How do you rate Trafalgar tours?

[jjf]

I took one of their trips this past summer, and I do recommend them. Overall it was a good experience. The guides take a lot of the worries away from you, letting you enjoy your vacation better.

[Guest]

We went to all the places you are plus Holland ,Belgium,Germany and Austria.It was an effort to get through the trip.Not one day off to rest do laundry or catch your breath.Hardly ever 8 hours sleep a night.Supper around 8 each night,and that was after beind on the bus for 12 hrs.You usually had 30 minutes to get off the bus and find your room freshen up ,then be down in the lobby to take the bus to supper.We are 50 years old and it was too much for us let alone the older people who stayed on the bus rather than do the day tours.Even the young teenagers wre complaining about the pace.

[Jean]

The pace on our tour was nice. WE took one of the slower paced tours. We had a good amount of time in each place withour being hurried. I would have liked more time on certain locations. Also, I would have liked less scheduled meals so I can find meals on our own. Overall good and would repeat, but I will look at the itinerary better next time and choose the right one for me. I have heard bad stories about the fast paced tours. Would not recommend those unless you want to cram all the sights in as quickly as possible. Also, I thought the early mornings was too much, but we did get to the attractions before most tourists and had the place to ourselves. Thay may have been worth it.

[Guest]

I have been on 8 Trafalgar tours and have had a wonderful experience in every single one of them. Any unfortunate situations that have occurred have been the result of travelers who don't listen to the advise given by the tour directors or do not follow the rules set by them. If you go on a tour you have to be mindful and respectful of other times and stick to schedules. Yes you won't have as much time to see each site as you would if you were on your own but you won't see as many sites either in a very limited time on your own. I am already planning my next tour with Trafalgar.

[Bobby Grace]

Fast paced tours are really hard, lesson learned, take a slower paced tour, we are taking Rome and Tuscany and stay in one hotel for 6 days and take day trips to Pisa, Florence, Lucca, Mongeigino, Siena, back to Rome for departure home. Our first tour to Europe we did 7 countries in 13 days and it is hetic, no relax time at all but we did get to see alot, as we had never been there there it was just what we wanted, now we take the more laid back pace. Lesson learned, choose your tour wisely, get what you want, there are thousands of tours to choose from, do your homework on the web and make the right selection for your style. Don't blame the tour company for choosing the wrong style for yourself, buck

[Fionabog]

We did a tour in 01 of England, and Scotland. It was excellent. It gave us a thorough over view. That is really what these tours are designed to do. It was very very busy, but we both have the attitude of 'we're here to see the country, show us'. . I suspect that those who are unhappy with their tour have either taken the wrong tour, are inclined to be less satisfied than others, or who have other 'issues'. . We're planning to do Europe April/May next year, so repeat business is probably the best recommendation . .

[admin]

Whenever you take a tour, think before you take it.

If you are going to be in a different city every day, that means a lot of travel time in between. If you take a tour that will be in a city 2 or 3 nights that means less time on the road. If your time is limited and you want to see 10 countries in 10 days, then expect a lot of travel time. If you want a more relaxing vacation I suggest a tour of 1 or 2 countries in 2 weeks. That way you will spend a lot less time on the road.

Basically, the most important thing is to read the itinerary very carefully and think how long its going to take to get from point A to point B. If its more than you can comfortably take, then search for a different tour.

[Elizabeth]

We left Toronto for Rome Oct.3. Our tour quide was Kiara and driver Mario.
We had a winderful time. Mostly Ameriacans on tour save us Canadians and two Australian couples. Everyone was very friendly and fun. We visited Rome,Venice,Lake Garda (Italian Alps) and Florence. Failry fast pasced but very well quided. No waiting anytime and special guides for all museums and cities.We took all the added trips and enjoyed them so much. The hotels were mostly very good. Food and srvices too. We were there eight days and learned so much and certainly appreciate Italian culture and history much more. I would recommend this trip to anyone. They meet you at the airport and that is it . . They take care of everything you just sit back and enjoy and then you are back at the airport on your way home. No stress!!! Kiara was so well informed about history,agriculture,customs,food,wine,people, and she was fun but kept a very good eye on her chicks counting us all the time to make sure no one was left behind. Maria was a terrific driver as we drove around Rome etc and on the highways. Our luggage well taken care of always. A trip to remember! We will certainly use Trafalger again!!!

[JFO]

Trafalgar is the only way to go!

[fontana]

My husband and myself took the splender of italy tour in october 04. I highly reccomended trafalger tours. our tour guide Sally was extremely informed and very pleasant & and driver Antonio was great. It was very well organized and certainly a great value. The hotels were very good with the exception of one. I really have no negative comments. everything was super..the people, history, food, wine, scenery etc.
I WOULD RECCOMEND IT

[fontana]

My husband and myself took the splender of italy tour in october 04. I highly reccomend trafalger tours. our tour guide Sally was extremely informed and very pleasant & and driver Antonio was great. It was very well organized and certainly a great value. The hotels were very good with the exception of one. I really have no negative comments. everything was super..the people, history, food, wine, scenery etc.
I WOULD RECCOMEND IT

[Guest]

Which tour did you go on with Trafalgar? How were the hotels?

[Guest]

Our hotels were not so good with Trafalgar, especially one. We were NOT pleased with the hotels, terrible buffet food,or the location of most hotels. We now travel with a different tour company.Comparable price but hotels are close to the sights and a definite upgrade from Trafalgar.

[Guest]

Compared to other tours, the people on the bus and our tour guide and driver was the best of them all. The hotels where decent, some where high quality while other are low. We only stayed in them for at most 2 nights, so not much to complain about. But the tour itself was fantastic.

[doe]

My husband and I , My sister and her husband, My husband brother and his wife took a Trafalgar Tour September of this year 2005.
Tour was "Flavours of Itlay" - Fantastic
The director made it fun and exciting. She was wonderful
Thanks Again Patricia.

The hotels were great no complaints.
The weather was wonderful.
The food and wine was unbelievable great.
I would recommend this tour to everyone. one of the best
We had a great group of people on the bus.

Wonderful Experience and Great Times
P.S. And we are all Italians.. .. .. .. .. .

[Kidsolo]

I recently took my parent (75 & 74 years old) on the Italian Glory tour in October. I did a lot of research and chose Trafalgar Tours for their itinerary. We stayed 2 to 3 nights at each location making for a perfect pace for my parents. Our tour director, Augusto and our coach driver , Oscar were wonderful. They took such great care of everyone, especially my parents who were the oldest in the group. All of the optional tours were fantastic and worth every penny and our traveling companions on the bus quickly became our new found friends.

I travel the world on my own so a fully escorted tour was a real treat for me. I'm storing the backpack now and then, opting for a Trafalgar Tour. I'm already booked for their "Best of Peru" in April of 2006.

I highly recommend Trafalgar!

[nbologne]

I went on the First Class Trafalgar European Marvel.

-Hotels - Excellent (high quality, clean). . Not all were central but all were close to public transportation so getting around on my own was not a problem. All were 3 and 4 stars - I was really impressed with the hotels.

-Food - Good (buffet breakfasts were fabulous - and I would pack my lunch from breakfast to save money). . The dinners were not great. I actually stopped going to the included dinners - the food was not usually central to that location (very North American). .

-Itinerary - Excellent (lots of included sightseeing and activities) - reasonable optionals - do not expect to have everything included in the main itinerary and budget extra for the optionals! I just did the optionals on my own where possible and paid a fraction of the price. You can easily spend up to $1000 CDN on all the optionals.

Tip - avoid tours with a lot of one night stopovers - the European Marvel had quite a few - I would do the tour over again without hesitation because it allowed me to get a sense of so many different countries and cities, but when I looked for my second tour, I avoided everything with lots of one night stops. It is really tiring, the schedule is hectic, you spend LOTS of time on the road, and you do not get to experience the cities in as much depth. Okay for a quick highligt but avoid if you want an in depth tour.

I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE TRAFALGAR FIRST CLASS TOUR.

I am going on another tour in August so we'll see if my opinion changes.

[sandragrijalva]

My husband and I just took our first Trafalgar tour to Western Europe. The tour is called European Value. Our tour director was Richard henderson, a Brittish guy who has been doing this for over 20 years. He was extremely good and great assistance for us, since we did not take all the optional excursions (we wanted to get the real feeling for Italy and France). .

He even helped us make our reservations at other restaurants even when he probably would have got a better benefit if we had purchased the options that trafalgar was selling.

The local tours in Florence, Paris and London were fabulous and kept talking about the history of their Cities for at least 2 non-stop hours! THIS TOUR WAS A GREAT VALUE! And I totally plan on traveling next year with them on a different tour

The tour was a bit rushed up but we knew that from the beggining. We had to get up every day at 6 am and some distances from City to City where really long, but we got to see 6 countries in 11 days and made great friends during the trip.

The hotels were really fantastic. When you go to Europe, you really should not expect a 5 star hotel (unless, of course, you plan to pay the Ritz prices!). . All of the rooms had hair dryer and some had even hardwood floors.

We had bath tubs pretty much in all the hotels, but we of course, only went to the hotel to sleep.

The dinners included with the tour could have been better. I would have liked to have authentic regional food, but of course, in our tour there were a lot of steak and potatoes people that probably wouldn't have enjoy it, so the places where i really wanted to have a taste of the area, my husband, a group of people and I went out for meals. Luckily this was towards the end, when you do don't really have dinner included with the tour anymore.

Also, DO NOT expect to have crappy American water down coffee over there. most of their coffe tastes like our espresso, strong and served in small cups. If you want an American latte, then order a latte Machiato or simply: Go to starbucks, which they have pretty much every where.

If you plan on going to Italy, and visit Venice- please read some of their history!!!! We had a beer-belly type of guy who complaint that Venice was old and ran down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My response to him- Venice is CULTURE and HISTORY and there are very few Cities worldwide with such a rich history and ancient like this City. We may not even have the opportunity to enjoy it very much in the future if the City keeps sinking in the water, so if you are looking for just big metropolitan Cities, stay in the US and go to NY!

[lvsgermany]

I cannot understand the sometimes poor quality of food served at hotels on most of the tours offered..for the amount of money paid for the tours,it seems a shame we cannot expect better meals.. .

Do the tour company officials NOT read these comments?