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Tauck Tour Hotels
Since I saw some discussion on hotels in a non-related discussion and since I know British is such a fan of nice hotels 
, I'm curious as to peoples thoughts as to which Tauck tour had the nicest hotels 'In Totality', not a singular hotel.
Of my 10 Tauck tours, IMO, the Portrait of India tour easily had the nicest SET of hotels - Four were Oberoi hotels (which are special) and a couple of others were very nice (one of which Princes Charles stayed at to celebrate one of his birthdays), and then there were a couple that were ordinary.
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Smiling Sam, I’m actually the opposite, the site seeing is way more important to me than the hotels. I have to admit the India hotels were pretty fantastic, but that’s not what I remember about India. If we are talking hotels, my absolute favorite in the Singular Hotel in Patagonia is my favorite, built in an old meatpacking factory with spectacularly views of the water thru the forth wall which is all glass. It can’t be beat.
"In totality," I would say "Lake Como, Venice, Florence & Rome," but individually, the Hotel Imperial in Vienna (on our Alps tour), the Monasterio in Cusco (on the Peru & Bolivia tour), and Le Meurice in Paris (on Loire Valley tour). (I didn't go to India, and probably won't.)
Tough one because so often it seems you get a tour like England Scotland Wales where you have the Savoy at one end and Edinburgh Sheraton on the other. Ones a classic historical 5 star beauty and the other is a very nice modern hotel more business oriented.
We did the Seine plus Paris and London cruise which used the Waldorf-Astoria Versailles at the start and the Savoy at the end. That was nice.
The Switzerland Crown Jewels was the best land tour wrt to hotels. Several lovely old hotels. Lake view rooms in Lausanne, Lugano and (sometimes) Lucerne.
A bit of trivia - I was just reading yesterday about the Waldorf-Astoria hotels which started as a feud between members of the Astor family who had mansions on 5th Ave NYC. A nephew wanted to annoy his aunt next door and tore down his mansion to build a huge hotel - the Waldorf. She retaliated by doing the same - the Astoria. Eventually they became the first Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Now gone - replaced by the Empire State Building.
Perhaps a numerical rating would help in the 'Totality' assessment. Going back to the Portrait of India tour I described. Here is my rating:
5 star hotels - 4 (special)
4 star hotels - 2 (very nice)
3 star hotels - 0 (nice)
2 star hotels - 2 (ordinary)
1 star hotels - 0 (bad)
Totality score - 32 (4x5 + 2x4 + 2x2)
Cathy - as we have discussed previously, I hope your road to a full recovery goes smoothly. You'll have to put in a lot of hard work, but it may be easier knowing that you have that India/Nepal trip at the end of your recovery to look forward to.
I agree with your comment that Itinerary is always the first priority. I created this discussion just as a way that people my get some added information as to what to expect for hotels.
The challenge Sam is that everyone has different criteria of what is most important and/or expected. And that can change from tour to tour. One person may think room size and luxury appointments is most important and another that location is. Ex: on the ESW tour the hotel in Bath had the smallest room and bath of the entire tour but boy the location couldn't be beat. To me the view rooms in Switzerland were the best because you're on that tour to see the country. In Bath we were there to walk around and see the historical sites so I didn't care that our room looked over a parking lot.
Claudia - I agree, but I was more interested in the quality of the hotels and its amenities vs its location.
Obviously location is the key element for your ability to roam during tour dead times.
Even the 2 star hotels in my assessment had great locations. For this discussion, I was ignoring location and speaking simply of the comfort and amenities of the hotels.
I can't really come up with the tour with the best hotels, as many were of similar quality. However, in my experience, the tour with the weakest hotels was Scandinavia. I recall writing on the comment car, something to the effect, "It's good that this wasn't my first Tauck tour, as if it were, it would probably have been my last. The hotels' quality and amenities were not worth the Tauck premium."
Cathy: So sad to hear about your fall, hopefully you will still be able to make the trip. It's a great goal to keep you focused. I can sympathize with you as I am currently recovering from a full hip replacement, coming up on 5 weeks since surgery. It has been difficult, but I am finally seeing some progress. Considering I was about to have to use a wheelchair, I am happy to report that I can now walk and pain is decreasing each day. I hope I will be back to some sort of "normal" by 8 weeks. So ready to get back to traveling. Be well.
I found all the hotels on the Grand Canadian Rockies and the Canadian Capital Cities tours to be superb, primarily because they were all Fairmont properties.
Both the Spain and Portugal and Paradors of Northern Spain tours had excellent hotels. If I had to choose just one favorite from each, it would be the Alfonso in Sevilla and the Maria Christina in San Sebastian. All were excellent, however.
The hotels on the Hudson Valley tour (which is no longer) had some fabulous, rustic hotels. with the exception of the Parker Meridien in Manhattan. My favorite was the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY (or close to it).
There are many more, but I am responding to the original question.
Great topic.
I'm glad to the see Hotel Imperial in Vienna listed above by MCD - we (6 adults) are staying there 3 nights PRE our Danube Xmas Market River Cruise in November.
We loved our hotel in Basel Switzerland, Tres Rios, right on the Rhine - the service, views, & breakfast were fantastic.
We are going on the Ultimate Alps & Dolomites trip in Sept and I think those hotels are going to be amazing. I will post about them when we return with a full review.
Looking forward to reading other responses here.
Tauck always puts you into nice hotels. Some may not be the most modern but will have historic interest. The hotels we stayed in on the Hawaii tour were outstanding. Some in England and Ireland were not as great. The problem in Ireland was that many hotels did not have air conditioning and the weather was hot when we went.
I have two "must have" requirements for a hotel - (1) air conditioning and (2) good Internet access.
I think the tour with the overall best hotels were on the Northern India and Nepal tour. We especially liked Dwarika's Resort Dhulikhel in
Dhulikhel, Nepal. Our room had an amazing outdoor terrace upstairs, complete with large sitting area and a second King bed if one wanted to sleep under the stars. Oh, and that view!
I was on the same tour as SueMS and will have to concur with her that the hotels on this tour were among the best of the tours we have taken.
One addendum to her post I would like to make. Our anniversary happened to coincide with the middle of the tour. We did not intentionally book the tour to celebrate an anniversary. I made the mistake of indicating that our anniversary was during the tour on the sheet that comes in the welcome packet from the tour director. Anyone who has traveled with Tauck know what this is. You can indicate any bed preferences, food allergies, physical limitations, birthdays or other events etc.
For the hotels prior, during and after our anniversary date we would be greeted with a bathtub full of flower pedals and cake or other decorations. (Just a heads up if you take this tour when you have an anniversary or birthday)
After 18 tours, the best hotels BY FAR were on the Portrait of India tour. The Oberoi hotels are unbelievable, consistently ranked among the best in the world. Pictures to follow. A fabulous tour with fabulous hotels.
Oberoi Agra
The Taj hotels are beyond excellent. They used to be palaces.
Oberoi Rajvillas - Jaipur
Oberoi Udavillas - Udaipur
Kumarakom Lake Resort
The door to our bungalow:
Pool access behind every bungalow:
Ken from Vegas - In addition, there was the Oberoi Mumbai, a big city version of the three you showed pictures for. I gave all four 5 stars.
The Kumarakom Lake Resort (this was the resort that Prince Charles stayed at that I mentioned in my original post) and the Leela Palace in Delhi I gave 4 stars.
The Taj Malabar in Cochi and the hotel in Varanasi I gave 2 stars.
Oberoi Mumbai
Our suite:
That's two votes for the Portrait of India tour having the best hotels 'In Totality' based on Ken's 18 Tauck Tours and my 10 Tauck Tours.
Here's a view photo or two from the Oberoi Udaipur.
Sam-
Personally, I'd give most of the Oberoi hotels six stars, above and beyond all expectations.
Count me in as another vote for the "Portrait of India hotels" The Oberoi hotels are just a cut above anything else we have experienced.
One further fact about the Oberoi in Udaipur. Two weeks after our visit there was going to be a wedding reception at the hotel. The two richest family in India were 'uniting' through marriage. As part of the wedding/reception these families were renting out all of the entire top hotels in Udaipur. This Oberoi was going to be used for a performance by Beyonce'. They were starting to assemble a stage while we were there.
When we were in Jaipur, the City Palace was going to used for a high-end wedding after it closed to the public for the day. They were setting up while we were there. The video team looked like a professional Hollywood production team. Cameras on booms and equipment everywhere. There were a dozen or more food stations with various regional Indian cuisines and western cuisines such as Italian and even Mexican. Would like to have attended that wedding.
I have wanted to go on The Portrait of India Tour since Tauck first announced it over 10 years ago or more. I couldn't find anyone that wanted to travel to India, they all thought I was crazy. The supplemental cost to go it alone was always more than I could afford and of course the cost keeps going up each year. However, I haven't given up, it is still on my "bucket list". I think it would be a fabulous Tour for photography opportunities.
The anonymous flagger seems to be working overtime today and flagging all the posts with pictures so I thought I would post one more to keep the person busy.
One I would like to give honorable mention to or “best room with a view” would be the Cristallo hotel in Cortina D’Ampezzo Italy on our Ultimate Alps & Dolomites tour. The view from our room, which had a balcony, of the Dolomites and nearby town was very impressive.
Indian is on my list too. Unfortunately not on my husband's and the on tour flights I find daunting.