Avignon, the Rhône & Provence Reviews

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A terrific trip from start to finish. Everything was faultlessly organised from the moment we met the tour manager at St. Pancras. Avignon is a beautiful Provençal city; lots to see and do and lovely food and wine. The tours organised by GRJ were excellent - Arles via a Rhone cruise was wonderful and the Roman wine tasting at Pont du Gard was exceptional. Highly recommended

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Had a good holiday with a pleasant and helpful tour manager. The only issue was the hotel security when someone tried to enter our room at 5:30 in the morning on our last day. I reported to the tour manager but no follow up or response from GRJ .

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Great experience. Our first time on a train holiday

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lovely trip despite travel issues and extremely hot weather All organised trips out were very good Our group guide Richard was great and the guides on the organised trips were very good very good English Avignon is a beautiful city

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Lovely group. Great tour manager and good day tours. I specially loved the lunch cruise and the wine tasting at the magnificent Pont du Gard. I decided to visit the Palais des Papes but it was disappointing. Overall I really enjoyed this holiday.

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A very good tour in temperatures approaching 40 degrees. Excellent local guides and tour manager. Very interesting visits and six nights was a good length. The Novotel was comfortable with an excellent pool and very supportive staff.

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Interesting well lead holiday. Hotel very good. Very interesting destination. Food tour lovely, all guides excellent.

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Already responded to survey

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The itinerary was very good, and our tour guide was excellent, however it did not cater for the inability of some of the passengers

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Great trip. Lots of historical and cultural sites. Fabulous weather and easy to navigate around the area. Second time used Great Rail Journeys and they are a splendid company to travel with. Organised and lots included - good value for money.

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Overall a good experience. Too much self porterage. Walking tours should be undertaken in the mornings.

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Excellent organisation with great trips. Only 1 day had a bit too much coach travel and I think this will be addressed. Also some free time to explore which was appreciated despite a French train strike!

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First holiday I have ever had where we had a superb friendly tour manager and not one thing I could complain about

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Everything went exceptionally well as usual, on a g.r.j.holiday.thanks to the tour guide and the itinerary. Weather was sunny and warm,hotel was great loved the casual pace of the excursions and days off.thanks for a great holiday.

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Lots to see and extremely well and considerately organised by our trip manager. We had. Lovely time, sometimes separately from the group, sometimes together with them. Everyone seemed to be having a lovely holiday.

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Booking was easy and the trip was excellent. A great tour manager ensured everything was as promised. Enjoyed the company of our fellow travellers and exploring a very interesting area.

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A perfectly paced holiday in Provence with a great guide who looked after us

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Thank you, GRJ, for a wonderful week. Our first experience. A great, welcoming and supportive group of people and an absolute star of a tour manager, Anthony Maslin, who judged the needs of the group and impact of 30 deg C plus weather conditions to ensure everything felt easy, and unhurried. He was there if needed, and in the background when not, just in case. We felt looked after, with being over-organised. A good mix of visits within the area, both countryside and town, and our own time to explore. Good local tour guides. Good hotel base (Novotel Avignon - pool a welcome relief from afternoon heat!

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Overall we were disappointed. This was our first holiday by train. We found that travelling from St Pancras to Avignon was very tiring, with lots of waiting around at St Pancras and at Garde de Lyon-two trains and two buses meant a lot of baggage handling. This was worse than travelling by air. The hotel was OK and in a good location with helpful staff. Some trips were disappointing . The cruise down the Rhone was along a non impressive part of the river. We were served with. 3-course meal at 11 45am- a short time after breakfast, along with hundreds of others, sitting on long tables! Arriving at Arles our tour manager wasn’t aware that a local guide would meet us. The so called “ gastronomic tour of Avignon” was not good. The local guide spent most of the time walking through Avignon covering info that we had received three days earlier from a much better guide. The tour ended in a sweet shop by which time most of the party had either given up as they couldn’t cope with walking or , like us, were bored. The trip to The Ponte du Gard was excellent followed by a really good wine tasting session. The drive through the countryside of Provence was also most enjoyable but we really needed a local guide on the bus. Rick, our tour manager, was excellent He had a lot to cope with. There were several people who just couldn’t cope with the walking required. At times there were organisational delays. We spent a lot of time waiting around. Rick really worked hard to manage these situations. He demonstrated a great deal of patience, initiative and good humour. However he had not been to this area before and was clearly learning about it. This will benefit future tours but essentially we were helping to support for his training. We had another Great Rail Journey holiday booked in the autumn but have now cancelled this as a result of our experience.

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Seamless organisation under the kind and considerate care of Rick the tour guide.