This was truly the trip of a lifetime! It was such an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. The locations were all great and a good mixture. The optional and included activities were great, and the extra activities that our leader organised for us were all big highlights - especially the speed boats in Dubrovnik (the best day!). We were super lucky with our trip leader Alan and driver Alex - they were both incredible and made a great team. Alan was an awesome leader - he was super knowledgable, fun and organised. Alex was a fantastic driver and got us everywhere promptly and safely. Anyone would be lucky to have either of these guys on a trip. The friendships I made on this trip were super special and they will be friends for life. This was my second trip with Topdeck and definitely not my last!
The trip was fast paced, active, interesting, personally and socially challenging at times — which forms the ingredients of great personal growth!
The sights were obviously amazing and there was a lot of free time to do what I wanted to do as a solo traveler in a group-setting. I won’t focus too much on that for the review, but rather more on the trip leader and driver - as these two people made the experience so much better for me, personally!
Overall, I was very impressed with the experience I had during the Play & Pause Epic European Trip with Alan Beaumont as our trip leader and Alex as our driver.
Friendliness
I thought that Alan was very friendly and personable and made me feel at ease. This trip was overwhelmingly filled with tourists from Australia and New Zealand and, as the only South African, Alan played a key role in making me feel like part of the Topdeck experience in a way that was meaningful, kind and inclusive.
He also went above and beyond trying to connect with me as a person, taking into account my views on certain places, asking me questions about my own experiences, and treating me in such a way that always made me feel welcome!
He was very witty and humorous and made some of the longer drives go down a bit faster by being a good sport!
He was also kind enough to attend a birthday of two of our trip mates in Berlin, where we all hanged out at Tiergarten eating doughnuts! He didn’t have to attend, as this was his free time, but he still did — which, I felt, played a big part in fostering camaraderie in our group!
All in all, I’ve been very impressed by his friendliness, his inclusive and kind demeanor throughout the trip, without exception!
Professionalism
Alan was an astute professional and appears to take his job very seriously. He always kept to the schedule and we were never late once. He set an example of punctuality as a way to show respect for everyone’s time and the group followed suit.
He always made sure that everyone was where they needed to be to ensure the trip moved along smoothly and did an excellent job at solving problems as they came up.
Not once did I feel like I wasn’t sure of what the next step in our trip would be! He also seems to be very proud of Topdeck as a company and makes good recommendations for other countries/trips that we might be interested in, like the UK/Ireland trip, which I am now strongly considering booking as my next tour. This is all because of Alan.
Another thing I’ve observed, is how well he manages people around him. He excels in conflict resolution and always tries to find the middle ground when minor issues arise in the group! I feel like this level of professionalism is only achieved through years of experience in this kind of job and a genuine care for tourists having this Topdeck experience.
At some of the hotels, we ran into some minor issues, like twin beds not being separated in the rooms and, although the hotels were less helpful in solving these problems, Alan took it upon himself to try to solve this problem in a way that is prompt, efficient and satisfactory to all.
Organization
Alan exceeded my expectations in this domain. I thought that all of the recommendations for places to see, good restaurants to eat at and novel experiences to have in each location that he gave us, have been the main reason I’ve had such an epic experience during this trip.
He did an excellent job in posting a “What’s On” well in advance so we know what to expect every day, including the times we are expected to check in, settle in, arrive and depart from various locations, public transport connections and how to access them, pins of locations for all meeting points, etc. He even walked us to/from optional tours we booked through the app, which was a really nice touch!
He responded to all trip-related queries posed to him on our WhatsApp group, promptly, kindly and efficiently.
Although some of the mornings were a bit grim because we had to make an early start on drive days, I thought that this level of organization benefited us in the end, especially on days we’ve had to cross borders (looking at you, Montenegro crossing into Croatia!)
Alan was also great at liaising with the border crossing officials to ensure that we all had a smooth border crossing experience (especially for me, traveling with a non-EU passport on a Schengen and U.K. Visa).
He also played an instrumental part in my own personal trip-itinerary. I came into this trip with a list of experiences I wanted to have, and he was kind enough to assist me in double-checking whether they made sense time-wise and also added his valuable opinion, which benefited me in the end. (A practical example of this, was when he helped double-check my plan to do a solo experience of Luzern while we all had our free day in Engelberg, Switzerland. He gave me valuable advice and tips on train booking and departure time from Mount Titlas in the morning, so I could get to and from Luzern in time to rejoin my tour group in time.) This also shows that he was instrumental in realizing one of the selling points of this trip: a chance to explore surrounding places during my free time, thus giving me the feeling of still solo traveling and exploring, while having support from my trip leader. This was really not lost on me and I appreciated this greatly!
Overall, he was meticulous in planning all aspects of this trip experience, without any clashes in time or redundancies, which is actually quite impressive considering we’ve had such a long trip!
Knowledge
As someone interested in world history, I can’t praise Alan’s knowledge of all of the locations we’ve visited, enough! I particularly enjoyed the in depth introductory talks he had with the group while on the coach and I felt like I gained not only a lot of deeper knowledge about the sights I was to see, but I could also interact with all of the landmarks, sights and people more deeply during my limited time there, which ultimately enriched my experience on this trip.
This is the domain in which I think Alan stands head and shoulders above other tour guides I’ve had in the past (I’ve been to 70+ countries and have had 8+ similar group experiences with other tour companies). He gives information that is truthful, verifiable and accurate. He is knowledgeable on a wide range of topics directly relevant to our trip and even recommended me a book for further reading about the history of Europe at a glance.
As a lover of languages myself, I was very impressed by Alan’s command of each major language we encountered on this trip. I’d say I had a basic command of most languages we’ve been exposed to on this trip, and I could still learn something new from Alan! Included in his “What’s On” for the day that I’ve spoken about earlier in this review, he also wrote out basic phrases to survive in these new countries with correct pronunciations and even practiced them with us at the end of his introductory talk about the history, culture and current state of each new place we would go to.
Another area Alan shone in, was during our walking tours! They were all very informative with just the right amount of information. He would also answer all of the questions we had (even the silly ones) in a way that was professional, friendly, knowledgeable and relevant.
Passion
Judging from the sheer amount of feedback I’ve given here, I am sure that the reader can pick up on the passion Alan has for this job and the extra mile he goes to make this a meaningful experience for all.
It is evident that he loves what he does. He is outgoing and personable and absolutely lights up when he talks about the history, the political milieu (both past and present) of the countries we’ve visited. His passion for his job went beyond just finishing each day by delivering a service to customers. He really cared about giving the group a strong understanding of where we were and what our place is.
A practical example of this was on our tour of Muthausen. He made us realize and take seriously the massive impact of what had happened there all those years ago and through his passionate oratory during his introductory talk, made us appreciate the level of respect and sensitivity we as tourists were to have, when entering that monument space, in.
A passionate tour guide, in my opinion, isn’t just somebody who is a hype-guy, but also somebody who, through delivery of poignant introductions, lets the group feel/appreciate/perceive the importance of whatever places we go to, and I thought Alan succeeded in this regard.
Overall, I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks for Topdeck for this experience. It has truly been enriching and life changing. My trip leader, Alan, was a pivotal part in my experience and I doubt it would’ve been this way, had it been with another guide. I hereby would like to recommend him for even more of these longer and more in depth “Play & Pause” trips, as he sets the tone for a great experience. I feel like if I’ll have another Topdeck experience and it was with Alan as a trip leader, I wouldn’t even think twice about booking it!
Areas of growth
1. Hotels were a bit of a hit/miss and were quite far from the center of where everything is happening, which negatively impacts the time one has spent traveling and the ubering back to the hotel also burns a euro-shaped hole in one’s pocket by the end of the trip.
2. Optional activities were fine, but make contingency plans for when not everyone wants to join in on those activities.
3. More walking tours and fewer driving tours. On certain parts of the driving tour, I found it difficult to see what the tour guide was actually showing us. The tour guide for said tour was also less than good (referring to the person who was in charge of hosting the driving tour in Albania…)
4. Included dinners. For the entrees: WAY. TOO. MUCH. SOUP. In the heat of the European summer. Ahhh!
5. WiFi on the bus. It would’ve been really useful if it worked. It was advertised that it would, but it didn’t.
6. Make the app more user friendly! The tour leaders had to jump through hoops manually helping some tourists sign up manually.
Feel free to reach out to me for any additional information or other parts of my trip experience. I’d be happy to share more detailed feedback to ensure this experience can be even better for future tourists!
Regards,
Ash.
The tour was fantastic and a great way to see many countries. Our guide Alan and driver Alex were both amazing. The add ons were well worth it. I will definitely do another topdeck and recommend them to everyone!
Saw a lot in a short space of time, some counties we were only in for 2 hours or overnight. Included meals were hit and miss. Our tour guide was very nice but was very unorganised- would suddenly expect us to download a travel app as we were at the train station with no wifi- this was done multiple times. Driver was nice but very strict with times and would repeatedly state that he will leave us behind if we are late.
While our bus was new and was sold has having wifi- this was not true. Also sold as having a toilet on the bus- our driver preferred we didn’t use it.
This tour states multiple walking tours with trip leader- not true. Multiple countries we were told they were not allowed to do a walking tour due to laws- so why is this advertised as part of the included activities??????
The one option activities I wanted to do (the kayaking in Croatia) was cancelled. Other option activities were cancelled because our group was small.
Out tour leader would state things like it a short walk from the bus or train station- sometimes we were walking upwards of 3km to get to a dinner or activity.
The accommodation was hit and miss. We stayed super far out of the city in most places. Some places were 5 star hotels that were incredible but only stayed one night, other places were beyond disgusting. The Hotel in Corfu being one of them. The free breakfasts were hit and miss.
I had an amazing time on this trip. Gareth and Michelle were an amazing tour leader and driver, I think they really made the trip amazing! The tour was a good taster on places you’d want to go back to because you don’t really get too much time at each place but still had a great time. Made life long friends too
Michelle and Gareth were amazing made the trip !
We were so unbelievably lucky to have such an incredible experience would recommend TopDeck 100 times over
Absolutely brilliant holiday for anyone wanting to see a lot of Europe in a relatively short period of time. The hotels were all of great standard and the included meals were delicious and featured the local cuisine. Our guide Kim was an absolute legend and went above and beyond to give us the history as well as tips and tricks for each city.
I had previously travelled to Europe in 2018, and completed a Contiki tour called "European Inspiration". It did indeed inspire me to return to Europe. I had such a good time and I found group travel fun. Considering I was a solo traveller who had no one to go with I thought this time I would try TopDeck and experience with a company that was sold as a step up.
How was joining the tour?
Joining the tour was a bit of a hard thing. When I arrived in London, communication with finding and joining the tour team was a bit hard. Luckily the hotel staff were able to direct me to where to meet the tour and I found it was the rest of the travellers that helped me get added to a WhatsApp group. The tour got underway the next day and when we got onboard the coach it was nothing very special. It honestly felt quiet worn (Nothing looked fresh and no sense of cleanliness), we were promptly told the toilet shouldn't be used (it would have to be some sort of emergency where we couldn't make a stop), Wi-Fi (sold as included, wasn't operational we only discovered this days into the tour when we asked) and the air-conditioning onboard struggled to work from the moment we boarded.
What were the hotels like?
Hotels we stayed at were extremely hit and miss, with some amazing experiences and others that were so disgusting that hostels would have been 5 star experiences in replacement.
What was the tour lead like?
Our tour lead didn’t really make the experience a memorable one. Being her second solo trip since joining TopDeck ~4 months before, her lack of experience unfortunately showed and this was noted by all. Explanations about the places we visited were very robotic and you could tell she was reading from a piece of paper all the time. We all need to learn in our jobs but this long tour wasn’t the tour you’d expect someone like our trip lead to be on.
Be prepared for sickness:
The bus of travellers got pretty sick at one stage, with colds taking down many travellers and covid too. You are very much on your own if you get sick, so be prepared with any medications you think you might need ahead of starting this or any other tour.
The places/countries? Did you like them and were they worth it?
I loved all the cities and countries I visited on the tour, it's why I booked this tour originally. They were all amazing. But be aware you're not staying in the heart of the city, you're often quiet far out of the main hubs and this requires you to get your own way around, which honestly was so costly, as apposed to staying in a place you booked your self that was more central allowing you to walk around more easily.
What were the inclusions like (e.g. Included dinners and tours)?
Some included dinners were really good. However honestly many of us started to not go to them and some tours because it was more costly in Ubers than the value of the tour we were missing or the dinner we could have had. You had to also get yourself to many of the inclusions. One night I spent $40 euros getting to a dinner which I could have had something better in the hotel. I also suggest to book your own tours or events and not through your trip lead. Many times these were more expensive or they were subpar experiences compared to things you and a few friends could have booked.
Is it worth the money?
I think honestly you could do this alone and see more places you really wanted in better depth via train for a similar price. The thought of getting between places is taken out of your thoughts when you book a tour like this, but be aware once your in the city (unlike Contiki) the bus takes you no where and taxis/Ubers and the metro services will be what you need to use and at a cost to you to get around. The tour was non stop, which I had no illusions about, but you do get tired quickly once you hit week 3.
Would you travel with TopDeck again?
No unfortunately not. The cost honestly didn’t live up to the experience sold online. The people I met on tour were great, but my trip lead really let the experience down for me. The cost also really blew out from the ~$13,000 price tag. Obviously you planned to spend money, and I wasn’t tight with my expenditure, but extra transport honestly probably cost another ~$3000 over the tour. Contiki got you to the centre of town and that saved a lot of money in not using taxis/Ubers, which we needed to use on this tour. Again the accomodation was also so horrid in some cities that it left you unrested. I expected paying for a hotel tour, that it would at least of been a step up from hostels, but some hotels made hostels look like 5 star palaces.
Our guide & bus driver were fantastic! the only let down on this tour was the layout of the tour not always making the most of those more desirable destinations, nicer accomadation or accomadation being closer to the main attractions of those destinations. here are a few of my dislikes.
-the accomadation location in Corfu
-the time we get to our accomadation in Albania/ accom. location
-a few of the options are pretty random & probably shouldn't be offered eg. weird viking pirate show dinner thing
This trip was made only by the people. The tour guide was less than impressive (didn’t seem confident or sufficient in ability in role). We were constantly hit with traffic delays (which is not their fault however it was Europe in summer…surely this could have been predicted a bit better and leaving times adjusted). The bus promised wifi and a working toilet - both which were not available. The optional extras were honestly awful. The only redeeming one that felt like it wasn’t a scam was kayaking in Dubrovnik. Some of the accomodation was absolutely awful- and always very far from town centre. Again, I know that this was to save money…but we were constantly left to organise Ubers or trains at a great cost. The bus driver should have provided drop in and pick up options. Overall, less than impressed.
Hostels would be of better quality than the ‘hotels’ provided. The accommodation and included extras are well below sun standard. Up to 15 hours spent on the tour bus per day with no access to the onboard toilet and no wifi as promised. The tour guide was completely inexperienced and did not want to be there.
Great to get a highlights package of Europe in the period of time that we had. Also having a very knowledgeable tour guide in Sicily and Mike enhanced the experience when visiting a new place.
Well organised trip, locations were great, optional extras and included extras were really good too
Totally worth the money, you get a to see so much of Europe, the itinerary is perfectly mapped out. However the accommodation could be better
The trip was absolutely amazing! Gives you time to actually enjoy each place and explore whilst also getting you around to a lot of countries in a short amount of time. It takes away the worry for travel to each place and accommodation was good in most places we stayed.
Trip Leader and Driver were both extremely friendly, approachable, and accomodating which really made the experience what it was. Leader went out of her way to arrange extra awesome opportunities for us all on numerous ocassions. Amazing group of people, great memories and life long friends. Would do again
It was a great experience and our trip leader was very knowledgeable.
Perfect trip to tick off all the major cultural and social hot sports of Europe! best value for money for someone travelling from AUS to do in honesty! you get to see it all in one trip and its just phenomenal
Everything was perfect except Rome. Loved Carolyn and Stephan.
Great value for money, the accommodation was nice and the included meals were great. The optional extras were well worth the additional money if you van afford them, especially the cabaret (Paris) and kayaking (Debrovnik).
Would do it again 100 times over
Very good value for money !
The discover Europe journey was a perfect taster of everything Europe! Absolutely brilliant, my husband and I LOVED it.
Most locations on this tour had something new to see or exciting to do.
I enjoyed it very thoroughly and the connections I made along the way. The reason why I rated it 4 and not a 5 was the fact that it was too rushed going from one city to another without having enough time to really appreciate the city we were located at. Given the budget, I understand that not all hotels could be at a high level however the disparity in some of the hotels we were staying at was quite vast. I would have liked to forgo a few cities to spend longer days in some. By the time we arrive in a city it was 5pm, dinner was done at 8pm, then we had that remainder of that night and following full day to explore, which isn't near enough.
Great training of bus driver and trip leader. Kept us moving seeing all major highlights and even little factors like having a wake up song added to the overall experience. Good accommodations and ate food at places that were the locals hits so that was great too!
I would have happily spent more than 2 to 3k for minimum of four star hotels.
Amazing trip, great tour leader, great sites and places
I had an amazing time - I met all sorts of people and made some great friends. However, my experience with the tour guide was anything but excellent and if the people on the tour were not there I probably would of given the trip 1 or 2 stars
Some if the days on the bus were way to long. Agents selling top deck tour's need to make people aware of this. We were told 4 5 hours on the bus not 8 10!
I loved this tour! it was great and my trip leader Carlos was utterly amazing
Europe was amazing. My first time there and will definitely be back there in the near distant future.
We saw so many cities and had many memorable experiences! we got to see so much in a short amount of time, but it was a nice taster to the diversity in Europe
I think the price was within budget for us. Probably better hotels would have been better.
Doing a group bus trip was a great way to see places and meet new people
With the experience that we had, it's hard to say that it was money well spent.
As above. It looks good on player and maybe with better trip leaders it wouldn't be as terrible.
Great amazing trip worth the money for a good quality holiday and we saw so much in the time we were there .
The choice of cities is great. Covered a lot of must travel cities
Very happy, price is great for the trip booked :)
As a single female traveller I was apprehensive, but I could not have wished for a better experience. It was the trip of a lifetime!!!
I felt that the tour was rushed and some parts poorly organised. For example we had a pub crawl of Berlin the night before a very early morning and long drive day so lots of people were late to the bus and so we missed the Dutch clog and cheese place. I also have friends who toured with Contiki and that seemed to have a lot more inclusions. Also the included guided tours of cities were just the tour leader pointing out stuff as the coach drove past places at high speed.
The standard of accommodation was poor
Great value for money, I chose the hotel option and they were of much higher standard that expected for such a low price.
Great trip, great team leader and driver and all the destinations were amazing. Highly recommend this trip!
Tour guides were fantastic. We stayed in Europe during the 2015 Eurovision and were completely compromised in terms of accommodation. Saw virtually nothing in Vienna, was totally let down. Brought it up with Topdeck at the conclusion of our trip and they just gave us some **** generic response. Considering we paid $6000 for this tour and in some places had dirty accommodation. I don't think our tour guides were too impressed either...
My only suggestion would be a slight change in route but I see that has been changed with the new discover Europe route! Best thing I've ever done and if I could request the same leaders I would do it again at a moments notice! Saw so much, experienced so much - truly discovered the wonders of Europe.
Greek islands would have been better if Santorini was explored.
Loved Europe saw a whole new world of history and natural beauty.
the places that i stayed at were too far out of the city, i would of rather traveled by myself rather than pay for this tour. it was too hard to get home from the city at the time i want to leave at night. i had a friend who was doing the Hostel trip at the same time and they stayed in central locations at every stop. there was not enough time spent in venice, we only got given 4 hrs to explore it ourselves before we had to get back for dinner, so i missed out on most of it as we were staying too far out and took over an hour to get back to the hotel. the bus driver on the tour was so rude, my friend that i was traveling with over heard him talking (bagging us out) about the both of us to two fellow people on the tour which i did not appreciate and his attitude towards us for the rest of the trip was not pleasant. i would never recommend top deck to any other person as there were only 4 people who were single on this tour and it made it extremely hard to talk to other people on the tour as they tended to bond with other couples. a few more single people would have been nice that way it you could talk to more people. the only good thing about the tour was your tour guide G, she included me things that she did so i did not feel left out all and she tried to defuse any mention that occurred while on the tour. she was also full on knowledge and the facts she told to use about each city was great.
This tour was my first experience of an organised group tour, and what a fantastic experience it was. We were very fortunate to have an amazing tour leader whose knowledge of European history and specific detail based on our location was second to none. It was raining the entire time we were in Switzerland and she made sure there was plenty of information on what else we could do despite the weather. Our driver was incredible. We had a mini dance party in the coach on our second night and the day he parallel parked the coach in Italy we were all astounded!
The tour itself was brilliant. Although not spending a great deal of time in every location it was enough of a taster to decide what you liked and didn't like so much. The maps and information that Topdeck provide for every location are excellent and a great way of discovering the city you're in.
I particularly loved Barcelona, Bordeaux and Budapest. The walking tour in Berlin is fantastic as is the amusement park in the middle of Vienna.
I most definitely recommend this trip to anyone who is even slightly considering it.
Our leader and driver were great and knew all the best places to take us to. We got to see so much, and even though we never stayed long in one place, we got a really good idea of some places we would like to go back to. Everything was taken care of for us and took the fear out of a new city. I made heaps of life long friends with people I probably never would have met. Would definitely book another trip with Topdeck!
This was a great tour and one of the greatest experiences I've ever had! Dolphins swam right beside us in Greece, I met the best people and visited amazing places that I've wanted to see since I was a kid!
The only negatives I can pull from the trip was that majority of the hotels weren't in the city centers, they were quite far and therefore you had to catch public transport or go home early on the Top Deck bus to make it back to the hotel. The other thing is that it states you will be going to Pompeii (one of the main reasons I booked this trip) but note that is only depending on what port you leave Italy from. We didn't make it to Pompeii
:(.
Tour was full of great fun filled days, bus was comfortable and accomodation was great! This tour is perfect for people who want to see a lot of countries in a small amount of time but not feel rushed. Our tour leader was very knowledgeable, he really made the tour amazing.
Great overview of Europe. Loved almost every place we went.
Great trip, would recommend this trip to others