Private company

Rotel Tours

Companies based in Bavaria

Rotel Tours is a tour operator that specializes in overlanding via "rolling hotels", custom built buses in which guests also sleep. The buses can sleep 24-34 guests, a driver and a tour guide. Guests ride in front during the day, and then move to a triple deck of berths in the rear at night.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1949Founded1
  • Industrytourism1
  • HeadquartersBavaria1
Rotel Bus
Photo: The original uploader was Farnhammer at German Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons4

Rotel Tours is a tour operator that specializes in overlanding via "rolling hotels", custom built buses in which guests also sleep. The buses can sleep 24-34 guests, a driver and a tour guide. Guests ride in front during the day, and then move to a triple deck of berths in the rear at night.2

The story

Rotel Tours was founded in 1945 by Georg Höltl.

The company was originally called "Internationale Begegnungsfahrten" ("international encounter trips"). In 1965, 52,000 people traveled via the company. In 1966, the company offered a two-and-a-half-month journey across India as well as pilgrimage trips to Israel.

In 1969, the company operated one of the first tours to cross the Sahara Desert.

From Wikipedia’s article on Rotel Tours, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

  • adventure travel

Listed on Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1949Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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