Hi all. I know we all love touring with Insight but has anyone toured with any other companies such as Scenic Tours or Trafalgar. If so, your thoughts and opinions on the other tour companies in comparison with Insight would be appreciated.

My husband and I did a tour with Scenic Tours in 2004 to Canada and Alaska. This was our first escorted tour and we had a fantastic time. There were 48 people on this tour so they are not as small as Insight tours but it was very well done. The motels we stayed in were incredible and the dining options were great. The tour was comfortably paced but we did have some early morning starts. Our TD was only brought in at the last minute as our initial TD got sick and even though Rhonda had never done this tour before she was very informative and helpful. When she wasn't sure on any particluar place we visited she took the time to find out and had an answer back to us with a few hours.From the time we landed at the airport we were met and bused to our destinations to our final dinner we were looked after as we were one of the family.Overall our experience with Scenic Tours was amazing, and as we are planning an Insight Tour to Europe over Christmas this year we hope we have an equally if not better time.

Trafalgar is the sister company of Insight. Their tours are run on very similar lines but a different quality of hotel are used. Trafalgar tours are usually slightly cheaper than Insight

I have previously used the Trafalgar Cost Saver tours and never had any complaints - yes the hotels would usually be a fair distance from the centre of town but you only sleep there. There were always taxis or buses to take you back into town if needed. I've always had a lot of fun and met many wonderful people on these tours

I quite often found there would be Trafalgar and Insight tours at the same optionals.

I will say now that I'm 'older' I enjoy the cosseting provided by the Insight Premium tours.

Happy travelling.

You get what you pay for always!
Hotels may be cheaper or farther from the centre of town, options may be Insight's included visits, there will be more people on the coach therefore less legroom and longer loading and unloading time.
All the tours seem to interesect at the main sites and even use the same hotels but obviously there are reasons for the cheaper price.

quote:

I will say now that I'm 'older' I enjoy the cosseting provided by the Insight Premium tours.

I also enjoy those perks of the Insight tour - especially the 40 seat maximum tour bus. When I think back to the tours I took where there were over 50 of us on the coach and my most recent Insight tours where we were a nice manageable group of 40, it's the Insight itineraries I seek out first.

I also like being able to go to the Insight website and check out the selection of optional tours.

While Trafalgar (Insight's sister company) has a more active website which I find very useful, after comparing the features of both companies, I usually select the Insight tour if it's more than a week long. (The longer the tour, the more important the coach and seating on it becomes to me.) I also use TripAdvisor.com to compare the hotels offered. If the itinerary includes a large city where there will be time on our own to explore, then it's more important to me that the hotel is well located to the city's main attractions. If, however, I see that the tour is going to be keeping us thoroughly occupied without much opportunity to explore on our own, I don't weigh location that heavily in my comparison.

When you are comparing, be sure to watch out for those key words in the brochure. "See" could mean you will catch a glimpse of something while driving past on the highway while "visit" means you actually get off the coach and take a tour of the place."

I would agree with ZeldaSue...we have done Globus, ****** and Trafalgar tours as well as Insight, and have found Insight consistantly wins. The legroom makes SUCH a difference..I'm 6 feet plus...and at the end of the day paying that bit extra seems to bring rewards.

We have traveled with Trafalagar, Insight, Globus and Pacific Delight. We like Insight best because of the smaller group and more leg room on the bus. They include more and if you figure everything out you come out about the same in dollars spent, and you have a better tour.

I've traveled with Insight, Globus and Trafalgar. A total of 7 coach tours. Insight was by far the nicest experience, although I was very pleased with Trafalgar, less so with Globus.
BUT...the itinerary is the most important when I choose a trip. So do some "homework" and choose what suits your desires.
Sue

I was very happy to read the comments regarding Insight compared to others. I considered Globus and Trafalgar also but my daughter, who was a travel agent at the time, recommended Insight because of what her clients had told her. She had not taken any tours with any of them but told me Insight was a first class tour choice from the way her clients spoke of their experiences with Insight. I feel pretty confident that I've made a wise choice for my first tour (European Heritage) in July.

I have completed 28 escorted coach tours with 11 different touring companies and 13 of those 28 tours have been with Insight. This clearly indicates that Insight is my preferred touring company.

I do however choose my tour primarily on the itinerary and then secondly on the touring company. If itineraries are similar and one of the companies is Insight I will then always choose Insight. In addition there have been some localities that we have toured where Insight did not at the time have tours to and this obviously meant choosing a different touring company.

The fact that Insight restricts their coaches to a seating capacity of 40 creates greater comfort for its clients with more leg room and quicker and easier boarding and exiting of the coach than those competitors with 50 and 53 seat coaches. Not to forget the shorter queues at the toilets at rest stops.

Insight’s Tour Directors have, on average, at least 10 years experience in the industry before being employed by Insight. The obvious result of this is that Insight’s TDs are greatly experienced and extremely knowledgeable and in fact some of the Insight’s TDs that we have travelled with have been with the company for in excess of 20 years.

Generally speaking I have found that Insight’s hotels are in many cases better situated than its competitors and often, but not always, of a better class. For example many Insight tours stopping in Venice have the hotel located in “Venice proper” whereas their competitors hotels are located across the lagoon at either Mestre of The Lido. Obviously the hotels in “Venice proper” are old hotels whereas the hotels at Mestre or The Lido are newer but give me a hotel with character that has a great location over a newer one some distance away. It is fantastic to just walk out of your hotel after dinner and wander at night along the streets and the little bridges over the canals while you watch the gondolas floating by.

Let me also comment on an earlier post in this thread about one of Insight’s competitors, Scenic Tours. I have travelled with Scenic Tours and they are a truly excellent company to tour with BUT they are much more expensive than Insight and in the final analysis you get what you pay for.

Finally let me reiterate that I primarily choose my tours based on itinerary rather than on touring company but whenever itineraries of different companies are similar and one of those companies is Insight ……….. then I will always choose Insight.