If you are looking for an alternative to EF Tours for a school trip, Landmark Educational Tours is a 100% employee-owned educational travel company that builds every trip privately for one group — your school only, your itinerary, your dates — across domestic and international destinations.
Teachers shop for alternatives for ordinary reasons: a district that requires competing quotes, a group that wants its own departure rather than a combined one, a first-time organizer who wants more hand-holding, or simply a second number to put beside the first. EF Educational Tours is one of the largest and best-known educational travel companies in the world, and searches for EF Tours competitors or for companies like EF Tours are usually a trip organizer doing their due diligence rather than anyone being at fault. We wrote the same comparison for schools shopping against WorldStrides, and the questions worth asking are the same either way.
This page sets out what Landmark does, what it costs, what is included, where it runs trips, and the questions worth asking any operator before you sign — particularly for a trip that leaves the country. You can request a quote at no cost and no obligation, and planning stays free until you agree to proceed.
Landmark Educational Tours at a Glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | Landmark Educational Tours, 1 Central Street, Suite 205, Middleton, Massachusetts |
| Ownership | 100% employee-owned |
| Experience | 20+ years in educational travel, with 16 travel experts on staff and former classroom teachers among them |
| Trip type | Private group tours only — your group is never merged with another school’s |
| Itinerary | Built for your group from your dates, destination and curriculum rather than chosen from a catalog |
| On the trip | A Tour Director assigned exclusively to your group; on international programs a US-based Director travels with you and is joined by a local Director on the ground |
| Support | A team member reachable around the clock, across time zones, before, during and after |
| Accreditations | SYTA, American Bus Association, Better Business Bureau and IATA |
| Group size | Around ten travelers is the usual industry threshold for group rates |
| Typical cost | $300 to $400+ per traveler per day depending on package inclusions, or about $1,200 to $3,500+ in total for an all-inclusive package. Airfare is an additional variable cost. |
| Cost to explore | Nothing. Planning, a custom itinerary and a written quote are free until you agree to proceed. |
Private Group or Combined Departure: the Difference That Matters Most
This is the structural distinction behind most searches for an alternative, and it is worth understanding before comparing prices, because it changes what you are buying. It is also the question behind most searches for the best student tour company for a particular destination.
Large-scale operators frequently run combined departures: several schools travel the same published itinerary on the same dates, which is what makes the model efficient and the price competitive. Landmark runs private groups only. Your group travels alone, the itinerary is built for you, and your Tour Director is assigned to your group for the whole trip and to no one else.
Neither model is wrong. A combined departure can be excellent value and is a perfectly good way to travel. But they are different products, and the differences show up in specific places — who else is on your coach, whether you can change the itinerary after it is written, what happens when your group wants to stay longer somewhere, and who the Tour Director answers to when two groups want different things at the same moment.
If customization is your main reason for shopping, what it actually means when a company says it customizes is the more detailed version of this question.
What Changes When the Trip Leaves the Country
EF is best known for international travel, so most people arriving on this page are weighing an overseas trip. International adds four things a domestic trip does not have, and they are where operators differ most.
Group air
Moving forty travelers on one itinerary is a different transaction from booking forty seats. Landmark holds IATA accreditation, which is the industry licensing for secure group air ticketing, and books and manages group air, airport transfers and every connection so the group moves as one unit. Airfare itself is quoted separately from the per-day trip cost because it moves with your departure city and your dates.
Two Tour Directors rather than one
On international programs a US-based Landmark Tour Director travels with the group from departure, and a local Tour Director joins on the ground. The first gives you continuity and someone who knows your school; the second gives you language, local knowledge and the ability to solve a problem in the country you are actually in. Worth asking any operator which of those two you are getting, because many provide one or the other.
Time zones
When something happens at 2am in Rome it is 8pm at home, and a parent will be awake. Landmark keeps a team member reachable around the clock across time zones for the whole trip. Ask any operator what their overnight coverage actually is — not whether there is an emergency line, but who answers it and where they are.
Documents
Passports are the constraint that catches international groups, not flights or hotels. Thirty families completing a government process is the reason international trips are booked twelve months out rather than six. Booking early covers what else that protects.
The Questions Worth Asking Any Operator
Ask these of Landmark and of anyone else you are considering. The value is in comparing the answers, and a good operator will not mind being asked.
| Question | What you are listening for |
|---|---|
| Is my group traveling alone or combined with other schools? | A direct yes or no, not “it depends on the season” |
| Is my Tour Director assigned only to my group? | Whether they are dedicated to you or shared, and whether they are staff or contracted |
| Can we change the itinerary after it is written? | What specifically can change, and by when |
| What exactly is in the per-student price? | An itemized list, in writing — meals, admissions, gratuities and transport all stated |
| What is quoted separately? | Airfare and anything else, named up front rather than discovered later |
| Who answers the phone at 2am overseas? | A person and a location, not just the existence of a hotline |
| What are your accreditations? | Names you can verify yourself — SYTA, ABA, BBB, IATA |
| What is the deposit, and when is final payment due? | Specific amounts and dates, set out in the written agreement before you sign |
| What happens if a student has to cancel? | A refund schedule tied to how close to departure it happens, in writing |
| What trip protection is available, and what does it cover? | What is covered, what it costs and when it has to be bought — read the plan itself, not the summary |
| What does it cost to get a full quote? | Nothing, from a reputable operator |
The last three matter more than teachers expect, because they are the ones that surface only when something goes wrong — a student who cannot travel, a family whose circumstances change. Landmark sets deposit amounts, the payment schedule and the terms in a written trip agreement before you commit, and student travel protection plans covers what coverage generally does and does not include. Our FAQ page answers most of these in Landmark’s own words, and how to choose a reliable student travel agency goes further into due diligence.
What Is Included in a Landmark Trip
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Transportation | Motorcoach throughout; on international trips, group air, airport transfers and every connection booked and managed by Landmark |
| Accommodation | Student-appropriate hotels. Students in quads and adult chaperones in singles by default, adjustable to your budget |
| Meals | Per your itinerary, with dietary restrictions collected through the traveler portal and passed to restaurants in advance |
| Admissions | Every scheduled site on your itinerary, booked ahead |
| Tour Director | Assigned exclusively to your group for the whole trip |
| Payment handling | Landmark’s own portal, with families paying individually through Stripe, or a school check if the organizer prefers |
| Quoted separately | Airfare, gratuities for your Tour Director and any step-on guides, and personal spending |
The full picture is in what is included in a school trip package. The line most often missed when comparing quotes is gratuities for the Tour Director and step-on guides, which are not included and should be budgeted separately.
What a Landmark Trip Costs
On average, Landmark’s fully inclusive trips run $300 to $400+ per traveler per day depending on package inclusions, or about $1,200 to $3,500+ in total for an all-inclusive package. Airfare is an additional variable cost.
| Trip length | Typical cost per traveler | Usual shape |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days | $900 to $1,200+ | A focused domestic trip within driving distance |
| 4 days | $1,200 to $1,600+ | The most common domestic length |
| 5 days | $1,500 to $2,000+ | A thorough domestic trip, or a long way from home |
| 6 to 7 days | $1,800 to $2,800+ | International programs, before airfare |
Those figures apply the daily rate to each length and exclude airfare. When you compare two quotes, compare what is inside them rather than the headline — trip length, how many students share a room, how many meals are covered, and whether gratuities and admissions are in or out. Two numbers that look far apart often are not. What a school trip costs and what a four-day trip costs break the drivers down.
Where Landmark Runs Trips
| Region | Where |
|---|---|
| United States | Washington DC, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Atlanta, Chicago, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, San Antonio, Orlando, Los Angeles, Seattle, New Mexico, Colorado, Hawaii, Mackinac Island and Yellowstone |
| Canada | Quebec City and Montreal |
| Europe | England, France, Ireland, Italy and Norway |
| Asia | Japan and South Korea |
| Central America | Costa Rica |
Our Europe programs, Quebec City and Costa Rica pages show what an international itinerary looks like day by day. Browse the full list on our destinations page, or by subject on themed programs. Our team has explored 48+ countries between them, which is generally how a trip to somewhere not on that list gets built.
Credentials You Can Check Yourself
On a page comparing a smaller company against a much larger one, this section matters more than any claim we could make about ourselves. Do not take any operator’s word for it, including ours. Landmark is a member of the Student & Youth Travel Association, the American Bus Association, holds Better Business Bureau accreditation and IATA accreditation for group air ticketing. Landmark is also an approved vendor for districts including Broward County Public Schools and the New York City Department of Education, which is a form of vetting a school can weigh directly — those districts run their own procurement and insurance checks before a vendor is approved, so the approval is independent of anything we say here.
All of it is listed on our accreditations and certifications page, and each body can be checked independently. Our approach to student safety is on travel safety and support.
What groups say afterwards
Accreditations tell you a company meets a standard. They do not tell you what the week was actually like for the teacher running it. Our testimonials page collects what groups have said after traveling with us, and it is worth reading alongside the credentials rather than instead of them — and worth asking any operator you are considering for references from schools of a similar size to yours.
Who Landmark Is a Good Fit For — and Who It Is Not
Being honest about this saves everyone a call.
- A good fit when you want your own group rather than a combined departure, when the itinerary needs to serve a specific course, when it is a first trip and you want more guidance, or when you want one company handling air, ground, hotels and payments.
- A good fit when your district requires competing written quotes, because ours costs nothing and is itemized.
- Less of a fit if the lowest possible headline price is the only criterion. A private group carries costs a combined departure spreads across several schools, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
- Less of a fit if you want to book a fixed published itinerary off a website today. Landmark builds each trip in conversation, which takes longer at the start and is the point of the model.
- Less of a fit for a very small group, since around ten travelers is the usual threshold for group rates.
How to Switch Without Losing Time
Teachers often assume that changing providers mid-planning means starting again. Usually it does not.
Bring whatever you already have. A Travel Consultant can quote against it directly, and because planning is free until you proceed, you can hold a real second number beside your first without committing to anything.
- The destination, and your dates or a rough window.
- An approximate passenger breakdown — students, teachers and chaperones. It does not have to be final.
- Any itinerary you were already given, which makes a like-for-like comparison much faster.
- Your district’s chaperone ratio, since it sets your bed count and therefore your price. How many chaperones you need covers it.
- Your board’s meeting date, which is often the real deadline rather than the departure date.
Check your existing agreement for its own terms before you cancel anything, which is between you and that provider.
If you have not started at all, how to start planning a student trip is the earlier step.
Who Is Landmark Educational Tours?
Landmark Educational Tours is a 100% employee-owned educational travel company based at 1 Central Street, Suite 205, Middleton, Massachusetts, with more than twenty years in student travel and sixteen travel experts on staff, including former classroom teachers who build the curriculum side of the itineraries.
Every trip is private and built for one group. Every traveling group has a Tour Director assigned to it alone, and on international programs a US-based Director travels with the group and a local Director joins on the ground. Planning, a custom itinerary and a written quote are free until you agree to proceed. More is on our about page.
Tell us your destination, your dates or a rough window, your grade level and roughly how many travelers, and we will send an itemized written quote you can set beside any other. Request a quote or contact us to start.
