Our female only guide vacations
Working as a local guide, accompanying visitors and sharing local knowledge, is a sought-after job in many countries around the world, but generally these jobs go to men. At Responsible Travel, we’re proud to celebrate tours and trips that run with women only guides, which create vital job opportunities and income for talented, enthusiastic women. In Mongolia, on our homestays with eagle-hunting families, your guide is invaluable in explaining fascinating and long-held traditions. In Mauritius, shop for unique souvenirs at a collective set-up to empower artisans from disadvantaged backgrounds. And you can see Morocco through the eyes of one of the country’s first female guides on our tour that provides local women with culinary skills they can use to build their careers.
Our top Female only tour guide vacations
Painting vacation in Crete
From
€1160 to €1210
8 days
ex flights
Painting and sketching outdoors by the Cretan Sea
Small group2026: 8 Sep, 2027: 31 Aug
Winter activity and yoga vacation in Austria
From
€1240 to €1610
8 days
ex flights
Snowshoeing, skiing and yoga at Austria's highest mountain
Small group2026: 5 Dec, 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 26 Dec, 2027: 2 Jan, 9 Jan, 16 Jan, 23 Jan, 30 Jan, 6 Feb, 13 Feb, 20 Feb, 27 Feb, 6 Mar, 13 Mar, 20 Mar, 27 Mar, 3 Apr
Austrian hiking and yoga vacation
From
€1340
8 days
ex flights
Mindfulness, Walking & Yoga high in the Austrian Alps
Small group
India culinary tour with Monisha Bharadwaj
From
£2800
6 days
ex flights
Culinary exploration of Mumbai with an award-winning chef
Small group2026: 2 Dec
Austria hiking and yoga vacation
From
€1190 to €1490
7 days
ex flights
Daily yoga, stunning alpine hiking, delicious vegan food.
Small group2026: 15 Aug, 22 Aug, 29 Aug, 5 Sep, 12 Sep, 19 Sep, 26 Sep
Walking and painting vacation in Crete
From
€1170 to €1200
8 days
ex flights
Walking and Painting in unspoilt picturesque areas of Crete
Small group2026: 1 Sep, 2027: 1 Jun, 7 Sep
Women only tour in Morocco
From
US $1193 to US $1880
8 days
ex flights
Stray from the beaten path in Morocco on an all-female trip
Small group2026: 1 Sep, 12 Sep, 3 Oct, 17 Oct, 24 Oct, 7 Nov, 21 Nov, 2027: 20 Mar, 27 Mar, 3 Apr, 10 Apr, 17 Apr, 20 Apr, 24 Apr, 1 May, 15 May, 22 May, 29 May, 31 Aug, 4 Sep, 18 Sep, 25 Sep, 9 Oct, 16 Oct, 23 Oct, 30 Oct, 6 Nov, 20 Nov, 2028: 18 Mar, 25 Mar, 1 Apr, 4 Apr, 8 Apr, 15 Apr, 18 Apr, 22 Apr, 29 Apr, 13 May, 20 May, 27 May, 29 Aug, 2 Sep, 9 Sep, 16 Sep, 23 Sep, 30 Sep, 7 Oct, 14 Oct, 21 Oct, 28 Oct, 4 Nov, 18 Nov
Monarch butterfly tour in Mexico
From
US $2495
7 days
ex flights
Amazing natural event in Mexico: Monarch butterfly migration
Small group2027: 2 Jan, 9 Jan, 16 Jan, 23 Jan, 30 Jan, 6 Feb, 13 Feb, 20 Feb, 27 Feb
Austria skiing and winter activity vacation
From
€1240 to €1610
7 days
ex flights
Yoga, Ski, Snowshoe & Cross Country Ski in the Austrian Alps
Small group2026: 5 Dec, 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 26 Dec, 2027: 2 Jan, 9 Jan, 16 Jan, 23 Jan, 30 Jan, 6 Feb, 13 Feb, 20 Feb, 27 Feb, 6 Mar, 13 Mar, 20 Mar, 27 Mar, 3 Apr
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Vacations with female guides
When it comes to tour guides, the travel industry jumps on the unenviable bandwagon of massive gender disparity. Because while women make up almost 60 percent of the tourism workforce, female guides are like gold dust. The reasons why are manifold, ranging from narrow education opportunities to cultural expectations – and they vary hugely from region to region.
1001 hurdles
Why don't more women become tour guides? Often, it's down to cultural traditions. A woman simply can't lead a full-day tour if she's expected to look after the house, children and animals too. And it's challenging to seek a full-time career in male-dominated industries. Often women may work in tourism, as long as they stick to roles expected of their gender – often lower-paid cleaning and clerical roles.
It’s not a lack of potential or passion that stops women from becoming tour guides; it’s a lack of opportunities that may be readily available to men. Women often don't have access to the support, training, pay or freedom that other colleagues receive. And when they do get the opportunity to become a guide, women can face a wall of discrimination, from a lack of mentoring to sexual harassment. Take the Malaysian Women Tourist Guides Association, who successfully campaigned for tour operators to offer female guides separate rooms to male guides. Before that, women were often expected to bunk with their male colleagues.
Manisha Pande, from our award winning supplier of cultural vacations in India, Village Ways:
“When you talk about tourists visiting a village, it’s a matter of social taboo; sometimes the people in the villages are very concerned about involving the women or their own girls in tourism.”
“When you talk about tourists visiting a village, it’s a matter of social taboo; sometimes the people in the villages are very concerned about involving the women or their own girls in tourism.”
As a traveler, you can’t influence cultural traditions, but you can make a difference by choosing to travel with vacation companies that employ female guides.
Is tourism an answer?
We firmly believe that tourism can be a power for good. It can be the way up towards economic independence for women – when they’re given a chance.
In some regions, poor access to education can be a big hurdle for women. Female literacy rates are improving in rural India, for instance, but remain lower than for those in cities. Fewer than one in three women enter the workforce. But tourism businesses, where local knowledge is vital, can start on a wing and a prayer (and many do).
With one in 10 of the world’s workers working in tourism, the industry has a heady potential for levelling gender inequality. And once hired, female guides can share the success with their community. Women earn more money, spend more and help improve the economy. Women who have better education have better access to healthcare, improve the wellbeing of their own family and reduce the chance of experiencing poverty in the future.
Jessica Brooks, from our Mongolia vacation specialist Eternal Landscapes:
“Because we’re giving confidence and economic empowerment to their mums, the daughters are looking at their mums, thinking, ‘I can see there’s been a difference in you.’ The daughters are learning from their mums, so we’re starting to pass that on to the next generation.”
“Because we’re giving confidence and economic empowerment to their mums, the daughters are looking at their mums, thinking, ‘I can see there’s been a difference in you.’ The daughters are learning from their mums, so we’re starting to pass that on to the next generation.”
It’s a job that gives back in other ways, too. Tour guides meet people from all over the world and can practise languages on the hoof. Often flexible hours work around caregiving duties they’re juggling; after all, women’s traditional work doesn’t go away just because they’re choosing an unconventional career path. It can also be the first step into other career paths as women are given the chance to be decision makers and leaders.
From them to you
The trick, then, is to give women more opportunities to work as tour guides – which means demonstrating that there is a demand for them. Who wouldn’t love to explore the Atlas Mountains with one of the first female guides in Morocco? Or learn about the Indian Himalayas from a woman who knows every mountain herb and can rattle off ten recipes for each? In Mongolia, meanwhile, you might get the privilege of being paired up with a male driver from a traditional herder background and a female guide studying Economics at university in Ulaanbaatar, giving you a wider scope of insights.
Vicki Brown, writer and editor at Responsible Travel:
“I was assigned a female guide for a hike into the Andes. Maruja was a superb storyteller – she plucked medicinal herbs, explained which plants were edible and which stored water. Maruja wasn’t necessarily a better guide than her male counterparts might have been – but I really appreciated the alternative perspective that she was able to offer.”
Because the benefits aren’t just for the women and communities, or to progress women’s rights (although these goals aren’t too shabby). They’re for travelers, too. All travelers will get the benefit of the guide’s shared knowledge; you’ll get to hear their take on the world.
Vicki Brown, writer and editor at Responsible Travel:
“I was assigned a female guide for a hike into the Andes. Maruja was a superb storyteller – she plucked medicinal herbs, explained which plants were edible and which stored water. Maruja wasn’t necessarily a better guide than her male counterparts might have been – but I really appreciated the alternative perspective that she was able to offer.”
Because the benefits aren’t just for the women and communities, or to progress women’s rights (although these goals aren’t too shabby). They’re for travelers, too. All travelers will get the benefit of the guide’s shared knowledge; you’ll get to hear their take on the world.
Case study: Mongolia
Jessica Brooks, from our friends at Eternal Landscapes, tells us why she only hires female guides in Mongolia.
A business philosophy
“In Mongolia, things are split pretty much evenly between men and women. But tour drivers are always men. So we thought: if we have all these male drivers, why don’t we provide the opportunity on the other side so that the guides are women? People had given me an opportunity when I started in tourism, so why don’t we do that as part of our business philosophy?”
Balancing act
“It all balances, because a lot of the drivers have more knowledge because they’re older and a lot grew up in herding families. Whereas the women tend to build a deep connection with the Mongolian families we work with very quickly.”
Opportunity knocks
“We have single mums, teachers, university lecturers – a broad spectrum. We don’t base it on age, we don’t base it on background. Some of the women are from the rural areas, some are from herding families. We provide training and work with whoever is interested in working with us. Some of the women have been with us for five years.”
The long game
“If these women were in the UK they might get fast-tracked into a company, but there are much fewer opportunities in Mongolia, and that’s where the struggles lie. One of the women who’d been with us two years just got a job at one of the top mining companies that provides excellent opportunities. She said it’s because of all that she’s learned from the past two years, working as a trip assistant. So it does work.”
Our Female only tour guide vacations reviews
4.8
385Female only tour guide vacations reviews
Judy Hall06 Aug 2026
Wonderful!….Our guide/Egyptologist Azzaz Zain Elarab who came on our Nile Cruise was very friendly and knowledgeable, we recommend himread more
Cherise Woods02 Aug 2026
10/10 experience, I love that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to do this and will be returning (if funds allow for it) again next year for another 1:1 mosaic experience which I've already spoken to Ingi about :-) read more
Brit Grosskopf17 Jul 2026
My daughter and I had the most wonderful week with Ingi... We would love to come back if she were to have us :). One can never make/have too many mosaics ;).read more
Jennie Evans14 Jul 2026
10 out of 10! I had a fantastic time - I cannot recommend it highly enough.read more
