Cultural France, Greece and Italy Tours

Experience was good, changing of groups and tour guide was excessive and at one point was placed in a group that spoke a completely different language.

Our trip started out with a bit of a hiccup. The first guide we had thought we were on a different tour. He was able to make some phone calls and found out where our guide was. Raid saved the day! Our local guide of Rome gave us some wrong advice as to how to enter the Imperial Forum. We all stood in line to be told to go to a different entrance. By this time it would not have been enough time to tour the forum (40 minutes is not enough time to begin with!). Some people were quite unhappy so the guide showed us the correct entrance and we were given another 40 minutes to see the forum. Day 3 we set off for Nice. We were surprised to find we were the only English speaking members of the tour. It made if difficult to get to know the fellow passengers, and they tended to all speak at once when Ricardo was speaking to us. Our bus driver Joel was a phenomenal driver! He manouvered down narrow streets and switchbacks with ease! We met up with Ignacio who was our interpreter for the rest of the tour and he was very attentive and personable. All the hotels were great! I have never seen such large rooms in Europe! They were usually away from the city and did make it difficult to find places to eat when we arrived at the hotel later at night. I recommend eating a larger lunch and packing snacks for this situation. With this tour we got to see off the beaten path medieval villages and cathedrals I had never heard of. I loved visiting the charming squares and cafes in these towns. We are looking forward to booking another tour for next year. Our only complaint was the noise on the bus. Phones should be in silent mode and people need to be considerate and use ear buds.

The France stops were great! The Italy portion was disproportionately short. London was good. Hotels were, understandably budget, but varied widely in quality. The tour guides were good, caring and prompt. The city guides were helpful but the London guide was superior! Would recommend this tour for the very active as there was longer distance walking as well as steep bus steps! Good tour overall for the family!