Jewels of Southwest France

This showed the real France I was hoping for with opportunities to see the countryside.

It was nice to see a new part of France, learn the history and eat the delicious local foods and wines.

Great backroads experience

The timing of some stops was not the best. Stopping to sample oysters just after breakfast. The vehicle (both) had issues, broken door and replacement was very uncomfortable.

Outstanding leadership, scenery, food, wine, company and interesting places to visit

Value for money Not Rolls Royce but very good

Tour was excellent - scenery was fantastic & our tour guide & driver were both fantastic

The tour and places we visited was outstanding, everyday was exciting. We didn’t drive all day, we had many sightseeing stops to break the journey. One criticism is that the stop at Lourdes was too short if you wanted to see the Churches and buy the bottles then collect the Holy Water and then see the grotto.

Great bus, overall good accommodation. The last meal in Selatar was appalling, but apart from that, everything was very good.

Cities visited, location and quality of the accommodation. Included meals and tours with local guides were excellent.

Great tour through some beautiful country .Terrific guide -Max and driver- Alex and everyone on the group got on well
A couple of the hotels were disappointing-clean but very basic but as they are just for sleep it was fine.It was my first Backroads tour and Ill definitely go with them again

An enjoyable tour but room for improvement.

Fascinating itinerary, stunning scenery and excellent guide.

Overall the tour was good. The first day’s drive from Bordeaux to Biarritz was too long. It was good to see the “backroads”, but I think the tour should have returned to freeway sooner, giving the group more time to spend in Biarritz. Overall the accommodation was very good, location and standard. However, the accommodation for the last 2 nights of the tour, in Sarlat was below standard! Whilst the location was very good, the standard was poor. The rooms were very hot and when asked about air conditioning, we were advised that it was in need of repair. Opening the windows was not an option as many rooms faced a busy (noisy) street. When some of the group indicated that they would move to another hotel, the air conditioning was “miraculously” repaired.

Personally, I would have liked more time in Lourdes. I was disappointed that the group were told as we’re leaving that the house where Bernadette lived was just up the street from the Lourdes site. Had I known this, I would have visited the house site.

Otherwise a great tour!

As I said before I was disappointed and felt our guide was under prepared and thought it could have been better with local guides. Also the accommodation wasn’t brilliant, some of the places felt very shabby, especially in Salat. Finding out about the free electric bus from other tourists in Biarritz was disappointing.

Guide lacked local knowledge of places to eat, where to locate bathrooms & was disorganised in regard to enough seats for some events. Group dinners were hit & miss.

A beautiful part of France. I was so glad I found Back Roads tour through this delightful region.

Already given this feedback.
The tour leader and driver did a good job running the tour and the content was quite good. The first day drive along the Atlantic coast was particularly interesting., but the first stop was quite good.
Overall the hotel quality was much lower than expected from previous experience,. We would not recommend this tour to others due to the accommodation standard.

Same as explained above..different to other tours

An interesting tour, well conducted by Max, the competent leader

The bus driver was very knowledgeable and helpful. Always knew the best place to get an ice-cream in the evening ?

These tours aren't cheap, which is the main reason for only 4 stars. We still both enjoyed it. I thought two of the hotel rooms were very small, a room isn't big enough, in my opinion, when there isn't an obvious place for a second suitcase! I can however understand this in Carcassonne. I would be willing to pay a little more for bigger rooms. I would be interested in other reactions to this.