If you enjoy the budget airline experience, this tour might be for you. It’s relatively inexpensive, but you’ll be horded in and out of multiple buses in large groups several times a day, will wait in lines in the heat, will be at the whims of individuals with varying levels of age, fitness, travel experience, and will spend more time in the bus than at the attractions themselves. I don’t fault Europamundo for this - they’re pretty clear that their intention is to pack a lot in a short space of time. But it’s not relaxing in any way. It’s the opposite of relaxing.
First, the good. Our guide, Una, was great. She’s fluent in at least 4 languages and she managed our large group well. I don’t know where she gets the patience. She was assisted by Samuel who was also calm and assured. Both our drivers Valerio and Victor were helpful, safe, and punctual.
The bad: It’s understandable that at this price point the hotels are basic, and this is stated as much in the tour description. What’s not acceptable is they’re not clean or dont meet a minimal basic level of expectations. The selected hotels are largely old and somewhat rundown and in every single hotel there was some issue - rooms not clean, a broken shower head, the sink not emptying, tiny elevators catering for up to 100 people arriving at once. The breakfast food in several was dismal powdered eggs anyone? and cold.
Some suggestions for Europamundo:
1. Upgrade the hotel selections and locate them nearer the city centers. From the traveler’s perspective, you arrive in a city you don’t know after a long day on the bus. You probably don’t speak the local language. You want to grab dinner and maybe get a quick taste of the city in the one night you have there. However, your hotel is on the outskirts of town and now to have to figure out transport, locations, safety, etc. Its too much hassle and you dont bother, thus missing out on some potentially great travel experiences.
2. Wi-Fi is no longer a nice to have when traveling, it’s a necessity. Travelers use the internet to plan, book and change flights, and communicate with their loved ones back home. Chances are those same travelers dont have internet data as theyre coming from other parts of the world. Ensure your hotels have decent internet that functions in all areas of the property more than once it was spotty or didnt work.
In summary: If you want to check boxes on famous tourist destinations and see them briefly before moving on to the next one, this is for you. However, if you want to learn about the culture or get absorbed in a region or city, this is not the way to go. Neither style is right or wrong and its important to state that the other travelers on the tour seemed to have a good time.
