I I was wondering if you ever got a reply back from this posting? We are talking the Europe at Leisure tour with Cosmas this next September and we are staying at a lot of the same hotels. If you have taken this tour all ready would you let me know what you liked and didn't like about the tour. Thanks for the information. Nancy. You can send your reply to njk50@aol.com just encase I can't find this site again. Thanks

We want to take the Europe at Leisure tour in 2005 and would like to know the same answers.
Nola

We didn't take this particular tour, but our tour stayed at Thistle Euston in London and the Ibis in Amsterdam. The Thistle Euston is about a three minute walk to the Thistle Underground where you can take the subway to just about anywhere for a small price. It is easy to use and quite safe in the daytime.

In Amsterdam, the hotel was quite far from the city and near the airport. We did not venture out on our own from there so not sure how you would travel except maybe by taxi.

Both hotels were satisfactory - not glamourous but clean and friendly.

Don't know about the other hotels. In Paris, we stayed at the Kyriad, Porte d'Ivry. Small rooms, but clean.

Have fun!

We stayed at the Thistle Huston also, the hotel is on a quiet street and a fairly decent budget hotel. I walked to the British Musuem and many other places without any problems. The Bus and the "U" is about 3-5 min walk, so every places you want to go in London is very easy to get to. There is a train station about 300ft. away Full of shops and fast food, yet we never heard a train, they run under the station and will take you all over the UK.

I stayed at the Euston Thistle for two nights and quite expensive single room of Australian $450. Basic breakfast and noisy with doors banging well into the night which were the guests and no fault of the hotel. However it is central and the room was comfortable and overlooked a park. Felt perfectly safe walking around alone during the day. B & Bs in London are the way to go, so much cheaper.

Lake Lugarno we were there for about an hour and half. Simione about the same.

As long as you are not staying at the Landhaus in Lake Lucerne, it is horrendous, at least the single rooms are and the whole hotel has basic accommodation. However the meals were plentiful and tasty.

Hotels in Germany and Italy below standard.

However all hotels in France and Spain were of a good standard.
I agree that they are not all centrally located but they are in quieter areas away from the hub bub of the city. Cant have everything.

[quote="pnljmanning"]We want to take the Europe at Leisure tour in 2005 and would like to know the same answers.
Nola[/quote] We did the best of Europe Sept/Oct 2004. My friend did the Europe at leisure tour in Sept 2004. If you would like answers to any questions, please email me at tinrub@aol.com and I am happy to give you honest answers. We went as a family of 4 and had the best ever holiday. It really was the BEST of europe. Hotels were fine and so was all the food.

Hi there,

We are signed up for the best of Europe tour that leaves on Sept 14th/05. I too am really curious about the hotels and the amount of time that we will get in each city. Does anyone have any advice on what to do in Lucerne? I was thinking about Mt. Titlis but it seems expensive. Is anyone not happy with the Cosmos tour group? or has anyone had a really great experience with the group? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Kim and Trevor

I visited mt tiltlis with the cosmos european sampler tour. it was certainly one of the highlights, especially landing on top of a 10,000 foot glacier, that is covered in snow. That was the first time i had ever seen or touched snow. the chair lift was excellent, i wasn't worried about the price because lets face it, it is all these unique experiences that makes a holiday worthwhile. you undertake the cosmos trips knowing they are budget tours, i was very satisfied with both my tours. 16 days of britain and ireland and the european sampler. this year i am going on the jewels of france, imperial capitals and european masterpiece. there is much more to a holiday than the motel rooms. get out there and ejoy the whole experience.

Thanks for the insight J.Francis. My husband and I are Canadian so the thought of seeing snow doesn't really thrill us too much. We get pretty sick of it. Is the scenery of Mt.Titlis nice? I was wondering if there was any greenery on your way up to the glacier? We are thinking, if it is just a glacier than we probably won't want to go on it.

laura,

my friends and i traveled to europe in may 2004. the biggest surprise - NO WASH CLOTHES. bring old wash clothes from home. use them and toss them along the way.

happy traveling!

Hi

did a Cosmos Europe tour last year

It was a debacle from start to finish

We had just completed an Irish Tour with Cosmos which was absolutely first class

Dover to Callais was a nightmare hearded like sheep

Europe tours are mainly on motorways so you do not see much of the quaint towns as you expect
Hotels are low standard and quite far out of town
One refused us use of coffee machine because we were with budget Cosmos Tour

I would allow plenty of time for europe . .. ..and money

I would pick a tour more upmarket than Cosmos

Hope this helps

My wife and our two children (15 & 13) went on this tour a year ago to the date and we all had an absolute ball. We had plenty of room on the bus as there were only 21 for the whole trip. Our Tour Director was reasonable he helped us sometimes and sometimes he didn't but then again there were other people in the bus to consider. Our bus driver was good at driving, but didn't speak much. Which was probably good while driving! All in all we had 16 days of incredible experiences. The other people on our bus were mostly from Australia too, so we all got on pretty well (language wise). . We understood by looking at the itinerary that there would be early mornings, long bus trips and 3 star accomodation, however the driver and TD take you right to all the attractions that you dream of, tell you a lot of information, give you plenty of time to have to your own and are human too!
My only grievance was that everything went so quickly. By the end of the tour we felt satisfied that we had accomplished what we set out to do and at the same time enjoyed our first sleep in.
I would recommend Cosmos to anyone. I wouldn't say it was all perfect but for the price what do you really expect?
If you want to know anything about this trip please email me on haysie1@optusnet.com.au

Hi there,

Although I have not done the tour that you mentioned, last week I just got back from The Splendors of Italy tour. Our family was very happy with it. One point though I should mention that we found was that unless you did the excursions then your actual time with a tour guide was minimal. Many on our tour opted not to go with the excursions and set out for the sights by themselves and had a marvelous time. We felt we had enough time on our own and opted to go to most of the excursions as they provided 4 course meals and all you can drink beverages etc.

The benefit of doing the excursion was also that you got into the tour lines which were a lot quicker then the normal lines for visting things like the Vatican and museums etc. I beleive the line for the Vatican could reach over 3 hours, we got in around 8 or 8:30 am before the normal tourist were allowed to enter and spent only about 10 minutes in line.

As for the hotels that you mentioned, we only stayed in about two of the ones you will be staying in.

Rome - Princess. We stayed here the last night of our tour. It was clean and quite modern. However the walls are paper thin and we could easily hear the occupants on either side of us talking and even lowering the toilet seat. There was some construction around the hotel so some on our tour thought it was noisy however we got the wing that was quiet and had nothing to complain about. Overall I would say it was a very comfortable room. As for being close to things, on the bus ride to the attractions it didnt seem far away however with public transportation I would not be able to say whether it was in a good location or not.

Florence - Europa at Signa. This is a very nice hotel about 15 minutes from Florence. Some on our tour decided to stay longer in Florence and took the train or bus home by themselves. Everyone who did this said it was very easy, affordable and they didn't feel uncomfortable at all doing it. In Florence you should buy gold or leather at the points the tour guide suggests otherwise you can buy inferior leathers.The place most of of tour bought leather was in a place with a P that had 2 shops and gave tourist the VAT for taxes as well as a discount. There is a beautiful gold shop just across the street from it that is very good as well. We found that one coat was initally 650 Euros and the more we said no to it the cheaper the price became. At the end the merchant wanted to give it to us for 150 Euro. Of course the quality was not there but if you don't mind that then it is ok.Next to the hotel is a great little ice cream shop that you shouldn't miss. They call it gelati or gelato over there and for about 2 Euro you shouldn't miss it!! The hotel rooms are clean and compared to other rooms we stayed in were quite spacious. The staff were very friendly and the meals were very good as well.

Just a few final points to mention. Street vendors start their selling prices high but you can haggle. One girl got a fake LV bag for about 10 Euro the starting price had been 30. Never take the first price they offer. I remember once the first quote was 25 Euro but by the end (when you show no interest and start to walk away) it became only 5 Euro.

If you have any other questions about Italy let me know and I will try to look at the board again within the next few days.

Have fun!!
Patricia

When we stayed at the Hotel Europa we took our tour bus back. In Florence apparently they have strict guidelines for tour bus parking. So our tour bus dropped us off along the river and had to leave. At about 4:30 pm we had a ten minute window to *catch* the bus as it was only allowed to park there for a max of 10 mintues. We opted to go with the tour bus rather then take the public transit. Others on the tour took the public transit and said it was as easy as pie and quite cheap. I beleive the drive from Florence to Signa was about 10-15 mintues. We ate at the hotel that night and the food was quite good.

The little ice cream shop is directly to the left and sort of behind the hotel. We had our gelato about 9pm or so. Not sure how late it is open but if you go there around that time it will be ok.

Unfortunately our tour didnt include Sorrento or Pompeii. Our tour guide's name was Lino and he is from Sorrento. He told us all that next trip we HAVE to see his hometown. Some people on our tour went to Pompeii before our tour started and said it is a MUST. Some people went to those places after our tour ended and have emailed me saying, IT IS A MUST as well. So next time I am in Italy I will definately see Pompeii!!

Hope that helps
Patricia


[quote="gamica"]Hi Patricia,

Thank you for your tips, I'll be in Italy in Sept, and I'll be staying in the same hotel "EUROPA", Florence. Do you remember by any chance from where did you take the bus or train to get back to the hotel ? Also, the gelato shp was open until 8-9 pm ? Did you also go to Sorento, Pompeii, Capri ?

Thank you,
gamica[/quote]