Viator Exclusive: 'The Sound of Music' Private Tour

We travel all over the world and have been on many private tours, several booked through Viator. While the sights of Salzburg were lovely and the history was very interesting, the beauty of our setting was tarnished by the attitude of our tour guide, Leopold. Right from the outset he seemed crabby and cantankerous. We had requested hotel pickup from Viator, and we were in the lobby at the stated start time. I had been expecting someone named Elisabeth since she had contacted me a few times prior to the tour. We were waiting near the checkin desk and central atrium for several minutes for our guide, and didn’t see anyone. We even went outside to see if they may be waiting there. Finally we went to the front desk to ask if they had seen any guides, and they pointed to Leopold. He was sitting on the side of the lobby in a leather chair near other guests waiting to check in. He was not wearing anything distinctive from Panorama tours, so he blended in with all of the other guests - there is no way we would have known who he was. Instead of being friendly upon seeing us, he admonished us and told us he was just about to leave because he had been waiting for “so long” (by the time we found him only 7 minutes had passed since the official start time of the tour). He did not seem to think it was his responsibility to find us in the lobby, or to wait in a visible spot. We told him that we had thought our tour was with Elisabeth and had been looking for her, and his response was “oh if you want Elisabeth instead we can change guides”. We thought that was a bit odd but of course we said no problem, we just hadn’t known to look for him. We thought he would brush it off, but he kept mentioning the wait for us as we walked to the car, and when I mentioned we had actually been waiting for him near the hotel doors at the start time, he said “well, I was also waiting for 20 minutes so let’s get going”. It was not a good start and left a bitter taste in our mouths. Despite our disappointment in this negative start, we were willing to put it behind us, but there were other flares of arrogance, rudeness, annoyance and racist overtones during the 2 hour tour. Initially Leopold asked if we were American based on our accents, and we told him we were Canadian. He then said, “oh but you must originally be from India, are you American Indians or Spicy Indians?”. My husband was confused, and told him he wasn’t sure what he meant. Leopold said “you know, are you like those Indians that only eat spicy food?”. My husband responded that Canada is very multicultural and that we eat all kinds of food. So, the tone continued to be uncomfortable. Leopold did give us good information and history about Salzburg, but showed lack of patience. When my daughter asked him to repeat something because she didn’t quite understand what he had said, he mocked her. It was really quite shocking. Near the end of the tour we asked whether he could drop us off near Mirabell gardens on the way to the hotel, and he mentioned us a route we could take to walk back. My husband mentioned the concierge had also mentioned that route, and Leopold said “oh the concierge told you that, but you think I am telling you bull$hit?” Completely inappropriate behavior especially in the presence of a child. It was pretty upsetting and spoiled our whole afternoon in Salzburg. Overall Salzburg is a lovely city with great sights, but we were just unlucky with the guide we were assigned to. The trip was unfortunately tarnished by Leopold’s brash personality. Probably time to retire!

Great afternoon visiting various places used during the filming of the sound of music. Tour guide was very informative

Contraté por medio de Booking un tour al Palacio Real y Parque de El Retiro en Madrid, España, para realizarlo el pasado 29 de diciembre de 2022. No me fue posible hacerlo, por lo cual hablé con dos días de anticipación a la agencia y posteriormente para confirmar la cancelación un día antes, me dijeron que no había problema y harían la devolución del pago a mi tarjeta de crédito. Sin embargo, nunca hicieron ninguna devolución y a pesar que he enviado varios correos a esta agencia, no han respondido, ni pienso que lo hagan, lo que demuestra la poca seriedad y responsabilidad de esta empresa. Por otra parte, Booking tampoco se hizo responsable de nada y me pidió que tratara directamente con Viator, lo que también muestra su poca seriedad.