Home > Compare Tour & Adventure Operators > Collette vs Luxury Gold
Collette vs Luxury Gold
Compare the travel styles, pricing, destinations and popularity of Collette and Luxury Gold.The Low Down
While new to the Australian market in 2017, Collette have actually been operating since 1918. Offering coach touring and small group explorations around the world, you won't find too many Aussies and Kiwis on their trips yet, but clients of ours that haven taken the plunge over the last season have come back with very positive reviews. Collette is very popular in the US and now has offices and support in Australia, Canada and the UK too. Collette market their trips as 4 star accommodation with 5 star service and inclusions - so if that sounds like your cup of tea, then how about this - Collette also includes a roundtrip home to airport chauffeur service for those within a 40km radius of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Darwin, Cairns and Hobart airports.
Luxury Gold (a luxury brand brought to you by Insight Vacations) endeavours to elevate travel beyond the ordinary, bringing you the best escorted experience for the best value. Staying in some of the finest hotels, chosen for their prime location, ambience, and level of luxury, and enjoying meals and wine at some of the best restaurants the destination has to offer. Insight have recently expanded their range of luxury vacations to include trips through South America, Africa, and Asia - where you can expect the ultimate in luxury and refinement.With smaller groups (average of 30 but no more than 40 guests - and Asia & South Africa with only 24), relaxed start days, VIP door to door transfers (if you're an Aussie within 50km of an airport) , Luxury Gold offers a seamless stress-free travel experience. If you've travelled with any of its sister brands like AAT Kings, Trafalgar, Insight, Inspiring Journeys or Uniworld further savings are available.
Stats
No. of Trips
188
No. of Departures
5,233
Avg. Trip Length
11 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$508
Accommodation
4 Star
Budget
Premium
No. of Trips
48
No. of Departures
608
Avg. Trip Length
13 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$1,037
Accommodation
4.5 - 5 Star
Budget
Premium & Luxury
In Their Own Words We asked the travel companies themselves why you should travel with them
At Collette, we consider everyone who travels with us to be our personal guest. Every moment matters to us because we know it matters to you. This may be because at heart we are a family owned company that has been in business for 100 years. It may be because our team are passionate about sharing their own love of travel and uncovering mysteries.
Choosing Collette comes with benefits that take your guided travel experience to another level. Our inclusive tours provide you more value for your money and more of what makes travel special. Let us show you the world!
Indulge your passions on a luxurious small group journey, offering the perfect blend of guided and independent exploration. Choose from our worldwide collection of immersive luxury journeys.
How do we define “Luxury”? It’s exceptional dining experiences, including Michelin star restaurants and cooking classes. It’s staying in luxury hotels in central or scenic locations. Luxury is feeling like a VIP accessing iconic sites after hours and meeting remarkable people. It’s having the service of a Travelling Concierge accompanying you along the way with incredible commitment to service. When you travel with us, we ensure your experience is elevated, elegant and impeccable.
We put our heart into everything we do and are proud to be leaders in luxury travel. I invite you to relax and enjoy the charm of different cultures as we take care of every detail. Speak with Global Journeys today to start your holiday planning. We look forward to taking you on a journey beyond the ordinary.
Recent Reviews
4.5
I’ve just returned from a 14 day Collette tour of Ireland. An initial google search led me to Global Journeys, and a very efficient agent, Rachael, was assigned to look after me. The planning and booking process was smooth and any queries I had, Rachael was very timely in her response. The tour itself was amazing. No words to describe the beauty of ...read more Ireland and the friendliness of its people. Our tour manager and driver were excellent. I highly recommend Global Journeys to organise your dream holiday.
Collette are a US company and cater to those needs of that market, so accommodation was in general of very good quality and the lovely group of people were almost all well travelled and return clients. There was care taken with food and water quality, and excellent qualifed Egyptologist guide in Egypt who gave us an excellent experience. The quality ...read more of the Nile cruise was outstanding, a beautiful ship with great food, no comparison with the other ships we saw doing the same route except possibly the dedicated river cruise companies. Worth noting that while this was peak season, supposedly cooler it was unseasonably and often unbearably hot, often 45-47 degrees, which produced a real aircon problem at our Nubian hotel. And the crowds were horrendous everywhere- our guide did a good job of getting us places when crowds were minimal. His expertise and kindness were exceptional.
The Jordan guide was fairly uninterested in our group - it was just a job for him, he never knew our names or tried to help anyone having difficulties, resulting in some dissatisfaction, but he was competent. The wonders of Egypt are amazing, but there is a cost in patience and resilience - the pace is pretty relentless at times, getting around to everything, and there are relentless vendors and demands for tipping. Our guide really tried to mitigate this and it was a quality experience, helped by only 23 people, who were all such enjoyable companions.
The Jordan guide was fairly uninterested in our group - it was just a job for him, he never knew our names or tried to help anyone having difficulties, resulting in some dissatisfaction, but he was competent. The wonders of Egypt are amazing, but there is a cost in patience and resilience - the pace is pretty relentless at times, getting around to everything, and there are relentless vendors and demands for tipping. Our guide really tried to mitigate this and it was a quality experience, helped by only 23 people, who were all such enjoyable companions.
This was such a great tour. The accommodation was excellent with a friendly and cultural feel. Lots of great meal inclusions which was a surprise. The included activities were varied and fun. This was really due to the tour guide, bus driver, local guides and of course our fellow passengers. I would recommend this tour in a heartbeat!
The whole trip to Norway was one long highlight. There was so much to see and do that we were happily exhausted at the end of each day. We have never taken so many photos. Everywhere you look is another photo opportunity. The food was too good.
The highlights of the trip for me were the spectacular mountain scenery of Oregon, the scenic journey down the coast from Newport, the jetboat ride along the Rogue River, and the walk through the amazing Redwoods at Humbolt Redwoods State Park, California. All the hotels on the tour were of a high standard and well-located, particularly the hotel in ...read more San Francisco, which was very close to Union Square and the cable-car terminus.
Our guide could not have been more well-informed and helpful. Well done Janice. Ditto Tim our driver. As a suggestion, it would be helpful to know before departure that only a quite small carry-on is possible on the coach. A standard airline carry-on is too large. Luckily I had a small backpack with me for daily needs. It was great that we could charge phones onboard.
Our guide could not have been more well-informed and helpful. Well done Janice. Ditto Tim our driver. As a suggestion, it would be helpful to know before departure that only a quite small carry-on is possible on the coach. A standard airline carry-on is too large. Luckily I had a small backpack with me for daily needs. It was great that we could charge phones onboard.
Unfortunately our tour in Innsbruck had a change of hotels in the middle of the tour on our free day and placed us on the outskirts of town due to apparently overbooking of hotel. There was nothing around to see or eat. Even though they compensated with the odd meal it was really repetitive. Pancakes, soup, pork etc becomes unbearable to eat after 5 ...read more days. I would not have booked this if I knew of changes as it defeated the purpose of the tour itinerary.
Then this tour was a tour within a tour there where 38 people booked as a group then there where 12 extras. So it was all about the others and we felt left out. I would not recommend this tour I could have done better by myself and cheaper and stayed in the heart of town as the brochure stated. The only upside was the change of the hotel in Munich. That was very nice and in a great position for our further travels. The guide was very nice and knowledgeable but some people walked all over him by not showing up on time and walking off. Finally it was a lot of money for what it was, thanks.
Then this tour was a tour within a tour there where 38 people booked as a group then there where 12 extras. So it was all about the others and we felt left out. I would not recommend this tour I could have done better by myself and cheaper and stayed in the heart of town as the brochure stated. The only upside was the change of the hotel in Munich. That was very nice and in a great position for our further travels. The guide was very nice and knowledgeable but some people walked all over him by not showing up on time and walking off. Finally it was a lot of money for what it was, thanks.
4.6
This was a great tour with excellent hotels and tour guides. The coach was comfortable with plenty of room - maximum 40 passengers - but with Luxury Gold the maximum number is 18 and minimum is 10.
Australians need to be aware that we were asked for an extra 400 euros at the end of the trip - 250 euros for our tour manager and 150 euros for the ...read more driver. Apparently Americans are given vouchers for these gratuities and the Canadians were given an itemised account which included gratuities. However I am not aware of how much they paid for their trip compared to Australians.
Note: The option to prepay Tour Director & Driver gratuities prior to departure is an option. Please ask us to include this in your quote if you wish - or they can be organised after you have paid your trip deposit.
Australians need to be aware that we were asked for an extra 400 euros at the end of the trip - 250 euros for our tour manager and 150 euros for the ...read more driver. Apparently Americans are given vouchers for these gratuities and the Canadians were given an itemised account which included gratuities. However I am not aware of how much they paid for their trip compared to Australians.
Note: The option to prepay Tour Director & Driver gratuities prior to departure is an option. Please ask us to include this in your quote if you wish - or they can be organised after you have paid your trip deposit.
We enjoyed all the highlights and had personal experiences with the sites. The food was great. Really enjoyed the villages we visited.
Great itinerary for a trip to Egypt, hits the main sites. Thrilled with the addition of Esna’s temple, which is being cleaned/restored and has amazing colors! Great pace with a 7-day cruise, allowing a break mid-day for a late lunch on the River Tosca. I never felt rushed to get through a site/temple. Again, our Egyptologist guide, Wael, was a wealth ...read more of information - we couldn’t have asked for a better guide!
Our itinerary was just busy enough with enough time to explore on your own if you wanted to or rest if you wanted to. I especially liked exploring Belfast and Giants Causeway, Dublin, Killarney, Ring of Kerry, Galway, and Ashford Castle. I loved hearing about the rich and sometimes complicated history of the areas.
Even though there was a lot of moving, the baggage handling and coach rides were done very well. No other way to cover so much ground in one trip.
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