Back-Roads Touring Reviews

Excellent small group touring, good transport and guide. Good itinerary, good choice of food, nice picnics, great countryside touring, magical.

The three Channel Islands of Guernsey, Sark and Jersey, far exceeded our expectations. All are unique. Guernsey, with its beautiful harbour, Sark, the horse and buggy island with spectacular cliffs and outcrops, and Jersey, with its wonderful castles and coastline. Then onto France to the fortress town of St. Malo with its amazing seafood and massive ...read more tides, the charming village of Dinan, where we were fortunate to arrive on market day, breathtaking Mont St Michel, and many other stops along the way, including St. Suzanne, Laval and Chartres. One of the highlights arranged by our guide was a picnic with the locals on Bastille Day at a picturesque river. Everyone on the tour enjoyed the experience immensely. We were fortunate to have a great mix of people and wouldn't hesitate to travel with Back-Roads again.

Loved the whole trip. New small bus full of wonderfully friendly people. Well organised with interesting stops along the way. The guides and our tour leader were fountains of knowledge. All the accommodation was if high standard with a couple of nights being a real stand out.

I really enjoyed the trip, but for my husband it was so so. I agree with him there were too many churches, & the fortress in St. Petersburg could have been missed, instead a river cruise or the Faberge Egg Museum would have been nice. Loved the candle making & the Christmas decoration painting as well as the Eco farm. Russia is a lot more open than ...read more what we thought. My husband loved going down in the KGB bunker & would have liked to seen more military exhibits or the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics instead of the walk through the park at the end of the Metro viewing. Need to think of more interest for men. Also we should have had more free time on our own paid lunch breaks instead of been taken to Restaurant's with only Russian food. The accommodation was excellent except for the 2nd last hotel, at least we only had one night there.

We had an excellent trip with Back Roads. This company provides a driver as well as a tour guide now with each tour. Our tour guide Nic was fantastic with his knowledge of history and his interesting commentaries. Our driver, Tibor was skillful and helpful. The itinerary included a lot of variety and some extra "hidden gems" such as the open air Minack ...read more theatre near Penzeance. The accommodation was very good and the hotel at Fowey was outstanding for its quality and location. We would recommend this trip if you would like to visit the West Country.

Have travelled with Backroads (UK) twice before with excellent tours all round. This tour was also very good, but the tour guide was not quite so prepared as with previous tours, this detracted somewhat from the overall experience. Great group of fellow travellers.

First trip with Back Roads but it wont be our last. We had a great guide in David who was knowledgeable and had a great sense of fun. The group really got on well and there were lots of laughs. The group was not too big but not too small. Excellent accommodation everywhere, wonderful included meals and a terrific mix of places to visit. Loved Dali's ...read more house, felt peaceful at the monastery, so enjoyed the fabulous anchovies and our lunch at Elkano will never be forgotten. This was the third Back Roads tour for some of our companions and they were very pleased with all of their tours. We are both looking forward to our next Back Roads, maybe Puglia!

We had a very enjoyable trip with diverse activities including castles, Roman ruins, historic towns, river cruises and war museums. We had some busy days but overall there was a good amount of free time and time to explore places by ourselves. We enjoyed the mix of dinners together and some free nights. Our guide Rachel was a great leader and organiser ...read more and suggested some extra activities which added to the enjoyment of the trip. (Ed: Review based on slightly different itinerary. Trip name and itinerary updated this season)

Well structured tour, great hotels, and good guide. We had perfect weather and a lovely group. Our only complaint was air cond in coach was too cold or too hot. Hopefully that will be rectified.

Everywhere we went was a highlight and it is hard to single out one in particular. The weather was perfect the whole time and our travelling companions all got on exceedingly well with each other. Our tour guide was a standout and had to do things that were not in her normal line of duty. The only downside was the tiny cabin which was a bit claustrophobic, ...read more but as was only a small boat was unavoidable. The meals were superb and the french cheese lessons most informative.

I had previously undertaken a coach tour of Ireland and was left a little dissapointed. Not this time! The Back-Roads people do exactly what their name implies. We rarely saw a main road it was truly on the back roads where the scenery was spectacular. The transportation was by a small mini bus with only a maximum of 15 people. The driver and guide, ...read more Breda, was wonderful. She was a true Irish woman with a keen wit who continually entertained us with stories about the history and area we were in. She was a key element that made the trip so memorable. Some of the places we ran into were unique, no major coach lines could get there. The accommodation was first class, again due to the small numbers, we were housed in smaller boutique places unavailable to larger groups. This included a castle and manor house. Overall a great trip. I certainly will look at using Back-Roads again.

Not nearly as good as the other 2 Back-Roads tours we just finished due to the area covered getting from one interesting place to the next. Chatsworth House was the highlight of this tour & possibly of all 3 tours we did. Enjoyed York the second time round; had time for the River Ouse cruise. Punting on the River Cam in Cambridge was good fun.

Very enjoyable even though the weather wasn't always kind to us. Really enjoyed Isle of Skye as we had lovely weather; previous visit very wet. Free day in Inverness was good as we did a cruise from Drumnadrochit on the Loch Ness to Castle Urquhart.

The reason for my going oversea this year was to see Chelsea Show. The day we were taken to Chelsea was second last day. The crowds were not too big and it was easy to get around and take photos. The weather we were very fortunate with, it being a perfect day. Took heaps of photos. Our guide who lives is France was adequate but after the personality ...read more of our Italian indulgence guide was a little bland. However he did his best. The gardens and homes we visited were lovely but I think we needed free time to do your own thing, maybe a free afternoon or morning in an area were shops are available would be good. There were almost too many gardens. Don't get me wrong I loved the tour, but it was a little too concentrated of gardens.

One of the best tours we've ever done. Very good group of fellow travellers & David was an excellent guide/driver. Interesting itinerary plus lots of extras included. Flexible route chosen to give us the best viewing as we had wonderful weather & David obviously knew the area very well. Castle Howard, York Minister, Bodnant Welsh lunch as well as the ...read more full day in the Lake District were definite highlights. Farewell dinner at Comlongon Castle was very special.

From the start our tour guide Stephano, was excellent. We had an unfortunate experience leaving Australia and were delayed 25 hours. Arriving in Rome one full day behind our schedule. Making us miss our two private tours we had booked for the preceding day of our departure for Italian Indulgence. Also our bags had not arrived and were still in transit. ...read more Stephano took change and rang several times to British Airways to chase them up. Our bags were finally delivered to us at the end of the second day of our tour. However this did not stop us from enjoying our tour, our meals together and all, the interesting information Stephano shared with us. Our Driver Fabio too was excellent looking after our bags and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Having done 1 day of the Somme Battlefields tour back in 2012, this time we undertook the full 4 day experience. It was nothing short of amazing. The knowledge and giving nature of our guide Mark Banning making it all that so much more special. The only suggestion I would make is that, while this is an ANZACS tour and therefore focusing on the Australian ...read more and New Zealand contingents, there needs to be a more balanced view which includes other allies, including the British. I will admit, that this is a very selfish view, as the reason I was there was to go to Poziere where my great grandfather is mentioned on the memorial wall, however I think there could be more perspective in the tour. All in all, this is an amazing tour, with an amazing company and even more amazing guide.

The Moorish architecture was stunning. The natural scenery was stunning, for example, Ronda. Great to travel with a small group. Small bus made it easier to go places big buses can't. Lots of free time and given lots of ideas about what you can do with your free time. And it was so easy to book through Global Journeys.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. 14 others (15 with tour guide) & everyone got on well. Tour guide (Charlie), was excellent & his knowledge / commentary on places we visited helped make the tour. The smaller bus enabled us to truly experience the "back roads" aspect and we were able to get to places the larger coaches would have found impossible. Accommodation ...read more along with included meals were great, with possibly the exception of the final stop - Chateau de la Bourdaisiere. Whilst the setting & appearance was stunning, the meal was not up to standard & the cooking class was not what we expected - minimal hands on for those that wanted to actually get their hands dirty. Whilst every venue we visited were magnificent, the 3 stand out highlights were Mont St Michel, Normandy beaches, Monet's Garden. We would readily recommend Back-Roads to our friends.

'Corners of Cornwall' lived up to its name! The trip did get 'off the beaten track' where possible and I was able to visit the local little villages and walk on tracks and beaches. Having a driver and tour leader was fantastic as each role could enable 'tag team' where parking was an issue. Both Jeremy and Denis were excellent guides and shared their ...read more love of the country.