If you haven’t been to this part of the world before it’s a great introduction to some of the highlights. You certainly get to experience some fabulous scenery. It’s difficult not to feel like there isn’t enough time at each place but that isn’t the fault of the tour - it’s designed as a day trip to each Lake. This is all by coach and there are some early breakfasts. So it feels a bit hectic but the relaxation is in the coach journeys and evenings back at the hotel. As a Great Rail Journeys tour the actual rail travel was surprisingly not as enjoyable as expected. We thought we would be avoiding the airport stress but the Eurostar border control and boarding experience was no better in either London or Paris. There was no advantage to being part of a group. The train between Paris and Turin does not leave the same station as the Eurostar so there is a coach transfer but the coach driver does not find you - we had to follow the tour manager for some distance on foot searching for the coach in the backstreets of the Paris station. The same happened in Turin and on the return journey in Paris. There were problems with reserved seats - some prearranged bookings are still outside the control of GRJ (didn’t know this) - the Eurostar tickets/seat numbers got changed on the day, which was unnerving and increased the sense of chaos and stress which spoiled the beginning and end of the holiday.
