Adriatic Discovery: Northern Italy, Slovenia and Croatia

A taste of the area which was lovely. 6 on tour so very relaxed. Guide was excellent, very helpful and caring. Good hotels and locations.

Well organised and visits to some different places were appreciated, such as
- Villa do Maser
- Rovereto and the World War 1 museum and Peace Bell
- Motovun and pasta making
- Tesla museum
And some better known places were excellent
- postojana caves
- lake Bled despite the rain
- Plitvice despite the wet weather
- Rovinj was very relaxing and the hotel great

The guides we had along the way were all excellent
- Loretto in Rovereto
- Karen in Bled
- Yannis in Ljubljana
- Anna at Plitvice lakes

Hotels all good with the last one in Zadar being “adequate”.

A few things to consider
- Apollo Grappa Museum - one to leave out noting that there was no one who enjoyed Grappa on our tour. It’s an acquired taste.
- Breaks along the way would have been better at small villages rather than roadside petrol stops. There were 2 large roadside stops that were worthwhile.
- Could have done with more suggestions for restaurants from the Backroads Guide Martina. And a bit more social / lighthearted interaction with her generally rather than the formal approach that was taken.
- The organised meals we had along the way were great apart from the farewell meal in where the offerings were massive (apart from fish which was excellent); the meat meal was dried out.
- We found the ending a bit strange in being offloaded in the Split waterfront. Suggest a morning in Split with a guided tour then a final lunch or dinner to round things off.

Don’t take any of this as complaints - they are suggestions on what could be improved for next time - and from a personal perspective.
Thoroughly enjoyed, will recommend and it was a wonderful group of people we toured with.

Fantastic tour so many interesting places. We had a great group to travel with and an excellent tour guide and driver.
I definitely recommend the tour

Like other backroads tours the first and last cities on the tour are not actually part of the itinerary. Just pick up, drop off. It is not made clear that the tour will just drive through. If this was made clear other arrangements could be made by the traveller to spend time in these sites to explore.

Great itinerary
Very good hotels
Experienced tour guide bit a little inflexible.
Great bunch of fellow travelers

Loved our Adriatic discovery tour . Our 18 other travellers were all very respectful and we had a great time . Some beautiful areas for sure

Wonderful introduction to some amazing and beautiful landscapes. If you’re looking for smaller size tour groups then Backroads offers this. We had only 13 like minded people plus our great Tour Guide and driver on board. Very good accommodation was greatly appreciated after some long but fabulous day's. The only (personal) thing I would suggest is possibly reduce the history lessons so as to get more free time or have the option of either? Cheers

Hotel in Venice was in handy location and room very spacious but getting to it was a nightmare. Instructions needed more detail. Hotels were on average good, only negative was some of the bathrooms had step into showers that were over 500mm high with limited hand support.

Small group number was good.
Maja, the Tour Leader was extremely well organised, approachable, and helpful.
Milan, the Driver was also very competent and approachable.
Itinerary included a variety of experiences and activities.

Very knowledgeable and caring guide .

Well managed tour by exceptional tour leader

Wow what an amazing adventure the Adriatic Discovery Tour was. Our guide Maja was wonderful. Her knowledge about the places we visited was great and she gave very clear instructions re times we had to meet etc. She was very caring and looked after everyone so well. Thank you Maja. Adam drove our bus with great expertise. We visited very interesting and beautiful places. Our accommodation was very comfortable and meals we shared were excellent.
Thankyou Back Road Tours.

Maya was an exceptional tour guide. She is a great promoter of your company. She worked long hours. Took good care of everyone...especially the ones who needed extra care.
Accommodation was wonderful...very quirky which I appreciated.
Slovenia was the highlight. The caves were worth a second visit.

This tour was 100% enjoyable, thanks to Maja, tour guide and Adam, driver. Both were very professional, friendly, kind and helpful.

Maja is an excellent tour guide, she is very knowledgeable, able to answer any questions given to her.
The restaurants we were taken to were excellent, with magnificent views and delicious food.
All the places we visited were amazing.
Maja and Adam (our driver) were both excellent at their jobs, with Maja being very thoughtful and caring towards all the travellers

The tour was above all expectations! Our guide Maja could not have done more to make the trip excellent. At all times we were well informed as to what was happening, the plan for the next day was clearly delivered both verbally and via wattsapp. Maja was friendly and caring throughout the tour. The driver, Adam, was also great. He was helpful and friendly. The places we visited were all very interesting and educational. Thank you for a wonderful time.

Loved our tour and especially our wonderful guide Maja. She was always happy and positive. She handled any issues with diplomacy and kindness. Her knowledge of the areas we travelled to was enormous and we found her information sessions very interesting. The itinerary was fabulous and we visited absolutely beautiful towns, cities, forests and lakes. Highly recommend this tour.

Our guide Maja was fantastic. It is not easy to please all people on a tour with content but we were both interested in the history, the culture and the landscapes that we learnt about. Maja was very helpful in regards to trying to ensure that our rooms were cleaned as had been requested with the booking. She had no advice of this and advised that Backroads had not recieved the request. I plan to contact our travel agent on our return home in later July to find out who this information was supplied to and will advise Maja of the result. We were very pleased to have Maja's assistance with this.
Accommodation - the rooms varied from very small with little room for luggage to more spacious.
Favourites were Hotel Cadei Conti, The Melegran and Hotel Fenomen which took top spot.
Hotel Belvedere and Hotel Kolovare rooms were small and had little space for two suitcases.
Bled Rose Hotel's position was great but as a person with allergies to chemical cleaners (relates to Bernadette) the perfume that permeates the reception, dining area and the rooms is overpowering. Even for some without allergies it was uncomfortable.
Meals - we enjoyed most of them with the exception being -
The first night where there was a large amount of food but not of a very good standard apart from the first course. Perhaps the second course could have a smaller, tastier piece of chicken with some vegetables.
The final dinner was wholly disappointing apart from for those who chose fish whose main meal was enjoyed. The fact that there were only 5 or 6 other people in a very large restaurant was perhaps not a good sign.
Places we saw - it was all new territory and we enjoyed it all with our time in natural environments being the favourites.

The whole Adriatic Adventure was fantastic.Maya our tour leader was outstanding in her knowledge and care and organisation.
Unfortunately our bus driver Harvey ,did not pay enough attention to his job.Hevrately had 2 hands on the wheel,sped a lot, talked on the phone and to Maya a lot and I felt very unsafe many days.
Except for Harvey, who was friendly, the whole tour was fantastic.if I do another trip I will make sure it will not be driven by Harvey though.

Too much travelling and not on back roads. Long days early starts to average locations and poor food provided. Bus driver usually drove with one hand and used his phone! No WiFi on bus. Last night of tour farewell dinner was a debacle and the food was atrocious.
Some locations visited were beautiful places and accommodation was good but too short a stay. Overall we felt rushed during the tour and did not enjoy it.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. It was great to get off the major routes and see some of the national parks and smaller towns and villages. Our guide Maia was very knowledgeable and helpful.

we were very satisfied with the Tour. Excellent guide, lovely places to visit. Best of all, small group tour.

Tour very well organized - superior tour guide, interesting stops and excursions, great food and nice size group. Would suggest skipping Venice as starting point. Accommodation in Grappa (Hotel Belvedere) and hotel in Split were very disappointing. Martina, our tour guide had amazing knowledge of history and made sure everything went smoothly and on time. Our replacement bus driver was awful and very reckless.

This tour exceeded our expectations. The organised activities were fantastic, especially those where the group were the only tourists, the sites were amazing - e.g. Postojna Cave and Plitvice Lake area - accommodation was better than we had hoped. Our tour guide, Martina, was wonderful and loved by the whole group. Her passion, local knowledge, organisation and humour added so much to the experience. This holiday was our first time with Backroads and we did three tours. The small group format was great as we were able to quickly form friendships with all the other group members and move around much more quickly and easily than in larger groups.

Only drawback was the war museum in northern Italy. The guide droned on and we all wanted time to observe the exhibits and read the details in our own time. Halve her time and let everyone appreciate it better.

Our guide Martina was excellent. The hotels Bassano del Grappa and Zadar were substandard, especially the one in Zadar. Worst hotel I have ever stayed in. Breakfast was horrid with over 200 people lining up for bad cafeteria style food. Bad way to spend our last day. We had to change drivers part way through the tour and the 2nd driver made us fear for our lives. He shouldn’t have been allowed behind the wheel and we were happy to reach our destination without incident. Several times the passengers ended up shouting at him for making dangerous moves. Would have preferred to start the tour somewhere other than Venice. It was pointless to spend one night there and then leave early the next morning without seeing anything. More time in Slovenia and Croatia would have been better. Loved the stops there other than the war museum and cooking class. Could have done without the stop at the Tesla Museum as well. Would have preferred more time in Zadar.

We’re on the next tour from Split to Dubrovnik now and this is going fine. But I realise now that our guide Martina H made the tour, she’s very competent and has an infectious, vivacious personality. Keep her on, a real asset to the company. We particularly liked the wine tasting at Villa de Masa, Ljubljana caves, Lake Bled, the Plitvice Lakes, the stop at Rastoke and the included meals were good.
We started with a very good driver who had to leave after 3 days for family reasons. The replacement driver was frankly scary, everyone was uncomfortable with him, I’ve been told your co. contracts out the driver hiring but you have got to be proactive here and at least blacklist this guy! Listen to what Martina has to say!

Our guide Martina was excellent and made the tour very enjoyable. We did not see the point in starting in Venice, since it was expensive to get there and we left early the next morning. Would have preferred to start in Slovenia and bypassed the tours in Bassano Del Grappa. The hotel in Bassano Del Grappa was substandard. We loved our time in Lake Bled and Rovinj, but would have preferred to have the full day to explore Rovinj as originally stated on the itinerary. It did not make sense to drive for an hour to take a cooking class. The instructor was very nice, but we didn’t enjoy the meal. The accommodation at Plitvice Lakes was the highlight of our tour and we would have preferred to spend two nights there. The lakes were gorgeous.
The detour to see the Tesla Museum wasn’t necessary and we would have appreciated more time in Zadar instead. The hotel in Zadar was the worst we have ever stayed in and the breakfast in the morning was a nightmare. Hundreds of people in a large cafeteria style restaurant. Not a great way to end the trip. With a few changes to the itinerary and hotels this would be a 5* trip.

The bus driver & tour guide were very good. The accommodation was mostly good. There were a couple of places that were lacking in local flavor and were also booked by college sports teams. The meals organized by Back Roads weren't great. The meal at Lake Bled appeared to have been brought in as it was not up to the standard of the food on the menu. Our tour operator organized some excellent meals & they were some of the highlights of the trip.

We travelled 4 times with BR before COVID. This recent trip was well under our expectations. 18 PAX in a smaller bus than usual. Too many KM. The destinations were mediocur compared to other trips. Some of the hotels were below standard. The open wine tasting was the highlight, it went down hill from there. On a positive note: Martina the tour guide was excellent. The driver (Sunushka-spelling?) was great too. They did an awesome job. Both friendly and helpful. Your team in Brisbane was not helpful at all with communication unclear and chaotic. If you would like me to send you the email transcript, let me know.

Summary - we probably wont be booking or recomending a BR tour again. Thank you.

Great itinerary and loved the inclusions

Our tour leader and driver were fabulous and got on well together, which is very important to the overall atmosphere. Some overnight stays were totally unnecessary.

Good value for money well spent.

Excellent choice of attractions, knowledgeable tour leader and run with military precision.

The trip was good value in terms of places visited and experiences both historical, cultural and natural. However there was very little "back roads experience". This concept is pushed by the company and yet most of the travel was on motorways. The 2 times the tour ventured to a "back road" experience. This type of experience needs preplanning by both the driver and guide. This clearly did not happen.

Overall much enjoyed but room for improvement

My rating is significantly impacted by the accomodation in Zadar on the penultimate night. The room was fine but the food (both dinner and breakfast) was seriously bad and was eaten in a huge cafeteria. It was particularly disappointing because it was the final group dinner and the the entire group was greatly disappointed. Our guide, Lana, wisely refrained from asking the group on the last morning how their dinner had been the previous evening. She knew she would not like the answer! I suggest looking for alternative accomodation in Zadar because I don’t think the hotel will change its approach to food.

Stefano our tour guide was a delight.
However the mini bus seats had high head rests which made viewing from the middle to back seats quite hard and you could only see out the side window or lean out into the aisle to see out the drivers window.