Travel Talk Tours Reviews 260

I have done tours with several other companies, and this one did not meet my expectations due to the following

Although the website mentions 13-35 people in the tour, mine had around 40 people.

The guide didn’t always follow the itinerary and he was changing the times constantly which caused confusion. He mentioned itinerary changes was done by the company side but company never informed us previously:

- Petra was cut by one day despite the fact the company specifically ask us to buy the Explorer Jordan Pass ( more expensive as it include 2 days of Petra access)
- Deas Sea experience was cut to literally 2 hours as result of changing the scheduling of previous activities
- Amman Roman Amphitheatres not visited as it was seen from the ‘citadel’ ( 5-7 km appart ??)

On the positive, the tour group was good and I met amazing people. Although, due to the large size, we didn’t get to know everyone. If this was my first group tour, I wouldn’t think it was too bad, but knowing that my experiences with other tour companies were much better (they followed the itinerary,timings and group size)

I would never recommend Travel Talk and would not be booking a tour with them again.

I have done tours with several other companies, and this one did not meet my expectations due to the following. PLEASE READ BELOW BEFORE BOOKING

Although the website mentions 13-35 people in the tour, mine had 41 people. I also heard tour was overbooked and someone who paid a single supplement didn’t get their own room for the sail portion of the trip.
The guide didn’t always follow the itinerary which caused confusion. He mentioned itinerary changes were for the best interest of the group, but in many cases we didn’t get a choice on whether to accept the change. Guides should be following the itinerary unless the tour group approves of the change.
There were sales type places we visited (pottery workshop, jewelry shop, carpet shop). We were not given a choice in whether we wanted to visit the pottery or jewelry shop. This decreased the time we actually spent in places.
Troy and Ephesus were completed on the same day. This decreased the amount of time we spent in Kusadasi. I emailed the tour company and they said this was because people preferred more time in Fethiye. However, we wasted time at the pottery shop and still didn’t get to Fethiye until the afternoon.

On the positive, the tour group was good. Due to the large size, we didn’t get to know everyone. If this was my first group tour, I wouldn’t think it was too bad, but knowing that my experiences with other tour companies were much better (they followed the itinerary, group size was consistent with the website, explained if tour was joint with different portions, etc.) I would not recommend Travel Talk and would not be booking a tour with them again.

I travelled to Bansko, in Bulgaria, for a ski holiday with Travel Talk over Christmas.
Customer service were helpful in answering my Covid related queries.
The trip moved fairly smoothly, although this was not aided by the fact that we lacked an experienced guide for the tour.
Our eventual guide, Rebecca, made absolutely stellar efforts to fill this gap. We had excellent excursions arranged for us, such as a transfer to thermal baths and a traditional Bulgarian meal. She was also great fun, and particularly beneficial to the group dynamic. However, Rebecca had never been to Bansko previously, nor was she a tour guide. It felt that she had been rather thrown in at the deep end by her employer. This meant that Travel Talk had rather neglected and short changed their tour participants, in my opinion. This was not addressed.
When I travelled with Travel Talk previously, it was our fantastic guide who really set the tour apart from what could be offered by competitors. By not providing an experienced guide, as promised in the tour description, my faith in Travel Talk has been diminished.

Despite advertising a vaccination policy that requires all travellers to be fully vaccinated, nothing is done to verify that travellers are fully vaccinated before or during the trip. Out of 17 people on my trip, 4 individuals willingly admitted that they were completely unvaccinated. I was lucky enough to hear this information from those passengers directly on the second day of the tour and to say I was horrified is an understatement. Not only are you spending long periods of time with the other travellers, but you are forced to eat and even room with them in close quarters on the felucca boat, so risk of transmission is high. I immediately brought the issue to Travel Talk's attention and their response was completely unsatisfactory – not only did they not apologize for the situation after I stated that I was very fearful for my health, but they deflected the blame to "travel agencies" saying that they may have failed to verify the vaccination status of some of their passengers. I booked directly through Travel Talk, yet I also was never asked to provide proof of vaccination status at any point before or during my trip. Other than saying that they were "launching an investigation," I received nothing further from Travel Talk regarding this issue.

In addition to the above issues with unvaccinated passengers, health and hygiene issues were also a problem for me and other passengers on this trip. The provided accommodations were truly a mixed bag - some of them, including the hotels in Aswan, Luxor and Dahab were great, but unfortunately, we only spent (literally) a few hours at the Tolip and the Steigenberger respectively. The remaining accommodations in Cairo, on the train and especially on the felucca were very substandard. A warning to others – the Oasis Hotel is infested mosquitoes, mites and other insects, which caused very painful bites on my legs and feet which persisted throughout the entire trip. As for the felucca, this was by far the least enjoyable aspect of my trip - although it was neat to sail down the Nile, the beds (which also doubled as your eating area) were very uncomfortable, absolutely infested with mosquitoes with no netting of any kind, and were not hygienic at all. Myself and a couple of other passengers experienced mild food poisoning from the food served on the boat.

It's unfortunate that the above issues tainted my opinion of the tour, because the sights we viewed and Mo, our tour guide were truly exceptional. Mo was the only Travel Talk employee that wore a mask at all times, encouraged hand-washing and mask-wearing and listened to our concerns. He is truly passionate about Egypt and its culture/history and was incredibly funny and upbeat throughout the trip. Even if you know nothing about Egypt, you will walk away knowing some really cool stories and interesting facts about Egypt's Pharaonic and modern history. Mo was the saving grace for this tour and the only reason I chose to remain with the group.

Travel Talk's initial price tag may be appealing, but for me, it was not worth the stress, and at times discomfort that I experienced throughout my trip. I had much better experiences with Intrepid and Top Deck for similar tours, so I encourage people to do their research in advance, especially when it comes to COVID-19.

My first tour with Traveltalk to Jordan was fantastic. Everything was very well planned, the itinerary was timed to perfection and jam packed with amazing experiences. The tour guide Issa went above and beyond to make everyone happy and have the best experience possible, taking us to local restaurants and telling us the best things to eat. Our bus broke down on the way to the Dead Sea and he dealt with it really quickly, and a replacement bus arrived in less than an hour. He treated us all like his friend rather than just a job which make the tour even more special. The hotels were fab and had everything that we needed, all I great locations to local attractions.
I booked another tour but had to cancel due to Covid and Traveltalk have placed my deposit aside ready to use on the next trip. I can’t wait to book again with them.

The whole tour was absolutely amazing but the credit really has to go to Sam. Amazing tour guide, host and travel companion. Highly recommend

I had an amazing time doing Travel Talk Sail Croatia, the leader was insanely knowledgable and easy to be around. The onboard staff were a treat and even when things didnt quite go to plan, they made it fun anyway!

I had a tour with Travel Talk Tours in 2019. The 8 days in Morocco was such an amazing trip. Everything was carefully organised and perfect for this trip. The guide we had for the all 8 days is an amazing guy, Abdoul Moussali. He is knowledgeable and funny and we had a fab time together. Look forward to the next adventure with Travel Talk Tours.

Travel Talk made my exploration through Egypt and Jordan so easy, care-free and fun! I was able to make the most of my time, tick multiple items off of my bucket-list, make new friends and create lasting memories.

We did a tour of Turkey with Travel Talk and had the best time!
Our guide, Yavuz was so knowledgeable, helpful, and hilarious!
We learned so much local knowledge that I feel you don't get from other tours, having done others in the past with different companies.
The accommodation was great, and everywhere we went the staff treated us so well.
I feel like we walked away with so much more than expected, and have some really fond memories to look back on.
What an incredible experience, Travel Talk absolutely smashed it out of the park!

Jumped on a 9 day tour of Turkey last year and had the best time I’ve ever had on an organised tour.
Travel Talk were so different to other companies in that they took us off the beaten track, to experience so much more than just “partying”. We really learned so much about the culture, the history, and of course, the food!
I felt like I walked away with an abundance of local knowledge of the places we visited, and so many amazing memories.
The accommodation was immaculate and central to where we needed to explore, all the staff were friendly and so helpful to our group - they really made me feel like we were VIPs!
On top of that, I was so lucky to have an incredible local tour guide, Yavuz, who was an absolute legend! His stories and contributions to the activities were far beyond my expectations.
Will definitely be booking a Travel Talk tour next time!

Egypt is one of my favourite countries I have visited due to travel talk. The tour guide was knowledgable and friendly, the other staff involved were helpful and overall the experiences and sightseeing was amazing. Would highly recommend

Both my Turkey tours started with just me and by the end I had made so so many new friends, real friends, genuine, likeminded people who I’ve keep as friends since. Such an incredible thing, to think a tour and traveling through a foreign country is such an amazing experience just on its own even, but to leave knowing you have met people who will change your life forever. What more could you ask for from a tour?!
I will always book tours with this company for this reason, I love to travel and experience new culture but to there is something so special about the memories you make with the people you travel with and travel tour gives you exactly that!

I went on the "Best of the Balkans" tour and it was amazing. Saw a lot in a short amount of time. The only drawback for me was that the coach toilet was not in use, and there was a lot of time spent on the coach. Would recommend for travellers looking to see a lot in a short amount of time, and especially those not particularly good at organising things for themselves.

I went on the Best of Balkans tour in March 2019. It is a fast-paced tour where you are seeing a lot of different cities and countries within 9 days. I have tried to plan this same route through the Balkans on my own before, but decided to choose Travel Talk for this road trip through the Balkans. Our tour guide, Bojan Ratkovic, really knew the history of the region and had lived in multiple countries that we visited. His expertise made the trip great for everyone. For all that you do and see on Best of Balkans, the value is incredible! I highly recommend this tour to anyone interested in experiencing all of what the Balkans has to offer!

This was my second Holiday with Travel Talk Tours and won’t be the last! Have done Egypt Jewels of the Nile and now Best of Balkans. Everything was organized from airport transfers, hotels, transportation and so on so I didn’t have to worry about anything and just enjoy the trip. With this tour we got to visit Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. Each country rich in history, culture and cuisine. Our guide Bojan was a great tour guide with so much knowledge and did everything in his power to make everyone happy and made sure we were taken care of and he made the experience so much better. A job well done. Other than the fact that we saw so many beautiful places, tried great food, Rajika, the people I met on this tour was the highlight for me. Going as a solo traveler, I was a bit nervous In the beginning but people were so friendly and easy to talk too and made friends from all over the world. We became a family! So get out there and get ready to explore, you won’t be disappointed, I Would highly recommend this tour for anyone.

Our tour of St. Petersburg and Moscow was an incredible experience. The tour guide was helpful, very knowledgable and fun to be around. Our tour consisted of visiting all the major sites in these two amazing places, and making friends with fellow tourists who were also on the tour.

I'd fully recommend TravelTalk for a wonderful experience and hope to go on another tour soon.

First of all - our guide and bus driver were AWESOME. LOVED all the sites we went to. (The Sahara experience was so so good!!) The only thing that I didn't love was that we didn't always get as much time to explore places as I would've liked because by the time we finished getting a meal, our free-time would be all used up. My top tip for this would be to try to avoid sit-down restaurants when you can when you are on a tighter schedule. We learned this the hard way in Essaouira. That being said, we appreciated our guide's advice on safe places to eat to avoid food poisoning! Also, with regards to Chefchaouen, stop catering to the divas. As long as it is made clear in the tour description that the accommodations will be more rustic in Chefchaouen, staying there instead of driving to another city for the night would've been better. Overall, though, I always felt very safe on this tour, we saw TONS in a very small space of time, and I would highly recommend!

We loved our experience with Travel Talk Tours! They were organized, had good communication, great value for the money. The sail trip was unforgettable. We saw all the sights in the area. The food and drinks were delicious.

I went on the Balkan Discovery with Travel Talk in November 2019. How amazing to see so many countries! It was the last tour of the season so it wasn't fully booked, which was perfect as everyone had 2 bus seats to himself. Almost every day you explore a new country together with your great tour guide and the fantastic local guides from time to time. As a Belgian between all native English speakers, at first I felt a bit the odd one out, but everyone was so friendly and we became really good friends in no time. Would definitely recommend TravelTalk tours for everyone, especially when travelling 'solo but in group'. The experiences and new friends are priceless!!