Home > Compare Tour Operators > Albatross vs Back-Roads
Albatross vs Back-Roads
Compare the travel styles, pricing, destinations and popularity of Albatross and Back-Roads.The Low Down
Albatross are a little bit different to the larger coach Operators, you'll see this when you peruse through their tour itineraries. Designed with leisurely 2, 3, 4 and even 5 night stays, their trips focus on regional discoveries - travelling around 1 to 3 countries in-depth. Albatross focus only on Europe, and split their tours into two categories - summer trips and winter festive trips. The latter all depart in the winter months and have a maximum 40 passengers per departure, while the European summer range have a maximum group size of 28. Albatross pride themselves on their tour inclusions, so you wont be dipping into your pocket for gratuities and optional excursions. 
As their name suggests Back-Roads itineraries focus on regional tours off the beaten track. Catering for small groups (maximum of 20), they travel through Europe & the UK as well as newly released tours in Asia and North America where accommodation is 'selected for their charm and home comforts'. While our team at Global Journeys haven't experienced any of their trips personally, our clients that have chosen to discover Europe with Back-Roads have provided glowing reviews on their return. With an eclectic range of trips to choose from - including canal cruises, this small group Operator is well worth considering. Stats
No. of Trips
0
No. of Departures
0
Avg. Trip Length
0 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$0
Accommodation
4 Star
Budget
Premium
Trip Styles Coach Tours
Regions Explored
No. of Trips
50
No. of Departures
741
Avg. Trip Length
9 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$476
Accommodation
Boutique
Budget
Premium
Trip Styles Small Group Tours
In Their Own Words We asked the travel companies themselves why you should travel with them
"At Albatross Tours, we are all about ‘creating remarkable memories that last a lifetime’. We genuinely set out to create unique, immersive, European regional touring experiences to satisfy and delight our travellers.
The one aspect that everyone loves about us, is that we pace our itineraries so well. Our longer stays of 2, 3, 4 and even 5-night stopovers in each destination means you will get quality “My Time” to explore and experience hidden delights at your own pace. It’s all about balance…
Something else we know you will love is that our tours are genuinely inclusive, from feature dinners to scheduled attractions, everything really is included in the upfront price – so you can forget about ‘optional’ expenses. Even tips for your tour manager and driver are covered.
Lastly, our European Summer holidays have group sizes of just 10 to 28 fellow travelers, all on a full-sized luxury coach which means you will travel in style and comfort for your entire journey. Come Share our love of Europe!"
At Back-Roads we have over 30 years’ experience in creating small group tours that focus on forming experiences that immerse our passengers in some of the most incredible destinations in the world. Our dedicated mini-coaches enable us to travel the back roads, avoiding motorways and taking you to the heart of our destinations. We pride ourselves on delivering truly unique travel experiences through expert local knowledge, carefully curated cultural experiences and hand-picked boutique accommodation.
Each one of our small groups tours of up to 18 guests is guided by an expert Tour Leader, who immerses the group in the culture, cuisine and history of each unique place we visit on our award-winning tours. Back-Roads operates tours from 5 to 13 days across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.
Recent Reviews
The highlight of the trip for our group was Armistice Day, our tour guide Steve was amazing he organised for us to lay a wreath at the Hooge Crater cemetery, 11am service. That night we attended Menin Gate to watch the Last Post, for me this was one of the most touching experiences I have witnessed, again Steve made sure we were positioned perfectly ...read more to view the ceremony. Steve’s patience and thoughtfulness made this trip a pleasure, we had great accommodation and exceptional food for the whole journey. Steve’s knowledge regarding WWI was extensive.
Trip certainly covered highlights of the areas (Monet’s Garden, Normandy Beaches, Mont St Michel and chateaus in the Loire Valley) as well as introducing us to local specialties (cider, calvados, galettes and crepes). Local accommodation added to overall feel of the trip. Days were leisurely and could have fitted more in on some days. A couple of lunchtime ...read more picnics coordinated by guide and driver really added to overall experience.
11 days of driving through Spain and Portugal, visiting World Heritage sites on an almost daily basis. Wonderful organisation, careful driving and a truly professional guide made this a trip to remember.
Loved our week in southern Italy wandering the back streets, driving into the hills and catching local ferries along the coast. Good friendly group of 11 from four different countries. Great guide and mother hen Elda.
This is the second Back-Roads trip we have taken. The decision to try them again was very much based on the great experience we had with Back Roads in Ireland. This trip seemed a little chaotic compared to the Irish trip. Something happened to our originally designated tour leader and a replacement was made at short notice who could only be with us ...read more for 8 days then another Tour Leader joined us for the last 2 days. Both tour leaders were very good with the latter one being exceptional. However, despite this bit of chaos, the trip was great. The various towns we visited, wineries we sampled and hotels we stayed in were all first class. Our group consisted of 15 other travellers, a bus driver, a tour leader and a trainee tour leader. All accommodation was centrally located and unique, something we would struggle to organise on our own or would not happen if we were part of a large bus tour group. Overall it was a great trip, we saw a part of Spain that is not that highly over run with tourists and very unique. It was also great fun with a good group of like minded fellow travellers. Back-Roads are still very much on my preferred options list.
We were looking for a tour that would give us as much exposure to Scotland as possible in a limited time and without having to drive ourselves. This tour gave us all of that and more. We covered considerable ground but at a pace that did not feel rushed and which gave us time to visit and explore the key places of interest. The accommodation was excellent ...read more - comfortable but also with plenty of charm and atmosphere. The tour guide was superb - very mindful of our comfort and sensitive to the varied interests of the group. He also had an extraordinary knowledge of Scottish history and the ability to present it in humorous, interesting and relevant ways (and, really, you can't understand Scotland without understanding the history). The fact that we also had a bus driver meant that our guide was freed up to talk without having to focus on driving. I thoroughly recommend this tour. This was our first experience with Back-Roads and Global Journeys, and I'll certainly look seriously at both organisations for future travel.
Popular Trips
