Switzerland’s Lakes, Mountains & Rails

Customer Reviews

• LS

  Linda

  · September 29th, 2025
  Our trip was amazing - especially the week before we joined the tour and the almost 2 days of free time (out of 8 days) we spent on the tour. I am only reviewing the tour dates though. Our local guide and the participants met at the Zurich airport at the designated time. The tour guide, Ted, was 1.5 hours late. It was "not his fault as his flight was late and security held him back" although I was surprised that he had not arrived in Zurich the day before especially since he mentioned he had not been there in 30 years. Ted was was loud and brash. He yelled at us, he undermined the authority of the much quieter, polite, knowledgeable and pleasant Adriana, our local guide. She was incredibly professional when he didn't feel she was loud enough and continually talked over her - not that he had any knowledge of the area, the transportation system or it seemed the itinerary. After riding by coach to Bern (1 hour), in which no explanation on how to use the train system that we were about to use next was given yet, we had a very short walking tour. Could this be because we were 1.5 hours late? When it was time to board the train a verbal explanation of what we were doing (not how to read or use the app) was verbally given. People were jet lagged and not functioning well. Our friend set up a what's app group and we loaded the train app page on it so others maybe had an idea of what we were doing. Needless to say the train was crazy. A group of people decided Ted didn't know what he was doing and decided to follow us since we knew how to use the trains having been in Switzerland for a week. The group that continued to follow Ted had a hard time getting off of the train in time to make a connection. I found Ted frantically trying to use his butt to keep the train door from closing. I shouted at him to push the button...guess what, it worked! He didn't know about the buttons.....good background work Ted! Our itinerary told us we were going to Wengen for 5 nights and the train took us to Grendewald where our group was divided into 3 hotels (and one family had no accommodation booked. This was rectified but they ended up way up the mountain away from the rest of the group.) I found the hotel situation disappointing as we made friends with the group and wanted to hang with them for breakfast or/and by the pool but were not allowed as we were in different hotels. During our free time we decided to check out the hotel in Wengen we were supposed to stay at. They knew nothing about our possible booking leading us to believe that maybe this whole tour was a last minute scramble. For the most part, the hotels were fine. The included breakfast was good. .. except the day when we were told to meet at the train station before breakfast was open. Bag breakfasts were supplied and satisfactory. Evidently the itinerary was only a suggestion as to what we were doing. No one ever knew the day before exactly what was going to happen the next day. Communication sucked to say the least. Ted admitted he didn't know how to use what's app. He seemed to figure it out after a few days. Every night there would be questions about the plans for the next morning and we would get a 'Working on it". At some point Adrianna would send out a detailed message at bed time. Sometimes a meal that was to be included actually was according to the morning run down and sometimes by lunch it had been changed to another day. We never knew what we were doing. Luckily Adrianna did and tried as best she could to keep us posted. Everyone got better at getting on and off the train as the trip progressed but I would bet most of the people did not know about or were able to use the very useful SBB mobile app for trains, buses and trams so if anyone missed getting on/off a train they would not know what to do. In a country where food is awesome the food provided (except the breakfasts which were included with every room we stayed in) was mediocre at best. For example, the first meal was a small salad, small pork steak (over cooked), 3 'tatertots' and a few slices of carrots then a scoop of mango ice cream and raspberry sorbet - yum. I felt sorry for the men in the group as the meal was small. One night we had a fondue, nice salad, some beef chunks to cook, rice and pickles of varying sorts followed by a dessert I didn't stay for because dinner was taking so long and I wanted to go for a swim before the pool closed at 9. The last night's dinner we all had spinach ravioli in a sage/basil cream for an appetizer, dinner - saffron risotto, marinara sauce with 2 strips of breaded fried zuchinni (no protein in this meal). Dessert was an apple strudel with ice cream. Not impressive and not that filling. Ted, our tour leader was seen first thing in the morning with a beer in his hand a couple of times. I found this odd firstly because it was early and secondly because he was working??.... I forgot to mention that the tour group was sold as a group of 24 but, was in fact 36. Maybe that was justified by having a local guide and Ted or maybe it was misleading. Either way having 12 more people made movements, meals and everything much slower. There should have been a warning on the tour before people booked it that everyone had to be able to pull their own luggage, carry it up stairs (this is Europe after all) and be able to walk a mile or so without luggage. Some of the people were too old to be able to participate in the physical demands of the tour. This tour would have been a disaster if it had not been for the incredibly awesome location and a very kind and helpful Adrianna. We all felt that maybe it was not all Ted's fault as the company needed to take some of the blame for the disorganization. I will not take another Tours of Distinction trip.
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  Tours of Distinction commented on this review

  We genuinely value your feedback and will ensure that it is carefully reviewed by our team, as we are dedicated to maintaining the high standards of comfort and service that we promise to our guests. It is disheartening to learn that your experience did... Show more
  Trip date: September 2025
• DP

  Debra

  · November 12th, 2024
  Our tour guide was amazing and a lot of fun....
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  Tours of Distinction commented on this review

  Thank you for taking the time to share your trip feedback Debra! We are glad Ted make the trip and exceeded your expectations. We look forward to hosting you on a future adventure!
  Trip date: October 2024
• KS

  Katherine

  · November 4th, 2024
  Marco was an incredible Tour Leader. He paid...
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  Tours of Distinction commented on this review

  Thank you for the great review Katherine. We appreciate you sharing your thoughts. We hope to see you on another trip in the future.
  Trip date: July 2024