optional tours in europe, advice needed

[natureboymiami]

going on cosmos 'europes highlights' tour march 7th. we were wondering about which optionals were worth the money, in particular the Rhine River cruise, the cable ride to the summit of the Stanserhorn and the visit to the Louvre.
also, are the bus seats comfy enough for the long rides, and if you choose not to take an optional, are you at the hotel or are you left standing on some street corner out of the way while others take the excursion?? .thanks.

[Letsgo]

I have traveled with Globus,not Cosmos but many of the optionals are the same so I will try to answer your questions.Cosmos is owned by Globus.

Rhine River Cruise--- Absolutely wonderful,do not miss it. Because of this short cruise in 2004 DH and I took a rivercruise on the Avalon Tranquility from Budapest to Amsterdam last summer for 16 days.Globus also owns Avalon. It was fantastic!! . .

Cable car----Yes IF the weather is good.

Louvre----We did this on our own for about 1/2 the price.The Museum D'Orsay is very near the Louvre and worth seeing too. We also did that on our own.I prefer to do museums on my own as I want to spend more time in them then the tour allows.

The busses are fine,very comfortable with hugh windows for sightseeing.. . We skip most of the optionals as we like to do things on our own but we have traveled to Europe 5 times.Most people do almost all the optionals particularly if it is their first time in Europe. Many times the TD will have the bus drop you off in the city central and pick you back up or give you directions on getting back to the hotel. Otherwise the public transportation is excellent in Europe and armed with city maps,bus routes or subway maps it is very easy to make your own way wherever you want to go.If you just do a little research on each city you are going to on Tripadvisor or Frommers and pick up some guide books it will be simple to determine the places you would like to see on your own and maybe even find some good restaurants away from the group.. .

I have taken public transportation,either subway or bus or boat in London,Paris and Amsterdam and Venice and all are very easy to find your way around and use the public transportation.

DH and I are headed to Italy for Rome,Florence ,Tuscany and Venice in May and we will be doing many things on our own.

[screenname]

natureboymiami, it may happend that you may be "standing on some street corner out of the way while others take the excursion". .

During our Wonders of EUrope tour last Sep. Our first stop in Paris is the Louvre. Everyone got off the bus at the underground parking of Louvre. The ones that are not taking the Louvre excursion were told to come back in two hours. Because we have not checked into the hotel, the ones not taking
optional had to find things to do for that two hours. At that time of the day (3~4 PM), we could have visited the Louvre on our own and able to see more and cost less.

For the optional excursions that includ dinner, the tour will start at the hotel. If you are not taking them, you are pretty much free on your own once you get your room key and luggage.
Before you decide what to take/not take, I suggest you ask your Tour Director about how the optional excursions fit into the overall schedule.

[maximagxe]

Be very selective on the optionals you wish to go on. The fewer optionals you select allows for more time on your own to explore.

[puckaluck]

Hi letsgo! Thanks again for the tip on the Uffizi. I was wondering if you knew the towns along the Rhine River that you can visit if you don't take the cruise? Thanks!

[luv2travel]

I am looking @ booking a Cosmos tour to travel through Europe 2010 April - Cosmopolitan Europe_ My first ever! I am travelling from NZ. Can u pls tell me if the Cosmos Hotels are way way out from the main city ? Is it a problem to be commuting back in the night?
luv2travel

[puckaluck]

Most of the hotels are pretty far out of town. We used public transportation in most of the cities/towns or walked the area around the hotel. The hotel outside Florence requires a train ride if you do it on your own. We took the bus back and it took about an hour from the center of Florence. The people at the front desk are always really helpful for finding out about the public transportation. It seems that the Globus tours hotels are right in the center of the town/city but you do pay more for the convienence. The best thing I did was get a map of the city/town and a transportation map (subway, bus) and try to plan the route I would take before I left. Try to find out where your hotels are and mark them on the map then you can plan your route. I found most of the hotels on the interenet and actually emailed them for local maps. I got a map in the mail from most of the hotels. They give you a final list of your hotels a few weeks before you leave if you can't find the exact hotel website. We went off on our own every chance we got and never had any trouble getting back to the hotel. Let me know if you have any more questions!