Austria - on steroids!

Austria | Aug 24 - Sep 5, 2026

We arrived at Avellera through Kim Kim, a platform we have used a few times now. We were immediately partnered with Clemens and his team who were very responsive every step of the way.

The communication during the planning phase was excellent, and my questions were typically answered within hours, or over night, as I am in North America. The responses were professional and detailed. An initial Zoom meeting with Clemens also helped, as it puts a face to the communication and personality that made me feel comfortable that he cared about our trip.

After two Zoom meetings and around 7 or 8 different versions, we set out on our trip.

We stayed in 5 different hotels during the 12/13 day trip. Each one had a different personality and if I was planning the trip myself, I would have never found them, or been comfortable enough with the area (since I knew nothing about Austria) to book myself.

This is perhaps the biggest benefit. When using a travel agent, my goal is to save time and have a fantastic experience and make zero decisions. I knew nothing about Austria when setting out, so I wouldn't know one area from the next. You pay for this - the trip was not cheap - but for us, it was worth it and we knew that going in. If you could fix your own teeth, you wouldn't need a dentist. But we all need dentists and pay accordingly. This is not different.

A BBQ high in the hills in Obergail complete with accordion player and his family follows by the most magnificent hike with views that will fill your camera, is something I would have never found on my own.

Breakfast in Austria (at one of the most jaw dropping and insane hotels we have ever stayed at), lunch in Italy and zip lining in Slovenia - all in the same day - is something else we never would have found.

Tour guides, who were all mostly some of the nicest and friendly and excited to show us their country is something else we never would have found. When a tour guide doesn't look at their watch the entire day and even towards the end of the day asks "would you like to go see that?" means alot to us.

When we show up at a hotel and they say "your tour guide called us 10 times with questions" that is a WOW moment for me, since it showed that the team at Avellera truly cared about us and making sure all would be to our satisfaction.

Planning and executing a trip is never perfect. There are always things that come up and hiccups along the way. How a company handles this is what sets the tone and decides whether we would recommend them and use them again.

When we arrived in St Gilgen, it was late, we were hungry and we didn't realize restaurants close at 8 or so. There was one shower for the 4 of us and we didn't have the code to access our hotel and there was no air-conditioning. (Ironically this ended up being one of our favourite hotels of the trip, as simple as it was). Naturally I was "less then friendly" in my What's App messages to the team. I was pretty upset. The response from Avellera (looking back when i had a clear head finally) was a lesson in customer service. They apologized profusely, called around to many restaurants in the area to ensure we would have somewhere great to go (our second best dinner of the trip) and never, at any point treated me like I was treating them. They put the customer first and solved the problem.

The next day we had a professional report delivered to us with ALL future dinners reserved at the best restaurants in the area. It was very impressive. Days later we also had the codes we needed to check in to the hotel in Obergail a day in advance. Another very nice touch and showed that they were listening to my complaints from the day before.

On another location, our guide was very poor for a long full day hike. I'll spare the details, but he couldn't have tried harder to show how disinterested he was in taking care of us on a very difficult (but spectacular full day hike). Avellera sprung into action and they are working even now (after we are home) to make it right. Dealings with the guide were poor but Avellera was clearly on our side.

Overall, there were a couple of things from the itinerary that we would change, but that happens with every trip we've had planned for us, but this truly was an exceptional trip to Austria and we would enthusiastically recommend Avellera to anyone considering using them. The team will take care of you and plan a trip of a lifetime.