Byway Avis 

We had travelled with Byway before and had a good experience but this trip to Cologne, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Amsterdam via London was badly marred by extremely poor hotel accommodation. 3 out of 5 of the hotels were sub Travelodge standard, with tiny rooms and beds up against the wall, so one of us had to climb over the other to get in and out of bed. When we raised this with Byway, they tried to find alternative accommodation in Copenhagen, but it wasnt suitable. We were offered upgrades for Hamburg and Amsterdam but had to pay additional costs for the Hamburg upgrade. Breakfasts were not included in 3 out of the 5 hotels. All in all very poor value for money. We raised these issues on our return and were offered £100 refund. Given that the holiday cost over £3500, this was derisory. Not impressed.

Since writing this review, Byway have been in touch and have addressed our concerns and have given us reassurances on their selection of hotels and their handling of issues around the quality of their choice of hotel and how they describe them in their materials. They have also offered more suitable compensation. The tone of their response was genuine and considered and their apology rang true. This has gone a long way to restore my faith in Byway as a reliable and trustworthy holiday company, but just a word of warning to properly check the hotels suggested for your trip!

Our first Byway holiday - a 10 day city break across Germany (Cologne) and the Netherlands (Utrecht and Amsterdam). We created our own itinerary with Byway's support which accommodated our family's requirements. Help/suggestions were both quickly provided and readily available during the "trip creation" phase. It felt like we got to see and experience more by travelling by train. The journeys felt more relaxed. There was a sense that nothing felt rushed or stressed. Air travel feels a bit chaotic and frantic these days - let alone the hours ahead you need to apparently be in the airport prior to departure. On our trip, we only needed to arrive ~1½ hours ahead for Eurostar travel and just a few mins for regular trains. Hotels were very nice and within easy walking distance of stations. The Byway itinerary and journey guide was great, nicely summarised and instructions/directions provided. We had one minor train change at Brussels but the whatsapp support was outstanding and quick; they gave us the heads up of the change, simple chat exchange made navigating that such a breeze. Absolutely loved it and would absolutely consider another trip in the future! Thank you Byway!

5 stars! We had a fantastic family holiday to Belgium and Paris using the Eurostar with Byway Travel. They planned everything perfectly, including brilliant hotel choices. Both hotels were in vibrant areas near metro stations. Being able to drop our bags early gave us extra sightseeing time. The WhatsApp support line also offered great peace of mind. Highly recommend to all!

Focus is on client enjoyment
Organisation superb, communication brilliant. Choice of hotels was fun and support during trip excellent. Had a really great experience and will use them again for sure.

Amazing help in booking, and adjusting and adjusting our travel plans from the concierge team at Byway.

From start to finish the Byway team made every effort to make this experience personal to us. They provide an outline and then
allowed us many opportunities to shape the trip to what we thought would best suit our needs.
The trip gave us the views and experiences we were seeking with the added unexpected bonus of sharing a hotel in Glasgow with athletes from across the Commonwealth. It also pushed us to get the daily exercise that as octogenarians we so needed.

Genius website - I could spend hours planning fantasy trips before actually booking something. Easy to pick a pre-planned itinerary and then tailor it by choosing different hotels or the number of nights at a particular destination. You can also start from scratch from the build a trip tab and search for a particular interest like "wild swimming" for example.

During the trip all the seat reservations and tickets are easy to access and at each destination the link to google maps makes it easy to find the hotel. I have been on two trips an inevitably things went a bit astray a few times - delayed and cancelled trains, or discrepancies in the timetables for example, and I found the Whatapp help genuinely friendly and helpful. On one occasion when a train was cancelled I was advised what I needed to do, but then had another message an hour or so later to check that I had got everything sorted. I had wanted to do this type of trip before but didn't want to organise it all myself, or to go on an escorted trip on a fixed itinerary following a tour leader around. The trips I did were brilliant, and I've already been back on the website looking for inspiration.

We asked Byway to create a trip for us to Sweden and Denmark, incorporating opportunities for us to see/hear our granddaughter performing in the Bristol Cathedral Choir, which was touring Sweden at the same time. They created a brilliant itinerary. We are elderly, and they gave us plenty of time to do all the train changes. We had lovely comfortable hotels within a short distance of the train stations (most were walkable with suitcases). We had sufficient time at each main point to enjoy the stay there. We saw our granddaughter in the cathedrals of Uppsala and Stockholm. Thank you Byway team - we think you are wonderful!

Everything was so well organised. The hotels were all in great locations. When one of our trains was cancelled the support from Byway was excellent. They rebooked us and made the whole experience stress free. Would definitely recommend Byway.

Travel was not without its problems mainly due to ongoing infrastructure works in Germany particularly with respect to transmitting from Brussels to Berlin.
We would have been in a lot of trouble if it had not been for the excellent support from Bywater, who were by our side through these difficulties.
The fact that they were immediately available at all times of the day and evening gave us great assurance and ultimately secured us an alternative train option to our destination.
I would definitely recommend the support that this company gives as second to none.
Would not consider this type of trip with anyone else!

We highly recommend Byway Travel, their expert knowledge of flight free travel makes planning your trip very easy, with excellent communication and support throughout.

Just what I needed.
We returned home yesterday evening from an amazing adventure to Venice by train. For me four days across Europe, No Driving, No flying just a 1st class de stress/unwind.
For my wife's 60th birthday a couple of days in Venice sightseeing and shopping perfect .
None of which would have been possible without the Byway team. All the heavy lifting, booking trains and hotels sorted for us.
Comms were spot on with email and wattsapp making sure that we didn't mis connections.
Our first of many Byway holidays.

Byway are exceptionally helpful with initial planning and then responsiveness throughout. We wanted to change a hotel at the last minute and they sorted that immediately. We did a train tour of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and loved the way that the smaller trains allowed wonderful views of this amazing landscape.

Having now 'had a go' at Interrail, I would not risk booking a holiday like this again, without booking through Byway. Especially if it is a short trip.

The booking process was very efficient and clear and everything worked very well.

However, through no fault of Byway our sleeper train (a key component of our trip) was cancelled by the train operator two hours before we were due to board. We were only taking a week away so had the potential to really impact negatively on the whole trip.

But Byway were on the phone to me immediately to sort everything out as soon as they were notified. It was a busy Friday evening and options were limited but within an hour or so of being notified we had new train tickets issued and a very nice hotel booked in Cologne to split up the journey. This was very reassuring as I was travelling with a child and being stranded in Amsterdam on a busy Friday night would not have been ideal. All train bookings made for us were first class or higher, honouring fully the upgrade we got at the time of booking (business class in the case of one train which was very comfortable). They were easy to contact through WhatsApp and were quick to respond. They even called the hotel to request a take away breakfast as we had an early train the next day. Due to the cancellation we needed an extra day on our interail pass and they sorted all of that out. They also called interail to sort out a problem due to me not properly cancelling a travel day (the interail app resulted in a bit of head scratching while you get used to it and I'm reasonably tech savvy). Had it not been for them I would have needed to spend hours on the phone sorting this all out which would have ruined the holiday and more so, likely cost me hundreds of pounds of extra fees. Instead I was able to get on and enjoy the holiday knowing that Byway were sorting everything out for us. I highly recommend them and I will, without a doubt, book through them again.

The hotels were decent (Austria Trend in Vienna and Salzburg) and special mention to the Swiss Night by Fassbind which was lovely (and more importantly with a child in tow, had a smart TV with Netflix!)

Extra thanks to Jay, Hebe and Liv at Byway who all worked hard to make our special little holiday a success! We'll see you again soon.

Rachel and Rose

It was a refreshing change not to have to rely on airports and flights for our summer holiday. The itinerary Byway suggested was spot on in terms of how many days in each place and we loved the variety over the 2 weeks. Highly recommend Byway as a company. Their WhatsApp support over the holiday was reassuring. We will definitely use Byway again!

We have just returned from our third byway trip. Three and half weeks to Puliga. From the initial help with planning, brilliant suggestions for places to stay, great hotels and the reassurance of the WhatsApp groups support while we were away, we could not have had a better experience. Highly recommended.

From the beginning to the end, the team at Byway are very helpful, patient and friendly. First time using a company like this, no airports, lovely!! Everything went smoothly and knowing that there was help or advice at the end of the phone/WhatsApp gave us peace of mind. Not needed as it all went smoothly. Travelled to Paris, Naples, Amalfi, Florence, Milan and Chambery!! Superb!
Thank you to the Byway team
Will definitely be booking next holiday with Byway.

Byway was great. Our first rail vacation. We toured the Scandinavian countries. We had a fantastic time. Byway did an excellent job planning all our train rides and accommodations. They were extremely responsive when I reached out. Highly recommend this company for your rail vacation.

This was our first time using Byway travel. It took away the stress of co-ordinating travel and hotels that we had previously done. We had a great trip to Italy and will definitely use again

I had a great time walking in the Cairngorms and near Inverness. Up on the sleeper train - great experience. All very well organised, and when Scotrail cancelled the first class service from Inverness to Edinburgh, Byway sorted out the refund of the difference in fare for me without me having to do anything apart from letting them know.