Tours by Sarah

I have followed Sarah for years on social media but haven't taken one of her tours as I am more of an independent traveler, especially for European trips. It seems that her tours are very well received and have quite a few repeat customers. If I wanted to take a tour, I would have no hesitation at all taking one of Sarah's. Check out her Facebook page and also her YouTube channel if you haven't already.

I'm another one who has heard nothing but good things about Sarah's tour company, and I would not hesitate to take a tour with her. Right now I still prefer traveling independently but I'm sure that tours are in my future travels, and I would love to take one of hers.

Thank you both for the replies. I’ve also followed Sarah for years and I really like her too.
I was just hoping to hear how people liked the tours she led with her new company.

I have followed Sarah for quite some time. I have also noticed that she seems to have a lot of repeat customers. She wrote the Rick Steves' Sicily guidebook, and has worked on many of the others. She no longer works for RS. Her tours go all over the world and my impression is that groups are smaller and the tours are more "boutiquey" and more expensive.

At this point, for ourselves, in this stage of life, we prefer independent travel.

It is worth following her facebook page(s). There is lots of information. She also has a lot of you tube videos. She is currently in Africa and has posted a video just about every day.

My partner & I took a Rome "staycation" tour earlier this year. 1 week in 1 hotel & all in Rome & environs. She did a great job. I think there was 8 on the tour so pretty small. Plenty of free time & you could opt out. 1 day was a drive out to the hill country. LOL...driver got lost going up to the winery. We then diverted to a ship museum that was very interesting. Part of the Appian way road was in the museum. The last night was Coloseum tour after dark. One of our highlites. She hired guides a couple times to fill in more localized history.

All in all I would recommend her.

oof, Mark. I think I'd be pretty upset to miss a winery tour, especially when the alternate is a ship museum. Kudos to Sarah for having a plan B. Were all the tour participants as gracious about it as you?

Sarah was our guide on our first Rick Steves tour many years ago and she is excellent! She is a wealth of knowledge, has a great sense of humor and really loves what she does. Some guides just come and do their job and there are people like Sarah who bring energy to the group with their passion for the history and culture that your experiencing.

I’m happy to hear that Sarah Murdoch has uniformly good reviews; now to check the dates…

One of the participants in our local Coeur d’Alene/Spokane group has taken two tours (I think) with Adventures with Sarah. I will text her to reply to your post. I think she liked one of the tours (Paris) much better than the other one that became much more focused on food than sites.

Thank you Jean, I’d really appreciate it.
Claire

I'm the person Jean mentioned. I did two tours with her company last year and enjoyed them both. Neither were led by her, but she did participate in part of one with her sons and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her and her family. Her posts and videos during the pandemic got me through that rough patchand she is a great tour guide, so knowledgeable about the places she leads her groups. My only problem, is that her prices really went up and are a bit out of my price range which I know are because of her smaller groups and nicer hotels. But, that is no reflection on what a great guide she is.

Leslie, thanks for the info. I did notice the prices seemed higher than when I checked last year.

I’ve taken two tours with Sarah, a Venice Staycation and a Florence Staycation. Venice was in August 2021 and it was her first tour after Covid so she was a little rusty. We had 12 people, stayed at a wonderful hotel in an out-of-the-way corner of Venice and went to all 3 islands, Murano, Burano and the best of all - Torcello! Truly fabulous time in Venice without the usual crush of tourists.
The Florence Staycation in September 2022 was also fabulous in its own unique way- the delightful Anna Piperato was our guide. 7 people in our group. Both tours were moderately priced and I agree her prices have increased substantially since then.
I would highly recommend traveling with Sarah, she’s fun and knowledgeable.

oof, Mark. I think I'd be pretty upset to miss a winery tour, especially when the alternate is a ship museum. Kudos to Sarah for having a plan B. Were all the tour participants as gracious about it as you?

another winery....ehhh Where we live in Oregon you can find a winery without a problem. A couple weeks ago I got roped into 3 consecutive days of 2 or 3 wineries a day. Sarah had a pasta making class in Rome at Rosciolo restaraunt. Then we ate our pasta with some wine vetted by Rosciolo. So of course we signed up for Rosciolo wine club & had a case shipped home.

The ship museum wasn't "Plan B" but we just happened to drive by it. So we stopped in. Sarah had heard of it. But it was really not close to any major towns. Maybe 10 minutes from the nearest village/small town. It turned out well in the end

I want to thank everyone who took the time to write such informative posts. I feel like I’ve got a good idea about Sarah Murdoch’s tours now. Thanks again.

If anyone has taken a tour by Sarah and a RS tour, please speak to the similarities/differences. Obviously Rick only does Europe but Sarah tours in other areas of the world. We're big RS fans but would consider branching out for the right experience. Thanks.

If anyone has taken a tour by Sarah and a RS tour, please speak to the similarities/differences. Obviously Rick only does Europe but Sarah tours in other areas of the world. We're big RS fans but would consider branching out for the right experience. Thanks.

AKT, I would suggest starting a new thread for your question as you will probably get more responses that way.

I have been on two of her tours, Sicily Highlights with Sarah and Piemonte with Lisa Anderson, also a Rick Steves guide. Both of the tours were excellent. Sarah's passion is Sicily so we were treated to lots of local flavor plus top local guides. Piemonte was just wonderful- 3 days in Torino and then another 7 in the small city of Cuneo with daytrips. As this is Lisa's home territory we experienced lots of local sights, food and events through the eyes of a local. These are small tours with stays in good central hotels and excellent local guides and experiences. I know a number of people are repeat customers and there are great reviews on WeTravel, the platform they use to book their tours. As a person who usually travels independently I enjoy these small tours to get to places where I would normally need a car plus you get local experiences away from the tourist crowds. Her prices are on par with other small group tours. There have been Rick Steves alumni on these tours who are looking for small group experiences. I have also done several Rick Steves tours and they are comparable in quality but you will get more of a personal touch with a small group plus access to places a small van will get you as opposed to a big bus. Common meals also give more opportunity for conversations with the rest of the guests due to the smaller size.

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