Martin Randall Travel Traveller Reviews

A busy and fascinating one week itinerary visiting historic sites in Malaga, Granada, Baeza, Ubeda and Cordoba accompanied by an excellent lecturer and tour manager, with local guides in addition at various locations. Good quality, well located hotels minimised travelling time. Visits to many restaurants for lots of superb Spanish food and wine.

Efficient office staff. Extremely friendly, helpful and knowledgeable lecturer, tour manager and local guides on the tour. All aspects of the holiday went according to plan. Price for the holiday was definitely on the high side.

I had for many years admired what I knew of Minoan art, decided to see what could be known about its makers, and felt the holiday achieved this. We had a lecturer, local guide, tour manager and coach driver, all excellent. The pace was necessarily brisk and I may return independently.

Organisation was good throughout. Included meals were ample, so I spent little in Crete and the tour was good value for money.

Visiting gardends and other places of interest, maininly in ther vicinity of Sintra in Portugal in the company of a knowledgeable lecturer

Martin Randall. Excellent itinerary, superb lecturer, very good hotels and meals. All the arrangements done meticulously. I have travelled with Martin Randall before and I book with them with confidence, knowing that the holiday will be a good one.

Almost all inclusive trip to Jordan. Accompanied throughout by a superb guide/lecturer, a UK-based tour manager and, in Jordan only, a local tour guide. We stayed at three different locations (Amman, Petra and Sweimeh) and transport in Jordan was by air-conditioned coach. The hotels had their individual quirks, but all were very comfortable and served delicious food. Out on the road there was appropriate and very interesting commentary from our guides. Over the week they covered history, biblical references, geology, water, notable people, lifestyles from the Stone Age to the present day with some references to the politics along the way. Questions were always welcomed. We stopped to take in views, the herding of sheep and goats and to photograph the black iris, national flower of Jordan growing wild by the roadside. We experienced different landscapes, wadis, mountains, black desert, scrub, rocks and agricultural areas, but the biggest surprise was the abundance of wild flowers following the rains of the previous week. We saw the usual tourist sites - Jerash, Kerak, Petra and Mt Nebo but also ventured east of Amman to Azraq, close to the Saudi Arabian border to see castles and hear about the wetlands. We visited the new National Museum - so impressive and well presented - and the Citadel in Amman. In Madaba we learned about mosaics and saw some wonderful examples, in addition to the famous map. After a thorough exploration of Petra we were taken back 10,000 years in El Beidha and discussed the Neolithic way of life. The church at Mt Nebo was for me a very special place, beautifully and tastefully conserved with some reconstruction and that fantastic display of mosaics. The peace (in spite of many visitors) the light, the history, the music all conspired to make it a magical place.

Martin Randall Tours specialises in history and music. Most of their tours are limited to around 22 participants which makes them manageable and friendly and most are all-inclusive. They also take walks around London and have other shorter visits in the UK based on a variety of subjects. They deal with the hassle, leaving their clients to enjoy themselves and concentrate on the tour. I love not having to worry about the practicalities. Their guide/lecturers are always experts in the relevant fields and are at the same time sociable and easy to get along with. Their tour managers are likewise experts in their field of administration and problem-solving. They too are "people persons" with endless patience and good nature. The staff in the office are reliable and knowledgeable. It all adds up to an organisation that is a pleasure to deal with.

Where to start? First of all the attention to detail, not only in regard to the comfort and smooth running of the holiday but the knowledge of the expert Archeologist who came with us - Professor from Cambridge University. It was a joy to see the ancient sites through his eyes. The sites we visited were chosen with great care so we visited some of the best known sites and then others that were less well known. No crowds at all.

Martin Randall is really very good. Their representative on the tour was patience itself. He was at ones elbow if needed and then completely unobtrusive at other times. Dealing wit them administratively is a pleasure. Nothing too much trouble . They respond quickly to email and phone calls and the phone is answered speedily. A personal touch with is so nice after all the 'your call is important to us please wait...' messages which make the heart sink.

Led by an outstanding lecturer we visited about fifteen beautiful Palladian villas and palazze and were greatly enriched by the experience.

Excellently iinformed by the lecturer, and efficiently administered by the manager, this was the tour of my lifetime!

A guided tour of Palladian villas in the Veneta - based in Vicenza.

Martin Randall are infinitely painstaking, professional, understanding & amiable.

Our tour guide was scholarly and entertaining. The tour was brilliantly organised in every way - never rushed but covered a great deal.

Martin Randall

From the outset when we met our lecturer at Heathrow Airport, we were secure in the knowledge that everything was taken care of, and that any glitches would be ironed out instantly. Our knowledgeable lecturer and our efficient tour manager between them took care of every eventuality.

Martin Randall's good name is well deserved and every time we travel with them we are secure in the knowledge that everything possible will be done for everyone's comfort and full enjoyment.

Golden Age of British Painting. A good support to my research/studies-high in content. The fellow members of the 'trip' were equally important and MR provided excellent opportunities for relaxed conversation-eg lunch at R Whistler restaurant-own room.

They are head and shoulders above the rest. Impressive research-use of original prints, sound historic research for underpinning of the tours.