready to sign up, they can simply call VBT | Country Walkers directly—so you don’t have to worry about collecting money or handling rooming lists. “It's not challenging to plan a group when you go with an organized tour from VBT | Country Walkers,” Mark explains. “They've got the itinerary already planned, and they'll do your airline flights for you. My other guests work directly with VBT | Country Walkers to arrange the air travel that works for them—so I don't have to do any of that. All that's left for me to do is to put the word out to our friends and say hey, we're going to do this tour on this date. If you'd like to join us, give VBT | Country Walkers a call and tell them you’d like to be part of our group. VBT | Country Walkers handles the rest.” With VBT | Country Walkers in your corner, you don’t have to worry about managing logistics for your group members When you have a diverse group of friends with different levels of ability on the hiking trial, it’s not always easy to find a destination that suits everyone. “When planning group travel, sometimes you've got to go with the lowest common denominator in terms of ability,” observes Mark. “The VBT | Country Walkers itineraries really match our group capabilities in terms of hiking challenge. That gives us many different itineraries to pick from that will be comfortable for our group.” As an added bonus, many VBT | Country Walkers adventures have extra walks optionally available—so your more active group members can challenge themselves to some extra miles when the rest of the group is relaxing by the pool. On the other hand, relaxing by the pool is also a favorite activity! “One of the fun things that we've gotten into the habit of doing after a long day of hiking is heading to the pool as a group,” says Mark. “We'll have a beverage out there at the pool while we cool our feet down after a long day of hiking. We’ll all be laying back with a cold drink, soaking in the pool, just socializing. And that that is a really pleasant time.” Whether a cool beverage by the pool is your preferred activity, or perhaps adding in some extra miles and a scenic vista, the choice is yours!

More Than a Just Walk; It’s an Experience

So, what makes a VBT | Country Walkers vacation stand out from the pack? It’s our deep insider knowledge of the regions where we travel—allowing us to bring you exceptional experiences you won’t find on your own. “For my groups, the most important factors are the destination and the experience that they're going to have,” Mark explains. “We really enjoy the pop-up experiences—like the time we were hiking in Italy and stopped at a farm where they make grappa. The farmer had a beautiful patio where we sat down and tasted the grappa—he had six different flavors to try. The goats and cows and chickens were all around us and we had a great time sampling grappa and taking a little breather before getting back on the trail.” Our local Trip Leaders live in the region where they lead—and this makes a huge difference as they’re showing you around trails and villages that they know so well from their daily lives. “When we were hiking the Amalfi Coast, our Trip Leader was born and raised right in the same area,” recalls Mark. “And here we are on a hike and we're coming through a little village and there's a little old lady walking on one of the small cobblestone streets. Our guide goes up to her and you can tell she’s like a grandmother to him. She doesn't speak any English, but you could tell that she was praising him in the same way a grandmother would praise her grandson. And so that was so touching for us to see that relationship that our guide had with the locals. He’s literally showing us his hometown. Having guides that are truly connected to the destination we're hiking through really enhances our enjoyment of those trips.” If you and your friends are looking for an active travel experience with worry-free logistics, included airfare, and exceptional local experiences, why not give VBT | Country Walkers a try? Visit our Groups information page, or call our Groups Managers at 1.866.960.7546 extension 7 to learn more.