Can anyone tell me if there's much of a difference between Trafalgar and Globus? I have done two Globus trips which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am considering trying Trafalgar for my next trip.

we have taken 2 trafalgar tours and are about to embark on our first globus tour--the scandinavian. so at this time, i can only address my experiences on trafalgar. we were extremely happy on our tours--one through uk and the other through europe. the td's were superb and our experience thoroughly positive. hope for the same this summer from globus.

The major difference that I have noticed is in the nationalities of the people that you travel with. I have always preferred Trafalgar because you get to travel with so many Aussies and Kiwis. They are really great fun to travel with. On Globus it is almost exclusively Americans. I feel like meeting all those people from other countries is half the fun of the trip. As far at the quality--I don't see much difference.

We have used Trafalgar and Globus. Both do use good hotels. However, use the Internet to preview the hotels for location and quality. Trafalgar "Best of Germany" used excellent hotels but several were near the autobahn vs. inner city. Berlin and Munich were excellent locations and Hiltons. Globus "Italian Mosaic" hotels were OK, not outstanding. Venice was disappointing since it was located in Metz or out of the city. Same goes the Albani Hotel in Rome. The hotel in Florence was a dump, located near the train station. Globus did stay 2 nights for the most part, Trafalgar 1 night.

Much more bus time with Trafalgar, plus the "content" was not as good as Globus. With Globus there were more inside visits and local tour guides with wireless headphones, only one with Trafalgar. We will probably return to Globus for Spain and the Benelux countries--after I check out the hotels.

I have never traveled with Trafalgar but I have taken 5 tours with Globus.Globus offers many different hotels in each city and I choose a tour only after I have reviewed each of the potential hotels.Different tours use different hotels. We recently returned from the Leisurely Italy tour and the hotels were all very well located right in the center of towns. In Venice we stayed directly next to San Marco Piazza.Amazing!DH and I always go a few days early on our tours so we can see more of the first city and adjust to the time change.When we make the arragements for our pretour hotel we never stay in the Globus hotel but rather book a room in a hotel that is in a totally different area so we can cover more of the city.This year we arrived in Rome 2 days early and stayed at the Hotel Smeraldo which was located just a few blocks from Navonna Square,the Pantheon and around the corner from Campo de Fiori.DH and I travel independently also and when we do travel with a tour we do very few optionals and prefer to do alot of exploring on our own.

Globus is to Insight as Trafalgar is to Cosmos.

I get ya Max but you probably should elaborate for the OP.

Letsgo

Globus and Insight offer more upscale tours which include centrally located hotels, more inclusive attractions, and more experienced tour directors.. .. . Insight limits their tour participants to a maximum of 40.

Trafalgar and Cosmos target more middle income people and offer less expensive hotels in suburban areas and more optional excursions. Tour participants get to see the key sights and remain in a more reasonable budget. Newly hired tour directors and those with less experience are usually assigned to these tours to increase their experience. Both tour companies allow a maximum of 55 tour participants which could vary slightly by the coaches used.

If 44 can be called a small group.. .. . Globus Europe/Britain tours indicate they limit group sizes to a maximum 44 and that they install fewer seats on the coach.

44 is still a good number. We had 42 on the Globus Hawaii tour but there was only one door at the front of the coach. Insight has 2 doors on their coaches which helps when entering and exiting.

tour companies charter motorcoaches they don't own any themselves. Stating a max # of seats isn't accurate. Globus trains and makes sure guides are well trained. Opinions of some posters on here are simply wrong. You can't generalize between tour companies as each individual tour is very different. Some do have more driving time but its not because of the tour company but the itinerary. There are Trafalgar tours that have far more driving time than their competition. Check on tripadvisor.com or others for hotel reviews and you can always ask on those sites what the locals think. Its a great way to get information.

Opinions on Trip Advisor are also sometimes wrong. Be careful what you read on any travel reviews.