Travel Department Reviews

Just home from a glorious week from the Little Trains of the Dolomites Tour in Italy. Our two tour guides, Patrizia & Loretta were excellent. Thanks for the wine, Loretta! Their approachable personality and knowledge of the area made our trip. The Hotel Miralgo was a wonderfull choice and a lovely friendly group of 29 of us truely enjoyed each others company. A truly memorable experience! Thanks, Mary

First time with Travel Department, wonderful guide, everything organised, good company,

everything from booking to documents, hotel, tour rep, and local reps. No hassle! Wonderful

This was an active, fun holiday. Local guides had a good knowledge of their areas. There was also time for rest every second day. The hotel was beautiful and it was spotless. Staff were very friendly. Our tour leader was friendly and kept the group well informed at all times. Bear in mind, the level of excercise is moderate as the tours were quite hilly in parts.

The booking process was easy and efficient. The hotel in Estoril was lovely and clean and well situated. Food was lovely. Tours were well organized and the guide was great. We met really nice people in the group . We will definitely book with the Travel Department again.

Our tour guide Laura was absolutely fantastic. Her knowledge of the local area and her approachable personality made our trip to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast one of the best Travel Department trips we have been on.

I had a lovely week in the Costa Brava and Barcelona. The trip included a lot of day excursions and the guide, Sophia was excellent. The hotel was very good, food was lovely and my room was comfortable.

There were 1/2 changes to itinerary that I’m suggesting The trip to Etna should be divided to two groups - one group that takes cablecar and remainder should not have to wait for hours on their return. Last day to Catania too long and remain at hotel till after lunch.

Wow! What an amazing holiday and such a memorial experience. It was fun, informative, exciting, safe and stress free from start to finish, which is particularly important being a solo traveller. Our wonderful guide Dodi took such good care to make our trip this way. He was so organised, gracious, helpful, and good craic. Most importantly Dodi is an expert on Egyptology, he was so passionate about sharing his knowledge with us in an uncomplicated manner, making every day feel like we had just picked up a good book that you didn't want to put down, curious and excited about what would be next... he's a real Page Turner. The cruise on the Nile was fabulous, the ship reminded me of a Mini Titanic, so lovely and authentic. Accommodation was very comfortable, good food and extremely helpful friendly staff. Dodi also arranged live entertainment in the evening time on the ship... from belly dancers, culture night to DJ Dodi. Egypt is an amazing country, steeped in so much history, culture, good food and lovely people. This tour with the Travel Department and their invaluable expert guide Dodi, is a trip not to be missed, I highly recommend it. "Go raibh mile maith agat", Linda.

Just home from a week in Makarska Croatia. This was our 5th holiday with Travel Department and, as always, it was great. Our guide was Nina who was excellent, went the extra mile. We loved the boat trip to the islands, 10 hours and beautiful. Hotel couldn't be faulted.

The variety of the trip was a definite plus. From an initial few days of interesting / informative trips to amazing historic sites to some relaxing days in Tolo and Spetses we had a lovely blend of activity and relaxation. Our guide Rania was superb-she was very knowledgeable and relaxed - she took excellent care of us and was so pleasant at all times.The hotels were very good especially in Tolo.We also had a lovely group to keep us company on our Greek Odyssey!

The people, the hotels, the tours - everything was so well organised I would highly recommend it.

Marta, the tour guide, was excellent. Kept us well informed, was respecful of the age group and organised plenty of breaks on our days out.

I’ve travelled with the company several times-always well organised,very good quality and standards including trips, food and hotels The guides are friendly and knowledgeable

Fantastic trip to India. Just back from the most amazing trip to the Golden Triangle in India.We were incredibly well looked after by our amazing guide Manish , driver Ram and assistant Gyan. We were a group of 17 and had fantastic service , lovely hotels and brilliant tours with a sunrise Taj Mahal the highlight. We were so well looked after, it exceeded all expectations and we had some amazing experiences we will remember forever. Manish was the best guide I have ever come across and his talks on India and it's culture , history , religions and people just made our trip so much more meaningful and educational. A life experience and I would recommend this trip to anyone. Will not be my last trip with the Travel department. A huge thank you to the truly fantastic team Manish , driver Ram and Gyan who took such great care of us and were brilliant crack and kept us entertained.

From the time we first booked our trip all went according to plan, if we had to check out anything over the phone which we did everything was explained clearly to us flights were on time but the best of our trip to Canada and this the trip great was the guide Trudy she knew her job very well and explained more than enough to everyone on the tour of the west coast of Canada.

The holiday ran very smoothly despite the flight delay when going on the holiday and missing the first garden visit.

So we were pleased with the experience, the guides, the excursions and to a large degree the hotel. HOWEVER the Beau Rivage has an awful breakfast buffet set up and very poor food choice with many items unavailable by 09.00. Every guest in our party shared this view which became the standing joke amongst us all. It was disappointing to see that the other tour group get a much superior room and a well laid out buffet.. not one where in one corner of room was a Bain Marie of overcooked eggs and ‘bacon’ usually empty by 9.00 and in another far corner were the fresh fruits and yougarts and not so fresh croissants!!! Miles from the other brown bread which usually needed replenishing. No honey , except 3 sugarised old sachets!!! Forks not on table and placed beside a coffee machine in one corner of room. Spoons not at table and beside cereals nowhere near forks. We all adapted to this morning tour of the breakfast room with much laughter but really the daily ‘tour’ around the floor whilst letting us meet the guests as we passed was pretty unnecessary if the room layout had been thought out. Anna have a look and see is this the experience you want for your party. No one complained just shrugged our shoulders laughter and got on with it but it should be MUCH better. The staff are friendly and evening meals good quality once the translation of the daily menu choice was resolved. First morning our choice that night was and I quote “lukewarm beef or Mediterranean Mackrel”! We were all in awe at this choice!!!😝😂. There was of course a daily ‘scrum’ at the tiny round table in the corner where the salad course was self service and by 19.25 you were lucky to get a dozen sweet corn grains and a slice of beetroot as everything was gone and not replenished. Happily everyone had a great holiday despite this so please consider this constructive criticism not a complaint

Brilliant trip to Cape Town, Garden Route and Safari. Gertie our guide was brilliant, so organised love it ❤️. Richard our driver was an amazing driver kept us safe fair play 😊. Our Three Rangers Amber, Julia and Thembani where fab, so informative and great craic 😃. I travelled with a group of 26 everyone was up for the adventure and we all enjoyed each others company. The animals where spectacular such an amazing experience I am still pinching myself. Highly recommend this trip to anyone with a sense of adventure.

Great trip to India