Last Travel Post I filled you in on my thoughts about our recent Trafalgar tour to Europe. And I compared that trip to another trip that we had taken. This Post is about sharing thoughts from others we traveled with. I don’t want my opinion alone to be your final deciding factor in whether to choose a Group Tour or a trip with Trafalgar.
We were 47 people spanning a variety of Nationalities and Travel Situations. This trip not only had Couples, it had Grandma’s traveling with Grandchildren, Parents traveling with kids of varying ages, and Solo travelers.
These Reviews Use Ratings on a 1-5 scale with 5 being the best
Sam –
Sam was travelling with her Mom Denise. She had been on a trip to Europe once before during High School. As two ladies travelling through Europe, they decided a Tour Company was the best option.
They worked with a Travel Agent who helped them through the process, kept them updated and delivered their final itinerary and documents. She knew going in this would be a fast paced trip due to seeing 7 countries in 14 days. Sam was glad to find a newer Coach that was well kept with comfortable seats for all the long travel days we endured.
Sam thought the Coach Driver, Rudy and the Tour Director, Emile were both amazing and easy to talk to. They provided all the necessities to have a great trip including special treats from places we visited. She found that Emile had a lot of connections to make the trip easier and more enjoyable.
When she compares the cost of this Trafalgar European Marvel trip to her trip in High School, she says the costs were about the same. But on the High School trip, the hotels were not nearly as good. She believes that the Optional Experiences were amazing and a good value. She and her Mom were even able to take a side trip they wanted in Paris to the Catacombs instead of a Tour we had planned for that day.
She is excited to plan another Adventure with Trafalgar.
Her overall Rating 4.8 ⭐️
Denise-
For Denise, this was her first organized trip to Europe. Her goal was to “see it all” and she feels that the pace of the trip allowed that to happen.
She highly recommends taking the Optional Tours for the added Experiences. She wanted a trip with a Guide to provide insights into the local culture and point out “hidden gems” and believes this trip did just that.
Because of the fast pace, early mornings and late nights, her favorite was the hotel in Varese. The Castle on the Mountain was a beautiful place to relax and refresh for a night.
Denise believes you could probably do the trip for less if you spent a lot of time looking up economical lodgings and transit, but that wasn’t what she wanted to do. Trafalgar took care of all the details for her and provided her with an amazing trip full of wonderful memories with her daughter. She and Sam are planning to use Trafalgar for another adventure.
Her overall Rating 5 ⭐️
Nelson & Christina-
Nelson and Christina are a young married couple from Canada. They have taken several Group trips before, but this was their first with Trafalgar.
They felt like they got to see a lot on this trip and that it was well organized. It had a decent itinerary BUT the trip was set up to sell them the Optional Eperiences. The way the trip was structured, the Optional Experience was often the only choice that made sense. Those Optional Experiences increase the aftermarket cost of the trip considerably. There was never a big enough block of “free time” to consider doing much outside of the Group Tour activities which they found frustrating.
Taking all the Optional Experiences on this Tour would be $1872 on top of the Trip cost and airfare you already paid.
Nelson and Christina agree that the hotels and the food were good overall and they had fun making new friends with their fellow travelers.
They are not sure if they would travel again with Trafalgar, but if they did it would probably be a different trip type or style.
Their overall Rating 3 ⭐️
I will say that there were quite a few Young Adults on the trip ranging from 12-20. Emile, the Tour Director, did a good job giving them competitions and discovery missions to keep them engaged during the trip. Often, the task meant talking to a Local person to find out what something meant not just looking it up on Google.
I also heard from another older couple that they really liked the trip. They thought the Tour Director did a good job and that the trip was fantastic. They were happy that they got a little taste of a lot of different areas in Europe.
This being said, they would opt for an “At Leisure” tour if they travel with Trafalgar again. That style of trip would slow the pace and allow for more free time and some later mornings.
I have tried to provide more than just my Review for you, but Reviews and feedback from others on the tripas well. I hope that you can see from this information, that how well you like a trip like this depends on a number of things:
- Who you are travelling with/travelling alone
- How well you can handle the physicality of walking 3-5 miles some days and that there could be steep climbs, stairs and a brisk pace
- Schedule of the trip – early mornings, long days
- If you like time away from the group to Explore
- If you want the ability to fit in items that are on your “must see” list in the places you visit rather than just what is listed on the Tour package
- Whether you want to spend a good bit of extra money on Optional Experiences
If you plan a Group Tour, I suggest that you read through the different styles of trips they offer and what kind of additional expenses you might incur during the trip itself. Know yourself and whether you want to roll out of bed every day at 5:30 am, walk 5 miles per day and have all your time planned out for you on a Discoveries Trip. You may prefer an “At Leisure” trip where you have later starts each morning, more free time to explore on your own, and you spend more days in each location.
I hope you have found this 2 part Review of Trafalgar group tours helpful in making decisions about your own travel down the road.
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