Trafalgar Travel Reviews 175

Follow up:

Trafalgar, did in fact, contact us. We spent 6 months with either our travel agent advocating on our behalf or directly contacting them. In the end... THEY HID BEHIND contract BS.

A terrible experience all around. They do not care about clients and as the formulaic response below demonstrates. You don't matter with Trafalgar... a billion dollar corporation protecting their bottom line.

---‐--‐------------------------------------

Don’t get injured with Trafalgar
While travelling with Trafalgar on The Best of Italy Tour my wife fell on the marble floor of at The Grand Hotel in Sorrento on day 3 of our trip.
She fell hard and was in shock at the breakfast table, shaking and cold. After the initial concern the Travel Director and hotel staff left us to our own devices. We were left to attempt to contact insurance in a hotel with phones that were not working and staff who apparently did not understand how to connect the phones so we could call out.
On the advice of fellow travelers, we sought out medical assistance when we arrived in Assisi as the initial shock of the accident turned into significant pain the following day. It was as if the staff of Trafalgar had never dealt with an accident or injury before, and our Travel Director had 3 decades of experience! We requested assistance with the language barrier and were patronizingly assured that “someone would speak English”. The only one who did was the doctor who saw my wife; and her English was faulty. We were left to Google Translate to try to communicate.
Going into the hospital my wife and I agreed that if her leg was fractured or broken, we would return home. X-rays revealed that she had sustained 3 fractured ribs and (the doctor stated) a badly bruised tibia. Upon returning home 2 weeks later, follow up x-rays found a fractured tibia. Unaware of the severity of the injury to her leg and assured by the doctor that the swelling would go down in 2-3 days. We decided that we should go on as another trip to Italy was not in our plans.
Our Travel Director was often dismissive, seemed truly put out when we asked for accommodations such as wheelchairs and seating at the front of the bus. Fellow travelers offered more assistance and support than our Travel Director.
Upon returning home we contacted Trafalgar as the two travel agents we worked with were both aghast with the poor level of care offered and recommended that we seek some form of compensation.
Trafalgar has consistently side-stepped accepting responsibility for the inadequate support of its team in Italy and hidden behind its terms and conditions. We did not blame the company for the fall, rather expressed our extreme displeasure with the level of compassion and care that Trafalgar staff provided after the fall. We sought reimbursement as the trip was mired with issues that could have been easily and proactively managed if protocols and compassion were employed.
Our travel agents will never engage Trafalgar again and we will not travel with this corporation.

If zero stars were only available!!
STAY AWAY from Trafalgar-Tour Director Maja was rude and condescending.

Overall, the tour was pretty fun, but there were some things that could have been done better in Milan. The hotel that was provided was fine, but it didn't have as many amenities as the other hotels that were part of the tour package. still, the itinerary was complete, including a lot of interesting things to see in the short amount of time that was available. The hotels were only average, but that's because they were on a tight budget. the coaches used for transportation were always clean and comfortable during the tour.,

We booked a Splendors of Japan Tour with Trafalgar and my husband was medically unable to go. We gave them 3 months notice and had to write 23 emails and make over 12 calls to get a partial refund. Their service is so poor and the right hand does not know anything about the left hand. We would NEVER use them again and tell all our friends how poorly they treated us. We mostly received these automatic, "no reply" emails and when you actually speak to someone, they put you on hold several times, for a lengthy hold and have nothing to offer except lip service! Terrible business, terrible service and we booked, they never shared with us they would penalize us for canceling 3 months advance!

Trafalgar is not a company that cares about it's customers at all. I paid for insurance for my Italy trip and paid to upgrade my flight both ways. On my way to Italy I was downgraded by United last minute.....literally 5 minutes before boarding. We won't even get into how awful United has been during this, but I thought for sure Trafalgar would make sure everything was made right....HAHAHA.....nope! Yes, I know United only gave them a 1/4 of what I paid for, for my flight, but Trafalgar should make sure their customers are treated right after such a horrible experience during a trip. I own a business and if I have to take a slight loss to make sure my customers are taken care of then thats what it takes. I have lost THOUSANDS and Trafalgar does nothing to make it better. What an awful company and they will never see another dime from me. Not like they care tho.....too busy just trying to take everyone's money.

Do not add the Glacier Park option to your Canadian Rockies trip unless you want to spend lots of money for a subpar option. Initially, we were scheduled to stay at a hotel in the park. A few weeks before the tour start date, we were rescheduled for yet another Hilton Garden. Although a nice hotel, it was outside of the park. I did not pay an exorbitant add-on fee to stay at another Hilton. I could have tolerated that if we had had time in the park to walk and take a hike. On the day we toured the park, we waited approximately 6 hours to take the tour bus to Sun Road, which was nice but did not allow any time to hike to the iconic lake at the top of the road. Why was our bus tour scheduled so late in the day when we arrived at the park early in the morning? Whoever scheduled this part of the trip had little or no scheduling experience or is incompetent. And Trafalgar's answer to the complaint was to offer a percentage discount on another one of its trip. Never again. I specifically signed up with this company because it was the only one that offered the Glacier option. Such a disappointment.

Terrible Trip

1) Keep selling optionals which cost over 800 USD and the tours are a rip off and good profit for Trafalgar.
2) Schedule was changed to ACCOMMODATE those optional tours. If you do not take the optionals, you are brought back to hotel at 3plus pm every other day, or wait in the hotel until noon doing nothing. Also sat in the cold doing nothing for 4 hours while waiting for optional tour to finish (and i wasnt informed/headsup that there was nothing to do there if i didnt take the optional). If these optional tour are not so optional, please just include in the price in the tour in the 1st place so people can budget accordingly and not get a big surprise that there is basically nothing much to do unless you join the optional.
3) I am paying more than 200EUR per day just to sit in buses for long hours and then brought to hotel to "rest"
4) Tour Director FORGOT the special gift for ONLY for myself as a returning traveller - maybe because i only joined less optional tour and not "important" enough. Other returning travellers got it.

Better go to a budget tour, GoEUGo (google this) which i went in my student days and cost HALF of what trafalgar is offering and i had a much better experience there. The only difference i see is that Trafalgar provides porterage and 2-3 dinner meals during the trip compared to what GoEUGo is offering.

Disappointing experience and never joining trafalgar tours again.

Best of Italy Tour for 13 days--actually 12 days. This was our 2nd Trafalgar tour--1st was Egypt---also terrible!
1) Could ONLY understand about 10 % of the travel director's harangue. Her name was Frederica. The same situation occurred in Egypt.
2) The bus driver named Theo was surly and rude.
3) The Travel Director constantly sold the extra excursions. These were 2.5 times more expensive then privately-made tours. Example in Rome--Crown Tours.
4) The food was terrible.
5) The hotels were at best 2-3 star. NO AC, low water pressure, and the breakfasts were poor.
6) Many hours were spent most days on the bus--4-8 hours. There were 49 passengers on this bus! You could not relax on the bus because the tour director constantly was speaking and selling optional excursions. Again, could not understand but 10 % of what she said.
7) We pre-paid gratuities, but wished that we had not done so. Neither the driver nor Travel Director thanked us. We will not prepay again, however, we will NEVER take another Trafalgar Tour.

We booked the Best of Italy tour 7 months in advance because it was a confirmed departure yet we stayed at different hotels than posted on the website - most way outside of the city centre with subpar facilities - non working air conditioning, toilets that took half an hour to refill, showers with no water pressure, obstructed views or views of a parking lot etc. and worst yet our visit to Florence for two days was basically cancelled. Beware: Their response was we have the right to make changes and changes they do make. Stay away from this company! You do not get what is advertised.

The focus of the trip seemed to be solely on selling very expensive extras that added 2,000 euros per couple if all were chosen. If one did not do the extras they basically paid for a bus ride and out of the way hotels. You were then on your own to see the cities visited. Worst yet we were removed from our Florence hotel (with no explanation as to why – even when asked they would not give an answer) to a hotel 27 km from Florence in some industrial area by the airport for one night. Smelly garbage bins lined the road we had to back into to reach the hotel. As there was nothing to do by this hotel the expensive 74 euro next day dinner was moved to this day and we left early to get there to kill time. Time I might add that could have been spent exploring the beautiful city of Florence at night.

For the short time in Florence (a rushed 4 short hours not the two days promised) we passed by the hotel we were supposed to be in only to see another Trafalgar bus staying there???? For what was supposed to be our second night in Florence we were driven back towards Rome (part of what was the final day's drive) to some hotel in the middle of nowhere. An extra horrible dinner was provided - a small bowl of soup, a very thin slice of beef with about 3 or 4 tiny potato wedges and a piece of dried gelatin with jam on top for dessert (the dessert was not edible). Absolutely horrible.

The next day was a total write-off with a delayed departure to waste more time and then a stop at Tivoli Gardens (added as compensation for the lost visit to Florence) to kill more time because we could not check into the final hotel until 3:30 pm. Again this final hotel was outside of the city and by the airport where one had nothing to do until the 6:30 departure to the disappointing goodbye dinner.

A cash refund for the 2 of 11 lost days was asked for but denied. Instead a useless 10% discount on another trip - yeah right - was useless and worthless.
5% off is regularly offered on their trips and return travelers get an additional discount so essentially NOTHING was offered.

What a letdown this was for our 31st anniversary and retirement trip.

Avoid this company at all costs

I would never do another Trafalgar tour again. I just recently completed a 12 day European whirlwind tour with the tour guide Caroline. Not only was she condescending and rude but also quite belittling. I had informed the company of my dietary requirements when completeing my registration, but I had to constantly ask staff if there was anything dairy and meat free for me to eat. The optional experiences didn’t feel very optional at all as Caroline pressured me into doing them. There were a few I didn’t want to do and would have much preferred doing my own thing, but Caroline responded quite rudely stating “what will you do then, just stay in the hotel because everything is far from the hotel”. On top of that, the fine print mentioned that IF we were satisfied with the service only then were we expected to tip. Both my cousin and I paid for our end of trip transfers, but Caroline pulled us aside and made us pay tips otherwise she wouldn’t take us on the bus to the airport. Honestly, apart from the fabulous group, I was counting down the days!

Wish I had read the reviews before booking with Trafalgar - I will NEVER travel with this tour company again. In September 2023 myself and a travel companion traveled to Northern Spain. The experience for the most part was awful. Some hotels were lovely, some meals were good, wine was plentiful but other hotels and meals were terrible. Biggest complaint was the pressure and fast paced walking to keep up with the tour director. It was rush, rush, rush with little to no time to explore, take pictures, etc. There were 52 passengers on the bus and little time to use the restrooms when we stopped, get a refreshment or look around. The whole trip was exhausting and grueling and it was clear the tour director just had a schedule to keep (not his fault). I was so glad when the tour came to an end.

Not for seasoned travelers, or people who need detail.

First and last tour with Trafalgar. We did the Imperial Europe tour, and they don't provide any details as to bus travel time or when you'll be free to do whatever you want until the day of. You will spend about half the tour on a full bus.

Trafalgar's response that they send documents with details is a lie - they send the same generic itinerary that is listed on the website - no specific details or even time ranges as to travel/arrival times in each city.

A quarter of the bus came down with COVID (including us) and there were no rules to ensure that everyone else wouldn't get sick.

Hotels were good (except Salzburg), provided meals were awful. The included morning city tours were awful - you get so much more detail by taking a free tour instead.

We didn't get to do the one additional tour that we actually wanted to do. It was canceled on the way, and we wasted the entire day waiting to move on to the next city.

Barely had any time to do our own thing. Were hustled from one city to the next, and didn't have one morning to sleep in.

The one upside is that they lugged our bags from the room to the bus. Downside: if you arrive early, or leave late, they won't include the airport transfer. So stupid.

Never again.

Three tour directors and 2 drivers within the first 6 days! First director was disinterested gave misinformation, unprofessional to the point of advising who he slept with at a site stop! It took 2 days and repeated requests before he provided his phone number. Then advised wanted to see blood before that number was called. We asked Trafalgar Australia if our small wheeled cabin bags could be accommodated in the hold of the bus as we understood they could not go in the overhead space due to safety. They confirmed this would be OK after checking with management. The tour director advised no when we arrived telling us they would have to stay at the hotel. This was the result of a number of tours being combined and a 100% full bus now not what we were advised were average numbers. The bus driver however next day day got the bags on with no problem after we had spent the night repacking. No effort was made to get people on the bus to get to know each other. The result of this was that groups formed with little interaction with others. A sick couple who started the tour took no precautions to prevent the spread of illness. The tour director offered no assistance when requested for medical help. Trafalgar claimed to have a hygiene policy however this was never advised or implemented. This resulted in a bus load of very sick people who could not enjoy the tour. The accommodation was 3 star at best with some locations well out of the city centres eg: one located in an industrial park, some also very dated. Breakfasts supplied where OK however dinners supplied were hit and miss. Many optionals could not be taken due to illness. One optional was cancelled with no replacement. On the last day we were with the assistance of a guide to "wander" Dublin with a view of Trinity college instead we went around on the tour bus and saw and heard the same commentary as per day one. Tour numbers were large well over what Trafalgar advertise as average numbers. This was due to a number of tours being combined as mentioned earlier. Some day stops were too long and other stops eg: English markets at Cork were pointless. Third Director Pat and second driver Hugo did a good job to try and salvage a sick and unhappy tour. It appeared there was little or no hand over eg: who had already paid for some optionals. At a farewell dinner (arranged by some guests) everyone expressed such dissatisfaction that they would have gladly left the tour and gone home days earlier. I note that if Trafalgar respond at all to the feedback given it is in a very generic and standard response. No Trafalgar we don't have great memories and are still trying to recover some 2 weeks later. We have travelled extensively on our own and on tours. This I would rate as our worst experience which is disappointing as Trafalgar is clearly riding on an outdated reputation. As noted by Maria( on our tour, previous feedback on this site) we should have done more research.

The Amazing Ireland tour was OK although the luxury coach was not really comfortable or Senior Friendly. Illness very quickly went through the coach. It was not managed. We wore our masks and took our vitamins and thought we had escaped it but the day after the tour I tested positive for Covid 19. As I was having a family reunion in London that day it really spoilt things for us all.My husband tested positive a few days later. He is 83. I have tried to contact Trafalgar on Social Media and other than a stock reply they are just not interested. I have found out since by reading other people's reports that Covid 19 has been going through other Trafalgar Amazing Ireland tours as well.
It's not just about legroom on the seating. The steps on the coach were very steep. My husband struggled getting up and down the steps to the coach as did I. The steps near the toilet were even worse. On previous tours with Cosmos the driver would help people alight. There was no sign of this here. I have to admit the poor driver was busy with the luggage. A lot of the accommodation was miles out of town eg. Oranmore in an industrial park. Who wants to stay there? There was nothing there! We were supposed to be in Galway. The same with Donegal. We were miles out in a god forsaken place at an old hotel where nothing worked- Kees Hotel. All these name places were very misleading. And the stopping times! We were supposed to go to Knock Marian Shrine which was meant to be one of my highlights but we only had had 30 min stop there. I had to run from one place to another. I was told later it was only a toilet stop.That was not in the paperwork. I would not do a Trafalgar tour again. All the information received before the tour is misleading. I blame myself for not doing my research properly.

Best of Italy, Best of my trips!
This trip exceeded my expectations! The tourist guide, Romeo, was a 10! The hotels were very comfortable,(a couple of them luxurious, a couple of them excellent and a couple of them very good./ Food offered pretty good. Dinner in the Tuscany Hills unbelievable. Coach very comfortable and clean. I traveled with the "other " company before, the one starts with "G", and definitely Trafalgar was the best (My second tour with them).Hopefully I can make many more tours with them.

Crap Attituded. Spent around $5k for a tour group and now they won't refund 59 euro / $65 USD.
I took a Trafalgar tour in September 2023—The best of Germany and Austria tour.

First let me say the tour itself was very, good.
(Okay some of the hotels needed some reconditioning).
I can't say enough good things about the Tour Guide and the Bus Driver. They were great!

I arrived in Frankfurt two days before the tour began. I paid $65 for a Trafalgar car service to get me from the airport and take me to the hotel.
NO-SHOW CAR SERVICE! Called the DVS car service phone number; it was either printed wrong on the voucher or the number was no longer in service.

I Called the Trafalgar Euro Guest Service phone number from the airport. A nice young lady tried to reach the car service and could not reach them either. I was told to take a taxi or whatever means to the hotel and keep the receipt.

Called Trafalgar from the hotel and spoke to a nice young man he told me I would be reimbursed for the $65 for the DVS car service and for me to email the Taxi receipt with the cost of the taxi to Trafalgar's Guest Relations department which handles these issues.

I got back to the States and sent in the Taxi receipt for the 59 Euro / $ 65 USD taxi expense to... their guest relastions.
I received an email back that read...
"We are unable to refund your taxi costs as this was purchased outside of your package with us. With this in mind, we are more than happy to reimburse the costs paid to us prior to departure". That's the $65 car service that I didn't receive.

Outside of my tour package??????
I wrote back asking Janis... "How was I supposed to get to the hotel"?

Janis replied with...
You independently purchased and utilized the taxi service so this amount cannot be refunded by us.

Along with...
We have refunded the monies owed to you for the service that was not provided and consider this matter closed. What great public relations. Of course, there is no phone number to call and speak to someone in the Guest Relations Department. Only email. Why do you think there is only email?

My Germany and Austria trip now leaves me with a little sour taste. I'll get through it, it's only $65. It just pisses you off when your told one thing and then get a bit screwed by Janis in Guest Relations. Along with their attitude. If I had spoken to someone or had a kinder email (not the typical corporate email attitude),
I probably would not be writing this review.

I'm looking into another tour for the spring of 24. I am not sure I will look into Trafalgar again.

In general I have a bias against tours as they are 60% more than what I would pay when I set up my own tour, as I would stay in better hotels or B&Bs, eat better quality food and be more comfortable traveling when touring alone. That said, driving on the left was absolutely a non-starter for me to see Britain. I wanted a tour that took us through England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and hit many of the high points that I would have chosen to see. Overall I would give this Trafalgar tour an overall C grade.
The Tourguide and Driver: Gary and Sid are top notch. Gary is personable, intelligent and obviously very experienced. Sid was a fantastic bus driver. They would both get 10/10 an A as far as I am concerned.
The Bus: I have taken 2 other tours with Globus and never remember being as uncomfortable as I was this trip. I am relatively at the weight for my height but felt so uncomfortable any time we were not in the “special” seats. The sizes of the buses themselves may not vary but certainly the number of the seats does and we were uncomfortable. Additionally there was little room at the top for other belongings. I would rate the bus a D.
The sights: we were very happy with the sights we went to most of the places we were supposed to go. Additionally every stop to use the facilities seemed to be carefully chosen and not wasted. However that said some people never got an email at the start of the tour to see the city of London. Personally we had made other plans anyway but just as a matter of principal we along with others were never notified of this tour. Just no excuse really. Sights were B+.
The accommodations: I would say a good 1/3 of the places we stayed we would never stay in. A prime example is the Holiday Inn in Edinburgh that was a complete embarrassment (an F). I took pictures and hope I can post them but many of us were pretty disgusted. It was old, run down, carpets dirty, the heat couldn’t be controlled, the furniture was broken, there was mold in the bathroom and the radiators in our room had paint peeling off them which could be a potential health hazard for children if it's lead paint. Almost every hotel had no ice not 1 ice dispenser or mini-refrigerators. On the other hand the hotels in London, Laggan and the Clayton Ballsbridge in Glasgow were outstanding. Several of the others had issues with lack of control for heat primarily and were in various states of dated. Overall a C-.
The food: I didn’t go on a tour for the food and it was hit or miss. Breakfasts at every place we went were exactly the same. It was like the same company prepared the food for the entire trip. First the show at Taylor’s in Ireland was great. Alternately I can say for sure the Dinner at the Crowne and Anchor in Plymouth, the Farewell Dinner was horrible. My wife had the fish and I heard many complaints about it as bony and heavily breaded. I had the sausage and bacon pigs in a blanket, but there was no blanket. It was one of the worst ideas for a meal Ive had in my life. Dessert was good though. The food at Dartmoor was very good as was the Laggan. In a couple of places there was uncertainty about drinks such as Durty Nellies we paid 47£ per person and had to pay for the first drink but initially informed it came with 1 drink? We questioned the waitress and she said she was correct that we had to pay except she later came back and apologized and told us we then had a free round. That’s great if you drink more than 1 drink but not so much if you don’t. There was also confusion at the Welsh Dinner as well so there should be more guidance given regarding what will or will not be served for drinks. Lunch on the farm in Scotland seemed forced. I learned nothing about life on a Scotish farm from that experience. Food overall was a C.
Finally, there should also be name tags. I get that Trafalgar is worried about plastic but there is a way to recycle the name tags and just change the names with paper or use adhesive backed paper. It least for a few days this would be useful. I would never consider another Trafalgar tour or recommend it to friends in the future based on my experience and the subsequent ineloquent company response.

I just returned from Trafalgar's Italy Belisimo. A word of warning for those of you thinking of booking this tour. This trip was a constant go, go, go. Many days we spent 10 hours touring, which includes traveling on the bus for long hours, walking, way too many water taxis in Venice, and city tours that were a waste of time and my money. All of the hotels are very old. This is not a trip for those who cannot walk at least 8-10 miles a day. Even the younger people on my tour were exhausted. So many stairs, with no elevators. Rome is dirty and crowded. Venice...what can I say. We had to depart our bus to take a water taxi to the gondolas (which was only a 10 minute ride through the canals with rude gondolas drivers), then a water taxi to the hotel, which is on an island in venice. this hotel has no elevators, so be aware and no ground floor rooms either. All in all I counted 9 water taxi rides in Venice to get where we were going. I slipped getting into one of them and sprained my ankle. Florence was busy and not worth the visit. Yes some sites were beautiful, but I felt this trip was rushed from day 1. Hardly any down time. 10 days of constant on the go is exhausting. I also did not like the fact that at many of our stops Trafalgar steered us to shops that they have a contract with. In other words, they offer you a discount, but their merchandize is out of my price range, especially the leather shop in Florence and the glass blowing shop in Venice. Many times the tour would run out of time to get to our hotels before we made our dinner stop. So instead of going to our hotel, we had to arrive at dinner hot, sweating, and smelling. Gross. I would not recommend this trip.UPDATE: read trafalgar’s response. I am tired of their platitudes and the company response. I have done 4 other tours with them and each time I contacted them about the various flaws and problems with their tours. they refuse to change. I’m not buying the line about hotels in Europe not up to my standards. There are plenty of hotels in Europe that are far better than what you provide on the tours. You state that I do not have to visit the shops you recommend. The only reason I went in there was because they offered free bathrooms if you listened to their presentations. Really? Trafalgar do you think I am stupid? I see what you are doing with these tours. Charge your guests outrageous prices but skimp on everything else. This is my last tour with you. By the way do you read the reviews? They are not kind . Don’t insult my intelligence by giving me this sort of response. I am done with you.

Never will we travel with Trafalgar again. Paid top price and got budget tour from Madrid to Barcelona bus tour. Very little stopping to take pictures and shown very little tourist attractions. All about going from start to finish and nothing in-between. So disappointed after travelling hard way around the world.

When shuttle service delivers travellers (from the airport) to the WRONG hotel, at least apologise and refund the taxi fare expense (from wrong hotel to correct hotel) that was caused by the shuttle driver associated with YOUR tour - who should do his job properly and not cause distress and unnecessary expense.