Marvellous Escapes Avis 

We had decided we wanted a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer and revisit the Vancouver area of Canada. We contacted Marvellous Escapes and Laurie Bizouard messaged us and arranged when she would call us. She always rang when she said she would. Her knowledge of the area is exceptional and took our ideas and formed it it a great plan. We have now booked the trip of a lifetime.

We planned a touring holiday (travelling totally by train) around Italy with a great deal of help from Hayley Norris, who was brilliant throughout the planning, preparation and the holiday.
All the hotels we stayed in were very clean, close to the places of interest and the staff were friendly and helpful. Some of the rooms we stayed in were very luxurious 😊 we were sad we couldn't stay longer.
We stopped of first in Zurich (wish we had longer in Zurich) on our way to Venice where Hayley had booked a walking tour and Gondola ride for us. We spent 2 full days in Venice it was fantastic and enough time to see it all. However, this is where we realised bringing big heavy suitcases were an issue. On reflection we would pack much more wisely and take smaller cases.
Florence was our next stop for 2 days and this included a tour of Tuscany and a wine tasting experience - which I would recommend. A 3 or 4 day stop here would have been better though. The hotel was incredible and we really wanted to explore Florence more.
Sorrento was our next stop, via Pompeii, this was our chance to relax around a pool and saunter through the very pretty streets. Hayley organised a boat trip to Capri and we thoroughly enjoyed being on the boat - definitely the highlight of Sorrento.
From Sorrento we travelled to Sicily, Taormina was so beautiful and again the hotel was pure luxury - we really didn't want to leave when it was time to go to Catania. But so glad we did. Catania had so much to look at if you're interested in the history of Sicily. We also had a guided your to Mount Etna - the guide was brilliant and provided us with lots of information.
We left Catania by night train and got off after breakfast in Rome. Rome has so much history to see and our time there was packed with tours and exploring the incredible sights, museums, etc. We could have certainly stayed longer in Rome without getting bored.
Turin was our final stop in Italy. Turin is very beautiful with lots to see without so many tourists making it the perfect last stop.
The work Hayley did to make this holiday fun, informative and so easy for us was really appreciated.
We are now planning a holiday in Spain, with Hayley's help.

I would definitely recommend Marvellous Escapes for their expertise in putting together an itinerary to match our ideas. Hayley was patient, costing up different ideas til we had a tailor made holiday to match our hopes and budget. It was very reassuring to know they were there to help in any eventuality with the holiday and took the stress out of booking numerous trains and accommodations.

It had always been a dream of mine to travel on the Orient Express so we finally arranged it with the help of Hayley and Marvellous Escapes. They listened to all my dreams and came up with a fantastic itinerary. It certainly became the once in a lifetime holiday.
All the hotels were superb and we couldn't fault a thing! We travelled the first 2 weeks in June, so weather was great.
Would highly recommend this company and hope maybe to use their expertise again.

Excellent holiday. Well planned seamless connections . Stunning place to visit. Marvelous Escapes very helpful and supportive can’t fault the service. Personally I would not stay overnight in Flam. The hotel offered excellent food but the vintage room particularly the bathroom was poor. Flam is blighted by cruise ships and tacky quayside shops and food outlets.The train ride down was fantastic. We would also have chosen to fly back from Bergen rather than the long train ride back to Oslo. These are personal observations and should in no way reflect on all the people we encountered who were very kind and helpful

I booked my holiday through Marvellous Escapes and had a great experience. The entire booking process was smooth stress free with clear communication.

Found an advert for Marvellous Escapes and started to look at booking a Norway holiday. So far they have been super helpful, very very efficient and have given us an amazing price for our required itinerary. All booked for September 2027, and feel very reassured that it will all go swimmingly

Laurie was fast to react and listened to our last minute request and then supplied a quote with full details very quickly. She covered all our requirements and supplied us with a holiday we thoroughly enjoyed. Would recommend.

So far, Laurie has been organising our trip.
She has put together a fantastic trip based on what we would like to do.
She has great knowledge of the places we want to visit and has offered great insight into where we want to go.
She couldn’t have been more helpful and we are really excited about the itinerary that she has put together.

Wonderful personal service - came up with a brilliant itinerary at a very competitive cost. I would not hesitate to recommend and I can’t wait to go!

The package that has been arranged for my wife and me could not be better! The help we received from Laurie Bizouard was first class, friendly and professional. Excellent!

Marvellous Escapes does exactly what the name suggests, it really is marvellous. From the first interaction it has been friendly, professional and really helpful. Our holiday was tailored to what we were wanting, any question was answered promptly, help was just a click of a button away. Everything was very organised, when they said something would be done it was done and on time. I cannot thank this company enough for this most marvellous, wonderful perfect holiday if I could give 10 stars I would. Thank you again Marvellous escapes for our marvellous escape

Itinary travel & hotels well planned and thoroughly organised throughout
Special occasions planned in advance ...brilliant !

Just booked a trip of a lifetime and so far the service has been marvellous. Very friendly and attentive, with competitive pricing

Laurie made the impossible, possible! She planned and booked my dream holiday and then made it even better by adding extras that I thought I would never had. She is a miracle worker, so kind and patient, I just can’t thank her enough. Marvellous Escapes are truly marvellous!

This was our 2nd holiday booked through marvellous escapes and again it was amazing.
Everything was booked perfect and easy.
The hotels were stunning in the best locations with easy access to train stations and all the attractions.
The help and support is awesome
I have already booked our next holiday with them.

Marvelous escapes completely look after you and brilliant communication
All itinerary clear and understandable
It was a fast but lovely holiday seeing so many cities
Recommend them lovely staff

Our second time booking with Marvellous Escapes. Very impressed with the willingness to find an itinerary and price that suited our requirements.

We started by suggesting places we wanted to go, and were provided with excellent advice from Marvellous Escapes, we left the choice of hotels and the organisation of the trip with Marvellous Escapes.

We had requested better class hotels than on a previous trip, and in general the hotels selected were good, with the Tradition Julen hotel in Zermatt being probably the best.

The TGV route through the Jura to Geneva from Paris almost represents a scenic train journey in itself, as the train slows down as it traverses a section through the Jura mountains that passes lakes, and over a high viaduct over a river at one point, the winding track climbing and descending keeping the train speed down to about 80kph..

We had requested a visit to the Chateau de Chillon, a trolleybus ride from Montreux, or a long walk along the shore of Lake Geneva. The chateau is a lovely place, but best visited earlier in the morning, as it is justifiably one of the most popular destinations in Switzerland.

We took the Golden Pass Express, travelling Premier First Class, which gave us plenty of space and excellent views between Montreux and Interlaken, passing alpine scenery and through ski resorts. We enjoyed that trip.

We took a trip up to the Jungfraujoch from Interlaken. It is an interesting trip by train. All of the trains were very full, (reserved seating only means you guarantee a chance to sit down as you board first), and at the top, the circular walk round the attractions inside the mountain is interesting, with three places you can get outside and see the view, or take part in some additional paid for activities. We found that the time allocated was enough to visit everything, have a meal and spend money in the gift shops. We sometimes felt overwhelmed by fast moving tour groups who either rushed past or created queues for the lifts. Returning via Grindelwald and the Eiger Express gondola was interesting, "flying" over the alpine scenery.

Another day, we simply took the train up to Lauterbrunnen and did a circular walk up the valley floor, visiting the famous waterfall. This was relaxing, surrounded by meadows with cattle and the sounds of cow bells.

The other mountain excursion we did was up the Gornergrat, which is slightly lower than the Jungfraujoch, but you can take it at your own pace, breaking the journey at several stations up the mountain, allowing the chance to walk around and look at things. Each station exits to mountain paths, rather than tunnels inside the mountain. A highlight here was the Alpine Garden which showcases alpine plants that grow at 2800m. Views of other high peaks surrounding the mountain flickered into view as the clouds uncovered them. A magical place. There is a gift shop at the top, and a restaurant in the hotel and a fast food self-service at the top station.

The ordinary train journeys around Switzerland were a pleasure in themselves, getting between centres on frequent trains passing amazing scenery, usually not too crowded.

Overall, equipped with the folder of train tickets and passes, and hotel reservations and a copy of the SBB Mobile app to plan train and bus trips, we found the experience to be very pleasant.

As usual the "wobbliest train" on our journey was the 1610 from London Waterloo to Winchester.

I had no previous experience with Marvellous Escapes and had not heard of them until I saw an advert for a holiday spec that caught my fancy. From the time I contacted them, my agent , Vicky was excellent. She listened to my specific requests, was very quick to send me a proposed itinerary with inclusions based on her personal knowledge and experience. Even though I changed the dates and the itinerary several times , she reacted in a friendly and helpful way until I was completely happy. A very positive process .