Why we never take more than twelve

When Wayfare began in 2009, our first group to Patagonia was nine people and a guide called Rodrigo. We ate every meal at one long table in a refugio, and by the third night we were telling stories as if we had known each other for years. Since then, we have kept one rule above every other: no more than twelve travellers on any journey.

A number that fits

Twelve people fit in a single minibus, so no one is split into a second vehicle with a different experience. They fit around one table in a family guesthouse in the Atlas, in one boat on a glacier lagoon and in a mountain inn with six rooms. A group of twelve can be welcomed into someone’s home; a group of forty cannot.

Small groups go where buses can’t

Many of the places we love have narrow roads, small inns and fragile paths. A small group can take the farm track, stay in the village rather than the resort, and change the plan when the weather turns.

The best moments on a journey are rarely on the itinerary. They happen when a small group has time to stop.

Better for the places we visit

Overtourism is not only about numbers; it is about concentration. A coach of fifty arriving at a viewpoint at the same moment as four other coaches changes that place for everyone, including the people who live there. Twelve people, spread across the day and staying in locally owned guesthouses, leave a much lighter mark and spend more of their money where it matters.

Better for you

In a small group, your leader knows your name by lunchtime on day one. They notice when you are tired, when you want to linger at a viewpoint and when you would rather walk ahead in silence. Questions get answered, and the group becomes something closer to friends than strangers.

And when twelve is too many?

Some people want an even smaller circle — a family, a couple, a few friends. That is why every journey can also be booked privately, with the same leaders and the same care, on dates that suit you.

Better for the leaders

Our leaders are not reading from a script. With twelve people they can adapt the day to the group in front of them: a longer lunch with the shepherd who invited everyone in, an extra hour at the glacier, a detour to a festival in the next village. With forty, every minute has to be managed, and the magic tends to be the first thing that goes.

Twelve is not a marketing number. It is a promise, and we have kept it on every departure for seventeen years.