Martin Randall Travel Traveller Reviews

This proved to be an excellent holiday and a wonderful experience, combining musical culture (with private concerts of a world class standard held in historic venues of great beauty and interest) with active and energetic walks through some of the most beautiful and idyllic countryside. Highly recommended.

Excellent organisation, with everything planned to the nth degree and nothing left to chance. The Tour manager who accompanied us could not have been better at her job, or nicer.

We had a very well constructed programme which included superb concerts a well placed hotel with friendly staff first class food and and visits to places of historic interest.

Martin Randall aims at the highsest standard with proficient tour managers to lead a group and lecturers who are not only very knowledgeable but able to convey this to a less well informed group. The hotel was of a high standard and the restaurants chosen all very much in the 'fine dining' league. It all contrubuted to make for a most enjoyable holiday.

A feast of excellent Bach music performances, supported with stays in very comfortable hotels.

A logistical challenge that was very well organised. The operator's experience was evident.

A feast of excellent Bach music performances, supported with stays in very comfortable hotels.

A logistical challenge that was very well organised. The operator's experience was evident.

Five exciting days sightseeing in Salzburg, and seeing three operas.

Planning an interesting itinerary, Martin Randall's organisation included a caring tour guide and a well known knowledgable lecturer.

A fantastic journey: 12 recitals and concerts of Bach's music with 6 lectures held in 12 historic buildings and churches in 7 different towns and cities associated with Bach, his life and work in 5 days.

This was a typical Martin Randall tour -- meticulously planned, organized and executed. No effort was spared to make this a remarkable journey. Everything was of high quality, from the 167-page programme, the excellence of the performances, to the very pleasant and competent Martin Randall staff waiting to guide us from hotel to venue, to event, and back again. And of course the best hotels, food, comfortable buses to take us to the various venues.

Ludwig II was brought alive for us by a guide with a great appreciation of his character and architectural achievements, and those of his immediate ancestors. Hotels were friendly and full of character and the programme very full and comprehensive.

Very efficient, using the minimum of paperwork.

Trip to estate homes, churches/monasteries, Welsh Castles and a Roman Army camp. Very attentive on site tour manager who oversaw the details well and was particularly attentive to the needs of individuals on the tour. The archealogist who was the "expert" was superlative: knowledgeable across the breadth of Welsh History and explained items both on the tour and places we passed. He held 2 orientation lectures in the evening which were both well done.

We like their approach of being education based rather than shopping based tours. On each of our tours, and we have done around 6 of them, the "expert" has been just that, and in all cases, also good at presenting material. We are looking to learn, not just "see", and MRT has been very effective at that - that is why we have done six, have 2 more booked for 2015 and are currently making decisions about 2016. There are at least 3 we would like to do for sure, but scheduling may limit that to 1 or 2 next year.

We had been thinking for some time about a cruise on the Rhine. We were recommended by friends to look at Martin Randall Travel, as an opportunity to combine the river cruise with a classical music theme. The specific itinerary for this festival was well chosen with a pleasing variety of small places, urban centres, and especially the memorable venues for the concerts. The balance of passage making, bus travel and walking was nicely judged.

The tour manager was splendid. It was very useful to receive the Programme booklet in advance by email so as to give a good idea as to what would be happening and when. The early warning also allowed time to organise maps and also to get copies of some of the recommended books in time to read them before the trip. The entire festival ran smoothly, and the undoubted effort that this entailed was nicely kept in the background by the excellent Martin Randall Travel team. Well done!

It was a four-day 'walking and literature' tour of the Lake District. We walked from about 3 to 6 miles each day, except on the last. We also visited homes associated with writers of the Lake District: Wordsworth, Ruskin, and Beatrix Potter, with a little about Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons thrown in as a bonus. The walks were through gorgeous scenery; the visits, carefully set up in advance by the lecturer, were well guided and fascinating; and the evening meals, which we always felt we'd earned, were excellent. I learned an enormous amount from seeing places associated with the Lake poets, and from hearing about them in places that reinforced the information visually.

Everything was unobtrusively efficient and we were well looked after. No one was made to feel physically inadequate on the walking tours or stupid in the literary part of the trip. The choice of hotels and restaurants was good and the lectures were just the right length, breadth, and depth. I'm sure I could never have had such a good time on my own.