Grand Italy & Sicily Reviews

Part from visiting all famous city attractions, also we went a lot of beautiful old towns where they are either at the top of the hill, or along the coast, or at the small island. Stunning views of Mt. Etna, lakes, coast line & landscapes. Attached photo is the view of Lake Maggiore from our room at Grand Hotel Dino Baveno, Italy.

We felt the whole experience was brilliant. As first time travelers to Europe we were somewhat apprehensive of what we had let ourselves in for, however within a few days we knew we had made the right decision. Global journeys provided excellent professional service and given the short notice for our trip (less than 2 months) they took a lot of stress ...read more out of our lives. The tour operators (Insight) were brilliant, the bus was very comfortable with legroom to burn. We always felt safe in the bus in some very precarious and sometimes narrow roads, the driver was excellent. The tour guide was a wealth of information, was totally organised and she had a great sense of humour. The hotels were mostly well located and reasonably roomy and well kept. Our holiday was right in the middle of the holiday season and the temperatures were on occasions a little on the high side, however because we were a tour group we were able to get priority into the various tourist attractions without having to wait in queues. We bonded well with our fellow passengers and have made lifelong friends as a consequence. We will do it again using Global Journeys and Insight tours.

Excellent tour with beautiful scenery. Well organised. Exceptional guide , (Mick Parsons.) excellent food and plenty of it. Booking with Global Journeys was an easy experience , would use Both Insight and Global Journeys again.

This trip provides a great overview covering from the northern lakes, to Sicily in the south. It was 40 years since my last visit, but the country was even more beautiful than I remembered. We were particularly impressed by the beauty and tranquility of Sicily. The tour group included people from Australia, Canada, US and NZ, and all got along well. ...read more We had an inspirational tour leader who clearly loved her adopted country of Italy.

Our tour director was absolutely wonderful. Nothing was a problem and we where able to tailor the tour to what we wanted. Beautiful sights, wonderful hotels and the most amazing scenery you could imagine. Global journeys where so great to deal with, couldn't fault them at all - thank you Michelle!

This tour is comprehensive and fantastic. It gives you the full treatment of Italy in 17 days, is very busy and requires a reasonable level of personal fitness. Lots of walking over cobblestones and slippery walkways. Insight staff i.e. the Tour Director and Coach driver were just fantastic. Both friendly and professional. Extra leg room on the coach ...read more was just great. I also enjoyed the local city/town guides that we had as well as they were able to give a deeper understanding of each location and the history associated there with. Hotel accommodation was fine however four stars in Italy is not as good as four stars in Australia. Generally the rooms were small by our standards, although many of the hotels were stylish with great locations and very accessible to city centres. If the tour had a weakness it would be the food - at most of the hotels; where included in the program or optional food inclusions. When we got the time to visit local Italian restaurants, (where the locals eat), we were able to better experience the Italian food experience than we had in our hotels. Overall this is a great tour and professionally managed by Insight and their great tour staff.

Thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Couldn't have asked for a better tour guide, driver and a wonderful group of fellow travellers as well. The extra legroom in the coach was excellent. There wouldn't be anything I would have changed with the tour, except maybe more free time to do more shopping. Never have enough time for shopping. I would recommend Global ...read more Journeys and Insight Vacations to anyone looking for a coach tour.

Overall I had a fabulous time on 'The Grand Tour of Italy and Sicily', we had a fun group of people, a great tour director and driver and the tour far exceeded my expectations, particularly as I was travelling alone. I did almost all of the extra excursions and if I had my time over I would do less to allow a little more down/ shopping time. I am fit ...read more and active so did not have any issues physically, however there were a couple of people on our tour who were not as fit and had problems with steep stairs, no railings and uneven surfaces combined with poor balance. As a physiotherapist, I think it would be beneficial to highlight specific fitness levels required for each excursion so that people can make informed decisions about their ability to participate. The quality of our hotels was very good, however sometimes not quite as close to the city centre as I would have liked. I was also so excited to order an ekit data card, (recommended by Insight) but was bitterly disappointed with this as having loaded $70 onto it which I was assured would enable me to keep in contact easily with my family for a month, it worked briefly in the UK then not at all. I have since contacted ekit and been told that the apps on my ipad would have used all the data in the 2 days I used it. I was not warned of this at all. Our tour director told me he had never known one to work properly. In summary, a fabulous trip, great tour director and driver, lovely clean new bus with lots of leg room, visiting some truly stunning locations.

This was my first overseas tour - 16 Day Grand Tour of Italy & Sicily. I was totally amazed how well organised the tour was and how everything ran so smoothly. The Insight tour coach was so very comfortable and as we were told, extra leg room was fantastic. Our Tour Guide, Chris, was so helpful in every way and very informative. Our coach driver Michele ...read more was an amazing driver - considering traffic in Italy can be very tight. Special mention to Georgie who was so helpful in every way organising our amazing trip, all professionally organised. I would highly recommend Global Journeys to organise your travel and I definitely would travel with Insight Vacations again.

It was an amazing experience. The tour director Belinda and driver Antonio were absolute professionals and they really knew their stuff. The coach was brand new and very comfortable with all facilities that were required on board. The hotels and the food of exceptional quality and the staff at all hotels were helpful. The tour was well organised and ...read more directed, this was made possible by the attitude that Belinda where nothing was to much trouble for her and Antonio kept us safe with his exceptional skills in handling the coach. I would recommend this tour to all people, but if you dont like walking dont do it, however this is not a reflection on the tour, because the more walking we did the more we saw and experienced. Great all round, many thanks to all involved!