Albatross Tour Reviews

What made this tour excellent was the guide Misko. He was so much more relaxed than other guides and even though everything ran smoothly, it just didn't have the stress factor of other tours. Misko's commentary was extremely interesting without being intrusive. The quality of the meals on tour were very poor, and the optional excursions did not represent ...read more value for money. The tour itinerary was terrific.

Overall an excellent tour, a few places we could have had more time in, namely Bath and a bit rushed in the Cotswolds too. Our only disappointment was the accommodation at The Hilton Dunblayne - we felt the rooms were not up to standard. The smaller group was an advantage too (20 only). We would definitely travel with Albatross again! (Ed. This itinerary ...read more has been renamed & amended for 2015 departures.)

Overall a well organized trip, plenty of extended stays in different places, which is why we chose this tour. The only comment would be for a longer time in Bath, but really would recommend this tour to others. Our last night in Leeds Castle was a highlight. (Ed. This itinerary has been renamed & amended for 2015 departures.)

Did everything it promised and we look forward to undertaking another Albatross Tour.

The tour was well paced staying at accommodation which reflected the distinctive flavour of each region. Tour highlights showcased the natural beauty and culture of Italy. It was a well paced tour with our extremely competent and informative guide, Maritza. As this was our second tour with Albatross, we would highly recommend them to anyone contemplating ...read more travel in Europe.

We booked the tour with a little trepidation because we heard about tours that had oversized & grumbling tour groups, ordinary & poorly located hotels, overbearing tour guides, bland food and so on. However, our fears were totally unfounded on Albatross's 'Christmas in an Italian Castle' tour. All hotels were well located in city centres and were of ...read more good 4 star type quality. We will especially remember the family friendliness of the staff of Mohrenwirt at Fuschl and the historic elegance of the palace of Castelbrando. The food was fantastic, almost always good, plentiful examples of local fare, with the several course Italian Christmas dinner at Castelbrando a standout. Not everyone on our group liked everything put before us (although we did!), but all were willing to have a go, as sampling local food is part of the adventure. Surprisingly (and happily), wine was amply included at several of the dinners. The places we visited in this tour were all stunning and it is hard to pick one as a highlight. However, one special place worth mentioning is the historic little town of Hallstatt, on the side of a hill next to a lake. It's quiet beauty and charm is straight off a biscuit tin lid!

The tour was generally well paced with a good mixture of guided tours and opportunities to 'do your own thing' and wander through historic townships on your own. Our only complaint was that we would have liked to have spent more time at some of the sites such as Bolzano and Sirmoine rather than move on and shortly after have lengthy meal/comfort stops at service stations. Best of all was the charming, eloquent, informative, helpful and patient tour guide, Gilberto, who led our group. Gilberto's knowledge, enthusiasm and informative anecdotes about the places we passed by or visited really added to the value of the experience. He is an outstanding asset to Albatross's organisation and, if their other guides are as half as good, they are well ahead of the pack. We can't finish without mentioning Marco, our tour coach driver, every inch a charming Italian gentleman himself. His skillful driving along snow covered, winding roads was reassuring and something to admire. We will have no hesitation in recommending Global Journeys and Albatross. Our consultant, Frances, was fantastic and helped organise our trip professionally and without fuss.

We had a fab time and were very happy with Albatross and believe that the 'Christmas in an Italian Castle' was very well organised, good value for money, great itinerary, not too rushed and it was great having at least 2 nights or more in most places. We met some great people on the tour with us with a good mixture of ages. The tour leader Deryk Brown ...read more was very helpful, pleasant and a wealth of information having been in that job for many years. One family on our tour were onto their 5th Albatross tour which speaks for itself. The highlight was a visit to Hallstatt, the oldest known village in Europe and as they say possibly the most beautiful in Austria. I was happy to be able to ski fresh powder in Italy and the Castle for the four days over Christmas was stunning to say the least. We were very happy with your service, particularly as I was a bit stressed about Glenns back in mid 2012 and worried about if we should/would be able to go. I will recommend Global Journeys to family and friends, and yes please upsell this particular tour when you can.

This was our second tour with Albatross Tours and again it was excellent. I cannot speak highly enough about every aspect of the itinerary. You get more than you pay for. As for Global Journeys, you took the pain out of organising our holiday. Nothing was too much trouble. I have already recommended Global Journeys to friends. Thank you for making organising ...read more travelling a much easier experience.

We found the tour of The Black Forest, Bavaria and the Tyrol to be extremely interesting and entertaining. Our tour guide Reinhard proved to be a great source of local and general knowledge whilst providing subtle humour to keep us entertained. The tour was efficiently organised to the last detail giving us a chance to enjoy every aspect of such breath ...read more taking countries. The coach was modern, very comfortable and expertly driven by Claude. Accommodation and meals were of a high standard and we can highly recommend Albatross Tours.

I have booked my first tour with Global Journeys through Frances. The reason I chose Global Journeys to book through was the service and competitive price. Frances was an amazing help and she was able to give us a couple if sites to book internal flights in Italy, which we have now done. She also suggested when we book the internal flight to be choose ...read more an airline that took international baggage weights. We did this and are still recommending Global Journeys to our friends and family. Thank you Frances and Global Journeys.

We had a great group and a good tour director who was knowledgeable and who managed to keep things moving while still being flexible. The sites we explored were as stated in the brochure. Lascaux 11 was awesome as was Mont Saint Michel. I wish we could have stayed longer at both. My only slight negative would be the standard of accommodation. It was ...read more really 3 star not 'first class' as stated in the brochure. Given the cost of the tour I was expecting a slightly better standard of plumbing! However the locations were great and the food was excellent.

The Tour Manager and Driver were delightful and true professionals at their jobs. The hotels were of good 4* quality and the staff generally were pleasant and made us feel welcome (Rome was the exception here). Our tour highlighted many treasures of Italy and local guides at several places provided insights that brought these to life. We particularly ...read more enjoyed the slower pace of this tour, with two nights the minimum stop-over, and 3, 4 and 5 night stops included. Albatross Tours provided a high quality tour experience - we wouldn't hesitate to recommend the company, and especially the Italian Grande tour.

We had a lovely time on our tour, managing to get snow for our White Christmas!

Thanks for the opportunity to review our recent trip - Christmas in the Solvenian Alps. First of all, thank you very much for your fantastic service. We had a few special requests which you were able to arrange for us and we really appreciate the effort you went to in liaising with the tour operators. Nothing was any trouble for you and we received ...read more excellent service and communication from you at every turn of the booking process. The trip with Albatross Tours was just perfect. We had an very good tour guide and happy friendly driver and the itinerary was just brilliant. We especially enjoyed the fact that this tour had two to four night stays in each location and this made for a relaxing and care free experience. The quality of the hotels was excellent and the location of these hotels was very central and made it easy to walk around and do our own thing with plenty of free time thrown in. We had plenty of time on the organised trips to visit the highlight places to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere and experience the Christmas markets and see how the Europeans decorate their towns and shops for the festive season. Overall, we were thoroughly satisfied with the whole package and we really enjoyed ourselves and the company of fellow minded travelers - which is what it is all about. Thanks again for everything and we will look forward to see what is on offer for 2012 and beyond.