Malta Eco Tours

I gave the Plaza Regency (Regency Plaza) a "good" rating only bc the staff was not customer oriented & did not go out of their way. We had a few issues (showers not draining, towels not left in rooms on a daily basis), but there was a major issue, especially with management (specifically a female manager) bc we had picked THIS hotel bc we were coming in early before going to meet the group on our tour date. We had prior communications with the hotel requesting to leave our suitcases in the baggage hold for 2 days while going to Gozo as part of the tour & afterwards the tour would return to this hotel & we'd pick up said luggage. There were 3 of us. (We had been on a prior tour for 2 weeks with another company & didn't want to haul our luggage to Gozo.) The hotel responded positively that we could store our luggage for the 2 days, YET once there there insued a 2 day argument with management ensued whereby they refused to hold our larger luggage. Because one of our members knew the name of the person from previous correspondence, management finally relented, allowed the holding of our luggage, however, they would not take responsibility for it & they promised to reprimand the person giving the initial permission to hold our luggage. (This should not have been communicated to us, very unprofessional. ) This was a stressful beginning to our Malta excursion. Honestly, I have put this ordeal on Social Media with Expedia, Booking.com, Trip Advisor and on Facebook. I only mentioned the hotel, not the travel company. The travel company was excellent & had nothing to do with the luggage issue. What a shame bc there was nothing wrong with the hotel physically and it was in an excellent locale, it's just that the management was so bad. I travel 3-4 major trips around the world each year & have never encountered such abhorrent behavior on the part of any hotel.

I have traveled the world in the past 35 years with various tour companies. Because of our guide, ALTHEA, this has become my favorite trip! The itinerary is excellent and Althea turned 15 strangers into good friends by the 2nd day. Hopefully Althea will be your guide in Malta - she’s enthusiastic, well-versed in the culture and history of this amazing country. There is something for every traveler in Malta, and having this exceptional guide made every road trip and stop meaningful. All travelers appreciated Althea’s talents, kindness and organization. When the weather was poor or big crowds anticipated, Althea smartly rearranged the day’s activities for our comfort. This is never a boring, canned tour experience. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The tour was absolutely wonderful!!! Val (tour manager) was amazing! The only thing that I would recommend to remove for sure from the itinerary is the "Palace Hotel" in Marsala. It was actually terrible...It smelled musty and it was not clean. :( It looked like they just opened a week before we got there. I do have bad allergies to dust, molds and mites and let me tell you, I could not breath in that hotel. So we had to move to a different hotel for 3 nights because of it. It was not good for me because of my allergies but it was not good for anybody else on the trip either to breath that "stuff" either. Note: We staying at the Best Western in the Marsala Plaza and it was the best location!!! I would recommend this hotel for the future. Other than the Palace Hotel, the trip was a 10/10 for us! :) Totally loved all of it! Josee

A very enjoyable week with a great guide taking us to a wide variety of historic sites and places on the two islands. It was great to see the contrasts between the two islands, and to learn all about the various peoples who have controlled these places over the last thousand years and before.

We really enjoyed the entire trip. The tour manager, Val, the bus driver, Bruno, and the all fourteen days were amazing. The only thing we did not like were the accommodations in Marsala at The Palace Hotel. It is very old and dated past being able to be enjoyable. The rooms were musty and full of dust etc. My wife and I actually had to change hotels and pay for our own accommodations for the three nights there.

Athena was an absolutely superb tour leader and had a positive wealth of knowledge to impart, as well as her being decidedly friendly and welcoming with a terrific sense of humour. However, I am used to Explore accommodating its groups in small, locally run hotels, therefore, I was extremely disappointed to have been booked into large conglomerates, particularly the Plaza Regent hotel in Sliema, which was a terrific disappointment. Breakfast was a veritable bun fight. Also, the rooftop swimming pool was only accessible from 9am until 6pm, which was when we were out and about, enjoying our tours. Despite its having greatly changed, due to the horrendously large cruise ships and countless hotels having been built, since my having lived there in the early 60s, none the less, it is still worthwhile visiting both Gozo and Malta. It is also an extremely honest place as one isn’t constantly aware of having to overly protect personal property, whilst out and about, which ensures relaxed explorations, shopping and dining experiences.