The young German from La Herradura who has revolutionised group trips

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Joshua Gühr founded 'Hora de Viajes' in the Costa Tropical town which allows people to meet while crossing a glacier in Iceland or scuba diving in the Philippines

Sandra Palacios

Granada

Tuesday, 31 March 2026, 12:10

Travelling with friends or family is not always easy to organise. Everyone's work and personal schedules can make it difficult to find a date that suits everyone. Some people travel alone or look for others who are in the same situation and want an adventure partner.

Aware of this gap in the market, Joshua Gühr, a young German man who lives in La Herradura on Granada province's Costa Tropical turned a hobby into a consolidated business four years ago. "I couldn't say exactly what the key was, I guess a combination of luck and doing it at the right time," he says.

Joshua founded 'Hora de viajes', a company that organises group trips for people who don't know each other: "We prepare everything and we are there at the destination with them; we accompany them from the moment they arrive at the airport until the last moment when they leave, we are together all the time."

He goes on to say, "I do this 365 days a year. I usually go to bed and get up thinking about how to improve, how to do my best. We give people a very personalised treatment, we are very close to them, we treat them as if they were family".

Perhaps this is the reason why many of the people who have travelled with 'Hora de viajes' have gone back. "What is most convincing is word of mouth, that is, people who have had the experience and have recommended it to their acquaintances," says Joshua.

In addition, the agency does not reveal the entire itinerary and all of the activities included in the trip: "The night before we send the necessary information, for example, if it is a boat trip and they require a towel, flip-flops, etc. I think it's more of a surprise, because people don't go with a preconceived expectation of what they're going to find," he says.

The destinations offered for this year are Iceland, Indonesia, Thailand, Azores and Norway. Since the company was founded, they have changed some countries, but have always focused on those that offer mostly nature activities. "We also do it so that we don't get bored it's like a challenge. Besides, there are quite a few people who have done all the destinations we have and so they can continue to travel with us," explains Gühr.

Iceland is, he says, the most popular trip that the company offers at the moment. "It's the one we know best and the one we've travelled to the most; it always fills up quickly. It's more worth doing it in a group because it's a country that you have to know well to travel safely, as driving is quite tedious," he stresses.

Home.

When he's not travelling, Joshua spends most of his time in La Herradura, where he grew up: "I feel like it's my home and it's where I do all the travelling that you don't see," he says. It was here that he met the man who is now his right-hand man, Andrés, with whom he has shared a close friendship since he was five years old: "For the last couple of years he has been coming to all the destinations. He has always been with me and is my confidant, you could say that we have developed this together to a large extent".

Gühr has been to more than 50 countries. At first, when he wanted to travel but didn't have the means or the facilities because he was a student, he started by travelling to nearby, inexpensive places; later, he volunteered for three or four weeks in less affordable places like Norway, Sweden or Canada. "I would spend a few hours a week working and then explore the country on my own, without having to pay for accommodation or meals, just the flights," he says.

It was a person he met on a trip to Thailand who inspired him to organise trips. "This happened two or three years before I started my company. He was doing something similar, we followed each other on networks and I thought: Why not do it myself? I find it interesting, beautiful and it brings together the things I like the most, which are travelling, meeting people and, above all, showing other places I have already visited. It was something I was already doing on my own. Joshua explores different places for 20, 30 or 40 days and thinks about how to organise the trip to do it as a group, what excursions they can do or which are the best hotels to stay in, for example, as well as taking advantage of the opportunity to make local contacts.

In addition to word of mouth, social media has helped him become known. "The reviews of the people who have come with us is something that transmits a lot of confidence; to see that the experiences that other people have had are verified, that they are real," he says. Among the people who most sign up for his trips are young people between 20 and 35 years old, and mainly women (70 or 80 per cent). "I think it's more dangerous to travel alone as a girl. That's why quite a lot of people sign up for this type of trip," she says.

The best part for Joshua is seeing the change in the people who travel with his team: "The fears that you have in, like not fitting in, being away from home, the fact that most people don't know each other.... They disappear completely". These are trips where you share almost 24 hours together and form friendships that last over time. "It's a way of meeting great people and when I see the good and strong friendships that are formed, I feel very happy and fulfilled," he concludes.