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Booking a two-week beach holiday is relatively simple. You pick a hotel, book a flight, and pack your sunglasses.
Booking an international sports trip, however, is an entirely different beast.
Whether you are trying to secure a highly coveted Six Nations ticket in Dublin, organising a multi-city cricket tour across South Africa, or chasing the Lions across the Southern Hemisphere, the logistics can quickly become overwhelming. Between ticketing ballots, hotel price-gouging on match weekends, and complex travel schedules, the “dream trip” can easily turn into a stressful administrative nightmare.
At Venatour, we’ve spent years perfecting the art of sports travel. We know the pitfalls, the insider secrets, and exactly what it takes to pull off a flawless itinerary. To pull back the curtain, we sat down with our travel experts to answer the six most common questions we get from fans planning their ultimate sporting bucket list.
“Why should I use a sports tour operator instead of just booking it all myself?”
It is the most common question we get, and the answer comes down to two things: access and peace of mind.
When you attempt a DIY sports trip, you are at the mercy of the open market. On major match weekends (think Rome during the Six Nations or Melbourne for the Ashes), hotels inflate their prices astronomically, and securing a decent room in a safe, central location is nearly impossible.
As a tour operator, we secure large blocks of premium hotel rooms and flights years in advance, meaning you bypass the last-minute price surges.
More importantly, booking with us means you get the “insider experience.” We don’t just hand you a ticket and a hotel key. We organise seamless ground transfers, host exclusive pre-match events, and often bring along legendary ex-players to give you expert insight into the game over a pint. We handle the logistics so you can focus entirely on the sport and the socializing.
“Are the match tickets actually guaranteed?”
In a word: Yes.
This is the single biggest stress factor for independent travelers. For marquee events like the 150th Anniversary Cricket Tour in Australia or an England vs. France “Le Crunch” finale, official match tickets are like gold dust. If you try to do it yourself, you are often forced to rely on stressful public ballots or, worse, the notoriously unreliable and exorbitant secondary ticket market.
Venatour provides guaranteed match tickets with our packages. When you book with us, your seat inside the stadium is locked in. No refreshing web pages, no crossed fingers, and no stress.
“What if I want to extend my trip or change the itinerary? Is it a rigid group tour?”
Not at all. While there is incredible camaraderie in traveling with a group of like-minded fans, we know that many of our clients want to use a sports tour as the foundation for a larger holiday.
If you are flying all the way to South Africa for the cricket, it makes perfect sense to stay an extra week to do the Garden Route or visit Victoria Falls. If you are heading to Argentina for the summer rugby, you might want to extend your stay to hike in Patagonia.
Our team specializes in bespoke travel. We can tailor and extend any of our base packages to suit your exact needs, booking those extra flights, luxury safari lodges, or independent city breaks so your entire trip is managed under one roof.
“I’m thinking of traveling solo. Will I fit in?”
Absolutely. In fact, sports tours are arguably the best type of holiday in the world for solo travelers.
The beauty of a Venatour package is the built-in community. From the moment you arrive at the airport or join us for the first welcome drinks, you are surrounded by people who share your exact passion. You immediately have something to talk about.
Whether you want to spend your days exploring a city independently and then join the group for the matchday build-up, or you want to hang out with the “tour family” in the pubs every evening, the choice is yours. We have countless solo travelers who meet on our tours and end up booking together for the next trip a few years later.
“What happens if an event is cancelled or something goes wrong while I’m abroad?”
This is where the value of a trusted tour operator truly shines. If you book a DIY trip and your flight is suddenly cancelled, or a train strike halts your travel to the stadium, you are completely on your own to fix it—often while losing money in the process.
When you book with Venatour, you have comprehensive financial protection and on-the-ground support. We are fully ATOL protected. If the unexpected happens, it is our job to solve it.
Furthermore, our tours feature dedicated Venatour representatives traveling with the group. If you lose your passport, need a last-minute restaurant recommendation, or the bus schedule changes, our reps are there to handle the friction so you don’t have to.
“When is the best time to book a major international tour?”
The golden rule of sports travel is: the earlier, the better.
For European city breaks like the Six Nations, you should ideally be looking to secure your package 6 to 9 months in advance. For major long-haul trips—like the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia or a summer rugby tour to South America, we recommend booking 12 to 18 months ahead of time.
Booking early secures your spot before the inevitable flight and hotel price surges, gives you the longest possible time to spread the cost, and, most importantly, gives you something incredible to look forward to.
Ready to get something in the diary? Contact our team today.