In another thread about daytrips from London several have mentioned their experience(s) with Evan Evans Tours. I'd be curious to know how many of you have used the company and how it worked out for you.<BR><BR>I've had mixed success with Evan Evans. My first trip with them, some years back, was great. We went to Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Bath. Everything appeared top notch, including a good guide and a very comfortable coach. The following year I booked the same trip for wife, my daughter, and myself. The bus didn’t leave from the E. E. location; instead we were marched en masse to a bus barn several blocks away in a driving rain. We bailed out at the last moment because the busses were PACKED and did not have onboard toilets. It’s is, after all, a fairly long trip.<BR><BR>The next year we booked a coach to Scotland and were told to meet the bus at such-and-such an address, which turned out to be an abandoned business near St. Pancras station. No one was there and there was no sign of any traveler’s facilities, not even a bench to wait upon. We walked a very long way back to the E. E. office and the young receptionist kindly (although a bit condescendingly) agreed to walk us to where we were supposed to meet the coach. Upon arrival she was dumbfounded to find that we had been in the right place earlier and that all we’d told her was true, that the place was an abandoned storefront. She made several calls on her cell phone and during one of them the much-ballyhoo’d coach indeed arrived. I booked another trip with them last spring for a friend and he had little good to say about it, that the coach arrived and departed very late, was not clean, and that the guide was either drunk or insane, perhaps both.<BR><BR>Might have been an anomaly but it seems that each trip I've booked through Evan Evans has been on the steep decline from the previous trip. Get directions and plenty of information including a phone number to the main desk in case of a fiasco like our trip to Scotland.<BR><BR>My first experience with E. E. was so good I'm kind of hoping to hear from you that they've once again got back to the top of their game. How was it for you?<BR>

I went on 2 different EE tours last summer, &quot;Discovering London&quot; and &quot;Oxford, Stratford, and Warwick Castle&quot;. Both of them left on time. We were picked up at the hotel and then went to Victoria Coach Station where we met up with the rest of the group. The buses were full both times. The buses were clean and relatively new. My main gripe was that we were rushed and the groups were so large that at times it was impossible to get within earshot of the tour guide. This summer I'm going back and I'm going to do the &quot;Bath and Stonehenge&quot; tour but I'm not sure if I'm going to go with EE or not. I know someone that did that tour last spring with EE and was very pleased. I'm planning on going back to Warwick Castle and The Tower of London on my own as I didn't have time to see them completely on the EE tour. Hope this helps.

Hello PJW,<BR>I haven't taken Evan Evans tours.<BR>But I do have some options for you to consider ( if you have not already).<BR>First , if you prefer not to drive yourself, either the Bath or The Stonehenge/Salisbury trip are easily done on your own via train. <BR>Once you arrive, you can walk around Bath at your own pace or you can take one of the Guide Friday tour buses.<BR>The same goes for Stonehenge, the Guide Friday tour buses are available right outside the Salisbury train station, After you return from Stonehenge, then you can walk around Salisbury at your own pace.<BR>Another option is taking one of the Original London Walks Day trips. There is a separate day trip to Bath and one to Salisbury/Stonehenge. Reservations are not required, you just show up at the appointed train station and the guide will arrange for round trip train tickets. <BR>I believe the Bath trip costs &pound;28 ( including the train fare) and the Salisbury/Stonehenge trip is &pound;30 ( including train fare).<BR>

We took an Evans Evans city tour of London. This was ten years ago however. I'm not sure if there's a difference in the city tours and longer tours outside of London, but we had a very knowledgeable and thoughtful guide and the bus driver was not insane and/or drunk.

I've taken one tour from Evan Evans in November 2001 which was fine. It was the Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Dover tour. It was a small group and everything went fine. I felt we were given plenty of time at each stop and the tour guide was very helpful.<BR><BR>Philip<BR>[email protected]

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry! I failed to check the Original London Walks web page before I posted.<BR>I was relying on my memory for what the prices of the day trips I mentioned were.<BR>For example, the Bath guided walk Explorer Day price is &pound;10 PLUS &pound;28 for the round trip train fare.<BR>Web address : london.walks.com