"Everything about our Tour of Italy trip was wonderful! Italy was beautiful and the experiences and lessons from the tour guide were exceptional. As first time international tourists, my husband and I were not quite sure what to expect; however, we were truly pleased with our entire experience. We're certain to use Go Ahead Tours again. We'd go again tomorrow if we could!"
"We had a grand time at the Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons, and the rest of the grand parks. The guide was knowledgeable, the driver excellent, the fellow tourists good company. My minor complaint was about wasting so much time in gift shops."
"The tour was good., especially the City Tours. The on site tour person, however, tended to be rude and was a very narcissistic person. As the tour progressed, we garnered more information from the bus driver than the director. The director played down the extended tour of Belfast. However, I loved Belfast the most, as did three other people in my group. The eating places were very good as well as the places we stayed for the most part. I loved Ireland. all the places I saw were wonderful. We just had to ignore the director. I lost my director review card, so never turned it in."
"My mother and I booked the 9 day tour of Venice, Florence and Rome during August. It was a great trip, but by far, Florence was the best.
Venice was my least favorite part of the trip. The city proved somewhat difficult to navigate, it wasn't that friendly and seemed to have an air about it. I found it strange that they call it a walking city but you are unable to sit anywhere in the square and they have personnel whose sole job it to walk around and tell you to get up. Not much time was given to really explore the area and we did not stay in Venice, we stayed in Lido Di island ( which had practically nothing to do/nothing open that time of year) and requires a water taxi to get to-from Venice.
Oh but FLORENCE! Ahh how I loved everything about Florence!! The city was easy to navigate, super friendly, exceptionally beautiful landscapes and views, best food, great shopping, etc. There was an optional excursion to San Gimignano ( which I highly recommend and ended up being the highlight of the trip) where we stopped in the little medieval city then went to the Torciano Winery for lunch and Wine, Olive Oil, & Balsamic Vinegar tasting! So great!!!
Rome, of course was lovely. It had lots of historical sites to see and it was great to explore and shop. The city is obviously bigger and makes it a bit difficult to explore but at least you have the option of the metro but you still have quite a ways to walk from the sparse metro stops. Also, out hotel in Rome was so far from the sites. I know Go Ahead does their best to make the tours affordable but it would be nice if the hotels were closer to all the action/sites. Definitely have good walking shoes for all of Italy, but in particular for Rome.
Overall, it was a fantastic trip and experience. I definitely want to go back to Florence! Everyone said that it would be so hot there but it really wasn't. There was nice breeze in the shade and plenty of stops in the sites that had AC. This was my second trip with Go Ahead and I'll definitely use them again.
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"I've traveled with many tour companies, and was by far my favorite experience. It was an excellent balance of structured touring and open time to explore. The tour director was excellent. She planned ahead and made excellent recommendations for things to do during our free time. She really added value to the experience by sharing history, current events and a good joke or two, or three which had all of us truly relaxed and enjoying our experience. You will want to be on one of Pilar's tours.
There are some companies that the excursions are so-so, but I found these to be a good duration, location, and experience. And you can pick what you get out of them. Good food, good views, good people watching. You pick - it is all there."
"The tour guide was excellent; everything ran smoothly. My husband and I were very satisfied with the trip.
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"We've been on 6 GoAhead tours since 2009 and they just keep getting better. We let GoAhead take care of the details and all we have to do is make memories!"
"Go Ahead Tours is a fabulous company. Ronan our tour director was a wealth of knowledge and went the extra mile to give us many options in each city. Plus, he had a great sense of humor which made it even more fun.The trip was very well orchestrated. We never waited in line and had priority seating at events. Ronan knew the directors of every place that we went. They would then give us priority over other customers. Each city in both Australia and New Zealand were amazing. Go ahead definitely chose the best spots to tour with added side excursions. I would highly recommend this company for your next trip. You can sit back and relax since it's all been planned."
"There wasn't a time during our 11 day London, Paris and Rome trip, we didn't see something amazing. We took over 2000 pictures. Go Ahead tours filled our agenda of fun things to do and see. It was quite an experience. There was also free time for my family to see even more of our choosing and experience each city's uniqueness. I can't say enough about tour guide Monique, who was informative, professional and high School graduation present and it is a lifetime memory for her and our family. We are planning and saving for our next tour for my younger daughter who will be graduation in four years. She hasn't decided where she wants to go, but eventually, we will see if Go Ahead tours has a tour there."
"They offer a great balance between guided tours and time to yourself. They take care of most things like museum tickets, hotel reservations, transportation between places and some meals. It doesn't sound like much but honestly after everything you see its nice to arrive to place like a museum and the tickets are there instead of waiting in long lines. Also at the end of the day when you just want to sleep knowing you dont have to stress over where you're staying is nice too. Great places, great tour guides. Would recomend. "
"Everything was very well organized, and I loved how I did not have to worry about anything when going to our next destination. The hotels were nice, and the food was good. I loved my tour director."
"I very much enjoyed my recent Walking Tour of Ireland with tour director Matthew Lyttle and Coach driver Tom O' Brien. Tom was a stellar driver and Matthew went out of his way to enrich our experience by adding little "surprise stops" and buying us local treats such as cakes, biscuits, lottery tickets, and drinks such as cider and local beers. He added many historical anecdotes while we visited sites and as we drove down the road. He played music and Tom sang a song and quoted poetry. This went a long way to explain the culture of Ireland and introduce us to history. I highly recommend this tour to anyone wanting to visit Ireland!"
"This was my 4th tour, my 3rd tour with GoAhead, and my second with Rita. GoAhead Tours provides an excellent tour experience in 4 and 5 star hotels. Our tour director was with us through the entire trip, including option excursions, when they ran. We had a small group so it was disappointing when optional excursions to which I prepaid, were cancelled. We were refunded, but I would have preferred to take the trips. Rita has over 20 years of experience in tourism and it really showed. She went out of her way to recommend good restaurants, sights, relaxing options, etc., always looking out for us to have the best experience, and the best "local" experience. In addition she was always looking out for our safety, especially when we were on our own... to make sure we used safe and reliable transportation. She had a genuine interest in each and every one of us, making sure we were all satisfied with the accommodations, meals, and all our experiences (even for a "difficult" traveler in our group). Rita planned an excursion for traditional "Sicilian fish dinner" in a nearby seaside town, our second night after arriving. This was a real treat! We feasted on a 10-course meal with water, wine and beer included. We were all stuffed and practically rolled back to our hotel. All the included dinners at the hotels upon arrival were of high quality, and delicious. This is not always"a given" in the US. I was pleasantly surprised. The optional excursions that ran were all worth the time and money. The personal "radios" made it easy to tune into a particular channel and be able to hear our guide! This totally made the sites more enjoyable, being able to hear the guide discuss relevant information. All our local guides were also very knowledgeable, personable, and funny... giving us interesting pointers about the sights around us. The food on the Sicily tour was fabulous! There was not a single bad meal. All the hotels were beautiful, and the outdoor pools were large. The pools in 2 of our hotels overlooked the Mediterranean, this was in Agrigento and Taormina... We had a great time in the hotel and pool in Siracusa. Overall I think those of us on the tour really loved Ortigia in Siracusa. I wish our hotel was closer to Ortigia, or closer to something (it really was not near anything, we always needed to take a cab or bus into the town center). The hotel in Taormina was also beautiful, with views of the Mediterranean, but it was also a long walk to the beach, or into the town center. My experience with GoAhead (now that I've done 3 tours with them), is that there is often at least one hotel on each tour that is far from the "center of the action. I would pay to be closer to the action. Our bus driver Fabio was excellent and a very safe driver. He made the driving look easy and the Sicilian roads were steep like the Amalfi Coast, maybe even more treacherous. One negative comment is that the Wifi was not ideal in some of the hotels, particularly in Taormina... and the hotel staff were not very accommodating. There were also some issues with the air conditioning not working, which was eventually fixed and some of the rooms were small. Two people who share a room, should have a larger room than a single person in a room. This was not always the case on our tour, we actually switched rooms with a friend in one of the hotels, due to a small room size. We saw a lot of ruins on the tour, I had no idea there were so many in Sicily. An indoor archeological museum or history museum, similar to Napoli, could have been included in lieu of some ruin site. "
"My husband, grandson and I took the Australia & New Zealand trip in July, 2016. It was the best trip we have ever taken. Every detail was covered. The optional excursions were terrific. We had been told that the hotels would not be as good as American hotels. They were as good and some were even better. The locations of the hotels were perfect. The Kiwi dinner was delicious and our host and hostess were wonderful. The flights to and from the east coast of the USA were long and tiring, but when we got home our grandson was ready to go back. Even though he is only 15 and the youngest person on the tour, everyone made him feel comfortable. Our tour guide Bridgette was the best. We were able to see a great deal of both countries. We never would have been able to do so much if we had done this on our own or with any other tour company."
"We thoroughly enjoyed our GoAhead Tour through Scandinavian cities. The sites were fascinating. The different modes of transportation were wonderful (especially the travels through Norway). The hotels were very well located and comfortable, except most did not have air conditioning and we were there during an unusual heat wave. The breakfast buffets were too tempting! Our group of 18 was a perfect number of interesting folks from across the U.S. and Canada and our tour director was excellent. All arrangements were professionally handled and every thing went very smoothly, considering how complicated the tour appeared to be. Highly recommended!"