Yes, my folks enjoyed many Tauck tours—found them all very nice, especially since it was paid for by client and not their pocketbooks, haha!
According to Rick Steves, himself, two similar tour companies are Insight Vacations and Collette. I believe both are less walking. We’ve tried Insight and really liked them.
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I don’t have advice on a tour company, but in the winter, especially between Christmas and NY, things are still pretty festive. Germany and the UK are great at Christmas time.
Personally, I prefer a colder country for a winter vacation. It somehow feels wrong to be in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, or the south of France when it’s chilly.
I once did a winter trip to Holland, Belgium and France. Not a great time of year to visit those places IMO, though I’m sure others might have good things to say.
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Keep in mind that the days will be quite short at that time of year, especially so for more northern destinations. In Brussels, for example, sunrise will be around 8:30 and sunset will be roughly 8 hours later at 4:30.
That can impact quite a bit and may influence where you want to consider going.
Maybe Scandinavia is a good idea. I haven’t been to any of those countries. But I hear they are festive during Christmastime and you should be able to do some outdoor activities. Cross county skiing or snowmobiling. Norhern lights excursions. Saunas and birch whippings😃
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S and I traveled to Stockholm in late December/early January. It was cold but not bitterly cold and although the sunset was at 3PM, we arranged to do things earlier in the day and we were fine with that. S had been there before and said that many of the things we did (Vasa Museum, ABBA Museum, Royal Palace) were much less crowded when we were there.
The city is beautiful and there were lots of Christmas decorations and white lights to brighten things up.
We did a winter kayaking tour which was fun.
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In your situation, I’d focus on the things you definitely want to do and if you can’t find any group tours, have a travel agent arrange things privately. You’ll pay, but it will be worth it to get just what you want.
Was your tour an English speaking tour or in Chinese? My friend wanted me to join her in a Supera tour of Japan, English speaking only.
I can recommend Gate 1 and Insight Vacations. All nice hotels close to city centers and nice meals though not every meal is included. This gives you an opportunity to try differents restaurants on your own.
I’ve been on one Tauck tour, though I enjoy their service, their demographics skew older and less independent.
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Our Supera tour was solely English speaking but believe they or their sister company offer Chinese speaking tours as well.
My brother will be going on a GateOne tour to Spain & Portugal in October. Will see what he says as well—his friend booked it and got brother to join.