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Customer Reviews for Go Ahead Tours The Best of France & Italy
Go Ahead Tours The Best of France & Italy
Experience cosmopolitan elegance and village charm on this 13-day tour.
Average Customer Rating:
(58 Reviews) 58
28 out of 30 93% of customers would recommend this tour.
Customer Reviews for The Best of France & Italy
Review 1 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by LHOLTZMAN2 |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:06/21/2009
Location:PA
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by LHOLTZMAN2 |
August 5, 2010
My Honeymoon
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My husband and I, both art majors, saved up for a year after our marriage so that we could go to Europe; the food, wine, and especially the art was calling our names. I have been to France before. I loved everything so much that I had to share the experience with someone special, like my husband. After not being able to compromise (a good way to start a marriage!), we decided on France and Italy. As I said, I have been to France before; however Go Ahead Tours allowed me to revisit the country as an entirely new adventure... and I have to say, Italy was rather amazing as well.
A "honeymoon" to me is supposed to be relaxing, romantic, and memorable. Going to a foreign country for two weeks doesn't exactly represent those ideas... or so I thought. Go Ahead Tours allowed me to take an extensive vacation with no hassles or worries. I didn't have to worry about finding the right accommodations or transportation; it was all taken care of. The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable, always pointing us in the right direction of what might interest us.
Our independence and personal adventures were never lost just because we were on a tour. Go Ahead is the perfect combination of both worlds. The tour guide was available and accommodating for your needs during traveling and excursions, but most of the day was spent exploring and spending quality time with my new husband.
Go Ahead allowed us to see the hidden places where people didn't speak English or eat American food. Go Ahead took us to the remote places you see in movies, in books, and in artwork. Go Ahead showed us the authentic and the special. I had never eaten pesto raviolis on a mountain side overlooking the sea. I had never before seen a giant French dog at a small vineyard at the base of Mount Saint-Victoire. I definitely had never eaten Tartufo (and you never will if you don't visit Rome) or lavender flavored creme brulee.
The food, the art, and the hospitality will never be matched or forgotten. To this day, I am counting my pennies and continuing to look at my albums. My husband and I will go on an adventure again, and I assure you it will be with Go Ahead Tours.
A "honeymoon" to me is supposed to be relaxing, romantic, and memorable. Going to a foreign country for two weeks doesn't exactly represent those ideas... or so I thought. Go Ahead Tours allowed me to take an extensive vacation with no hassles or worries. I didn't have to worry about finding the right accommodations or transportation; it was all taken care of. The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable, always pointing us in the right direction of what might interest us.
Our independence and personal adventures were never lost just because we were on a tour. Go Ahead is the perfect combination of both worlds. The tour guide was available and accommodating for your needs during traveling and excursions, but most of the day was spent exploring and spending quality time with my new husband.
Go Ahead allowed us to see the hidden places where people didn't speak English or eat American food. Go Ahead took us to the remote places you see in movies, in books, and in artwork. Go Ahead showed us the authentic and the special. I had never eaten pesto raviolis on a mountain side overlooking the sea. I had never before seen a giant French dog at a small vineyard at the base of Mount Saint-Victoire. I definitely had never eaten Tartufo (and you never will if you don't visit Rome) or lavender flavored creme brulee.
The food, the art, and the hospitality will never be matched or forgotten. To this day, I am counting my pennies and continuing to look at my albums. My husband and I will go on an adventure again, and I assure you it will be with Go Ahead Tours.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Trip Of A Lifetime, Food & Wine, Honeymoons, First Time Travelers, Art, History, & Culture
+61points
65out of 69found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by WESLEYSBABYBLUE |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:04/12/2012
Location:AZ
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by WESLEYSBABYBLUE |
May 15, 2012
It really was wonderful!
Other than a pretty big snag at the Paris airport -no tour representative there to pick us up, unable to reach anybody by emergency phone # (because it was a U.S. number and we were in...well, PARIS and therefore about 4 a.m in U.S.) we ended up spending four hours of our first day in Paris trying to reach Go Ahead to pick us up. BUT after all that, the trip was really perfect. Our tour guide was unbeatable, the local guids were wonderful, the tours were terrific. Highly recommend Go Ahead - know they will address the snaffu.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Trip Of A Lifetime, Food & Wine, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
0points
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Review 3 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by MHADDAD3 |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:04/12/2012
Location:CA
Age:50-59
Gender:Male
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by MHADDAD3 |
May 7, 2012
Great 30th Anniversary Vacation
The only negative experience we had on this tour was when we first landed in Paris, there was no representative from Go-Ahead to greet us. After a few hours of waiting in the airport a Go-Ahead representative showed up. Everything else was great. Our tour director was wonderful. The hotels were very good. France and Italy were everything we hoped for. The tour was the perfect mix of planned sight seeing and free time to explore and time to relax. Our tour had 22 people, and we all got along very well. We would definately travel with Go-Ahead again.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Trip Of A Lifetime, Food & Wine, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
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Review 4 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by SKITZMAN |
Number of past tours:2
Traveled on:04/12/2012
Location:IL
Age:60+
Gender:Male
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by SKITZMAN |
May 6, 2012
An excellent European Tour: France & Italy
Go Ahead, along with our group leader, Susanne D., provided a tour which was very thorough, educational and just plain fun. These are memories which will last a lifetime!
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Experienced Travelers
0points
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Review 5 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
2
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by DEDE21C |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:03/22/2012
Location:MS
Age:40-49
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by DEDE21C |
April 16, 2012
Not a Guided Tour
Make sure that you understand the difference between "directed and guided tours" before booking this type of trip. The guided excursions were as described but our entire group, which consisted of mostly unseasoned travelers, were left to negotiate the subways and bus lines in Paris and Rome alone. The director was great since she provided imput on how to get to places that we wanted to see but you had to have your own itinery. There was no planned group sightseeing in Paris only a short walk to the local market up the street and dinner. If you want to see Rome buy the extention because you don't arrive there until midmorning the last day of the trip. We spent a lot of money on cab fare to get from place to place so that we could see the major sites in the time that we had. Nice was only an overnight stop with a three pm arrival and departure early the next morning. A lot of people in our group agreed it was not what they expected!
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Experienced Travelers
+5points
5out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by RABAK123 |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:03/22/2012
Location:NV
Age:50-59
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by RABAK123 |
April 14, 2012
We loved it!!!!
We loved our trip tour. Go Ahead Tours is well worth the money. They took good care of us from the moment we got off our plane in Paris till the last day in Rome. All the major sites were covered in both countries PLUS wonderful little surprises! All our evening meals together were always wonderfully planed. All Tour Guides were well informed on their tours and fun to be with! The only complaint I have is the hotel we stayed in at Niece. Overall....call GoAhead Tours and GO!
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Trip Of A Lifetime, Honeymoons, First Time Travelers
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by LIGHTNING |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:03/22/2012
Location:TX
Age:60+
Gender:Male
I traveled:with a group coordinator/organization
by LIGHTNING |
April 14, 2012
Tour of France & Italy Awesome
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It is unbelievable the amount of things we got to see and do, and the history learned. If there was any extra time, the Director would make a side trip or plan something that ended up being awesome. I liked when dinners were included because by the end of the day we were tired and didn't want to think about a place to go. The bus drivers are "fighter pilots" - - those narrow streets and traffic were a challenge, I'm sure. All of the tour guides were extremely knowledgable and fun. I loved being in a group of only 23 people - - making it easy to do everything. The hotels were very nice, except for one in Nice with room & bathroom super small. I liked having the flight from Rome being in two parts - - changing planes in Wash.DC. This helped stretch legs.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Food & Wine, Trip Of A Lifetime, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 8 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by JUDYTRILLIUM |
Number of past tours:3
Traveled on:5/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Location:NY
Age:50-59
Gender:Female
I traveled:with friend(s)
by JUDYTRILLIUM |
March 27, 2012
Best of France & Italy
The highlights were Paris, of course, with our hotel centrally located so we could walk to many attractions. Then the TGV train to Aix-en-Provence - what a lovely town - and the food was superb everywhere we went. Crossing into Italy and Cinque-Terre was stunningly beautiful, and then incomparable Florence and Sienna. Our director Helen arranged several extras for us, visits to little hilltop towns and wine tastings. The whole expereince was wonderful. I felt sorry for Rome that it was last and we were tired and overloaded - unable to give Rome it's proper appreciation. It was hot in Rome, and we just didn't want to walk around the city like we should have. I have since been to Rome on another GoAhead tour and it was just as great as I knew it would be. This is an active tour - a lot of changing hotels, early mornings with suitcases out, a lot of walking. But it was all worth it because we saw so much of France & Italy. It was our first international travel, and now we're hooked for life.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Trip Of A Lifetime, Food & Wine, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by JKROLL9 |
Number of past tours:9
Traveled on:12/01/2011
Location:DC
Age:50-59
Gender:Female
I traveled:solo
by JKROLL9 |
January 3, 2012
Great Value and Many Destinations
everyday there was something new to see, even in places I had visited before
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Solo Travelers, Family Vacations, Art, History, & Culture, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by Anonymous |
Number of past tours:7
Traveled on:10/06/2011
Location:MI
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with a group coordinator/organization
by Anonymous |
November 21, 2011
Culture plus Cuisine
Both the French and the Italians are known for their unique cultures and cuisine and you will have a grand time experiencing both on this trip. If you like art you must visit the Louve in Paris and the Uffizi in Florence; if you like architecture you will love visiting the many churches and cathedrals including Notre Dame and the Vatican; if you seek a variety of food and wine options you will enjoy enticing your palate. Add to this the French Riveria, the quaint small towns and the friendly people and the result will be many pleasant memories.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Food & Wine, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+6points
6out of 6found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by PVIGNONI |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:10/06/2011
Location:FL
Age:60+
Gender:Male
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by PVIGNONI |
November 1, 2011
France & Italy
Ronen Raz was the best tour guide we have ever experienced.
The tour might be too active for some ( 6 hotels in 12 days).
Being in Paris on a Sunday was unfortunate since most shops close on Sundays.
We liked the free afternoons and evenings to find restaurants on our own. The group dinners are an ordeal (noisy, mediocre food, crowded, rushed).
Visited some locations and never included admission (Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc.).
The tour might be too active for some ( 6 hotels in 12 days).
Being in Paris on a Sunday was unfortunate since most shops close on Sundays.
We liked the free afternoons and evenings to find restaurants on our own. The group dinners are an ordeal (noisy, mediocre food, crowded, rushed).
Visited some locations and never included admission (Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc.).
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+4points
4out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by NDIEBOLD1 |
Number of past tours:2
Traveled on:09/26/2011
Location:PA
Age:60+
Gender:Male
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by NDIEBOLD1 |
October 31, 2011
Covers the highlights of vFrance and Italy
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The tour provides an ample balance of time to explore cities on your own and guided activities. For example, we elected to tour Versailles while many in the group visited Giverny, during our stay in Paris. The tour guide provided many other activities that were not in the brochure that we also could avail ourselves of. The food and wine options on the tour were excellent, and again the tour director made excellent suggestions on where to eat, if the meal wasn't included in the trip's cost. We cannot speak highly enough about the tour director's knowledge and care.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Family Vacations, Art, History, & Culture, Honeymoons, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+6points
6out of 6found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by HMCKEE4 |
Number of past tours:2
Traveled on:09/26/2011
Location:AR
Age:60+
Gender:Male
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by HMCKEE4 |
October 27, 2011
Filled our Bucket-List
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Gardens, Art and Artists, and History. This trip provided more than we expected. We signed up for all the options and were delighted by all but the Dinner with Tenors didn't measure up to the other specials. The Dinner with Monks was the best. Our Tour Director, Adoram S. provided great historical comments, made appropriate adjustments as needed, (e.g. when our bus was blocked by Protestors in Rome) and provided some options during our "free" time that really added to our pleasure. He went out of his way to create special moments like watching the Eifel tour blink at 11:00 p.m. and special village touring.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Art, History, & Culture, Experienced Travelers
+5points
5out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by LDIEBOLD2 |
Number of past tours:2
Traveled on:09/26/2011
Location:PA
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by LDIEBOLD2 |
October 25, 2011
Paris to Rome
Our tour started in Paris, and by train and bus, we ended in Rome. We truly enjoyed out trip, all the planning was done, which allowed us to enjoy the scenery and richness of France and Italy. Our tour director was so well versed in all our city stays that the towns came to life. His knowledge allowed us to go off on our own, use the metro, and wander the cities and towns, as time permitted. There were planned excursions, the dinners were good, and the small villages were spectacular - you felt like you had stepped back in time. When a trip is really good it makes you want more, we plan to return the France and Italy in the near future. Ciao
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Art, History, & Culture
+4points
4out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by Anonymous |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:09/29/2011
Location:CA
Age:50-59
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by Anonymous |
October 22, 2011
Wonderful Time
Outstanding tour director that made the trip really memorable!
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Experienced Travelers
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
3
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by Anonymous |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:09/29/2011
Location:UT
Age:50-59
Gender:Female
I traveled:with friend(s)
by Anonymous |
October 21, 2011
the best of France and Italy tour
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If you like to be in a big group and feel safe and comfortable, this tour had such a comfort - a big cushion of people. Our tour director, Susanne Danks, rose gracefully to the challenge and managed to make such a big bunch feel like an intimate gathering - without fail. I was especially impressed at her ability to keep 44 people together on several regional train changes on the Cinque Terre- portion of the tour.
A big group however, does mean a sort of rushed,'herded' feeling when it came to the included meals.At least one part of each of those meals was excellent, but unfortunately, never the entire meal.
(The quality of the gratis meals was probably commensurate with the group size, so no complaints.)
(The quality of the gratis meals was probably commensurate with the group size, so no complaints.)
The dinner with Monks was a cute idea, but was falsely billed - the food really wasn't very special, and certainly could not have been made by monks as advertised, though the tour of the monastery was quite interesting and evocative of a bygone era.
By sharp contrast, the side-tour to the small Tuscan hill towns, with truly local foods, was absolutely magical, topped off by a surprise mini- picnic on the piazza provided by none other than our bus driver - a most endearing farewell to Tuscany!
Hotels were excellent for the most part, and the breakfasts each morning , from my standard, were delicious and provided healthy choices along with scrumptious, decadent pastries.
I could have wished for seeing fewer places and spending more time in each place, but if one wants a comprehensive and really beautiful overview of France and Italy , this tour is not to be missed.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, First Time Travelers
+4points
4out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by SDOYLE31 |
Number of past tours:2
Traveled on:09/26/2011
Location:CT
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with friend(s)
by SDOYLE31 |
October 19, 2011
Best Trip Ever
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Aside from having a wonderful tour director, great weather and good food, this was by far the best , most fun trip ever. Having free time to shop, rest, eat , etc. was important to all of us and we had that. The extra excursions were terrific and keepingf the groups small is great as it is easier to get to know everyone.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Art, History, & Culture
0points
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Review 18 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by USERZWUEA |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:09/29/2011
Location:WV
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with a group coordinator/organization
by USERZWUEA |
October 18, 2011
Best of France and Italy
This trip exceeded all 16 peopole's expectatations that enjoyed it from our Hopsital. Filled with information and activities, not meant for those who want to spend their time relaxing in the sun. If you want your mind and imaginatin to be thoroughly stimulated then this tour is for you. The immense amount of walking is due to the fact that the ancient towns we visited did not accomodate any motor traffic. It was understandable to all participatnts that to keep these places in thier orignial situation, the traveler has to forgo the convience of being dropped off at each historial site. Our guide, Suzanne Danks, was outstanding. She went out of her way to add value to every day over and above the stated iterinary.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Trip Of A Lifetime, First Time Travelers, Experienced Travelers
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
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Review 19 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
4
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by CACTIGMA |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:09/26/2011
Location:AZ
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with my spouse/significant other
by CACTIGMA |
October 13, 2011
ENJOYABLE
Really enjoyed this tour even though it was a hectic pace. Our tour director, Adoran, was an excellent guide and made the trip. I would love to take another tour with him as our guide. The only complaint I have is that almost all couples on tour had king/queen beds and my husband and I had twins (don't know why) and our flight time accomodations going home was late in afternoon which made us spend extra $$'s for a hotel in NYC to connect with my airline the following day to get home. It would have been nice to have the option of leaving Rome earlier like other couples did. After contacting customer service and bringing this to their attention I got an apology but nothing else. I feel their should have been compensation for this discrepancy.
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Food & Wine, Honeymoons, First Time Travelers
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
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Review 20 for The Best of France & Italy
Overall Rating
Tour Value
5
/
5
Tour Director
5
/
5
Leisurely
Challenging
by MORSECODE47 |
Number of past tours:1
Traveled on:09/26/2011
Location:CT
Age:60+
Gender:Female
I traveled:with friend(s)
by MORSECODE47 |
October 12, 2011
Food, wine and walking tour
Our Best of France and Italy trip was great. I knew it was rated a 3 as far as pace went, but it sure proved to be a lot of activity...with very little down time. Now that I have seen Paris and Rome....I can say, been there done that and go back and enjoy the smaller towns better. I cannot say enough favorable things about our tour director, Adoram....he was really really informative, and extremely conscientious about everyone's welfare and happiness. What a great guy!!!!! He was a real pro. Some of the hotels and the hotel meals left a lot to be desired. And I must add the bus driver, Antonio was terrific and I always felt safe. All in all it was a memorable, enjoyable time!
Recommended for: Active Travelers, Anniversary Trips, Solo Travelers, Art, History, & Culture, Food & Wine, Experienced Travelers
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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