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Name your “Top 5” Tauck tours
Just finished our first Tauck tour. Best of Ireland small group. Best vacation ever! Now, we’re looking to plan our second and there’s a whole lot to choose from. Just wondering if any of you multi-tour travelers have any thoughts on what should be our next tour?
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We've enjoyed all of our tours - it's obviously a personal choice based on your interests and what you are comfortable with in terms of the activity level. The ones that stand out for me are memorable for different reasons. In terms of natural beauty, I would say Best of the Canadian Rockies, Australia/New Zealand and American Canyonlands. I was never much of an art lover, but Classic Italy changed that for me. We especially enjoyed Florence - found it very easy to get around and thoroughly enjoyed learning about the art and history. China/the Yangtze/Hong Kong was another great tour. That one is memorable because we learned so much about the culture. We visited three homes as part of the tour and could talk with the families through an interpreter. I really appreciated that opportunity. I know I am already at five, but will add one more. I like geology so loved the Iceland trip - and actually enjoyed photographing many of the birds, especially the puffins. When our kids were young, we planned our own trips - but now I really appreciate Tauck handling the logistics! My best advice is don't put off traveling - health is a gift so take advantage while you can!
Taken from Sulphur Mountain via the Banff Gondola
Lookout near Skipper Canyon, New Zealand
Loch Ard Gorge in Port Campbell National Park, Australia
Float Trip on Colorado River (American Canyonlands)
Door Panel on Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence
Outdoor Market, China
Seltun, Geothermal Area in Iceland
For us, it's Essence of Japan and Egypt/Jordan. (We went to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, Antarctica, Peru non-truck.)
Only you can decide based on your interests and traveling style. Research Tauck's website and read some of the reviews on this forum then ask questions based on specific tours. Except for one, we have enjoyed all our tours for many different reasons. They have all been unique.
Our first, Amsterdam to Budapest, even with having to be bussed the last third of the trip. Second, definitely the French Escapade. And all 3 Christmas Markets tours!
I’m with kfn, a little more info might help point you in the right direction.
Your first tour was the Best of Ireland. I classify that as a pretty safe, 1st world, land based tour, where English is the main language.
Are you looking for more of the same or will you be looking for something much different. Three of the four tours that Cathy suggested are about as far from you first tour that you can get.
Help us out with a bit more information about what you’ll be considering so that we can recommend favorites that fit those parameters.
Cathy - I know, but he said he was considering what tour to take. If he has no desire for an adventure tour, what value will our favorites be if they are all adventure type tours.
Even if he just responds and says he’s open to any type of tour then we’d know that anything goes. Based on his first tour selection, I could be wrong, but adventures in a third world country might be completely out of the picture.
Regardless, cathyandsteve's photos are absolutely stunning (and authentic from their trip) and no narrative is needed at all to give the readers a perspective on what to expect. If Tauck ever reinstates their photo contest, these are certainly brochure worthy. Just my opinion.
OK, Cathy you asked.
1 Kenya & Tanzania - 2015
2 Peru & Galapagos - 2013
And now 6 tours tied for #3 in no particular order
Portrait of India - 2018
Treasures of the Aegean - 2011 version include Greece and Turkey all the way to Istanbul
Vietnam, Cambodia, & Thailand - 2017
Israel & Jordan - 2019
Egypt: Jewel of the Nile - 2022
Iceland - 2021
Fabulous pictures. I loved Switzerland because it offered everything. The most memorable trips are definitely the most unique adventures, and so I say Africa and Antarctica. I have fond memories of those two trips when we took them. Take a trip every year if you can.
After seeing Cathy and Steve's suggestion for including pictures, I added some to my post above.
Total of 20 trips with 3 more booked.
Grand Australia & New Zealand
Israel & Jordan
Adriatic Treasures (a tie for second -- autocorrect changed this to 3 when I had the list numbered)
Royal Danube, Berlin & Krakow
Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos (Tauck no longer offers Laos.)
Total of 14 trips with 2 more booked.
I can't name my top five, love them all.
Honorable mention! Australia & New Zealand
Israel and Jordan, Essence of Japan, Essence of South America, Russia and the Baltics, Classic Italy -- in no particular order.
rwilso15 - Beautiful photo of mother and child elephants.
I have a tie for #1: Portrait of India and Kenya/Tanzania: each exceeded my expectations and gave me appreciation for their culture. And I fell in love with Zebras
3. Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos - the warmth of the people was not expected. It was an eye opening experience
4. Russian Treasures: I learned about the European Union! Moscow was the highlight! Standing in Red Square where there were protesters was not expected.
5. Land of Rising Sun (Japan) -it was interesting to experience the rule-following Japanese culture.They stand in line for the train. They do not talk on the local trains. And they always wait for the green signal to cross the street.
Exploring the Douro
Seaford, was the Baltic & St. P a land tour or cruise? Why “ forget about it”?
Ukraine
Thanks Alan S, of course. I had a brain lag on that one. I guess I was asking as we did a land tour of the Baltics and Russia years back with another company, and thought spending so much time in each area was way too much, so when asked…. I would say do a cruise. But not now……
Out of 11, it’s hard to name only 5, since they were all fabulous, but here goes in no particular order:
K&T
Peru & Galapagos
Australia & New Zealand
Classic Italy
Treasures of the Aegean (when it included Istanbul)
Israel & Jordan
Normandy, Brittany, Loire &Paris
(Sorry, couldn’t stick with only 5)
St. Petersburg was a cruise on Ponant with Tauck.
We have been on 10 Tauck trips and it is hard to say which were the 5 best, but if we were to retake the tours the following would be in the order we would take them again.
1. Northern India & Nepal
Among our Tauck tours the ranking goes like this:
Antarctica
Iceland
Galapagos
Botswana
Kingdoms and Dragons
Agree with John S.Difficult to choose top 5 although the best was easy for us to choose .Also the to sites mentioned we have gone with other tours such as India,Australia and NZ etc.
We've enjoyed all 5 river cruises and 5 land tours. Of them our Rhone cruise French Waterways ( no called Savoring France) was our first and still favorite followed by the Budapest to Amsterdam cruise. The Normandy Brittany land tour is high on the list in part I think because so much of it was a surprise. I hadn't done a lot of research pre tour which makes me think I should do less and just have everything be a happy surprise.
So sorry it’s taken me a while to get back to this. WOW, what amazing comments here! I guess it’s only fair I give you all a little info about myself and my interests. I’m 64 and am in good shape but suffer from bad knees and lower back. I also broke my neck in 6 places back in ‘94 so I definitely can’t deal with really rough rides off road or sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags etc. My Wife definitely won’t deal with any “roughing it” kind of excursions and generally needs plenty of shopping opportunities. Outside the US, we’ve been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, the Caribbean, France and Belgium, and as mentioned, just recently Ireland. Inside the US, we’ve seen the vast majority. While we certainly love natural views, we also love seeing old man-made places as well. Thoroughly enjoyed our Best of Ireland tour.