More than what I expected!!!

The tour was amazing & the BEST part was the tour director Ronan Raz!!!!! He made the trip wonderful, he was very knowledgeable & helpful. He gave us great suggestions for our free time, with directions & maps. The only thing I would change is to stay longer in Nice or Cinque Terre the French Rivera & Italian Rivera was amazing & an extra night there would have been perfect. The only downside was the pick up from the airport, we walked out with our luggage & tons of people with signs waiting on others but NO ONE FROM Go Ahead Tours & when we finally found someone he was rude. We sat in the airport for an hour & then he put us on a bus & that was a two hour bus ride to our hotel. I was very very very disappointed after a long flight to have to waste 3 hours to get to our hotel very inconsiderate. Please try to find a way to change, that was the only bad experience!!!! Best tour director Ronan Raz!!! N

Best of France and Italy

This was an excellent tour. The tour guide, Ronen Ruz, was excellent and made everyone comfortable,knew his history and all other tour information well and made this trip what it was for us. His information about each site added to the experience and acquainted us with what we were about to experience. In addition to the tour guide, we had an excellent bus driver. Gianpietro with Giotto Bus line, who went out of his way for us. Ronen created wonderful opportunities for options that were enjoyable, reasonable and had local 'flavor'. Accomodations were all good with the exception of the hotel in Aix-en-Provence. It was too far from any where to walk and the staff was not hospitable! Our tour guide handled the situation with reserve and efficiency. We especially liked this tour because it had extra time in Paris and the Rome extension as well as the beautiful tour between cities.

An excellent experience !

We had an excellent tour guide, with a vast knowledge of France and Italy, both present and historical. The hotels were very nice, food and wine excellent, our coach driver did a superb job ! We were busy throughout the day and evening. The river cruise in Paris was beautiful, the cathedrals and sculpture if Florence were breathtaking. The ancient Roman ruins and Tuscan villages very impressive. We also enjoyed our time along the French & Italian Riveria. Too many things to see and do in such a short time, we couldn't believe it was time to return home. The trip wouldn't have been as good had it not been for Ronen, our tour guide, he answered all of our questions, was very helpful with map details and recommending Restaurants, he is a very caring and kind person

Art, art and more art! Wonderful eye candy!

This is a very active trip for the art lover. Bask in the treasures of Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, and of course all the Masters in Italy. As my artist son said from back home after I posted pictures for the day, "Mom, what artist are you going to throw in my face today!" From Monet's garden to the wonders of Bernini, Rafaella, and Michaelangelo every day takes your breath away. As if the tour didn't have enough, our wonderful Tour Director, Lisa, took us to many extra places! And for the grand finale, she got us tickets to the Pope's last audience of the year for our 20th Anniversary!

Excellent Sampler

This tour met our expectations to a "T". It provides a balanced introduction to France and Italy, hitting many high points along the way. We took most of the optional tours and felt they were well worth it. Really feel the add-on two days in Rome ought to be part of the main tour, giving an equal time to Rome as to Paris.

It really was wonderful!

Other than a pretty big snag at the Paris airport -no tour representative there to pick us up, unable to reach anybody by emergency phone # (because it was a U.S. number and we were in...well, PARIS and therefore about 4 a.m in U.S.) we ended up spending four hours of our first day in Paris trying to reach Go Ahead to pick us up. BUT after all that, the trip was really perfect. Our tour guide was unbeatable, the local guids were wonderful, the tours were terrific. Highly recommend Go Ahead - know they will address the snaffu.

Great 30th Anniversary Vacation

The only negative experience we had on this tour was when we first landed in Paris, there was no representative from Go-Ahead to greet us. After a few hours of waiting in the airport a Go-Ahead representative showed up. Everything else was great. Our tour director was wonderful. The hotels were very good. France and Italy were everything we hoped for. The tour was the perfect mix of planned sight seeing and free time to explore and time to relax. Our tour had 22 people, and we all got along very well. We would definately travel with Go-Ahead again.

An excellent European Tour: France & Italy

Go Ahead, along with our group leader, Susanne D., provided a tour which was very thorough, educational and just plain fun. These are memories which will last a lifetime!

A Great Mixture of History, Culture and Fun

The tour, "The Best of France and Italy" was my introduction to Europe, and my introduction to escorted tours. It has left me wanting more of both! Our Tour Director, Giuliana Liberati, was knowledgeable, fun, hard-working, and unbelievably caring toward my elderly mother who traveled with my husband and me. She made sure that all had a good time, partly in helping us arrange taxi transportation when it would be easier for my mother than the walk that the others were happily engaged in. There are too many highlights to tell you about, but the one that my mother will never forget is the show at the Moulin Rouge that Giuliana helped to arrange. With her help, we sat within reach of the stage, had feathers fluttering about, and went away with the story of a lifetime. Paris and Rome were wonderful, and there was enough unstructured time to enjoy individual pleasures. The bus ride, rather than just being transportation from town to town, was wonderful, with many interesting sights to see, thanks to Antonio, our bus driver. The medieval cities and ancient ruins were amazing, and the winery visits were fun. Thanks to the wonderful tour, we are already talking about next year in Greece, and Go Ahead Tours. Although this was my mother's last European trip, it was, in her words, "glorious"!

Not a Guided Tour

Make sure that you understand the difference between "directed and guided tours" before booking this type of trip. The guided excursions were as described but our entire group, which consisted of mostly unseasoned travelers, were left to negotiate the subways and bus lines in Paris and Rome alone. The director was great since she provided imput on how to get to places that we wanted to see but you had to have your own itinery. There was no planned group sightseeing in Paris only a short walk to the local market up the street and dinner. If you want to see Rome buy the extention because you don't arrive there until midmorning the last day of the trip. We spent a lot of money on cab fare to get from place to place so that we could see the major sites in the time that we had. Nice was only an overnight stop with a three pm arrival and departure early the next morning. A lot of people in our group agreed it was not what they expected!