Start your adventure nice and early in central London, from where your coach will be leaving at 8:30 am (make sure you are there 30 minutes beforehand to check in).
Visit the original underground bunker that served as Britain’s secret wartime headquarters during the Second World War. Preserved almost exactly as it was left in 1945, you can walk through the narrow corridors and see the Cabinet Room, where Winston Churchill and his ministers met to make crucial decisions. Maps still line the walls of the Map Room, covered with pins and notes tracking troop movements across Europe. There are simple bedrooms used by staff, a tiny kitchen, and even Churchill’s private room, complete with his desk and personal items.
The trip was cancelled when we got to our bus!! No warning no nothing until we showed up!!! Trip was paid for with zero refund! I will never book another trip with them!!
There was no trip! I received no notice of cancellation and the voucher was delivered via text and I received reminders and was charged for the trip two days prior - spent money on cab fare to arrive early Sunday morning for the long awaited trip to the Cotswolds and Blenheim palace only to hear there was no such trip! The operator said it was canceled months prior and I “should have been notified “ ….extremely disappointed
We arrived at the tour operator’s meeting point only to find out that they had no record of our tickets or reservation.. arriving 40 minutes early. Needless to say we were not happy with Viator nor Golden Tours.
I can't write a review for a tour I never went on!! So my daughter and I show up at the meeting point for the tour at Victoria station just to find out that the tour was cancelled!!! No communication whatsoever from Viatour/Tripadvisor letting us know in advance that this tour was cancelled after we get up at the crack of dawn, travel across London, incurring time and expense to show up on time just to find out that the tour was not taking place!!! Not only that, they took my money!! DO NOT EVER USE THIS TOUR COMPANY!!!
Trip was canceled and we received no notification. Found out at the departure terminal. Frustrating service
Our tour guide Oliver was phenomenal, so knowledgeable and full of personality. Kee our coach driver did a great job driving us to all our destinations. November was a great time to visit the Cotswolds with minimal foot traffic. Blenheim Palace was spectacular and Christmas lights and the ice skating rink were being constructed. We highly recommend this tour.
It didn’t happen. Got to the start bus terminal to find out the whole thing had been cancelled…no notice, no call, no email
Guide Eileen was great with lots of informative tidbits and the driver was timely and drove us safely. The trip was great all except that our pre booked cream tea at Blenheim palace had run out when we got there at 3pm+ which was disappointing. Would have thought they reserve this given its pre booked
Nice overview of Cotswold and palace. Was a long day but worth it. Guide Ellen was very helpful and interesting. Tea at palace was just scone, jam and cream Nothing special. One restaurant at palace was out of scones
Why aren't there zero stars available on Tripadvisor? 20th anniversary trip to London. Once-in-a-lifetime, we will never be back (we're in our 60's). Looked forward to seeing London sights. Bought hop on hop off London sights, blue bus. We hopped on, hopped off at bridge end close to the Eye. That was the ONLY time we rode due to the fact that a huge protest was taking place that day that we had NO IDEA was going on. The tour associates we spoke with at 2 different locations were basically "sorry about your luck". I informed them I wanted a refund. We had to take a black cab to our destination. We all totaled spent 100 pounds to go to only 1 destination, between the 70 pounds spent on Golden Tours and 30 on a black cab. I completed a request for a refund on the website, but was told again, basically, "sorry about your luck". There was an "offer" for a replacement prior to the end of March 2026, which is totally unacceptable since it's mostly a token offer as I explained very CLEARLY that this was a once-in-a-lifetime special trip and we'd never be back. VERY disappointed in the lack of true customer service. Avoid Saturdays in London, obviously, but if you are touring in London on Saturday, avoid Golden tours. We used Evan Evans for another trip while there, which was AMAZING. Don't expect a refund for ANY reason if you book with Golden. Shady business practices. The review would have been much different had they been more customer service oriented. ZERO STARS.
We only had two hours at Blenheim Palace, and 20 minutes of that was consumed with walking to and from the parking lot! We had no audio guides. Cream tea was only available at the front gate cafe, as the stable cafe was already closing. With barely an hour and a half left, we felt rushed going through the State Rooms and the formal gardens. Bampton is interesting only if you are a die-hard Downton Abbey fan; it could easily be skipped. Bourton on the Water has more going on and was enjoyable. Think twice before booking this tour, unless you enjoy being your own guide and don’t want to see much of Blenheim Palace.
Our scones arrived with butter, cream, jam and a square of chocholate cake. So far so good. We waited for our 'tea' to be served, we waited and waited and waited. Eventually we decided to tuck in to our scones. Meanwhile the waitressess were delivering scones two trays at a time to the other passengers, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth - two at a time ..... After we finished our scones and cake we waited again for our tea ....... Yay, Eventually tea was served. Better organisation and co-ordination of service needs to be addressed. I would like to have had tea WITH the scones not 20 minutes after the scones had been served. All in all, not great value for money. We came away somewhat disappointed.
This was a very disappointing experience. Although paid extra for the tea there wasn't enough time for the tea. We did not receive head phones for the tour and had very limited time to explore. Was definitely not worth the.money we spent for this tour.
The itinerary was very relaxing, with plenty of time to stroll through Bourton-on-the-Water and enjoy the peaceful countryside. Our guide Peter was friendly and shared many helpful tips, while our driver Viorel was humorous and kept the mood cheerful. The minibus was clean and comfortable—an excellent overall experience.
Lovely day out in the Cotswolds. Our wonderful guide Peter Rabbit and our driver Kuluiuder. The tour was well worth it. Bourton on the Water was lovely, perfect place to stop for lunch and the model village is well worth a visit. The highlight of the day was Blenheim Palace, the palace and the gardens are beautiful. The cream tea was very nice and a good way to end the day. Thank you to guide Peter Rabbit for such a lovely day.
Lovely Cotswolds Day Trip A beautiful experience through postcard-worthy landscapes and charming villages. Our guide, Peter Rabbit, was fun, engaging, and full of interesting stories. The driver, Kulvinder, was professional and caring throughout the day. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to explore the most authentic side of England.
Eileen was a very friendly and extremely knowledgeable bus tour guide. Was a great experience. Would recommend.
Great tour to see beautiful country side the prettiest places I have seen,excellent tour guide full of knowledge and amazing bus driver. Blenheim palace was amazing a most do tour.
The explanation was very poor sinds there was almost no explanation. Also the bus stops riding at 17:00 so we had to walk all the way home. The people driving the bus were very kind.
Amanda and Derdek is best tour leader😘,we want join again with them ,today our tour is Bampton, burton on the water and Blenheim palace, very enjoyable
The excursion with Soso was excellent! He is someone who knows what he's talking about, a great professional. We really enjoyed it. Greetings to Chris, the bus driver, also very professional.
I had a great tour today in the beautiful sunshine of the Cotswolds, we were welcomed by Eileen our guide and driver Elvio. The coach was clean and the ride was smooth, but halfway through the tour there was a bit of discomfort when the guide started shouting at the driver, this didnt seem right, when we got to Blenhiem palace the rest of the group seemed a little worried about what happened on the coach, when we got back on the coach the guide was talking about things in regards to religion and specifically to countries in Europe, the driver did not seem happy and upon leaving the tour he apologised to us about what happened earlier, overall the day was great but wasnt great to see how the guide treated the driver.
It was a great experience. Would have liked to spend more time at Blenheim Palace. Oliver was terrific and Farhat our driver was excellent and professional.
NOTHING - TOUR NEVER HAPPENED. You never showed for the tour. never told us the tour was cancelled. Never refunded our cost!!!
Cotswolds is a beautiful place .. calming, soothing and rejuvenating... Bleinheim palace and specially the gardens around it are just lovely and breathtaking
Loved Bampton Village and Bourton-on-the-Water (charming!) Blenheim Palace was astonishingly beautiful. The aspects about Winston Churchill's life and impact on world history was a favorite part of this tour. The tour guide was awful. She got into a loud argument with a couple who were mistakenly guided by staff to get on the wrong tour bus. She handled it very poorly.
Our guide, Eileen was exceptional! So very knowledgeable , polite, and entertaining. She made the whole day interesting and educational. A wonderful tour.
Great day that we couldn’t have done ourselves. Guide Eileen took us through a lot of information and driver Marian got us back and forth.
Great guide nice day in the country would recommend this tour had fun and was relaxing good to get out of the city and enjoy a small town and the countyside
Our guide Regina and driver Jag worked as a team getting us out of a traffic snafu leaving London for the Cotswolds. Regina was sympathetic and kind to every visitor while conducting the tour in English and Mandarin. Lovely sites, superior lunch, and plenty of time to wander around for a lingering look. Beautiful addition to our time in London.
Eileen made the trip interesting. When we signed up, we didn’t realize that we were going to the village where some scenes from Downton Abbey were filmed. That was an added bonus since we are Downton Abbey fans! I loved going through these quaint villages. Where we had lunch was very good. Blenheim Palace was the highlight. It was a very good day. Eileen took time to get to know each of us & gave us so much information about where we were going & what we were seeing on the way. Our driver Kolin kept us safe & got us to our destinations on time.
All 3stops were very interesting and guide was informative. Enjoyed the trip into the Cotswolds and historic buildings.
Spent too much time at town where Downton Abbey was filmed- it was a wasted stop. Needed more time at the wonderful Blenheim Palace. Tour description was poor. It suggested that you got to spend the afternoon at the palace.. Lunch was scheduled at 1:30 different town before the palace. Tour guide was not knowledgeable, disorganized and presented very poorly.
Disappointment. Staff busily taking down the remnants of the "fashion show", and organizing the next "event". Surplus people just in the way of a pleasant experience. A huge and widespread property, poorly planned and equipped for the "mobility challenged". Perhaps for the young and mobile. Perhaps for those seeking the art and antiques. Not for the mobility challenged.
a convenient way to see this little piece of england. sondra was great! Blenheim was amazing and the day was lovely.
The majority of the time was spent on a bus (6-7 hours). Cotswalds is touristy and the Blenheim palace was smaller and more boring than expected.
A lovely relaxing day in the country. Time at two charming Cotswolds villages, and the tour at Blenheim Palace. Our guide and driver were excellent, helpful to everyone. The lunch at the pub was a little disappointing not being traditional pub fare. I would recommend doing lunch oyo as there were many, many dining options at Bourton-on-the-Water. All in all, a lovely day tour.
This tour is advertised as a tour of Blenheim Palace—which accounts for perhaps a quarter of the day. Much of the time is spent in two villages—Bampton and Burton-on-the-Water. We started with an aimless walk around Bampton, visiting a Downton Abbey filming site, followed by a lengthy wait for the bus to return. The lunch in Burton was good, and the village is charming, although we learned nothing about it from our guide, Jeff. Another company employee accompanied Jeff and pointed out places where the tour goes, once commenting that we usually go “here,” so it’s possible this was Jeff’s first time leading this tour. If so, one would think he would have notes or other documentation to assist with the effort. No such luck. Instead, little information of importance or depth was provided. Furthermore, English wasn’t Jeff’s first language, and it was sometimes challenging to understand him. At the first stop, the bus left without counting to ensure that all tour participants had boarded the bus. It’s standard procedure to count the numbers in a group, and it was concerning that this step wasn’t taken to ensure no one was left behind. After lunch, Jeff left with the group while my husband and I were still inside the restrooms. Had I not come outside in time to see the group walking about a block away, I wouldn’t have known where they had gone. Jeff wasn’t even aware that we were missing when we finally caught up with the group. This completely unprofessional behavior is inexcusable. The final straw was the tour company's miscommunication regarding the tour's ending point in London. We made arrangements based on the company's communication with us, which turned out to be incorrect. Those arrangements had to be altered because of the change in the ending location. I would not book a tour with this company again.
We booked this trip months ago. When we got to the bus station the tour guide said this tour hadn’t been running for months. Instead we were put on a tour of Warwick castle ( taudry), Stratford on Avon ( uninteresting) and Oxford where we had been before. YOU PEOPLE ARE TOTALLY INCOMPETENT!!! Will never use you again!
Cedric and Jim were wonderful! Super friendly and informative. What a great day at the Cotswold and Blenheim Palace ☺️☺️☺️
I loved it. Thanks to our guide Regeena and to our drived Jose. Such an amazing trip. I do recommend.👍
Blenheim Palace was very nice. Lunch in Bourton on Water was good (roast chicken meal). The town was very cute. Those parts were the highlights of the day. Stop at Burford was waste of time as no time to do anything. Think locals not a fan of tourists. Even when spending money in pub, toilet had no toilet paper. On expensive tour, pre-arrangements should be made for toilets or skip the stop entirely.
This was by far the absolute best tour we’ve ever taken! Regina the tour guide was amazing. She was friendly, interesting, extremely knowledgeable and made the entire day fun. It was evident to us that she loves her job. We noticed that throughout the entire day she made sure that everyone’s questions were answered. She even made sure each person on the bus knew how to find their way back the their hotels at the end of the day drop off point. Mario the bus driver was super careful to be sure the entire trip was comfortable for all his passengers too. We give this tour an A+. It’s worth every penny of the cost and more. If you are looking for the best tour guide, best coach driver, and amazing history and scenery we highly recommend this tour!
Amazing! We did a custom tour to the Chelsea Flower Show and all the great gardens of southern England. It was trip of a lifetime.
It was a wonderful experience!! Venues and host were wonderful! Would highly recommend for couples!!
We really enjoyed our tour to Blenheim Palace and especially Bourton-on-the-water with Saundra and Peter. Saundra was the best tour guide ever and was so great at her job. I would do it all again! She was knowledgable, well spoken and very endearing. I loved how she referred to our group as "my darlings". If there are other tours she does I would like to be on them. Peter was a great driver and got on well with Saundra. Great team. Loved our experience. Nice group of people on the tour.
Seeing the Blenheim Palace in person was incredible. The grounds, the building, the furniture, artwork.. I could go on and on, but you have to see it to truly experience it. And the Cotswolds.. my lifelong dream. I felt that I could stay there. The serenity and beauty is truly captivating. The breathtakingly beautiful overgrown doorways, the friendly locals and the special kind of atmosphere. Last but not least was our lovely tour guide and driver. Amanda was very sweet and I enjoyed being in her group. A special thank you to her!
Great small tour which was led up by Dolly, who brought years of insight into all of her explanation throughout the day.
We took the Blenheim, Cotswolds tour with Golden Tours. Martin, our tour guide was informative and very pleasant. The driver was great too. We learned and saw enough to get a good taste of the area. I'm really glad we took this tour.
Amazing tour. Take it, you will love it. Our tour guide and the driver were so knowledgeable and so nice and friendly. By the end of our tour the guide knew every one in the group and he took the time to mention EVERY one of our names and to thank us for being such a wonderful group. Tour guide spoke English, Mandarin, French, and Spanish, we were impressed.
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