Single-parent families are one of our fastest-growing booking segments. Mum-with-kids, dad-with-kids, divorced parents taking their kids on a milestone holiday, we book about 8 to 12 of these tours each month. Here's how it works practically.
Rooming and single supplements
Most Europamundo hotel rooms are doubles or twins by default. A single parent with one child usually books a twin (two single beds), no surcharge. A single parent with two children: family triple rooms exist in most tour hotels but availability isn't guaranteed at all properties. Often it's two adjacent twin rooms instead, sometimes that means a single supplement on one of them. Always raise this when booking; we'll quote it both ways.
For a single parent travelling alone with no kids, the single supplement is R8,000 to R14,000 depending on tour length. Some travellers happily pay it for the privacy. Others ask to be matched with a same-gender roommate (Europamundo does offer this on request and the match works about 80% of the time, when it doesn't, the single supplement is automatically waived as a goodwill gesture).
Children's pricing
Europamundo offers children's discounts:
- Ages 2 to 7: typically 25 to 30% off the adult land price
- Ages 8 to 11: typically 15 to 20% off
- Ages 12+: full adult pricing
This is per tour and per child; we'll quote the exact discount. Note these are land discounts only, flights are airline policy (under 12 discounts are usually small, around 5 to 10%).
The documentation
This is the part single parents often need help with. South African law (Children's Act 2005, Section 28) requires that when a child is travelling outside SA with only one parent, you carry:
- A long-form (unabridged) birth certificate naming both parents
- A notarised letter of consent from the absent parent
- If sole guardianship: court order or proof
- If the other parent is deceased: death certificate
Get this sorted at the time of booking, not the week before departure. Affidavits via Commissioner of Oaths are usually fine, banks, police stations, lawyers. Allow two to three weeks lead time for any contested cases.
What single parents tell us afterwards
The other consistent feedback: the group becomes a temporary support network. Other parents, retired grandparents, friendly singletons, by day four of a 10-day tour, your kid has surrogate aunties and uncles. Coaches are sociable in a way that hotels and Airbnbs aren't.
Kids' free time
Tour Directors are not babysitters, that's explicit. But your child can absolutely sit at the hotel pool, in the lobby with a book, or in your room while you have a 30-minute coffee with the other adults. We'd suggest tours where afternoon free time is generous (Italy 14-day, Spain & Portugal) over tours where afternoons are packed (multi-country sampler tours).
Insurance and safety
Travel insurance for both parent and child is non-negotiable. Get the child's medical history and any prescription medication noted on the insurance application. Always pack medication in carry-on, never checked.
Read our best tours for families with kids and family deposit & cancellation piece. Browse Europamundo tours.
