Hi,
I am going on a 2 month holiday to Europe this year and have quite a few day tours and attractions/activities that I want to book. After going to a few travel agents, prices seem to be much more expensive with agents than online. Can anyone give me some advice on where I can book day trips and 'skip the line' kind of tickets? Viator and get your guide seem great and affordable but reviews are hit and miss
Any advice would be great
Thanks!
The way is to do your own day trips which requires research. Most sites have their own websites where you can buy tickets that allow you to skip a line and have a tour guide. Most touristy sites are accessable by public transportation. You just have to do research Google maps. Viator is middle man that buys from the site in bulk to sell to you transportation and entrance to sites; bad reviews sometimes are from people that buy stuff but don't know what they are buying because of not reading what is included. It is like how people go to a fast food restaurant
Use Trip Advisor to find the tours you want and then book with them directly. They all have websites.
Do not use Viator which is a re-seller of other peoples tours.
Hi Paulina
We did use get your guide on three occasions last September,no problems. What kind of tours are you looking for and where? Like others have said do your research, get a guide book. Viator is a reseller, you get bad and good reviews, and it’s owned by trip advisor. Happy travels
Aloha
Viatour is not a tour company.. it just resells tour company tickets.. often at a mark up .. ( although not always.. ) the problem with buyng via a middle man is any issues you have the company itself will not deal with you.. they didnt sell YOU ticket.. they sold them to viatour.. and Viatour has reportedly told clients to go to the company ( so they pass responsibilty off to each other. )
Research and buy your tickets direct.. and remember.. not everything needs advance tickets.
If going to PAris there are several "passes" but the only one thats really worth the money for most folks is the Paris Museum Pass.. not the Paris Pass .
I would not touch Viator with a Barge Pole, as has been said they are just resellers and not very good ones at that.They are directly ownwe by Trip Advisor and TA link many of the listings direct to booking with Viator.Viator also charge a big commison to their listed tour companies for being liked to them/
Look for tour companies within the are you are visiting and book direct with them.
If it wasn't for Viator, I wouldn't have found some of the tour companies because they don't have a good website presence and don't rise in the Google searches. Let's face it, not every small mom and pop tour company is going to have a great website or one where you can transmit credit card payments securely (I'd rather not pay in cash for tours). For what it's worth, I didn't have any issues with any of the three Viator sold tours I took (2 in Croatia and 1 in Mexico)...that was before Viator was bought by Tripadvisor (if that makes any difference). The prices were quite competitive too and it saved me a bunch of research time. I don't use travel agents, everything is booked online. Often you can also get better prices once you're on the ground, but that's a risk if your schedule is tight.
I have used Viator three times on two trips to Venice; and been extremely happy with them each time.
I often use viator to see what's available but then start exploring options from there.
Hi Paulina, I've used Get Your Guide twice to visit the Eiffel Tower. Very pleased with the guides and the tours.
look at the Viatour site .. find a tour that interests you .. then google it.. using keywords from the tour description..
I used Viator last year in Italy. When you look on their website you can see who the tour operator is, unlike some other resellers. I booked through them because their prices were lower than booking directly.
Where are you going? Europe consists of many countries.
I have used Viator in Paris.
Walks of Italy, https://www.walksofitaly.com
Paris City Vision, https://www.pariscityvision.com
Beyond Budapest, https://beyondbudapest.hu/tours
Zagreb Tours, http://www.zagrebtours.com/en/t/plitvice-lakes-tour/2/2-1/
Split Excursions,https://split-excursions.com/day-tours-from-split/national-park-tours/plitvice-lakes-rastoke-group-tour-from-zagreb/
I used Viator to book 2 day trips/skip the line tours in Florence (Uffizi, Tuscany day trip) last year and I was very happy with everything. I did a lot of comparison shopping and read a ton of reviews before booking. I also used other companies that I contacted directly, it all depended on prices and what they were offering.
