Prague, Vienna and Budapest - Summer (Base, 9 Days)

Customer Reviews

• KS

  Kathryn

  · June 18th, 2024
  Buyer beware. A friend and I booked the Prague, Vienna, Budapest tour for December 2023. We planned for months and noted from other reviewers, that many not-to-be-missed sights were either optional experiences for extra money or not included at all. A half day excursion to another city was switched a month before the trip causing us to scrap careful plans for the other half day. Our reception in Prague consisted mostly of the tour director giving information in a crowded and noisy hotel lobby while other guests checked in. We were told we needed to decide on upcoming optional experiences that evening. We asked about seeing St. Vitus Cathedral and we were told that it had been closed for several weeks. We looked into it ourselves. Turned out it was open and had been although we had to purchase our own tickets. Dinner out was delicious. The next morning, the optional boat trip for the afternoon was cancelled. Turns out, a certain number of people have to sign up to go so anyone who was interested in that would have to scramble and figure it out on their own at the last minute. At the palace complex, we were turned over to a local guide. It was a very crowded and snowy Saturday morning with hundreds milling around the area. Our guide proceeded to flip up his dark hood and walk through all the tourists without a backward glance as we tried to keep up. It was difficult to hear him on our radios. He expressed irritation when we said we couldn’t easily see where he went and dismissed our suggestion that he could have a tall Trafalgar sign for us to follow. The “tour” only consisted of walking around outside for about 30-40 minutes as he gave information. We never entered any of the historic buildings/cathedral which is the highlight of Prague. We stayed behind the group to use our purchased tickets to access all of the sights. St. Vitus was gorgeous. Unfortunately, inside a different building, I fell on the slippery floor, dislocated and broke my wrist. I had to go by ambulance to the hospital. The tour director came for a short while but doesn’t speak Czech so he left while I dealt with staff and medical procedures. The next day, the tour group went to Germany for the day while we spent hours trying to figure out how to get home so I could see a specialist. Since we had booked our airline tickets, we were on our own to make all travel arrangements. Hotel staff were marvelous and helped me find a doctor who could come to the hotel to prescribe pain meds and we flew home the next day. Thankfully we did buy the travel insurance. We decided that since we had already done so much research, we would try the Christmas markets in Vienna and Budapest again this December. But after such a disappointing experience, we are not definitely not doing this or any other tour with Trafalgar!
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  Trafalgar commented on this review

  Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry you did not enjoy your travel experience with us. Your review is important to us and has been shared with the relevant departments for review. Even though you may not choose to travel with Trafalgar again, we... Show more
  Trip date: December 2023
• A

  Ann

  · September 20th, 2023
  We recently completed a 7 day tour. Our guide was Paul and our driver was Jimmy. It was an excellent tour. Paul was very informative. Jimmy was a great driver and second chair to Paul. The local guides were great. It was nice having the same guide the entire time we were in a given city. The only issues I have were outside our guides control. Our welcome dinner service was VERY slow given the tour group were the only ones on the restaurant. We also were not given enough time to explore. That was also my fault because I went on all the optional experiences. If you go don't miss the concert in Vienna or the Budapest parliament building tour. Both amazing. I really do want to give a shout out to Paul. I don't know how he can herd all the "cats" and still have a smile on his face! He managed to not lose anyone. This was our second trip with Trafalgar and we will be planning another one.
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  Trafalgar commented on this review

  We always love hearing from our frequent travellers while they explore the world with us. We thank you for your kind comments regarding our Travel Director as we recognise that no one knows how to create a better experience for our guests than our... Show more
  Trip date: September 2023
• T

  ThibaultdePolignac

  · October 13th, 2018
  The tour was very well organise and managed but what really mad it extra special was our guide Greg. His passion and love for what it does carries through out the entire journey. He communicated very well managing everyone’s expectations always, knew his subject and had always valuable tips and info for each place we visited. There is no doubt this tour was a success greatly because of his input attention to details and high energy!
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  Trip date: October 2018
• JC

  Janice

  · September 13th, 2018
  Locations were amazing. Hotels were fair. Our tour guide was fun and entertaining.
  Trip date: July 2018
• M

  MStellaLegarda

  · July 16th, 2018
  Bernie was organized, meticulous, had great diagrams for self guided tours on each city - she’s the Best tour guide I’ve exoerienced in my travels
  Trip date: June 2018
• ND

  Nancy

  · December 18th, 2017
  This tour met and exceeded all our expectations! Our tour guide Sasha Rojnik was flawless. He was personable, knowledgeable and always available to give advice about places to eat, things to do in our free time and ways to get around. Our tour didn’t seem as rushed as previous tours because we stayed in each hotel three nights. Included tours, optional tours and free time were available so that we were able to see all major sites, experience museums, concerts and local restaurants and still shop the Christmas markets. There were many photo opportunities so we weren’t seeing the sights through the bus window. The weather was cold, but we were prepared. Our only complaint would be that all the hotels were extremely hot with no way to adjust the temperature. We are retired, but traveled with our adult children and we all enjoyed the tour.
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  Trip date: December 2017
• EP

  Emily

  · November 26th, 2017
  The Prague, Vienna, Budapest tour was a fantastic experience! Perfect amount of time in each city. Fantastic, very thoughtful travel director and local specialists. Hotels much better than ever expected. Definitely recommend.
  Trip date: November 2017
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  Erica

  · October 11th, 2017
  This was an excellent trip and good value. Local guides were engaged in most of the destinations and there was a good balance of free time and organized activity. The one downside of Trafalger tours is that the main escort is not necessarily from the host region, and there is a 'big-bus' feel. That said, the escorts are professionals and have good group management skills.
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  Trip date: July 2013
• CP

  Christine

  · September 7th, 2017
  It was a very good trip. Prague, Vienna and Budapest are very beautiful cities and it was great to get into the museum in Vienna before it was open to the public. We also did Schonbrunn Palace early and avoided the crowds. I think the highlight for me was the Budapest evening cruise and dinner as it was just stunning and the food was excellent. We picked this tour because of the amount of free time it offered, but if you were to take up all the optional tours, there would be very little free time left for wandering these marvellous cities. We did half the tours on offer so we could head off on our own and do things that weren't on the optional list.
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  Trip date: August 2017