A fully inclusive private school field trip with Landmark Educational Tours runs roughly $300 to $400+ per traveler per day — per student, in other words — or about $1,200 to $3,500+ in total for an all-inclusive package, depending on what the package includes. Airfare, where a trip needs it, is quoted separately as a variable cost.
That is the number. What follows is what sits behind it — what the per-day figure actually covers, why the total range is as wide as it is, why airfare is quoted on its own, and the things specific to independent, faith-based and prep schools that change the math.
Private school field trip costs at a glance
- Per student, per day — $300 to $400+, fully inclusive.
- Total, all-inclusive package — about $1,200 to $3,500+.
- Airfare — quoted separately, and variable by origin and date.
- What moves the number most — trip length, then how many students share a room, then group size.
- What is included — transportation, hotels, meals, admissions, a Tour Director, travel protection and student gear.
- How families pay — individually, through an online portal, on a monthly schedule.
- Quotes — free, itemized, and with no hold on your dates until you say so.
- Trip types — multi-day overnight programs. See where groups are going.
Day trips versus multi-day trips
“Field trip” covers two quite different things, and the figures above describe one of them.
A local day trip — a morning at a museum, an afternoon at a historic site, a coach out and back the same day — is a different kind of budget entirely. Most schools arrange those directly with the venue and a local bus company, and the cost per student is a fraction of an overnight program.
What Landmark builds — across every destination we run — is the multi-day, overnight trip: a group traveling to a destination, staying several nights, with the whole week planned and staffed. That is what the $300 to $400+ per student per day figure describes, and it is why the total range starts around $1,200 rather than at a day-trip number. If what you need is a single-day local outing, a tour operator is not the right tool for it — and we would tell you that on the call rather than quote you for something you do not need.
What the per-day figure covers
The $300 to $400+ per traveler per day range is a fully inclusive figure, not a base fare with the trip sold back to you in pieces. On a Landmark trip it covers:
- Transportation — getting the group there and moving it every day, by motorcoach, rail or local transit as the itinerary needs.
- Hotel accommodation — student-appropriate hotels with overnight security, for every night of the trip.
- Meals — as set out in your itinerary, named by meal and by day.
- Sites and attractions — admission to every stop on the schedule.
- A Landmark Tour Director — traveling with your group for the whole trip.
- Travel protection — included rather than sold as a checkout upgrade.
- Student gear — a string bag, reusable water bottle and safety bracelet for every student.
The spread between $300 and $400+ is mostly about how much is inside the package. A trip with every meal covered, more ticketed attractions and a city-centre hotel sits at the upper end. One with a lighter meal plan and a hotel slightly further out sits at the lower end. The full breakdown, including what falls outside a package, is in what is included in a school trip package.
Why the total range is so wide
The $1,200 to $3,500+ total range looks broad because it is covering very different trips. Four things account for nearly all of it:
- Trip length. The single largest factor, and the reason the range spans what it does. A short regional trip and a week-long program are the same daily rate applied across very different numbers of days.
- Room occupancy. Four students to a room rather than two changes the lodging share substantially. Quads are standard on student trips, and a quote built on doubles will always read higher.
- Group size. A motorcoach and a Tour Director cost roughly the same whether thirty students travel or fifty, so fixed costs divide across more people as the group grows. Recruiting ten more students usually lowers the per-student figure for everyone already signed up.
- Destination and distance. How far the group travels, and what the destination itself costs once you arrive — compare Washington, DC and New York City, which price differently for the same length of trip.
Teacher tip: tell your Travel Consultant the per-student number your families can carry before an itinerary is built. It is far more efficient to design a trip toward a budget than to design one and negotiate backward from it.
Why airfare is quoted separately
Airfare is the one component that cannot be given a reliable range in advance, which is why it sits outside the per-day figure rather than being buried inside an average that would be wrong for most groups.
What it costs depends on where your school is, where you are going, how far ahead you book and what the market is doing on your dates. A group flying from the Northeast to Washington and a group flying from the West Coast to Europe are not comparable, and quoting a single blended number would mislead both. Landmark holds IATA accreditation (code 22576046) for licensed group air ticketing, so flights are booked and priced properly for your specific group rather than estimated.
For drive-market trips — most domestic itineraries within reach of a motorcoach — there is no airfare line at all, and the per-day figure is the whole picture.
What is different about a private school trip
Independent, faith-based and prep schools tend to plan differently from public districts, and it changes both the trip and the budget.
- The calendar is more flexible. Without a district-wide testing calendar to work around, private schools can often travel in shoulder weeks — early March, late spring, the first half of June — where availability is better. That is the single easiest way to move a quote.
- Groups are frequently smaller. A grade of twenty-five travels differently from a grade of a hundred and fifty. Smaller groups carry more of the fixed costs per head, but they also move faster, fit into more venues without splitting, and are easier to chaperone.
- Trips are often parent-funded rather than district-funded. That makes how the money is collected as important as the number itself, and it puts a premium on a payment schedule families can plan around.
- Curriculum drives the itinerary more directly. A theology department, a classics program or a service-learning requirement produces a very different week from a standard grade-level trip. Landmark builds every itinerary privately for one school, so the trip follows the curriculum rather than the other way round.
- Approval usually runs through a head of school or board rather than a procurement office, which means the number you present needs to be complete and defensible the first time.
More on how we work with independent and faith-based schools is on our private school class trips page.
What sits outside the package
An honest inclusion list needs an honest exclusion list, and it is worth asking any operator for both. Beyond airfare, plan separately for:
- Any meals added beyond those set out in your itinerary.
- Student spending money — souvenirs, snacks and free-time purchases. Telling families a figure up front prevents an awkward conversation at the gift shop.
- Anything added after the itinerary is confirmed — a show, an extra attraction, an upgrade. All available, and priced when you ask for it.
- Passports and travel documents on international programs. These sit outside the package and set your real planning deadline, so start them well before deposits are due.
- Substitute teacher coverage for staff who travel, where your school needs it. A school budget line rather than a trip line, but a real cost of travel and easier to get approved early.
The full picture of what a package does and does not cover is in what is included in a school trip package.
How families pay, and what keeps a trip affordable
For a parent-funded trip, the payment schedule matters as much as the total, because it usually decides whether every student in the grade can travel.
- A deposit reserves a place, with the balance spread across monthly installments through the school year rather than collected in one payment. Your Travel Consultant will confirm the deposit and the payment schedule for your dates in writing.
- Families pay individually through an online portal, which keeps the organizing teacher out of collecting cash and checks and removes the awkwardness of chasing families directly.
- Fundraising closes part of the gap. Our guide to 8 ways schools can raise money for field trips covers the methods that raise the most per hour of effort, and it works best started at enrollment rather than after the first deadline is missed.
- Financial aid and scholarship funds. Many independent and faith-based schools already run some form of tuition assistance, and extending a quiet line of it to travel is the most reliable way to make sure cost never decides which students go. A PTO line, a class fund or an anonymous sponsorship all do the same job.
- Cancellation terms are worth reading before you present the trip, not after. Ask how refunds work at each stage and what happens if a student withdraws late — it does not change the headline number but it determines your real exposure.
What you are paying for beyond the itinerary
Two things are worth knowing when you compare a fully inclusive figure against a lower headline number.
Tour Directors are Landmark employees, not contractors, and they are background-checked. That matters more than it sounds: schools are frequently unable to verify the background screening of vendor staff, which is precisely why several districts bar contracted program staff from being alone with students. A Tour Director who is directly employed and screened removes that question.
Landmark also holds accreditation you can check — SYTA member #13443, American Bus Association #84360, IATA 22576046, and BBB accreditation, business ID 544197 — plus approved-vendor registration with nine school districts. The full list is on our accreditations and certifications page, and our travel safety and support page covers overnight hotel security, safety wristbands and around-the-clock support.
Getting a quote
You tell us your destination, dates, grade level and an approximate group size. A Travel Consultant builds a custom itinerary and quotes it, itemized, so you can see exactly what sits inside the per-student figure. There is no charge for the planning process and no hold on your dates until you say so.
If your budget is fixed, say so at the start. Trip length, room occupancy, season and destination are all adjustable, and it is straightforward to model what a given number buys before anything goes to families. For timing, see how far in advance you should book a school trip.
Who is Landmark Educational Tours?
Landmark Educational Tours is an employee-owned educational group travel company headquartered at 1 Central Street, Suite 205, Middleton, Massachusetts, with sixteen travel specialists working from bases across the country. The team has more than twenty years in educational travel and includes former classroom teachers. Landmark plans and operates custom trips for schools throughout the United States and internationally, and every traveling group is accompanied by a Landmark Tour Director.
Read what other teachers have said on our testimonials page, or browse all our destinations and themed programs.
Planning a private school trip
Tell us your grade level, approximate group size and travel window, and a Travel Consultant will build a custom itinerary and quote at no cost. If you are still choosing where to go, start with the best destinations for spring 2027 student trips, or see destination-specific detail in what shapes the cost of a Washington, DC school trip and what shapes the cost of a New York City school trip.
