Peter Sommer Travels Traveller Reviews

Food, culture, archeology with the most knowledgeable, personable, thoughtful and experience tour guides ever. An experience impossible to duplicate on your own.

EXCELLENT--every aspect of the tour, perfect. Well-planned, well-timed, thoughtful, complete.

Had another wonderful trip with Peter Sommer Travels, this time exploring Crete - - the birthplace of Zeus - through Minoan Archaeology, Wine, Food and great hospitality.

Peter Sommer Travels provide outstanding customer service, through their exceptional planning, local knowledge and expertise and contacts that make it a unique experience.

We don't like being on a schedule, but that comes with a tour. Generally, we enjoyed every day, but we thought we'd get more nature and less archaeology....and we love archaeology. We thought the hotel in Chania was really a poor choice, especially after we had been in such good hotels. We did not agree on the choices for dinner. We were in fish country. We saw some fish but not enough!

OK, but I give tours differently. I believe shorter is better.

Having enjoyed three previous truly wonderful tours with Peter Sommer Travels, I had prepared myself to not expect too much during our two-week tour of Sicily since I did not want to be disappointed. From the onset, I realized that our fourth tour was going to be another amazingly wonderful tour experience comparable to the first three. First, the hotels were varied in type and style, but all absolutely nice places to stay (to say the least). Second, the tour content was once again a thoroughly satisfying mixture of ancient ruins, lovely landscapes, magnificent churches, fine museums, and vibrant cities. Third, the two guides (Michael Metcalfe and Lucia Iacono) were fantastic (more on them later). Fourth, the food and wine were a fabulous taste of Sicily literally and figuratively. Fourth, the 14 guests were a "self-selected" group of well educated, intelligent, travelers who sought an archeology-focused tour experience rather than a tourist vacation. And they were wonderful people with whom to be traveling. Of the 14, six of us had traveled together previously on Perter Sommer Travels tours. Fifth, given the winding mountain roads and the outrageously creative city traffic, our tour was a great success in no small part to a fabulous, careful, conscientious driver Giancarlo Gradino, who was also a most pleasant fellow traveler during the tour.

Michael Metcalfe was assisted by Lucia Iacono and the two of them were phenomenal guides/tour operators. They each had wonderful personalities and exhibited a) concern for each traveler's needs, b) patience in dealing with situations, and c) wonderful senses of humor which helped make the two-week experience truly wonderful. Given all the sites, all the ruins, all the museum exhibits, it is important to note that these two group leaders are phenomenally knowledgeable. They conveyed portions of their knowledge to us without ever talking down to us and encouraged us to ask questions if they had not touched upon some point of interest. Although their knowledge was impressive, their enthusiasm for their subjects was infectious. They really enhanced our appreciation of what we were seeing and why it was important in an historical and/or socioeconomic context.

Spring was glorious, Sicily has much more varied food than its reputation has it. Tour guides were great as were their selections of hotels, restaurants, sites & more. The occasional closed museum or missing collection (we experienced 3 to various degrees) were a disappointment, but we're learning this happens on most European tours at least once.

Thorough and customer-oriented, unlike larger operators with which we've dealt. All personnel in direct contact were polite and attentive, helpful and never misleading.

Extremely enjoyable holiday, led by very knowledgeable and engaging guides..

We have traveled with Peter Sommer Travels on three previous occasions, and have thoroughly enjoyed each experience. . The combination of beautiful and historic venues, extremely knowledgeable and personable guides, and small group size makes for a wonderful experience. We come away from the trips having learned a great deal of the history and archeology of the region, while also experiencing the bountiful local cuisine.

This was a two week tour that visited almost all of the island. It was both enjoyable & educational: there is so much more to see in Sicily than I had realised, and this trip really showed us beautiful scenery, superb cooking, fine wines, and complicated history, in addition to the famous temples & churches that I'd anticipated. Our guides were excellent - a great combination of local & historical knowledge and careful organisation.

A small operator that provides holidays with great archaeological & historical content, in addition to showcasing the very best of local produce - small scale hotels, visiting wineries, tasting speciality foods & eating at fine restaurants.

Week long gullet cruise from Bodrum to Ephesus featuring archaeological tours each day. Guides included native Turk for cultural interpretation and a PhD archaeologist specializing in the history of the region. Four native crew were wonderful.

Peter Somers had done good research on the route, boat crew, cultural activities, cuisine to ensure a pleasant, relaxing and educational trip.

The Peter Sommers Walking and Cruising the Lycian Shore Tour was an unbelievable first rate experience that my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. We are especially appreciative of the expertise and amazing storytelling of our fantastic guides. Their vast knowledge brought Turkish history alive for us and it was exciting to visit historical sites. The combination of cultural/historical visits, the breathtaking scenery and the gulet experience was simply amazing and exceeded our expectations in every way. This was a trip of a lifetime and we would definitely tour again with Peter Sommers Tours again.

Peter Sommers was outstanding. His expertise and knowledge was amazing. The tour went absolutely flawless from start to finish and all logistics were well taken care of and everything was seamless. We appreciated the expert crew and service on the gulet and the care that was taken to create beautiful and delicious meals.

This was our second gulet cruise with Peter Sommer Travels. Complete relaxation on board the gulet with comfortable accommodation, very attentive crew, good freshly prepared local food, swimming in secluded bays and the company of a small group of interesting international travellers. But what makes a Peter Sommer holiday stand out is the opportunity to visit both well known and little visited archeological sites with a knowledgeable local guide and an enthusiastic historian.

The tours are well planned and organised and as this is a small family business we received personal attention both before and after the holiday.