Viator.com
 

Has anyone had any experience in booking tours through Viator.com? Would hate to get to France and find out that nothing had been booked. Thanks

Hi Joey,
I have had (at least in the U.S.) a very good experience booking with Viator for excursions with my family.

So for our first trip to Germany in 3 weeks, I did not hesitate to book for an excursion. Just be sure to print out your voucher. I personally have not have had any issues using them so I hope our experience in Europe is good.

Jasmine

Yes, I have used this company twice before, in Italy. They were very reliable and promptly responded to e-mail queries. I have booked with them again for my upcoming trip to France, as well. Just make sure to print out the voucher they send you- I make a duplicate copy that I keep in my money belt.

Thanks alot. You never know what problems you can encounter when you book things online without checking.

They confirm bookings.

But the local tour companies they contract typically require you to call them at least 24 hours before to confirm that you will show up for the tour. You just hand them the printout and they give you a voucher or a sticker or both.

You can also book the tour directly with the local tour company but Viator obviously isn't going to tell you which company it is until after you book. But you can figure it out -- most guide books list the big operators that Viator typically uses.

However, I've found that booking through Viator is at worst, no more expensive and often cheaper than buying the tour directly. They must get good group deals or something.

Plus you can give Viator your frequent flyer number and you get bonus miles.

The best values are the city tours, most of them about $20-30. The half-day and full-day day trips start to get a bit pricey. You can certainly save a lot of money often by booking train trips and going on your own. However, you wouldn't have a guide of course and you don't have to worry about getting to and from the train station to some of the sites you want.

The longer tours though will kind of breeze you through some places, especially if the bus ride takes over an hour each way.

Overall, it works well and I usually use them to get oriented to the city with a general tour and maybe add a half or full day tour if train options require a lot of walking around.

I have used them in Italy and had no problems.