Peter Sommer Travels Traveller Reviews

The tour truly lived up to its name, with exposure to a range of gastronomic delights from high end olive oil producers and vineyards to charming, rustic biodiversity farms. The food, wine and people were exceptional and the local guide knowledgable about the archaeology and baroque architecture. Highlights included visiting the local food market with a renowned chef followed by a cooking lesson in his restaurant, and farmhouse lunches prepared by the family. The trip was crowned by a walk on Etna led by a volcanologist.

Boutique operator catering for small groups of like minded people.

This holiday exceeded all our expectations. The itinerary attracted us, being a combination of physically active walking in scenically stunning regions and swimming/snorkeling in azure Mediterranean waters, historical discoveries of antiquity (in situ) with the insights from an expert archaeologist, as well as immersion into Turkish culture including the people and the food, dining sumptuously both on the gulet and in hand-picked mountain restaurants - and relaxing on the boat as we cruised.

Both our English archeologist guide and our Turkish guide were excellent tour leaders, every detail was meticulously thought through and every attention paid to the large and small details to ensure the whole trip ran very smoothly. Behind the scenes we know there was a lot of coordination - buses, restaurants, carefully planned highlights and surprises. Both tour guides were highly proficient, both in subject knowledge and with individuals and groups, managing the interpersonal dynamics with humour and flair.

A relaxed cruise between Bodrum and Ephesus, with trips ashore to look at the many well-preserved remains of ancient Greek and Roman cities, with their theatres and temples. All this interspersed with stops in remote anchorages with crystal-clear water inviting one to have a swim.

Peter Sommers provided us with a knowledgeable tour guide and went to some trouble to help us with arrangements for our onward journey.

We arrived late in the evening and immediately dumped our luggage in our pretty little flat in an old Turkish house in Gocek surrounded by fruit trees and blooming bougainvillea. Just being here was massively soothing and reaffirmed how much I have come to love Turkey and the Turkish people introduced to us by Peter Sommer over the years. Their kind attitude to tourists and the elderly is punched into their DNA. We caught up with our group at an hotel pool along the elegant Main Street pre arranged for us all to have a swim and meet up with Peter. And now we are all on our beautiful Gulet yacht plying the Turkish coast and stopping at gorgeous coves to swim and then we gather after lunch while Peter takes us on an historical adventure explaining our whereabouts on the map before we depart on our excursions. He is an amazing story teller and makes each days trip an adventure only telling us snippets at a time to make it more exciting with lots of lovely surprises along the way. A marathon hike to an ancient town in the mountains was our first outing and Peter, our tour guide and archeologist promised it would be the longest we would have on this trip- I think we were all very relieved to hear that. We persevered and were well rewarded with a beautiful semi dessert like valley which the ancient town on the hill had overlooked. We went into the valley to the tinkle of goat bells to meet the farmer and his wife who live and work their farm in this valley just below the ruins of the ancient town. They shared lovely home baked bread with us dipped in olive oil and pine flavoured honey from their own hives which we could see on the hill in front of their little rustic cottage. All this was served with wild sage tea. What amazingly hospitable, kind people and they had lived in this isolated valey all their lives but had managed to send their only daughter to university. A semblance of sophistication has entered their lives with solar and a fridge and TV but I am sure they miss the companionship of their daughter. Today has been a lazy day after hectic yesterday where we climbed over some very large stones to reach our destination at he top of a fortress high on a hill overlooking the sea on both sides, which was built to prevent the enemy in pre Alexander the Great times from occupying the only safe harbour in the area where the enemy could moor to attack the island of Rhodes which is just across the bay. On our previous Peter Sommer trip Michael and I had been to Rhodes on our Greek trip last year so it was wonderful to connect the historical dots.... This is just a little snippet of some of the wonderful days we experienced...dotted with delicious companionable meals on and off the boat. Every day was a new wonder whether it be visiting an ancient family carpet factory up in the remote hills and making our typical lunch together with the family. Michael said it was the best holiday he had ever experienced.

This was a get together trip for a group of people who had all travelled with Peter Sommer on a number of previous trips that we had all enjoyed so much that we planned our own trip with Peter. He was amazing as he incorporated our wish list into our charter and not one of us was disappointed with the arrangements and the itinerary. It was exquisite. And best of all he made a very special effort to be with us on the trip- we were all very excited and touched.

Private gullet charter in Turkey

Highly experienced, very organised, knowledgeable.

Very well organized. Professional staff, knowledgeable, friendly, connected. Food was excellent, boat was it top condition. The historical itinerary was fascinating! The pace was perfect. Time enough to appreciate the historical sites and time enough to relax and enjoy the sailing, swimming, great conversations with our guides, the crew and our interesting fellow guests.

Could not have been any better organized or any more professional. A terrific experience.

We were so well looked after on the gulet. The crew were helpful and served delicious meals. The trips ashore to see the sights were well organised and informative with our enthusiastic Tour guide. The Classics guide was very interesting and thoughtful. It had been very hot week and the swimming was a lovely bonus.

Details sent to us were informative and the office were very helpful

Based in a beautiful hotel in Bath with daily excursions to archaeological sites, magnificent cathedrals, Roman baths & villas, Stonehenge at dawn from the inner sanctum, Avebury circles, etc. All the while being escorted by Paul Beston whose knowledge of each site seemed endless.

Peter Sommer Travels offer a unique holiday experience, blending historical sites with expert guides, great food and accommodation all the while in a friendly and welcoming manner and catering for the guests special needs.

Exploring Wessex was very interesting, our Tour guide Paul was a walking encyclopedia on the area, making the trip well organized and very enjoyable, really enjoyed being on the inside of Stonehenge, something I have always wanted to do, the hotel chosen for us was delightful with beautiful breakfasts every day, Bath was amazing, such a lot of history

Paul was very interesting, and very knowledgable

Wonderful tour from Gocek to Bodrum, encompassing many amazing ancient sites, great food, visits to wineries, olive oil factories, and carpet making, it couldn’t have been better

Peter Summers Tour are exceptional in the care, and planning of every small detail, leaving nothing to chance, making the holiday informative, enjoyable and wanting to do it all again