2025 Christmas Market River Cruise
Just booked our first river cruise…..for 2025. It’s the Christmas Markets on the Danube, westbound. It will be our 8th Tauck trip. I’ve enjoyed reading all of the comments and suggestions, so keep them coming. Especially those of you going on the upcoming 2023 trip. Safe travels.
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We just booked this trip -- again. We go almost every other year -- we LOVE it. We will be going with my cousin and her husband who have never been to Europe or on a Tauck Tour. The Danube Westbound is our favorite of all the markets. I posted a review of this trip from Dec 2022 if you want to read it. This December we will be doing the Rhine with some friends. We are scheduled for the 12-7-2025 trip - which one did you book?
Dec 7, 2025 westbound. I’ve read your reviews which are wonderful. We’ve never been to Vienna, so we’re thinking of arriving a few days in advance. So excited because it’s been on our bucket list for awhile and we’ve never been able to work out the dates. Any tips are welcome…packing, hotels, shopping.
I think we’ve communicated before about the Tuscany&Umbria trip via DM. Looking forward to meeting in person.
We will be on the same Xmas Market cruise !! Def go early in Vienna and extend in Nuremberg. My review pretty much sums up my thoughts on the markets. Def see the ones I mentioned in Vienna - all easily walkable from the hotel. There was just a review of the Tuscany & Umbria trip on one of the Tauck Facebook groups and the reviews were NOT good - they even said the food was not good. We have it booked for Oct 2024.
Of the 42 tours I took with Tauck, what I really hoped for was to find a real "gourmet foodie tour" (no matter what it would cost) for a small group led by a real gourmet chef in Italy or France. I never could find one either with or without Tauck. Sigh. I remember looking at all of the food store windows in Bologna, Italy (on Tauck's Northern Italy tour and salivating at how delicious all of that food looked in them. Sigh. :-) ).
Impressive, 42 tours. Have you try other companies?
I have family members who went with another company to Bologna this year and have a blast.
Gate 1 went to a very popular seafood restaurant in Cacais while I was on A Week in Portugal this year ( Joined those on Gate 1 while the Tauck crowd picked a a steakhouse ).They like" meat and potatoes". I don't think the homogeneous Tauck Demographic will appreciate true fine food.
I am only one that went to the Michelin rated Le Monument during "A week in Portugal". When other restaurants served cafeteria food, half of the Tauck folks said it is the best they have ever tasted.
I have heard so many complaints about Ponant's food on the Venice and Dalmatian Coast. Honestly, i found their French cuisine to be creative, unique with a heavy emphasis on sauce, vegetables and natural cooking. Not every one appreciate that!
42 tours! Holy cow! That is indeed impressive. I am sure gourmet tours exist; you can even a curate a private escorted tour with any number of companies that would cater to your foodie specifications.
Tomh - 42 tours, wow! Over what time span? I’m sure you must have repeated a few or several of the tours that you really liked.
The closest thing we have come to a Foodie Tour with Tauck is the Savoring France river cruise. There was more of a food focus on this tour. We have only been on 10 Tauck trips so far.
We have been on one trip on a Ponant ship and found the food to be a bit underwhelming. Not what we expected from a French company. I ended up with a stomach ailment most likely from some undercooked Beef Wellington.
Never repeated any of the 42 tours (some were "special events") and it was over o/a 8 to 10 year period (US, Canada, and Europe). BTW, I understand that there were several folks who had been on over 100 Tauck tours back then.
I agree with JohnS about the Savoring France tour. It was a fabulous wine and culinary experience for us. I often think of our fabulous tour director, Elisabeth.
We spent extra days in Lyon and returned to Les Halles each day. Although we did not do it, there are food tours of the market in which you sample an array of items at many of the stalls. This might be something of interest to tomh. If interested, you can probably research Les Halles and look for guided tours. I cannot vouch for how good these tours are. We chose to just munch our way through the market on our own.
We’ve met people who have taken way more tours with Tauck. For newbies with Tauck, it’s obvious they generally get it right. Most say once you have traveled with Tauck you won’t go backwards to another company.
We too have found the French food on Ponant good….but then we haven’t taken that aforementioned tour.
While many focus on fancy fancy hotels and keep mentioning restaurants, we are more concerned with site seeing than anything else. After a couple of weeks with Tauck food, whatever the quality might be. We are stuffed and eager to get back to meals with plenty of vegetables which are generally lacking in quantity unless you count salads in just about any restaurant.
I do think people who travel with Tauck are a bit more adventurous with food these days but you are correct about the majority we have met on tours.
Are you still able to Travel with Tauck Tom ? I know you have been around for ages. You must have some great stories to tell!
Sometimes I’m so overly full from lunch on our Tauck tours that I omit dinner on occasion. Plus, I really don’t care to dine late and then go to bed and then repeat the same dining experience the next day and following days with three glorious meals a day! I know skipping a meal works for me and trust me, I’m not starving. I don’t dine like this at home despite the fact I’m on a vacation.
Did I miss something about a food tour related to Christmas Markets? Are there food tours as an excursion?
My idea of an excellent "wine and (gourmet) food tour" of Italy and France would be limited to a small group (10 or 15 folks at the most) led by a true gourmet chef knowledgable of the wine and cuisine in Italy and France. I have heard of them, but only led by a chef and a few other "gourmands" in Italy and France. True, it would be expensive, but just calling something a "gourmet wine and food tour" does not make it so. Just saying. Re British, I have not traveled with Tauck for a few years due to medical issues and age now; when I did it was only with Tauck for o/a 8 to 10 years (US, Canada, and Europe only, everything that I wanted to do in retirement. :-.). IMHO, the best tour I have ever been on was in 1983 on a Maupintour (now defunct) for 19 days throughout Scandinavia (Norway/Denmark/Sweden) and Finland by bus/plane/train/boat; I learned later that Tom Maupin had started out as a Tauck TD at one time before setting up his own company, 5 star like Tauck. Quite an experience. :-)
Having been born and partially raised in Denmark, you just made my day! Tak.
kfnknfzk, we spoke before in an earlier post re Tivoli gardens, how it was then and now. Sigh. :-)
I remember now! The back portion of Tivoli still offers some charm and some relatives still go now and then. Sadly, some things do not change for the better as years go by.
I guess we have digressed. My apologies to other readers of this thread. Best wishes to you, sir.
For terrilynn; my friend just returned from last week’s Tuscany/Umbria and said it was fabulous