East West-toursReviews of east-west-tours.com

Our Russian vacation was one of the best of our lives. Everything went well. Everyone was on time and where they should have been. We enjoyed each guide. They were all different, which made it all the more interesting. It was hard to pick a favorite. Nobody played "my country is better than yours" and we did not play that game either. It did not seem appropriate. Still there was no topic that was off the table, so we had very many stimulating discussions with our Russian guides. As far as Russia itself, I think we learned more in two weeks than I would have imagined. The guides were so informative. Both Moscow and especially St. Petersburg were beautiful. St. Petersburg has replaced Rome as my wife's favorite city. As you predicted, we never felt threatened. There was the expected awkwardness that comes with the language problem, but I never felt discriminated against because I asked "do you speak English." I suppose the fact that we were willing to go to Russia when others were not speaks for itself. But I now feel even more comfortable with Russia. I should pitch Dora. She encouraged us to remain in the tour when everyone else was scared off because of Crimea. It would have been easier for her to cancel the whole tour. Organizing a tour for 2 brave people must have consumed much of her time with little financial reward. She showed no regrets or hesitations. She was always easy to deal with.

We have returned from an incredible trip to Scandinavia and the Baltic countries arranged by East West and Nordic Saga Tours in May. The trip was dedicated to my 50th birthday anniversary that I wanted to spend in my hometown. I haven’t been to Vilnius for 30 years and needless to say, this was one amazing experience. The agency planned every detail of our trip: airfare on SAS, private transfers, comfortable centrally located Novotel, private sightseeing tours in Vilnius, Trakai, Kaunas and Palanga. Customer service was top notch, an agent was very knowledge and professional and answered all of my concerns in a timely manner. Highly recommended.

I used East West Tours to arrange my trips to Russia several times. They are very experienced and always able to secure the least expensive airfare with good connections. They follow up with seat assignments and reconfirm my flights before departure. If there is a schedule change they will make alternative arrangements. Unfortunately they weren’t able to assign seats on my last Air France ticket but I understand this wasn’t their fault since all airlines started to charge for seats lately.

I can not say enough positive about the professionalism, attention to detail and organization plus the knowledge of the staff assembled by East West - tours for my 3 week trip to Russia. Originally I had planned to spend only 2 days in ST Petersburg but Dora pointed out that I would not do the city justice in just 2 days, I changed to 4 days and do not regret the decision for a moment, truly one of the great cities in the world with so much history. Traveled on to Moscow and than took the Trans-Siberian RR thru Russia over to Mongolia. The scheduling and attention to detail made all go as needed, with everyone on time. The hotel recommendations were excellent quality hotels with staff that was well informed about local restaurants and bars. The hotels were typically in the heart of the city where all the action was On the trip I had 6 different tour guides each extraordinarily knowledgeable about Russian history and Mongolia, felt very safe and having a driver in addition to the guide made travel much simpler. Thank you for all your help in making sure I was prepared to take this trip -- it was fantastic! Sincerely, Don Peck

I found this company on the internet and decided to give them a try on the basis of some testimonials on their website. They didn't disappoint! Although a little slow to reply to queries they were organised and thorough, they even picked up that Aeroflot had changed our flight details and not told us. When we got to St Petersburg, absolutely everything was organised and ran smoothly. The Hotel they picked was superb and our guide was excellent, in fact in six weeks of touring Europe she was the best tour guide that we encountered. I would have no hesitation in recommending East West Tours to anyone.

Dora, owner of East-West Travel arranged my trip to Russia and I can't thank her enough for such a marvelous trip. The Taleon Imperial Hotel was awesome - could not have been any better. The room was comfortable and the service was impeccable. On Victory Day, I had my hair styled in the hotel salon and enjoyed a fabulous dinner of caviar on the terrace of the hotel while watching the parade. Another great surprise was being able to stay in a 5 star hotel at a 3 star price!!! Maria Ganina, our tour guide arranged by East West Travel was amazing. Without her, we would have spent the time wandering around, not knowing what we were seeing and would have ended up spending a lot of time in restaurants. I learned so much, which was my whole reason for going. She was always on time and I really loved traveling around seeing the real Russia. I cannot thank her enough for making my trip so memorable. I feel like I have a new friend in Russia! All the plans went off without a hitch, and I would not have dreamed of going without the services of a good travel agent who is experienced in Russia and a guide who took me everywhere I wanted to go. Car travel, visas, admissions to all the sites and no standing in lines are just a few reasons to use East-West Travel and I would not hesitate to use them again. Overall, it was a trip of a lifetime. You should go to Russia. You won't regret it.