SmoothRed Reviews 

We started working with SmoothRed after our France trip through another provider/operator was cancelled. After an inquiry, I spoke with Adam and discussed the goals of our trip and what we wanted to focus on and he crafted an amazing experience for us, working with the flight details we already had booked.
We toured the Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Champagne, and Paris over 10 days. Everything from beginning to end was perfect, and we were taken care from the moment we passed through Passport control until we were dropped back off at CDG for our departure. They booked all of our transfers including private drivers and train tickets. They use a phone app and all of the travel details were easily accessible including our train tickets, hotel information, and maps with directions to dinner restaurants. They also had a list of wonderful restaurant recommendations and made all of the restaurant reservations for us and downloaded all the confirmation numbers into our app. The hotels selected were absolutely perfect! All of our hotels were quiet but within close walking distance to multiple restaurants.

We told Smoothred some of our wine preferences and regions we wanted to focus on, and they planned all of the winery tours for us with private knowledgeable guides that spoke great English. They selected a variety of amazing Chateaus and Champagne houses and it allowed for an amazing and unforgettable wine adventure. They also picked lunch locations for us, snd their selections were superb.

SmoothRed did such a fantastic job creating our French Wine Vacation. I have traveled around the world using many types of tour operators and SmoothRed was the best experience I’ve had abroad. I would highly recommend them to plan your trip!

My sister, daughter and I went on a private tour to 3 champagne houses, vineyard and lunch at Comptor a Bulles. I cannot express enough what an amazing day we had. Booking the trip was incredibly easy and the Smooth Red employees were kind, helpful and enjoyable to work with. Each champagne house offered something unique and fun. The food, service and scenery at Comptor a Bulles was incredible. I will definitely be using Smooth Red for future travel plans!

Our second wine tour with SmoothRed and it was just as good as the first one. Our hotel in Bordeaux was lovely and very central. Our two wine guides were charming and knowledgeable and the various chateaux SmoothRed arranged for us to visit were fascinating. Transfers and everything else went like clockwork. I can't recommend SmoothRed highly enough.

My wife and I returned yesterday from Bordeaux having booked our trip through SmoothRed

As fairly regular holiday makers we are accustomed to booking through large tour operators (TUI and the like). I must admit to having harboured a few apprehensions about using a smaller, specialist agency – especially as this was to celebrate a special birthday for my wife. I’m thrilled to say that these apprehensions were short-lived and unwarranted. Our trip from start to finish was an absolute pleasure and the service provided by your company was nothing short of first class. SmoothRed provides a personal touch that is often lacking from the large tour operators.

Prior to take off we had endured a number of issues out with anybody’s control - COVID restrictions; flight changes; flight delays; COVID guideline changes to name just a few. Your team kept us fully informed of these and guided us through all of this, taking the strain and stress away from us at each point.

Your app is brilliant and allowed my wife and I to simply relax and enjoy our trip whilst SmoothRed did the hard work. Every detail was considered. We have absolutely no complaints about our wine experience but please let me outline some key highlights, below:

Our hotel was perfect – no frills, but we didn’t want frills. For a trip like this we wanted simplicity – cleanliness, good service and somewhere comfortable to sleep off all the wine. We got this in spades. Its central location was better than we could ever have hoped for. Everything we needed was just a short walk away so never any need for us to rush. Additionally, The hotel staff couldn’t do enough for us.
I mentioned the app already but this was our bible for the weekend and helped us tremendously to navigate our way through the weekend and calculate how best to optimise our time in Bordeaux.
Your restaurant recommendations were superb and we would highly recommend Brasserie Bordelaise and Restaurant Influences to any other travellers.
The wine tours were exceptional. The guides (Julie and Emily) were fantastic. They were knowledgeable and informative and we learnt a huge amount (and drank a huge amount too!). However, they were also very engaging - they filled the journeys between each vineyard and Chateaux with fun and interesting activities. Their lunch recommendations really hit the spot too. The balance of ‘tour time’ and free time was also spot on. St. Emillion is one of the most charming places we have ever visited. Please pass on my compliments to the wine tour operator (Orpheus??).
The cheese and wine experience on the Friday evening was thoroughly enjoyable. Very informative and (most importantly) very tasty but in a location that was just perfect. The cheese and wine expert was superb and we could have happily chatted cheese and wine with him all evening.
Finally, your whole team have been brilliant throughout. However, in particular, Andra was magnificent in her dealings with my wife and I. A fog related flight delay led to our luggage being late to Bordeaux. Andra stepped in and handled all of this for us, allowing us to enjoy Bordeaux with complete peace of mind. She was communicative and supportive in all dealings with us – doing this proactively - a real credit to SmoothRed. She also navigated us through the late changes to our travel plans (Easyjet changed their flight time late in the day), again, relieving us of the stresses here.

My wife had repeatedly reminded me, in recent years, that she had never been wine tasting. As a lover of Merlot, I wanted her first experience of it to be memorable and I’m delighted to say that it was. Thank you to you and your team for making this possible.

I would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending SmoothRed to others and we plan to book again with you in the future.

We loved our two weeks in France planned for us by SmoothRed. Everything went smoothly and was stress free. We loved the itinerary and all the guides and hotels were great. We will definitely use SmoothRed for future trips!

SmoothRed were brilliant at organising our trip to York everything went to schedule and the places they recommended were superb. Thank you SmoothRed and Adam for arranging everything you took the stress out of travelling and the eight of us made some great memories together.

A seamless two hotel private wine tour of Kent & Sussex
First class service all the way

Looking for a week in France learning about wine, staying in beautiful places and being stress free was what we wanted - and only made an inquiry to SmoothRed a couple of weeks before we wanted to go. It was absolutely lovely and everything we had hoped for: staying in Medoc for a couple of nights then transferring to a boutique hotel in Bordeaux with another wine tour to St Emilion (so beautiful). Everything we hoped it would be. The people in Smoothred, the hotels, the guides and all were lovely too.

Memorable birthday trip was very well organised by Smoothred , personal itinerary on smooth red app with extra tips and maps and daily information. A Wonderful chateau was picked for part accommodation and great hotel for part as well , marvellous cycling experience, boat trip , wine tasting with a lovely birthday estate lunch with chosen wine . Drivers , guides all friendly and knowledgeable. Smooth red staff excellent. We had to rearrange from last year re Covid and smoothred made this process seamless . If you want a hassle free French experience these are the guys to use we certainly will again

SmoothRed put together a vacation in France that was near perfection. It was an excellent blend of food, wine, culture, and history. More, it was nearly stress free; nearly everything was done for us. All the guides were friendly, knowledgeable and on time. They all were eager to go the extra mile. The hotels were all exceptional and each with their own unique flavor. Our next European vacation will be through SmoothRed.

I chose to plan a trip to France for my wife for her birthday and we could not have been happier with the results. Smoothred did an outstanding job from start to finish. From the initial planning and activities selection to restaurant recommendations, everything was great. We thoroughly enjoyed cruising the river Seine while enjoying a delicious meal and wine pairings. Took in the beauty of the landscape surrounding a gorgeous French farmhouse. Then we arrived in Nice for an outstanding experience along the French Riviera. The entire trip was unforgettable and when my wife and I return to France we will most definitely choose Smoothred to plan the experience. The only thing that I would change for our next vacation is to make it longer.

We have just returned from a fabulous long weekend to Tuscany arranged by the amazing SmoothRed team. It was just the tonic we needed after the last 18 months! SmoothRed helped us prepare for the trip so the pre departure paperwork/admin was straightforward and when we arrived in Pisa we were greeted by a first class driver and transported to a superb spa hotel (which used products developed onsite from locally grown grape skins) and a michelin star restaurant that served vegetables from their own gardens… wonderful! The next day we visited 2 fabulous vineyards for a wine tour and tastings and the final day we relaxed at the spa before being whisked back to the airport and home… a wonderful tonic that really was fantastic. So pleased we went and extremely grateful to SmoothRed for making everything so easy for us and for finding such a wonderful hotel and wine tour (one of the vineyards was bio dynamic and we would never have found it without SmoothRed).

SmoothRed came through again with a wonderful trip. We used them for a Bordeaux/Burgandy trip and I reached out to them when planning a Sicily trip for three couples. The team was great in helping me formulate the plan. We covered the East Coast of Sicily - Taormina/Siracusa/Ragusa. Our driver was excellent. He truly looked after us! The guides for city tours, Mt Etna, and our Chef for a cooking class were all first-rate. Our yacht trip in Taormina Bay was a true highlight of the journey. SmoothRed picked great vineyards for our tastings that we would have never found on our own. We look forward to booking another trip with them in the future.

Our trip to the Champagne region was nothing less than amazing. Every aspect of the trip including the hotel, food, drink, champagne house tours, guides and organisation could not be faulted. In our opinion the Veuve Clicquot tour was our favourite and was a full sensory experience finished off with some lovely vintage champagne and cheese pairing.

All the logistics of the trip were within the user friendly Smooth Red app along with some very helpful information around the current COVID rules and restrictions.

Huge thanks to Smooth Red for making this a trip to remember.

Hi Adam

We’re just home having stayed over in London on Thursday.
We had an Incredible few days and kept a bit of a blog using your app.
I’ve put my thoughts below.

Many Thanks
Steve

Day 1 - Picked up by Chris who told us the local history of the area and showed us the viaducts built that are still in use by the bluebell railway. Then we talked about English wine and Kingscote.

We were introduced to Lynda, who gave us a superb tour of the vineyard talked us through the history of the vineyard.
We tasted several of the wines they produce and first time we’d tasted Bacchus wine. Which was the favourite of the day.
We ended the day drinking few wines and tasting Brighton blue Truffle ewe and local cheeses.
Gorgeous stuff.

Day 2 we set off with Martin to tour 3 vineyards

First up was Hidden springs, where we met Dave & Chris who started their adventure in 2016 (I think)
Thoroughly enjoyable and informative talk, that ventured into a chat where we learnt about the history of Hidden springs and why they started the business.
Loved the Bacchus again as well as their classic Cuvée.

Next was Bluebell estate & had a Blanc de blanc Rose and even a Chardonnay I admit to enjoying.
The young woman was great - sorry can’t recall her name. Favourite wine one here was their Hindleap ruby.

Moved onto Artelium estate for a chilled chat on wine & growth of English vineyards with Martin and the woman showing us round. We tasted three more wines where our favourite was their Chardonnay.

I’d say most enjoyable vineyard was Kingscote and enjoyable discussion with Chris from Hidden Springs.

The staff of SmoothRed created an amazing vacation for us. Due to COVID, our planned graduation trip in May of 2020, turned into a trip in July of 2021. We had planned to spend time in Paris and London, but, again, due to COVID, we stayed in France for our 10-day trip.

We began the process by talking about our family's interests and desires given this being our first trip to Europe. The itinerary they created matched our desires perfectly. We made a few tweaks and they did a great job accommodating those changes.

The tour guides were very professional and fun to be around. The drivers were very professional and helpful. The experiences they arranged were all first-rate.

We will use SmoothRed again, for our next trip to Europe.

This was an excellent short trip. The hotel, selected by SmoothRed, suited us well. Our vineyard visits were arranged with much attention to detail. Our local guide was knowledgeable and added much interest to our car journeys. Also, nothing was too much trouble for him. Now we feel we have a greater appreciation of English wine. We would certainly choose SmoothRed when we travel again as they were so helpful in meeting our wishes.

We are home safe, and almost over jet lag! We loved our trip! Honestly it’s hard to pick a favorite, as each stop was lovely and offered its own charm and secrets. The hotels were all great, and we were upgraded at most of them. We loved the hike, as we are big hikers, and the cooking classes and demonstrations were fun!! I do have to say our guides were excellent!! They were all so fun and knowledgeable in their regions and expertise. Any snags we had SmoothRed handled in a timely and professional manner. Will use SmoothRed again and highly recommend this company.

SmoothRed organised a week of wine tours in Hampshire, Sussex and Kent for us and the whole trip was a delight from the interesting and luxurious accommodation at Hotel du Vin (Winchester), The Wingrove Hotel (Alfriston) and Saltcote Place (Rye) to the knowledgeable wine tour guides and the wide variety of wine estates we visited. It was fascinating to meet so many people who have come into viniculture by many different routes and are all so passionate about wine making and delighted that their wines are now receiving gold and silver awards in international competitions. Which was our favourite vineyard? Impossible to say, but from the one acre Berrygarden vineyard to the large Chapel Down vineyard we were warmly welcomed and treated to some great wines. We discovered the bacchus grape and returned home laden with a wide variety of wines and 'fizz' to be drunk on many different occasions. Many thanks Adam and Marieke for arranging everything for us.

Thank you to Adam and SmoothRed for our last minute trip that was perfectly put together!
Our weekend trip included a 2 night stay in Alfriston with visits to Hidden Springs Vineyard and Bluebell Vineyard Estates.
The very recent opening of The Star (Hotel) gave us a chance to enjoy the wonderful mix of a new guest suite with the charm of centuries old dining areas. The outdoor space in the center of the buildings was very enjoyable on our morning of sunshine.
The wineries were each unique and provided a fun day to sample British wine and learn about the process. The final stop was for lunch at Beaver Brook Hotel. A delicious way to end the weekend.
Our driver (Chris) for the whole weekend was outstanding. He made the travel easy, flexible and informative.