Best Of
Feb 2025 tour comments
We just completed this tour on Monday, and are staying a few extra days to go Colonnia in Uruguay ( ferry ride from Buenos Aires) , and Iguazu Falls, Argentina side (1.5 hour plane ride ). Numerous posters have discussed the mechanics of this tour, and the timings. If people want me to post the day to day itinerary, I will be happy to.
Impressions- No one can complain that there is too much free time on this tour because there is NONE. No one can complain that Tauck doesn’t cover enough meals on this tour because every meal is covered and you will absolutely go home with a “Tauck ten “ on board. The food was good. The wine was flowing ( with isolated exceptions). For me and my husband, this was an exhausting tour. Really early mornings, which meant really early breakfasts, lunch not until 2 on many days and then dinners after 7:30 - 8 , and not ending until 10or so. For late eaters this was fine, but that is not us, so this was really rough. One can say - just skip dinners. But- dinners were social and fun in wonderful atmospheres, and you don’t want to miss them. The wines were amazing. Do not overpack. You have hot and cold weather and need to be ready for rain. You do not need to dress for dinner.
The sights - beautiful and vast, however, our biggest”WOW” moment was on our own at Iguazu falls. This is probably because we have been to Antarctica, Greenland , New Zealand , etc, and seen many mountain ranges and many glaciers ( albeit none as large as Perito Moreno or Uppsala) . However, Iguazu is just breathtaking. Take the time and go. The Melia on the Argentina side is beautiful and is in the park so you can access the paths directly. Get the rooms with the falls view. You will not regret it. Skip Colonnia. There was a lot of hoorah going through passport control back and forth between Argentina and Uruguay, and the walking tour the hotel ( Sofitel) arranged was expensive and ridiculously brief. It is St. Augustine, Florida on a bit of a larger scale and less commercial. We did a tour of Valparaiso, from Santiago , and a city tour of Santiago before the tour started. We organized them through the concierge at the Ritz. We were glad we did, and have no idea why Tauck does not include anything in Santiago at the start of the tour.
Cudos to Silvana, our tour director. We cannot say enough good things about her. She was absolutely one of the best. Totally loveable and informative, organized and caring. The people on our tour were interesting and well traveled. There were at least 4 couples that had travelled extensively with Tauck ( 40+, 30+, 16+, and 15+ ( x2) tours ), and independently. Interestingly, there were also a number of people for whom this was their first Tauck tour.
There were great things every day on this tour, it was just exhausting for us. We think it was the late dinners that really killed us.
Re: March 13 Departure
Hi Dan. Safe travels to Melbourne. We look forward to meeting you and your wife.
Todd
Re: March 5, 2025 Trip
Hi Dawn, I just saw your post. Yes, my husband and I are scheduled on the March 5 trip. I look forward to meeting you soon! Karen
KarenW
2026 Christmas Markets Cruise
I just booked my first Tauck trip and my first Christmas Markets cruise. And it will be my first solo trip unless I get brave before then and take a trip solo. Mainly want to introduce myself and hopefully "meet" some of my cruise-mates on here. I'll be on the Joy from Vienna to Nuremberg Dec. 1-8, 2026.
Re: March 13 Departure
Hi. My wife and I will be on this tour. It’s also our first time traveling with Tauck (as well as first time “down under”), and we’re excited to see all the great sites on the itinerary. We look forward to meeting you and your friends, and helping make your birthday trip a great success! See you soon! Dan
webbdane
Re: A Week In Portugal
I used supplemental tours from Lisbonexplorer.com. I was extremely pleased. I have recommended this source to many friends - with great feedback.
Re: A Week In Portugal
If you will have extra days in Porto, consider going to Aveiro. It's a charming town with canals, fun architecture, etc and a couple of interesting museums, including one of art nouveau. I thiink it's quite close - maybe a half hour away. Another option is Braga, although I think it's a bit further away by train.
I notice that Tauck's itinerary spends only part of a morning in Sintra. It isn't enough. In addition to the two palaces listed in the above comments there is much more to see. We walked from town - maybe 20 min - to the Regaleira (sp?) Palace, which was really interesting. We also took a cab one way and the bus another way to the beautiful Monserrate Palace, . There are still more places and the town is charming. It's worthy of an overnighter. We spent two nights there and still didn't see everything.
Barbara, you might want to check with Tauck about Jeronimos Monastery. It is so close to Belem and the maritime museum that it seems odd that the monastery wouldn't be included.
Another recommendation in Lisbon is to go to the Fronteira Palace. Because it isn't in the center of Lisbon I think it's a bit of a secret. Our tour company took us there. It's really wonderful - beautiful gardens, black swans, tiles, etc.
We went with another tour company but did Sintra on our own. We took a taxi as it wasn't that far from the airport.
Re: 2026 Christmas Markets Cruise
BarbaraLovesCats - I was on the 2023 Danube trip w/Claudia and, like she said, we more than welcomed solo travelers. I just did my first solo trip this past Dec on the Christmas Markets on the Rhine and met a lot of nice people who invited me to sit w/them in the lounge or at meals. On the Rhine cruise there were many, many people who were on their first Tauck trips. Tauck travelers are always welcoming of solo people. I have another solo trip for this December on the Yuletide Holiday cruise and look forward to meeting new people. You'll love it!
