Home > Compare Tour & Adventure Operators > Collette vs Tauck
Collette vs Tauck
Compare the travel styles, pricing, destinations and popularity of Collette and Tauck.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.
New to the Australian market in 2017, Tauck began operations in the US over 90 years ago. Offering premium river cruises, land tours, small ship cruises, family adventures and small group journeys around the world. You won't find too many Aussies and Kiwis on their trips yet, as they have only recently opened an office Downunder, but Tauck are renowned for the quality and inclusiveness of their trips, whether they are on land or water. Stats
No. of Trips
183
No. of Departures
4,690
Avg. Trip Length
10 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$507
Accommodation
4 Star
Budget
Premium
No. of Trips
192
No. of Departures
2,683
Avg. Trip Length
11 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$1,055
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!
We believe that when you travel, you should never settle for ordinary. You deserve to travel in good company, with someone who cares. We believe that good value sells itself – you should get what you pay for, and then some, in one upfront price with virtually everything included. Leave your worries at home; we take on all the planning, all the logistics. To you, it’s peace of mind travel, to us, it’s 90+ years of integrity.
Wherever we travel, we’re all about taking you to explore the world’s treasures….discover people and cultures you may not have known existed…and experience extraordinary, life-changing moments. Since 1925, we’ve built our company on the personal referrals and recommendations of our guests. We can think of no higher testament to our journeys and commitment to customer satisfaction – and no better way to tell you what we do than through their words.
Recent Reviews
4.4
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
The poor weather (rain, cold and wind) was a distraction throughout the tour which, unfortunately, had a negative effect on many of the venues. It made the tour guides jobs particularly difficult. Not Tauck's problem but, nonetheless, it was unfortunate as it negatively impacted the tour. When we booked this tour, we compared it to another Tauck Eastern ...read more European tour referred to as a Jewish Heritage Tour. As we are are not of Jewish faith, we felt that this tour would not be meaningful to us. In hindsight, we are not sure that the tour we chose would have been much different from the Jewish Heritage Tour. Most of the members in our tour group were in fact Jewish and the focus of the tour definitely was on the Jewish faith and the Holocaust. I would like to suggest that Tauck make more of an effort to differentiate between these two tours. There is much to consider in an Eastern European tour that does not focus so highly on the Jewish heritage.
On a very positive note, the local tour guides were excellent, very knowledgeable, courteous and friendly. Our Tauck Tour Guide was also excellent with extensive experience in Eastern Europe. One final negative comment, unfortunately. Even though we realize that Tauck does not make hotel room assignments, we feel that they can do a much better job of influencing the hotels on our stay to provide rooms that are more comparable to the cost of our tour. We have not once during our Tauck tours been assigned a hotel room with a view of anything but rooftops of adjacent buildings or a view of another section of the hotel itself. That's not what we feel we deserve for the money we pay for these tours. On a closing note, we are booked on our next Tauck tour to Portugal in October and plan to book a follow-on Tauck tour to New Zealand on 2024.
On a very positive note, the local tour guides were excellent, very knowledgeable, courteous and friendly. Our Tauck Tour Guide was also excellent with extensive experience in Eastern Europe. One final negative comment, unfortunately. Even though we realize that Tauck does not make hotel room assignments, we feel that they can do a much better job of influencing the hotels on our stay to provide rooms that are more comparable to the cost of our tour. We have not once during our Tauck tours been assigned a hotel room with a view of anything but rooftops of adjacent buildings or a view of another section of the hotel itself. That's not what we feel we deserve for the money we pay for these tours. On a closing note, we are booked on our next Tauck tour to Portugal in October and plan to book a follow-on Tauck tour to New Zealand on 2024.
Denali was spectacular and thoroughly enjoyed the plane ride up over Denali. The trip into the park was also great and we did see some bears and Dall sheep way off into the distance. The Lodges were all Princess Lodges and were very crowded. Quite a number of us caught COVID so didn't make the cruise which was very disappointing but enjoyed what we ...read more did see.
Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. We had a great Tour Director and everything was well organised. She gave very informative information on the places we were visiting and had a great sense of humour. The accommodations were fabulous and there was a great group of people on the tour.
Overall, a wonderful experience. We must start with kudos to both Jemma and Hannah for all the support, help and advice you gave us throughout the booking process. Yes, we will book with you again and are now looking at Tauck tours to Australia, New Zealand and or Tasmania in 2023.
Our tour to Ireland was number one on our Bucket List and we were ...read more not disappointed. Vincent, our tour guide was a treasure of information on Ireland's history and overall knowledge of the political, economic and societal struggles that have plagued Ireland's history. Also, his knowledge of each of the sites we visited on tour was extraordinary. He truly deserves to be a "Keeper" for Tauck.
There are, however, two recommendations for consideration that would change our overall rating to five stars instead of four. First, the Westin Dublin was not what we expected of our accommodations. It was below the standard of other Westin hotels we have used over the years. Unfortunately, we had complaints that we registered with our tour guide and the hotel management. Compared with all other hotels we stayed in during our tour, the Westin was at the very bottom.
Secondly, the amount of time we spent on the limousine bus was excessive. We covered a huge amount of The Republic of Ireland's and Northern Ireland's geography and transit times to each destination were often at times too long. Due to the necessity to keep on track with our itinerary, we felt that the amount of time we were allotted at some of our stops was minimized. Again, a wonderful experience that took Bill back to his Irish roots!
Our tour to Ireland was number one on our Bucket List and we were ...read more not disappointed. Vincent, our tour guide was a treasure of information on Ireland's history and overall knowledge of the political, economic and societal struggles that have plagued Ireland's history. Also, his knowledge of each of the sites we visited on tour was extraordinary. He truly deserves to be a "Keeper" for Tauck.
There are, however, two recommendations for consideration that would change our overall rating to five stars instead of four. First, the Westin Dublin was not what we expected of our accommodations. It was below the standard of other Westin hotels we have used over the years. Unfortunately, we had complaints that we registered with our tour guide and the hotel management. Compared with all other hotels we stayed in during our tour, the Westin was at the very bottom.
Secondly, the amount of time we spent on the limousine bus was excessive. We covered a huge amount of The Republic of Ireland's and Northern Ireland's geography and transit times to each destination were often at times too long. Due to the necessity to keep on track with our itinerary, we felt that the amount of time we were allotted at some of our stops was minimized. Again, a wonderful experience that took Bill back to his Irish roots!
Fantastic company and nice staff on board. We never had to ask for anything... it was all offered on a plate. Very good service and Global Journeys handled the booking and delivered all the required paperwork.
Our experience was an intriguing and memorable holiday on our Portrait of India tour. From the moment we arrived until we boarded our plane to leave, we didn’t have to worry about a thing as everything was taken care of. The accommodation was superb and we visited some magnificent places and sites along with a couple of real surprises. The Taj Mahal ...read more and Varanasi were highlights along with lunch cooked cooked by a famous local in her home. Our tour guide was very interesting and informative throughout our journey and we would recommend this trip to our friends.
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