Back-Roads Touring Reviews
The 117 Back-Roads Touring reviews listed below are from past clients of Global Journeys that have traveled with Back-Roads. Each review has been individually verified by our team.
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For anyone interested in Cornwall, this is a tour I'd highly recommend. For starters, it's a tour of Cornwall, rather than a brief excursion into a part of the UK that seems to dominate other tour providers. It begins with the Dartmoor ponies and ends up in Salisbury Cathedral. There were many highlights and, as one might expect from Back Roads, some ...read more surprises along the way, arranged by our tour guide, Russell, and the driver Frank. The best of these was the appearance of the Travelling Elderberries, a choral group who sang for us in a local hotel. The group I travelled with were Australians and Kiwis, along with two Americans who, at times, seemed a bit puzzled about debates over pavlova and underarm bowling. Accommodation was excellent overall, although anyone interested in the tour needs to be aware that in the UK, the shower over the bath is the norm. Tracey, quite frankly, met the high standards that I've come to expect from Global Journeys.
Great itinerary Well planned hassle free booking. Very manageable number and very well conducted and directed. Grace at Global Journeys again handled our booking and hopefully will do again in the future.
We enjoyed this tour immensely, the pace with 2 night stays was perfect and the places we saw were awesome. Our tour leader was super efficient BUT for the price the overall holiday was not value for money. We loved Munich, picturesque Lake Constance was a highlight, then beautiful Innsbruck, the scenery in Cortina (Dolomites) was breathtaking, historic ...read more Verona was very interesting, and finishing off in Venice was icing on the cake. BUT, there were a few things that did not compliment such a great tour - the hotel in Munich was average, the hotel in Cortina had no air conditioning and we sweltered in the heat and the hotel in Verona was some 20 kms out of town. The included evening dinner meals (3) were disappointing in quality and the set menu did not suit everyone. The there was the coach driver who was regularly on his phone while driving and got lost quite often. Don’t get me wrong we had a fantastic holiday but there were things that were not up to standard which made in not value for money.
Hi, we did enjoy our Back Roads of Tuscany Tour but we do have some concerns. The tour director, Luca and our bus driver were just fabulous. Luca was kind, thoughtful, generous and a lot of fun and really looked after all on the tour.
Sadly, we did not think the tour was great value for money and were disappointed - not with the places we visited ...read more - but with the amount of time we had to spend in these small villages. The villages themselves were lovely but mainly only one main street and full visiting and seeing sights were done in a couple of hours. Then we all had to sit around and wait for collection time. It was so very hot and we were all always looking for shade in which to sit and pass time and wait for collection.
Most of the accommodation was fine but the last one especially was well below par. The grounds were absolutely amazing, but the accommodation itself was dark and dingy - although roomy-but very disappointing for our lat night on the tour. Also, the food for the dinner was very disappointing with some of the meals not being cooked properly and had to be returned and then some of these meals were replaced with - FISH AND CHIPS - not our idea of good dining for our last night together. Although the hosts tried to make up for this with extras, such as coffees and desserts, the evening was disappointing because of the poor food.
Also, the mini coach was so very small - little room to store hand luggage-the aisle between the seats was very narrow. I am only 5ft 1in tall and weigh about 53kg but found it very cramped and difficult to walk freely up the aisle of the coach. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the coach was considerably bigger. I am unsure if you received comments from others on this tour, but we all spoke about these facts freely. Luca certainly did make the tour enjoyable, but we felt that the points I have listed really need to be addressed. Thank you for reading this review and we trust these points will be taken into due consideration. P.S. Tracey at Global Journeys who looked after our booking was great and always helpful with questions we had. Thank you Tracey.
Sadly, we did not think the tour was great value for money and were disappointed - not with the places we visited ...read more - but with the amount of time we had to spend in these small villages. The villages themselves were lovely but mainly only one main street and full visiting and seeing sights were done in a couple of hours. Then we all had to sit around and wait for collection time. It was so very hot and we were all always looking for shade in which to sit and pass time and wait for collection.
Most of the accommodation was fine but the last one especially was well below par. The grounds were absolutely amazing, but the accommodation itself was dark and dingy - although roomy-but very disappointing for our lat night on the tour. Also, the food for the dinner was very disappointing with some of the meals not being cooked properly and had to be returned and then some of these meals were replaced with - FISH AND CHIPS - not our idea of good dining for our last night together. Although the hosts tried to make up for this with extras, such as coffees and desserts, the evening was disappointing because of the poor food.
Also, the mini coach was so very small - little room to store hand luggage-the aisle between the seats was very narrow. I am only 5ft 1in tall and weigh about 53kg but found it very cramped and difficult to walk freely up the aisle of the coach. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the coach was considerably bigger. I am unsure if you received comments from others on this tour, but we all spoke about these facts freely. Luca certainly did make the tour enjoyable, but we felt that the points I have listed really need to be addressed. Thank you for reading this review and we trust these points will be taken into due consideration. P.S. Tracey at Global Journeys who looked after our booking was great and always helpful with questions we had. Thank you Tracey.
Our tour guide Nic was fantastic, an absolute fountain of knowledge. The dawn service is organised by DVA and could not have been better. Tour is highly recommended.
Overall, an excellent tour of Eastern Europe with Kinga as our very knowledgeable guide. My recommendation would be that the commentary be broadened to include some lifestyle/info about economy and agribusiness to break up European history and music. Passengers were a bit restless after 7 days of history. Slovakia was beautiful. Krakow was very interesting ...read more and the Salt Mines were astounding. Accommodation was excellent throughout the tour.
Guided tours in the big history locations of Toldeo, Cordoba, Ronda, Granada and Seville were balanced with culinary experiences like wine, olive oil and ham tastings. Our guide Leti and driver Eduardo capably dodged the road closures and crowds associated with the Easter parades. Accommodation was well chosen and two night stopovers in some locations ...read more gave us the break we needed from being constantly on the move. Booking was easy through Global Journeys with good communication throughout the process. I would travel on a Back-Roads tour again.
The Italian Indulgence tour was my 5th tour with Backroads and possibly the most outstanding. A perfect blend of rural countryside, beautiful lakes and historic cities. There were many highlights for me including staying in the beautiful villas in the Florentine and Langhe Hills, Truffle hunting with Mia the dog, spending time in the elegant Portofino ...read more and enjoying the beautiful Italian Lakes namely Maggiore, Como and Molveno. The pace of the tour was ideal, the hotels away from bus loads of tourists and the culture exquisite. I would highly recommend this tour and the guide, Beatrice. Thank you Tracey and the team at Global Journeys for your assistance in making this dream holiday come to fruition. You have always provided first class service. I will always be a Backroads fan.
Really enjoyed this small groups tour through Provence. Albert our guide was great and I learnt a lot from him along with visiting many beautiful towns and villages.
This was a carefree and efficient way to see such awesome natural landscapes. Would have been good to have a half rest day but otherwise a perfect program of travel itinerary.
Fantastic, very full tour. Great driver and very knowledgeable guide. Everyone should visit the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers Bretonneux. What made this tour very moving was that the guide was able to include war cemeteries and locations that had a personal history for people on the tour. This is a tour I will be recommending to family and fri ...read moreends.
Just completed a very enjoyable Back Roads tour from Paris to Nice. Everything was exactly as promised and both the guide and the tour bus were outstanding. Many thanks to Hannah for looking after my booking so diligently and keeping me informed of any adjustments. I will certainly approach Global Journeys the next time I go travelling.
I booked the Backroads Highlights of Britain tour for my 21 year old daughter, who was travelling by herself overseas for the first time. Our Global Journeys rep, Tracey, advised me that most of the people on the tour would be older, and this was good to know so I could discuss this with my daughter. Made aware of the fact, she was still happy to do ...read more the tour as it was a small group tour and went to all of the places in the UK that she wanted to see, and we had heard good things about Backroads tours. The tour leader was probably in her late 20s or early 30s, which definitely helped my daughter to fit in, and she really enjoyed the tour. The other tour group members were very welcoming and friendly, accommodation and food was fabulous and she was blessed with the weather golds, so she enjoyed it immensely. I would definitely use Global Journeys again.
We had a wonderful time on this trip. It included beautiful coastal places, tours through ancient historic sites, excellent accommodation and meals. We enjoyed every activity; the tour leader was very skilled and helpful and group was relaxed and friendly. The transport was comfortable with a great driver. We fell in love with Greece! We would definitely ...read more recommend this tour with Back Roads.
A step back in time discovering historic Villages in the Cotswolds
3
Susan, NSW, Australia, Sep 2023
This small group tour was enjoyable from the start to the end. The historic Cotswold's villages and the surrounding countryside were stunning. We had regular stops and time to see the individual villages, learn of their history and the movies made in those villages. The two nights in Bath enabled us to enjoy the ingenuity of the Romans dating back 2,000 ...read more years as well as learn about the events of the regency era. I highly recommend this 5 day tour.
Tour covers great mix of locations across northern Italy with some unique accommodation along the way. Highlights included the time in Lucca (pretty much everyone of our tour would go back there again), watching the truffle hunt near Alba, and cooking lesson in Tuscany. Full tour and major tourist areas were very busy in Italy this September so some ...read more itinerary changes as a result. Probably less ‘back roads’ than other tours I’ve been on, with visits to Florence and Pisa standard ‘in, tour/highlights’, out’.
What a fabulous 13 days! We covered so much of Ireland from top to bottom. What a great bunch of people to travel with from the tour leader, driver and fellow passengers. We learnt so much of the Irish History & Culture and many on board were able to connect with their ancestral heritage. Accomodation and meals provided were excellent. Would highly ...read more recommend Back Roads Tours.
What a way to discover Portugal. We had a small group tour with an incredible guide. A mix of nationalities who all got on extremely well. Only the finest hotel accommodations and first class food -- even the meal we cooked ourselves in our Cooking and Nature hotel. This was our second Backroads tour and we look forward to experiencing many mor ...read moree.
Loved the itinerary and Kinga was an amazing guide. Loved the hotels location after Munich with some amazing views and of the track locations. The coach was disappointing prior to the overheating. Definitely not luxury standard. Was a Mercedes but modified to have extra rows of seats that were not overly comfortable - made very small leg room and made ...read more you sit twisted and uncomfortable for entire trip. Lucky we could sit on our own. Driver didn’t really engage with guests until breakdown when he needed our assistance/patience. Kinga made the trip with knowledge, humour and personality!
Wonderful time! Well done Backroads. Pamela, our guide, was so friendly, professional, helpful, a font of knowledge - we learnt so much about Spain. Would love to travel with her again. She managed the tour really well & had a great sense of humour. Our group were all Australians & everyone pretty easy going. Bus driver Sav was a nice person & a safe ...read more driver throughout the trip. Almost all the hotels were great picks at authentic memorable places. Convento Aracena Hotel was lovely as was the Castle at Estremoz hotel. The only hotel that we found difficult was Las Casas de la Juderia in Seville. Excellent location & historical but we found it complicated as it was a labyrinth of walkways, underground in some parts, to get to our room right at the rear. Toilet/shower were tiny. We kept getting lost trying to find our room. The first group evening meal on meeting in Madrid needs to be reviewed. Tour itinerary was well thought out with a mix of guided tours & free time to explore. Our first small group tour & I'm sure it won't be our last.
