Lake Como & the Swiss Alps

This was our first trip with On The Go. Overall, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery but unfortunately were disappointed with the tour itself. Pros: We felt confident with the driver and the transportation was comfortable. Group size was also a plus as it was only 4 of us! We enjoyed that the itinerary included some smaller towns/villages that you maybe wouldn't know about or typically visit. Cons: Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed with the guide on this tour. It didn't feel like we had much of a "guide" with us at all. He did not come off as very personable, and never tried to get to know us at all. There were only 4 of us and he never asked for our names, or any introduction in the beginning whatsoever. Phone numbers/WhatsApp or any form of communication was never initiated by him so we did have not have any way to contact for safety or questions during our allotted free time at all. Us and the other two travelers took it upon ourselves. The long rides in between each destination were very quiet and dull, no effort to talk to us or point out much scenery of all the places we were passing through. We think it definitely would have been useful to use that time to talk AHEAD of when we would be arriving to each stop on what to expect, any suggestions or recommendations on activates there, restaurants, the landscape, bathrooms, really any information at all. We only had a short amount of time in each place, so it felt rushed and unorganized to waste time trying to figure out where we were or what there was to do. The biggest example of this was the day in Lauterbrunnen. The trip notes actually say "Ask your guide for advice on activities because there are so many options". Unfortunately, our guide had a family emergency that day and had to leave the trip once we arrived to Lauterbrunnen, so the driver stepped in and gave last minute information once we had arrived. That was the day we were looking forward to most, and because there are so many options and it is quite spread out, it ended up being a more stressful day trying to figure out where we should go or what activities we should do because we weren't given any guidance ahead of time. Regarding the accommodations, the @ Home Locarno Hotel was the best option. Of the 3, the other two were quite underwhelming. The Hotel Des Patients hotel is Lausanne was a very odd choice. It is far away from the lake and town, and is just a weird environment for a holiday trip. No AC as well. The one in Interlaken was very much just OK as well. Interlaken as a whole we felt could have been skipped from the itinerary. Very crowded and touristy, and not much to see. Feel like there would be much better options to stay in for the night. We are undecided on if we would use On The Go for a future trip.

I thought the tour matched the tour notes well, I had a good idea what to expect as far as the pace of each day. I feel that the tour guide could have done better introducing himself and the tourists to each other on the first day, including sharing a way like “ what’s app” for emergency and other contact. There needed to be more information shared before each stop as far as excursion options and possible costs and time frames. There were a couple of excursions where we were not given sufficient time to complete the tour, and asked to pay for things like a private boat transportation on the spot versus knowing the other options. The Lauterbrunnen day was chaotic, it was hard to determine the best option for our day as all excursions were pretty spread out, but our tour guide had a family emergency that day, so understandable that he was forced to leave the tour. I did not think that Interlaken was the best stop, just another shopping town, but the other lake towns like Locarno were beautiful. Overall, I would recommend the tour for people like me who prefer lakes and scenery and lovely hamlets to big cities and shopping. The driver did a good job, I felt very comfortable when he was driving on the difficult roads.

This tour was simply amazing! We only had 4 people on our tour which gave some flexibility in what we did and time spent at different locations. Cristina, our guide, and Leonardo, our driver, were caring, informative and great fun. The hotels were clean and comfortable, the bus was spacious and great for the longer drives. The scenery was spectacular. An included welcome dinner on the first night could enhance the experience.