Hello,

My parner and I are going on the Cosmos European Masterpiece tour leaving london on Monday 3rd October. Just wondering is anyone out there going on this one?

Dee

DeeMin my husband and I went on this tour in April and had an absolutely fabubulous time I hope you do too. We had 30 Aussies out of 38 travellers which really helped to make it a memorable trip. I will be interested when you return to see how you went especially regards the weather and crowds. April/May was a lovely time to go, had pretty good to fabulous weather and the crowds weren't too bad, except Rome, but that was just after the new Pope was elected so may have made for bigger crowds that normal for that time of the year.
Have a wonderful trip and bring back a bag full of memories. Make the effort to go up the Eiffel Tower (if that's your thing) the first night in Paris, (if doing the optional dinner the 2nd night) as this is the only time and the crowds are much less at night. We were able to walk from our hotel the Blue Marine.
Happy travels.

hi there my name is ray my daughter and myself are doing the same tour hope its as good as i have been told my daughters name is hannah and she actually turns 17 on the 8th of oct should be fun see you both there ray

We went on this tour back in july and had a great time! I absolutely loved it and i can't wait to go back! just some advice.. ..don't do all of the optionals since you can do a lot of them on your own for less money! and the tour director and bus driver really help to make the trip more enjoyable so i hope you get a good one! Have a GREAT time and tell me how it was when you get back!

Hi Ray,

I got confused with the dates - our tour starts on the 10th (we are leaving Australia on the 3rd!) Anyway, hope you and Hannah have a great time - let me know about your adventures when you get back

Dee

Hi Clr,

Thanks for your reply - which optional things would you recommend doing - and which ones do you think are not worth it? I would appreciate any advice you can give on this,

Cheers,

Dee

Most of them are very nice but there are some that you're prb. better doing on your own. Don't do the one in olympia.. .. ..it costs about $26 per person and you just walk there! (if you have the same hotel.. ..the olympia palace i think?) it's very close and it's only $6 if you do it on your own w/o the guide. most of the dinner ones are very nice- paris was fun and barcelona was great!! you get a lot of food though so save some room for everything.. .. ..i think they're all about 4-5 course meals. i'm not sure which other excursions you were thinking about doing.. .. ..we did all but 3 so i'll know which ones are good if you'd like to give me a list of which ones you were thinking about doing. some that were my favorites were the roman hills, rome by night, flamenco show (barcelona), capri (italy), and monaco. monaco is absolutely beautiful! make sure to do that one! (monte carlo). . please tell me some choices you had so i can maybe give you some help on choosing. and any other questions i'd be glad to help you with!

We did the welcome dinner in paris, but not the cabaret. i heard the cabaret was nice though- i thought the welcome dinner was nice. it was long though.. .. ..food was good. we had entertainment (some singers), i'm not sure who your tour director will be but we had entertainment with almost all of our dinners. I'm not sure what the difference is between the $35 and $55 monte carlo excursions- you'll have to ask your director. We only had one option that I know of. Capri was very nice- that's a good choice. I loved the wining and dining in venice- the food was good and if your lucky, your tour director will take you around venice at night like ours did- a GREAT experience! Venice is much more beautiful at night!! (it's beautiful in the day too, but the plaza is beautiful lit up at night). . I wouldn't miss that one.. .. .. . We went on the Gondola serenade also. nice, but you go with a group from your tour. (about 5-6 in every gondola). . some girls in our group did it on their own for a little less so that one is up to you, but you can't go to venice and not go on a gondola!! so i would make sure to go! The boat trip in Lucerne was nice also- great views!! if you don't do it though, you can still get some great pictures from land. i highly recommend Mt. Titlis- it's beautiful up there. I didn't do the ice flyer but i heard it was very fun so i would do that if i were you!! the only downside is the cable car ride up there- you have to get on 3 of them and if you're like me and afraid of heights.. .. ..that's not a fun experience. but once you get up there it's worth it! it's beautiful!

Most of our hotels were in a very good location. I remember the one in Vienna being farther away but I think you can take a subway into the city fairly easily. in sorrento you're up on the top of a huge hill- you have to take a bus to get down to the city and that takes about 15 minutes maybe? Not that bad though.. .. .. .. . Venice is far- but you have to take a boat to get there anyway. you're going to go on so many boats this trip just to warn you! especially in venice and around greece! I remember our hotel in London was in a very good location.. .. ..right around the subway station (king's cross) and it's very easy to find your way around there! or you can just take a bus- it's a good city to get around in.

If you have any more questions, please ask!! I'm happy to help!

~Courtney

Picking optionals is so difficult. I would definately recommend the trip to Capri, the gondala ride in Venice (yes you could do it yourself but it saves time which is so importrant on these tours), the 3 island cruise from Athens is terrific too. We weren't going to do the cruise but as we were in Athens for Greek Easter everything was closed so we did the cruise and loved it, even went swimming off the island of Aegina. (We weren't able to even get into Ancient Olympia as it was Easter, which was really disappointing, but we did go to the Easter service at 11:00pm with all the locals, a night ot remember!)
The visit to Monaco was great too, as was the evening in Venice. Our hotel was only a 10 minute train ride from Venice and some went on their own, but some hotels are a lot further out, again time saving is so important. The Mt Titlis excursion was fabulous. We enjoyed the Lake Lucerne cruise, but it was one we probably wouldn't rate highly, it was a bit overcast so that may have had an impact on our thoughts, but we still enjoyed it. The dinner at the Vienesse wine bar is terrific.
I would definately make an effort to go up the Eiffel Tower the first night and skip the dinner on offer, and dinner on night 2 was great, and the queues are much less (none in fact) at night compared to during the day.
Enjoy the trip.

Dee, I just checked the hotel list for your tour and all the hotels are the same except for Amsterdam and Venice, so walking to the Tower in Paris would not be a problem. It only took 20-25 minutes slow walking with so much to see along the way. The hotel is actually above the Metro but we were not able to locate the entrance and didn't want to waste time. Just remember to get something to eat on the way down. We arrived at the hotel around 7pm, waited for our bags and left by 8:15pm, didn't think about food, we were too excited. We then had to find something at 11pm on the way back, luckily we were able to get something quick and easy, we didn't feel like sitting down.
Happy to answer any questions.

None of the men on our tour wore suits- just nice pants and a nice shirt should be fine. some people didn't even dress up.. .. .. . you're not allowed into the main casino if you're not dressed up though. (you're allowed to go into the smaller one no matter what you're wearing). . I wore a skirt and a tank top and sandals and i was fine so you really don't have to dress up that much! but it is the fanciest dinner/excursion. Hope that helps! Have a GREAT trip!!!

Likewise none of the men had suits though some did wear a sports jacket. My husband wore a jacket just so we could go into the larger casino, just to look!! No need to take anything too fancy.
Have a great trip and looking forward to hearing about it.