Costa Brava Tour Companies

I was happy with the first tour guide .The others could have been better.The last guide was not very helpful. I hope to get a refunded for taxi from Paris to hotel then to airport. Please help.

A very special thanks to Our guideJULIANA IN Madrid, Angel on Zaragoza and Barcelona and finally but not least Adilson in Paris

I was not picked up at my cruise ship not taken to a second hotel after my stay with the tourradar hotel

It was an impressive tour. What I liked most was the excellent service, flawless car pick-up and good hotels where the price/performance ratio was just right.

WARNING – Avoid this untrustworthy and unprofessional travel company who when pushed with adversity, act unprofessionally, do not care about their customers’, continuously shift blame and don’t take accountability for anything. I risk not receiving any sort of refund by writing this review however I feel that other would be travelers who want a pain free experience should know of my journey with Stoke travel before booking so they don’t go through the same pain my fiance and I went through. As a vivid traveler myself living and as an expat working in professional services in Europe for the last 4 years, I have to traveled to over 70 cities and also traveled with many ‘travel package’ companies including Busabout, Contiki, Topdeck, Sail Croatia and Turkey and have never had a negative review. My experience with Stoke Travel has been anything but positive. There are many facets to this review so I will try and summaries as best as possible however as it is having been quite a long journey it might quite lengthy (sorry in advance). The 4 month journey - My fiance and I booked a travel package with Stoke Travel to go to Andorra in March, 2020 albeit this was around the time where the pandemic was known however no countries made any sort of decisions to close borders and the seriousness of it wasn’t fully aware, in saying that concerns were raised to Stoke travel whether the tour was moving forward and they had confirmed it was. After travelling to Spain the night before, the morning of the tour came and everything seemed quite normal, similar to other tours I have been on however half way up to the Andorra mountain the tour was cancelled as Stoke personnel informed us this was due to the closure of Andorra borders, we were forced to turn around back to Barcelona however we were reassured that Stoke will do everything they can to take care of a refund and inform us of what the next steps would be. We were understanding to the unfortunate situation, trusted the word of Stoke and were happy to wait until the details on the refund were released. This is where the pain, stress, and unprofessional customer service of Stoke travel really begins. Weeks went on and I had personal issues of losing my job due to the pandemic and as an expat this means I also have to leave the country hence no sort of voucher is of any benefit to me so the request for a refund was vital however after weeks went on I had continued to actively follow up for a refund of our money due to the cancellation. When I first tried to tell them of my situation I was constantly informed of their Force Majure clause located in their T&Cs and this was constantly put in my face and only until I sought legal advice is when the CEO and co-founder of Stoke travel, Toby Paramor got in touch with me. When this happened I thought this was an admirable thing for Stoke travel to do so we engaged in a phone conversation where we mutually reinstated and agreed with what I was saying in terms of my situation, Stokes situation, redundancy, needing to leave the continent and how a voucher does not hold any weight for us and again Toby the co-founder agreed that a voucher makes no sense however due to the Covid-19 pandemic they needed some time to see if they would still be operational which I was totally reasonable and understanding towards and gave the benefit of the doubt as companies were feeling a deep burden hence I agreed to what he suggested in which to wait for his update which he promised to personally provide me with in a 3 week call that he would give me. 3 weeks went by and I had seen Stoke travel were still operational which I was happy for however I did not receive any call, message or email so I gave it a few more days then I had to contact Toby directly to which the blame game begun. Although our purchase was with Stoke travel who are a packaged travel company that make money in delivering bundled packages, the blame game of waiting for Andorra mountain to open up so they can return and process refunds begun. This was then the continuous response I got each time I had to actively follow up for an update. About a month went on and I still received the same update from the CEO, I went on to do my own research within the hotel site of Andorra which we were going to stay at, the site displayed they were working from home and were processing refunds and cancellations and I had sent screenshots to Toby to which he replied “If I would like to take over negotiations in trying to secure refunds back on behalf of the group you are more than welcomed, otherwise please sit tight” for a senior person, a co-founder and a CEO of a people based company to sarcastically suggest to a customer to take over negotiations for behalf of the group is super unprofessional and disappointing especially the matter is between Stoke and I. It has now been 4 months and up until this point I have tried to be understanding, patient and empathetic to the pandemic and issues businesses face however it does not seem like this is going in a positive direction. I have also seen many advertisements for all their new tours however for the tours that were cancelled like our one it seems these have been put on the back burner and placed to the side and a continuous story up until this point is the shifting of responsibility and dependency on other vendors, specifically that they are waiting for Andorra (mind you the country has been open for a while) to return any sort of refunds. Whenever I would mention that this is not a matter between Andorra and I, I would get the same response, whenever I proactively asked for an update or what the steps that were being taken to seek the refund back were, I would get back messages like ‘Extremely frustrating, Zilch progress’ again these are from the CEO and co-founder. Also, Stoke claimed they were going to go see them (Andorra vendors) in person which gave me a tad more confidence and then when the date came (Mid-June) and I asked for an update I was informed that they couldn’t confirm the meeting so they didn’t go. This has been the continuous battle I have been going through with the same shifting of blame, lack of accountability and the fact of the Force Majure clause that we are not entitled to anything. This is still an ongoing process for my partner and I however it doesn’t seem like it is going in any positive direction so I would just warn other would be travelers that everything may be fine when things are going good with Stoke travel however when pushed with hardship especially during this pandemic the true values and character of a company shows and their customer service has been unprofessional, they do not take any accountability or responsibility and care of their customers. Regards, Will

It was a great experience, the guides(Michael, Chantel & Yentle) were awesome and very Welcoming, I would definitely recommend Stoke Travel.

Highly recommended tour. Nick and Nuria at the hotel were amazing... made everyone feel welcome and cooked delicious meals each night. Good mix of activities and time to explore Andorra

Such an amazing experience! Some highlights: • Our guide, Antoine was phenomenal! He is very experienced, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Best guide ever. • The hotel was perfectly located, the food was amazing, and the family was very nice. • Andorra is a MUST see place with picturesque lakes, mountains, and streams. • Each day is perfectly laid out with plenty of time to push yourself on the expeditions then relax at the hotel. A few recommendations: • If you are not physically fit, I would not recommend this trip. • If you are VERY physically fit or looking for a big challenge I might also look at other trips. I would say this is perfect for the average person looking to be physically pushed. •  If you are an avid Mountain biker, I would say this is not the trip for you. The mountain biking is not "mountain biking" it is "off-road" as the description says. Overall I would say this is an amazing trip because you get (physically) what you want out of it and you get to spend your time in one of the most beautiful places!

Experience plus really knocked it out of the park with this tour. The scenery, the history, the accommodations and the food were all amazing. After a day, our tour guides felt like family, they were amazing!

Typical ExperiencePlus Tour...better than expected hotels, better than expected guides, better than expected dinners. The tour gives you a great sample of the region. It exposes you to everything such as small towns, farm land, coastal areas, some mountainous areas and bit of art history and a lot of local culture. It is an exceptional way to visit the region.

Andorra is a beautiful country. The hiking was amazing. Dago was a good guide. The only problem was the initial meeting. It appears we were all sent different instructions. I arrived at the airport 2 hours early so that I wouldn't miss the meeting. My instructions were to meet the rep (who would be holding an Explore sign) at the exit to Terminal 2B (there are 5 exits!). I walked up and down the terminal for over half an hour (inside and out) and as the time for the meeting arrived and still no sign, I called the number in the instructions. I was told that the rep was there, and I was given a specific meeting spot. When he got to me, he said it was lucky that the bus was late because I would have been marked a no show and would have had to find my own way from Barcelona to Andorra. There was no sign with Explore written on it (he was wearing a jumper that he had taken off and hung over a bag facing the wall). I wasn't the only one that had this trouble. It was a case of mixed communications that could have had a costly and distressing outcome!

The group and the hotel were good. The guide didn't seem to care until he couldn't find somebody, also needs more first aid training.