Escorted Grand Tours

“Excellent trip with a fantastic tour guide, very interesting for anyone into, country, blues and jazz music. Expect a packed and varied schedule and a lot of travelling. I understand that the schedule has changed somewhat for next year, so a more detailed review may not be that helpful l for anyone planning a future trip.

“A very busy, but worthwhile trip.

“A very memorable holiday. We were very lucky with the weather.

“The tour was informative including all modes of travel,fantastic scenery, informative local tour guides and same minded people in the tour group. Wonderful experience.

“A well organised, wonderful trip to India. Enchanting!

“This was a very enjoyable trip. There were 5 flights, which enabled us to see a wide variety of places, people and animals. Although busy there was always time to chill, have a drink at the bar and a chat to others in the group. The quality of the service and the hotels was very good. I especially liked the fact that we often ate in local restaurants, recommended to us. The food was excellent, especially in South Africa where it was also surprisingly cheap. Besides our tour guide, who was with us for the whole trip, we had a variety of local guides. Their knowledge was extensive and it gave me a real feel of what it is like to live in the places we visited..We had a delay of 2 days with the plane home from Johannesburg. These circumstances were dealt with promptly and efficiently by Great Rail and turned into a bonus rather than a negative.

“We recently returned from the 10 day tour of the Golden Triangle, Ranthanbore and Mumbai. We've had the most amazing experience. It felt like a school trip at times, but our Tour Manager Christine was a retired Teacher so that was to be expected and we found it quite funny. It must be difficult to manage a group of adults so she did a good job. Our local tour guide Sidir was fantastic. His knowledge was incredibly detailed and helpful. He was also a very personable and polite man, who we are sure went above and beyond his actual role. We met lots of nice people and got along with everyone. The vibrancy of India was overwhelming and sometimes we couldn't believe our eyes. Highlights for us included Fatiphur Sikri, Taj Mahal, Amber Fort and seeing Tigers in their natural habitat. There are too many highlights to note them all, as we would be here all night. Negatives - We were taken to a few businesses where they tried to sell their goods to us but these visits were usually in the afternoon which kept us out of the midday sun, so we didn't mind. The organisation of the trip was brilliant. The travel arrangements ran like clockwork, including coach, train and plane journeys. Our Great Rail trip ended in Mumbai but we had arranged to extend our trip and booked internal flights to Goa for 5 nights. Great Rail delayed our flight home and there were no issues with our return journey. The tour is quite full on with some very early mornings so we do recommend extending your stay to rest and recuperate before coming home. Overall this has been a trip of a lifetime and we recommend this tour.

“This was a full-on itinerary but worth the effort. We really experienced New Zealand in all its glory. The tour was well organised, the guides and Tour manager were excellent. We recommend Great Rail Journeys, this was our 9th holiday with them.

“Wonderfull experience . Hotels very good but evening meals poor.Tour manager most efficient , knowledgable and very quick to solve problems, would go on any trip with him at the helm.