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Brand: Great Rail Journeys
The Great Train Journey was only transporting us to the destination and back. No other trains were involved during the week. The big group in the hotel meant we had to sit at back of restaurant, ordering from a different menu. The food was disappointing. The roof top bar was the same. We were herded into an area all together and weren’t allowed the freedom to sit where we wanted. The hotel staff were lovely and the hotel is in a beautiful location.
GRJ are a fantastic way to travel. However, it is not necessarily easy! One needs to be prepared to travel light for probably 2 days out and the same back. The days at ‘Base’ (4 to 5 days) are generally quite relaxing but to get the best benefit one needs to do most (if not all) the planned excursions. If one requires a lot of luggage, I suggest sending this on to the ‘Base’ hotel has lugging it by rail is not easy. Depending on the trip the excursions may not necessarily be by rail, but by coach.
Once we arrived at our base hotel, we had a wonderful time.
This was a fine holiday with plenty to do.The tour manager ,Kate did a really fine job, answering any questions and keeping everything in order. kind regards allan
Fantastic holiday from start to finish. Our rep Kate was amazing. Such a beautiful area of the world. So lucky to have seen it. Everything was just right.
The group at 38 people was too large. It was good to have the luggage service offered for free, but we still had to manage our luggage as far as Gare du Nord. It would have been preferable to have the service from home. There was a much longer walk that in previous years to find the coach at Gare du Nord. The hotel was excellent but we found our room was noisy at night as we were directly under the rooftop terrace and bar. The food was good with a varied menu. The itinerary was comprehensive, allowing us to see other lakes. The coach was late arriving at Gare de Lyon on the way home.
Lake Orta a perfect quiet choice; away from the congestion of Maggiore & Como. Hotel excellent. Overall, rather lengthy coach connections & final day of 4 trains was rather complex. The first leg to Brill perhaps could have been accessed by coach! ! Catherine Murphy a great guide.
Fabulous, beautiful area, peaceful but equally plenty to do and see. Some excursions cried out for less restriction on times but also a couple of wasted days. Omegna was nothing to see here, and Lugano, haven for the rich was just posh shops and a promenade. However, that said, I’d do the trip again if it has some tweaks.
Wonderful scenery. Kate was a great guide.
Wonderful time, tour guide was great!
Lovely trip with friendly group and excellent tour guide, Stella. Beautiful scenery and all the train journeys rain on time. Lovely Hotel in Turin and at Lake Orta. Look forward to going away with Great Rail holidays again, very well organised.
Everything was very well organised and planed to the detail. Unfortunately the group was very big, everything was slow and not much effort to integrate the group.
It was a beautiful trip to beautiful places, Turin was a lovely surprise! The only negative was one of the days was May Day and the Italians came out in large numbers!
If you have never experienced the Italian Lakes before, this is an excellent introduction. Regrettably, you'll be planning your next return!
Our third trip as before excellent made perfect by the guide always helpful and available. We have another trip coming up soon and will be booking again next year so much better than going by air You arrive fresh and ready to go and the service the food and accommodation has always been terrific. Our first holiday with them to Switzerland was using trains all week that was the best but the ones that use coaches to transport you are very comfortable as well can’t wait for our next trip later this year
Hotel and location was very good. But the evening meals were organised that the tour party did not use the main restaurant. The evening menu was separate from the main hotel menu. And was to say the least extremely poor. The brochure had no mention of this type of arrangement and considering our last experience of lake tours with you This was for the price paid a poor reflection of your customer care. Trips and tours well organised. But this issue with the standard of evening meals made me feel as though I was on a camping holiday. Won’t be doing this again. Expensive lesson in bad information from your company.
Very enjoyable trip but spolt by the journey home, three changes of train with our luggage.Luckily fellow travellers helped me with mine. Also visiting Lugano and then the Borromean Islands on Bank Holiday weekend wasn't ideal. Very very crowded and long waits for food and ferries. Would have been better to do this trip earlier in the week and avoid the crowds.
Lovely location. Great tour Manager. Hotel lovely and clean and comfortable. Room too warm but no air con available until end of May. Had to open balcony door to cool room. Room facing main road so was noisy. Hotel food very nice. Service a little chaotic, but staff lovely and friendly and helpful. Trips out were good. Transport all on time. The excursion to Stresa on our last day should have been shorter to allow more time for packing back at the hotel before dinner. Journey home too long. Should be done in two stages with an overnight stop. However all in all a very enjoyable holiday. Visited some lovely places and met some nice people
Beautiful hotel in a great location on the lake but bit isolated. Lovely friendly staff and very clean accommodation. Rooms on front very noisy with traffic! Book lake view room
Just back from a wonderful trip to Italian lakes. Well organised and Mark the tour manager was excellent. The hotel was right on lake orta( great for a swim in the lake) and enjoyed the tours to lake como and maggiore with plenty time to look round. Enjoyed the whole trip.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Hi Di,
Thank you for your review.
I'm delighted to hear that you had such a brilliant time in the Italian Lakes and that you even managed a dip in Lake Orta! It is also great to see that you enjoyed your excursions while on tour with us.
I hope that we can welcome you on tour with us again soon!
Best wishes,
Richard
