Insight Vacations Reviews

Our first tour together, very enjoyable. Tour guide Lena was very knowledgeable on local traditions and places we went in Scandinavia.

Except for Cinque Terre, we'd previously been to all the destinations on this tour, some many years ago, others more recently and several times over in the case of Venice. The tour presented an unrivalled chance to see them all again in a level of comfort we'd never previously enjoyed. For instance, we'd never indulged in an expensive gondola ride nor ...read more cruised in comfort at night up the Grand Canal in Venice, let alone drunk coffee, eaten gelati and listened to the music in St Mark's Square without paying the fortune that we did 45 years ago in celebration of a personal milestone in our lives. On the other hand, the least enjoyable part of the whole trip was the location of the Venice hotel in the tourist crush around San Marco. Conditions are inevitably like that in that most famous area, but Venice is so small that it's easier to stay in much quieter areas enjoying experiences as disparate as shopping and church visits and yet walk within minutes to the big tourist spots. Fortunately we'd booked to stay on for another three days in just such an area, rounding off a great holiday in an appropriately memorable way.

Great trip and our guide, Abdulla, made it even more special. He was at the airport to greet us right from the start. Very comprehensive trip that included lots of great experiences.

We enjoyed the European Heritage Insight tour very much and would highly recommend it to other potential travellers! (Ed: Review based on slightly different itinerary. Trip name and itinerary updated this season)

I think the guide made the trip really, with her inside knowledge and experience and extra little touches. It was a big group - some with extra diet needs - so organization was really necessary. The scenery was fantastic and most of the places visited were good . A couple of very long drives, but mostly the bus rides were interesting and comfy and the ...read more driver very safe and capable. It was a really good holiday!

The tour was excellent in all respects, except one: a passenger who seemed to enjoy coughing endlessly with no regard for fellow passengers on the coach or people dining nearby. The tour director did her very best to deal with him without success. He didn't ruin the tour for us nor probably for anybody else but it became a challenge for all of us to ...read more avoid sitting near him. On the plus side the tour was especially interesting for us. We'd seen only the corner of Sicily where it started (near Mt Etna) when we'd visited my wife's relatives 45 years ago. It was especially important for her to see much of the rest of Sicily and speak the Sicilian dialect she'd continued to use after coming to Australia at the age of six. She attracted some interest from some of the local guides who constantly talked about the American invasion of Sicily in July 1945, the month she was born to apprehensive parents on the island of Lipari.

The Insight 'Italian Elegance' Tour was an excellent tour. We were impressed with the standard of accommodation and the centrality to most of the major attractions. The optional tours were also very good although we found that there was a little more hard sell to take up these tours than there was on the Avalon River Cruise we did afterwards. All the ...read more little add ons, e.g. ice-creams, coffees etc were always first class. The dinners provided at the hotels varied from fair to very good. Some establishments provided good options, others did not. The restaurants we went to were excellent. Our Tour Director, Brad, was excellent no issue was a problem to him and he was very approachable. Again, too much information is provided, when on tour and when on the coach. We just found ourselves losing concentration at times. On some days we did not take the optional tours, we did our own thing, just to break up the information overload. Overall we loved this tour with The Italian Lakes and the Dolomites being the highlights, Tuscany was not far behind.

It was a lovely experience, better than I thought it would be. Destinations were great, only wish there had been a little longer time in each detination. Our visit to Pisa was so short we could not get a time to enter Cathedral or Go Up the Tower. But never mind it was still wonderful :)

We really enjoyed our tour of Spain and Portugal and had many wonderful experiences. Toni, the tour guide, was fantastic and gave us great insights into these two amazing countries. Our tour consultant, Georgie, was most helpful in helping us to organise our trip with to ensure that everything went smoothly.

The coach was very comfortable and roomy. The driver's maneuvering skills was excellent. The guide was always helpful and informative with enjoyable stories to accompany the info. The accommodation was well positioned and the food excellent. The final hotel was not up to standard with my rooms air-conditioning not working and when I complained and they ...read more moved me to another room its air-conditioning also didn't work but by that time I was too tired to complain and move again. In general I enjoyed the tour and would consider going on another Insight tour.

Country Roads of France is the best tour we have taken. Starting if Paris, travelling south there was a good mixture of different sights to see and the wine experiences and dinning around experiences were excellent. A mixture of food, culture and historical sites. From Monet garden to Van ogh to the pilgrims on the trail to Rocamador and the Papal ...read more castle in Avignon. A big thank you to Yvonne who encouraged us to travel on a guarantee departure tour for our early bird booking it was the best time to travel through all these amazing places.

I think overall value for money it was a good tour. However, the one night stands should be eliminated if possible, as everyone was exhausted. The hotels were OK, but not in center of old villages. One in Taormina was outside the town, and although a Hilton, it was terrible. The guides were good. Although the tour operator told us there was no way ...read more to adjust the air con in the coach, he didn't tell us that you could adjust the overhead device, to close it. Result was I got a cold, and could not go out the day we had a half day free. Otherwise, everyone was professional and hard working.

Great Tour Director with lots of information and a good group of people on this tour. We've now seen a lot of the U.K. Great!

We went on Country Roads of France in May 2014. We had an amazing time on this tour. Our tour guide Laurent was fantastic. Laurent made France come alive with his wonderful insight into French people and their culture.There was 10 Americans, 2 Canadians and 26 Australians on the tour in a 40 seater coach. The accommodation was of a very high quality ...read more and always in the centre of the cities we visited. The tour travels into the country of France and avoids a lot of the motorways. France is a diverse and interesting country with lots of spectacular scenery and history. We felt that there was a new surprise every day. We took most of the optional excursions. These do add an additional cost onto the tour but we had great fun on these, especially the ones which included evening meals. We experienced things that we probably would never had done if we were on our own. We met some wonderful people on the tour which really added to the experience. We would highly recommend this tour.

I thought that this tour provided a great mix of National Parks, cities and open spaces/areas such as Montana and Wyoming. Coach travel was as advertised with extra leg room, wifi, water, a clean coach each morning with seat rotation well organised. The pace was sometimes 'tight' with arrival at accommodation late in the afternoon with then an early ...read more dinner, so little time was available to see some of the wonderful National park lodges in more depth, as usually the next morning it was an early start straight after breakfast with bags having to be ready before this. I realise that this made it possible for the tour to cover all of its advertised activities, however some could have been 'left out' or shortened - for example the time spent in Sedona, and some other small places for a lunch break could have been curtailed, but realise that the driver needs regulated breaks etc. Not sure what the answer to this is. The tour guide was outstanding with a complete knowledge of all the areas visited and kept all the tour on time. He displayed sensational skills in dealing with some difficult people who could have affected the smooth running of the holiday.I would definitely consider an Insight tour in the future and would book through Global Journeys . You provided excellent service and demonstrated fine organisational skills. I found dealing with one consultant particularly helpful as the response time between my enquiries and any other issues was wonderful.

We did enjoy our tour of Switzerland. We gained a lot of information of the country through our tour guide, Sara. The scenery was spectacular, snow covered mountains. Wherever you go, coach touring is not as relaxing as river cruising, but you certainly see the country.

Our recent tour of Spain & Portugal proved to be everything that was advertised and good value overall. The local knowledge, organizing ability and dedication to detail by the Tour Director meant we had the opportunity and the information to enjoy as many historical, cultural and entertaining experiences as possible along the way which made our tour ...read more a very pleasant experience. The optional excursions are an extra cost and sometimes mean a late night, or touring part of a rest day, but we think they are worth the extra effort. As each region of Spain is different in landscape and culture and Portugal is quite different again every day was a new adventure. There were a couple of long drives but the comfort of the coach, including wi-fi, and the ability of the driver to provide a smooth ride, adequate stops and keep to the timetable helped those days to pass ASAP. Hotels were sometimes quite fancy othertimes less grand but almost always central and near a supermarket.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Italian Escapade. The tour director Sharon was fantastic - knowledgeable, organised and adaptable. It was our first visit to Italy and we feel we have a really comprehensive snapshot of mainland Italy. The tour was exactly as described in the brochures and on the website. It was a pity that some participants weren't aware of ...read more some of the physical demands as this did lead to some delays. Sharon managed these issues with diplomacy. Yvonne from Global Journeys was very helpful and professional when we were booking our tour. I would definitely consider both Global Journeys and Insight when travelling in the future.

The tour was excellent, and our tour guide and driver were both superb. We had a few issues - in two hotels the bags were not delivered to our rooms until about 2 hours after arrival - most frustrating especially as we were to go out for dinner and could not change from our day clothes. On one occasion the coach broke down and delayed us by about 2 ...read more hours which cut into our time later in the day. The hotel rooms were all large, comfortable and well furnished, and the hotels were all of an excellent class. The various day trips/tours were all most enjoyable, and the meals all up to a high standard. We were disappointed in Global Journeys which incorrectly quoted our extra day as including breakfast, and when it was discovered this was incorrect only offered partial recompense for the extra cost of breakfast. However all other aspects of our Global Journeys 'experience' were satisfactory.

Overall it was a good well planned tour. Shortfall only in the accommodation as some hotels we stayed didn't provide basic necessities. Tour pace was excellent, not too hectic and gave quite free time on your own. Food was very nice too, maybe because it's in France. Suitable for those who love countryside and more relaxed travelling.