Travel Department Reviews

Without doubt an absolute holiday of a lifetime!! and I cannot praise our guide, Dodi, enough. He took excellent care of us from start to finish. Was totally professional, friendly, helpful with an outstanding breath of knowledge and a great sense of humour. An action packed holiday and an unforgettable experience. Fantastic value for money and I would highly recommend a visit to this amazing and historic country. Apart from the very many extraordinary tombs and museums visited, we experienced balloon rides at sunrise, submarine, 4x4 drives and quad bikes in the desert. Egypt was an experience never to be forgotten!!

This was a really excellent trip that was very well organised and covered all the major sites. The standard of accommodation was very good and I particularly enjoyed the Nile cruise where the staff were helpful and attentive. Our guide Dodi was exceptional and always available to assist. He provided excellent insights into the many temples and tombs we visited. He was very friendly and ensured all the group were looked after. I would highly recommend this tour but would point out that the days are long and many sites include walking and climbing steps and inclines.

The Nile Cruise combined hotel stays and 7 nights cruising. Overall, this was an unforgettable experience and it was lovely to spend time with a great group of fellow travellers. We were delighted to visit both the new and original Museums in Cairo. The Sphinx and Pyramids were unforgettable. Our guide, Dody, was a qualified Egyptologist who ensured that each temple visit was a memorable experience. His love for his subject was apparent at all times. He managed the logistics with great skill, keeping us on track as the tour was very busy. The boat was very old fashioned with great character. The only suggestions I have would be to improve the wifi on the boat, despite paying for it, the system hardly worked and this caused problems for some of us. Also, the second hotel we stayed in Hurghada was all inclusive and the food was quite unappetising. Thank you Dody for your patience and managing the complex individual needs of the group. I really appreciated it.

As with any guided tour experience, there will be ups and downs. Having returned from the Japan tour, the Travel Department offers Japan is an unbelievable country full of culture, friendly people, and gorgeous food for the most part. I already have a deep longing to head back there. How did I find the tour itself? There were ups and downs, but thankfully, the negatives weren't enough to affect my enjoyment of Japan. Our first guide was excellent and went above and beyond to ensure everyone had a fantastic experience. Sadly, the second guide wasn't quite as good and lacked the helpfulness we experienced in the first part of the tour. She was also quite challenging to follow in parts, though the language barrier was presumably a factor here. I would have changed the itinerary around a bit as well. Maybe we could have a rest day in Hakone and then go to Tokyo. Kamakura was beautiful, but the Tokyo rush hour traffic was a point of contention that seemed to frustrate fellow passengers, and we probably could have skipped it. The abundance of temples was also a bit much. There were undoubtedly some stunning ones, but it also felt repetitive. It could have also been a guide issue, as they failed to convey what made each temple unique to Japanese culture. My last grumbling, and I'll move onto the positives, is that I felt there could have been more of an awareness from the guide that not everyone has to participate in every activity. The flower arranging is a good example of a situation where one or two people probably weren't comfortable participating in the exercise but did so anyway. A throwaway comment from the staff member saying the bouquet looks damaged probably didn't help either. All that aside, it was a very well-organised trip. Accommodation was first class, the meals included were mostly excellent and out of the various Travel Department trips I've been on it was the best group.

We found this trip was very well planned, we had a great guide and the comfortable hotel was situated in the heart of the old town which had really fantastic Christmas atmosphere and great restaurants. We thoroughly enjoyed the tours, especially of course the tour of Bran Castle. Overall this trip not only got us into the Christmas Spirit, but also gave us a great insight into the country of Romania both past and present and we will definitely be back.

Timing of flights made travel a bit awkward. Otherwise really enjoyed holiday. Our guide was excellent and went way beyond expectations. Helped us in every way possible even on the leisure day. Thank you Rado.

I would have preferred to be able to choose a flight seat before arriving at the airport. Our final hotel before leaving delhi was of a lower standard

Great service, wonderful guide, excellent accommodation on our recent group tour to India. Only drawback was an itinerary that was at times too crowded which led to a rather frenetic timetable at times.

All organised for you, central location in a good hotel. Knowledgeable guide.

Iceland blew me away! It has been on my bucket list for many years, so, thank you for making it a reality! Even though we were there for only 3 nights, our guide and driver made sure that we got to see all the main sights. This is my opportunity to sing the praises of our guide, Richard, and our driver, Haldor. These 2 gentlemen are great ambassadors for their home country but also for the Travel Department. Their love for, and pride in their country was evident from the outset and they transmitted that to those of us who traveled with them. They looked after our every need with humor and kindness, even to retrieving dropped gloves and hats!

very well organised trip great hotel friendly tour guide

Had a magnificent trip to Vienna and the Christmas Markets.Everything went so smoothly, Claudia our guide was very knowledgeable, professional, approachable and fun to be with.Hotel was great and in a fantastic location for transport links to markets.Would thoroughly recommend Travel Department and plan to travel with them again in the future.

Great arrangement, great trip

excellent trip well worth doing highly recommend trip to south africa

I was advised by someone I know to use The Travel Dept for our trip to South Africa ... it was excellent advice because everything was top class and great value for money. Our guide Gertie Tuinder was absolutely amazing. We all felt safe and relaxed under her excellent guidance and wonderful sense of humour. I would highly recommend South Africa to anyone but I would not go it alone ... go with Travel Dept and you will be looked after from beginning to end.

The excellent , knowledgeable guide,( on this trip and also the guide on the lake Garda trip( last year)- , the excellent standard of hotels ,on both of these trips- However my trip to the Rockies ( 2 years ago- October)the guide was disappointing - ( I understand he was standing in for someone else) Carol Gallagher

Excellent service as always

Very well organized , with an excellent guide , good hotels and trouble free travel.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week long holiday, organised by Travel Department, in Andalusia in November 2024. The guide was excellent. He kept us both informed and entertained while outlining the valuable history linked to each outing. The hotels in both Loja and Grenada (2 centre holiday) were first class.

Excellent booking staff plus on going information prior to trip. Informative and helpful guides while abroad. Value for money. Small group destinations are a real hit. As a long term customer I would recommend these trips.