European Traveller

Taken to all the best sights, but lots of travelling between main cities which was tiring. Hotel accommodation excellent, dinners were held at very nice venues. Travel guide had excellent knowledge and history of places we visited which served to enhance our appreciation of them. Driver was excellent and always drove with care and got us there on time.

It was great - maybe a couple of rest days in a couple of places would be good - especially as the demographic of our tour was 70 plus in age - everyone enjoyed it but it was a quite gruelling schedule? No complaints from me but a few rest free days would have added to the experience overall.

I had never been to continental Europe before and only had a week to spare so wanted to see as much as I could in that time without being so rushed that I didn't have time to experience things properly. I chose the European Traveller tour because it went to 5 cities with two nights spent in both Paris and Rome for a bit of a break from travelling between cities. The tour was even better than I was expecting. The itinerary was really well planned with a lot of sights and sites covered over the course of the tour, and the guided walks by the local specialists and the visits to artisan shops were very good. Our travel director also provided excellent commentary on both the bus trips and the walks on everything from history to art to culture and more which really enhanced the tour. There were also opportunities to spend a few hours on your own in some places doing your own thing which was nice. The optional experiences were all fabulous and I would totally recommend doing as many of them as you can. The choice of cities visited was perfect for me as an introduction to some of the most well-known cities in Europe in Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome, and although not so well-known, Lucerne was beautiful. In order to cover so much ground there was quite a bit of driving but I enjoyed this as well, as the countryside we drove through was beautiful and it was exciting going through all the tunnels in the alps. Our driver was very good and the bus was very comfortable with good visibility from all seats. The hotels were all of a good quality and most nights our luggage was delivered to and from our rooms and loaded on and off the bus for us. We had a really good group of people on my tour who all got on well and had great senses of humour. was a very well organised travel director who made each day run seamlessly. I would thoroughly recommend the European Traveller tour to people who haven't been to Europe before and are short on time.

This was jam packed with fabulous activities and destinations.

Challenging tour compared to my UK tour last year. 32 travelers from America, Australia, Canada, NZ and a range of ages 20 to 80 yo. Early starts and several hours on the bus. Hotels were clean and comfortable but 1 had only 1 mobile phone port for 2 people. Rome hotel had incorrectly booked a double bed for 2 senior women instead of twin singles and not apologetic, after a very long day in 30c heat but did allocate another twin room which was obviously for the wheelchair bound. The shower leaked over the floor making is very slippery and no chair or tea/coffee making facilities in the room (which other hotels had). However we were given a free late checkout as we're booked for an extra night. Whilst we were given a free taxi service to the Rome airport the hotel was not close the city centre as anticipated, so staying an extra night for more sightseeing was redundant. The hotel meals were fine catering for Gluten Free. The 3 dinner experiences were lots of fun however a lack of green vegetables or salads but lots of pasta and potatoes. At the bus break stops for lunch it was difficult to find a GF meal apart from snack bars so had to fill up at hotel breakfasts. The Gondolas ride was disappointing as like going through the back streets of a city not pretty, river taxi ride on Grand Canal more interesting. Had to be very vigilant to pickpockets, purse was stolen in France on first day in Europe. Arrived 3 days early in London for the tour and booked a nearby hotel to Park Plaza for 2 days before moving to the Park Plaza hotel, but had to pay for taxi service from London airport as Trafalgar would not give us the free pickup. Europe is expensive $NZ12 for coffee, charged for just sitting in a cafe, unless you walk around looking for one that doesn't (we found a lovely small cafe, Castello in Venice). If you said something in their language, then they would reply in English. Overall saw the sights but wouldn't do it again.

Quite a number of optional tours that we have to pay for apart from the package.

You need to spend up BIG for ALL the optional-additional cost activities to make this trip worthwhile. The cost of the tour package do not include any meaningful sightseeing. Add 30-50% of the tour cost to make this a worthwhile trip.

We loved it

In a few days we got to see so many highlights of Europe

The ternary was good very fast paced. Most nights late to bed or hotel. The itinerary was great