Authentic Vacations

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4.70
Based on 20 Reviews

5

85.00%

4

5.00%

3

5.00%

2

5.00%

1

0.00%
About Authentic Vacations

Authentic Vacations specializes in creating customizable itineraries that feature a variety of inspirational experiences paired with unique and boutique accommodations, all carefully hand-picked by their product team to ensure every client experiences a distinctive adventure. Each tour is tailor-made and can be adjusted based on the client’s needs, creating a truly personalized experience. With offices in San Francisco, Phoenix, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen, we are able to provide local expertise for destinations across the globe. With its culturally-diverse staff of travel experts, Authentic Vacations offers a level of personalization and client support that is unsurpassed in the travel industry.

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FigNewS
GB

Covid19 changed EVERYTHING, Awful refund process. CAREFUL. UPDATED 8/2020: I chose Authentic Vacations because of their great reputation, and "peace of mind" guarantee. COVID19 HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING, CAREFUL! We were booked for 9/2020 13 night trip to the UK, Uh Oh. 3/2020 we contacted our first agent to find she was furloughed 2/2020. Uh Oh. Having already paid Authentic $10K+ we tried rescheduling, NO GO. We then asked for a refund. Our 2nd agent, though cordial, had his hours CUT early 3/2020. After 2 months of many contacts with Authentic and NONE of our $10K back, we tried rebooking for 2021, but the groud tour bus company was not accepting rebookings. Authentic dragged their feet in filing an insurance claim, so after consulting our attorney, we took the claim over ourselves and filed our claim 6/2/2020. Within two weeks we received repayment from the tour bus company, and are filing our claim with American Airlines ourselves. UPDATE 8/2020: American, refunded our claim that we filed ourselves, ONLY because we had a letter from Doctor of husband's medical condition preventing travel. THEN: American sent the money to Authentic's Accounting dept, instead of to us. NO ONE notified us of this credit, and I spent weeks trying to track down our refund!!! Still no go, I am beyond miffed. I just received a thank you note from Authentic, asking for the final payment on our currently scheduled trip in two weeks???? What??? If you plan on working with Authentic or ANY 3rd party, you've added another layer of recourse between you and refunds, should you need them. In the future I will book directly with tour companies and airlines, not because Authentic didn't try or provide a good package, but because they were unable to get any money back for us in a reasonable amount of time.

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Kevin Leak
GB

A very delightful first visit to Ireland. We had an amazing 8 day Ireland vacation. We worked closely with our travel advisor, Heather B., to plan every detail of our trip. Heather tailored it perfectly to fit our interests and our desire to meander by car along the coasts to visit the historic, cultural and nature sights of southern Ireland. We stayed at seven lovely B&Bs on the west, south and east coasts. The B&B hosts were wonderfully gracious and welcoming. Heather made dinner reservations or recommendations for each night, which were universally fabulous. We visited many centuries old monasteries, castles, forts and settlements. We toured several wonderful museums. Heather provided us with a Google maps link for each day our travel. The beaches, cliffs, lighthouses and seaside villages along the coasts were delightfully scenic, peaceful and sublime. We drove exactly 1,000 miles on our trip at a very leisurely pace. Highly recommend Authentic Vacations and Heather B. to plan your customized Ireland Adventure.

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Laura Casper
GB

Irish eyes are smiling We had a great week long self guided tour around Ireland. Lainie put together a topnotch package for us. We didn't know she booked premium air for us but what a Godsend it was!

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Brian and Mary Normile
GB

Trip of a Lifetime to Western Ireland Authentic Vacations arranged our trip of a lifetime to Western Ireland. No question was too large or too small for them to answer. Josie "got it" when we said we wanted a stress-free trip where we could take in the untainted beauty of the small towns and coastal areas of Ireland. She booked flights into the relaxed Shannon Airport where we were met by our chauffeur/tour guide Tony Woods. She arranged the perfect hotel (Temple Gate-- a quality hotel, historical, but casual and relaxed, with top-tier attention to customers, a great bar and restaurant, hearty breakfasts, exiting onto a courtyard with magnificent floral displays) located in the charming town of Ennis. Ennis was the ultimate walkable town with many shops, restaurants, pubs and historic sites no more than a 5-minute walk in this richly interesting and compact town. Using Ennis as a home base, we took 3 day-trips in Western Ireland. Our chauffeur/tour guide, Tony Woods, took us to destinations selected specifically to suit our interests. He was able to park in spaces designated for chauffeured cars, saving us a lot of time getting to and from some sites such as the Cliffs of Moher. We were able to take narrow roads buses can't navigate. We could focus on scenery instead of driving, navigating, parking, refueling. Tony changed the itinerary to ensure we had optimal weather at the sites we visited. We stayed at sites as long as we wanted. Tony knew where to find great shopping and first-rate stops for lunch or tea. We learned a lot about Ireland from him, and actually felt we knew the country at a deeper level when we left than had we driven ourselves and stayed at bed and breakfasts. The combination of each of these elements created the perfect trip. In addition, Tony provided a taxi service on our last day, dropping us off and picking us up from Bunratty Castle and its associated Folk Park. We would rely on Josie and Authentic Vacations in planning any future trips. They made it so easy. We would never consider traveling in Ireland again without using Tony Woods Chauffeur to allow us to get the maximum immersion in the country during the time we have to spend--couldn't have seen half these things had we arranged them ourselves.

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Jan Burke
ZA

Absolutely Amazing! Absolutely Amazing! Only the best, most professional service from Authentic Ireland Vacations. They are the best! Jocoya really went that extra mile and she ensured that we had the best holiday possible. I can without a doubt recommend them to anyone looking for an unforgettable holiday! Excellent, excellent, excellent!

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