cynthia_booker

Does anyone have any recent experience with International Friends? I see from their web page that they do day trips but also longer trips, based from London, and about half of the trips using 16 passenger vans rather than a large touring bus. But they are not inexpensive. TripAdvisor reviews rave about them and that is good to know, but just wondering if any of my Fodorite friends have used them.

cynthia_booker

If no Fodorites have anything to say about these guides, that worries me. Fodorites know everything about travel.

janisj

I've not heard of them (not a good or a bad thing) -- But I'd give it a couple of days. Being Labor Day weekend the forums are a bit slower than usual.

cynthia_booker

You are right Janis. Let's bring it back up and see if anyone reading after the holiday has anything to add.

cynthia_booker

I am glad to report that after a lot of research, I did book the International Friends one day trip to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Avebury. The 16 passenger van is a real plus and the driver and guide was great. We could not have covered the same amount in one day independently and feel it was worth the high cost of this trip. My niece keeps saying it was the best day of our trip, well, besides Borough Market and Hampton Court Palace and a couple of others places where we spent time. This group has a lot of different touring options to appeal to a lot of interests, and I am happy to leave a very high recommendation for them.

Technosyncratic

We took a two-day tour with International Friends to Stonehenge, Bath, Lacock, and the Cotswolds. Like Cynthia we were very pleased with our experience -- the small group size and vehicle made our visit to the Cotswolds (in particular) much better than if we had gone with a larger tour.

I wrote an in-depth review of our tour with International Friends (http://technosyncratic.com/2011/09/1...-friends-tour/), in case anyone is looking for more detailed information. We really did have a lovely time and would recommend their tours to anyone.