What have been your favorite Tauck itineraries?
Traveling to Adriatic Treasures: Croatia this fall. In the past, we’ve relied on guests’ reviews to help narrow down our travel wish list. With a preference to land tours, we’re trying to decide on an itinerary for 2020. What have been your favorite Tauck tours? Ours have been:
- Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna, Prague
- Paraders Northern Spain
- Spain and Portugal
- Best of Ireland
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Switzerland: Europe’s Crown Jewel ( did it twice)
Scandinavia
Can’t go wrong with Classic Italy
Next trip: Tanzania/Kenya —less than 2 weeks to go!!
We've had two spectacular tours this year, and they couldn't be more different in terms of culture, food, history: Israel and Jordan, and then Essence of Japan. Both were land tours because we think you actually see and experience more that way (true especially for Japan). They are so distinctive and we learned so much. Unreserved recommendations for both.
We have been on 3 tours so far and they all have been wonderful and outstanding but each very different. Rating them is very difficult but here goes:
We would go back to each of those places in a minute!
Up next:
Best of Ireland (2019)
Romantic Germany (2020) - Oberramagu !
Australia, Kangaroo Island and Tasmania (2021) - this is a new tour
Our favorites:
Zambia, Botswana and South Africa
Australia and New Zealand
You say you like land tours, but please don't rule out the river cruises. They are more relaxing and so beautiful! You still get an excursion every day and you only unpack once! We did Paris to Monte Carlo last August on the Soanne and the Rhone. Loved it!
Point well taken. River cruises has its plus and minus. It probably is more relaxing and you unpack only once. But, you return to the same 10 by 12 foot room every night. On land trips you do unpack and pack every other day but you see so much more on land and the biggest plus for us is that you stay in places like Ashford Castle in Ireland, the incredible Belfast Merchant Hotel, or the Intercontinental Hotel in Melbourne and other fabulous European and Australian Inns and unique hotels that one must experience. For us it is an easy trade-off.
Loved our first Tauck river cruise - Danube, Prague-Budapest. Have Rhine Xmas River cruise & Essence of Japan booked.
Wondering about Vietnam, Thailand & Cambodia - if we go in Jan./Feb. will it not be too hot? We don’t love the heat/humidity. Thx.
I don't think you'll get less heat/humidity any other time in those areas. I went in Feb./Mar. It wasn't unbearable (and I'm from NH and hate the heat).
Not sure who you are responding to, but it could be me
I don't like relaxing when I travel. I like to be on the go, constantly. I can relax at home 
Another reason I'll never do a river cruise.is it's such an inefficient means of travel. you go 10-20 mph, and if your point of interest isn't on the river, you need to take a bus anyway. And I never unpack - I pick out clothes for the day and everything else stays in the suitcase. It's organized so I can find stuff relatively easily.
Given the popularity of the river cruises, others feel differently from me. To each, their own. You do your thing, I'll do mine.
Valid points, cathyandsteve. I've been on 7 trips with Tauck now and have 2 booked for 2020. When people ask me which was my favorite, all I can say is they've all been great trips and I enjoyed them all in different ways. Can't really pick a favorite.
Occasionally I've been asked if there was a Tauck trip I didn't like. To that one, I answer while I thought it was a great trip, I found Scandinavia not worth the Tauck premium, as accommodations were mediocre at best. It felt more like a Globus-level trip.
Bkmd, some river cruises have more down time than others. Our first was the 1 week French Waterways (replaced now with Savoring France) and I remember very little down time. Busy all day then back on board for happy hour/dinner as the ship moved to our next port. Longer cruises have more down time like the occasional morning or afternoon cruising. On a two weeker it's kind of nice to have some time to chill, hit the mini gym, take a stretch class, etc. We've only taken two week land tours but even they had down time/time on your own. The difference being you can usually spend it on independent sight seeing.
I do agree land tours let you see more land. If it's a river or parts of a river that aren't all that scenic then the land tour seems a better deal. For some of us, cruising through the scenic rivers while sitting on the Sun deck with a waiter bringing you drinks seems a better deal than cooped up in a tour bus hoping the next rest stop comes soon. Let's face it, not every stretch of land the bus goes through is all that scenic either.
We've taken four river cruises and two land tours with our third booked next year. Have enjoyed all of them and there are things I'd probably change about all of them.
We did Classic Italy in September 2019 as our first Tauck tour primarily for the itinerary as it went places we had not been to before and found it to be over the top. We have traveled extensively with a number of tour companies, but Tauck out did them all. We have just signed up for the Russian Glories tour for August 5,2020 again primarily because of the itinerary, but also because we can look forward to a superb experience in an area we have long wanted to visit.
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