Pauli

I'm planning a trip to Greece this MAy 2008. My friend and I have narrowed the choices to 2 tours-(a) Splendors of Greece and Turkey-12 days (Globus) and (b) Best of Greece and 4-day Aegean Cruise –14 days (Trafalgar).

The Globus tour travels to the following cities: ATHENS, Crete, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Santorini, and Istanbul.

The Trafalgar tour includes: Athens, Delphi, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Nauplia, Olympia, Patmos, Rhodes, and Santorini.

Which sounds like a better tour?? I'm thinking if we chose the Globus tour we may decide to arrive a day earlier and travel to Delphi on our own (via Chat Tours). I doubt we'll have enough time to visit Nauplia/Olympia.

gail

Look carefully at what hotels they use (right in city/at site or some distance away). Also what meals are included and read description of days to see if visits are drive-bys or real visits. See if either offers optional side-trips and what they cost. Even for tours that visit many of the same places, that makes a world of difference.

china_cat

so the difference is that the Globus tour includes Istanbul and Crete, and the Trafalgar has Delphi and Nauflia? so the Globus is a longer cruise, and Trafalgar has a land part, basically?

I've been to all of those places, and I've done the 4 day cruise. I've also done the Chat Tour to Delphi. I think, just based on the itinerary its a really tough choice. But for me, I'd go with more Greece and leave Istanbul for another trip. There are some gorgeous sights in Istanbul, but you hardly get to graze the surface on one of those tours, and you could make a whole different trip out of Turkey. I think it would be worthwhile to see a bit of Greece and the Peloponnese.

But I think both itineraries sound good, you wouldn't go wrong either way. Especially if you add the day trip to Delphi.

clarasong

Had a grand time on Trafalger thru Britain once...but the things to ask are, how many people on the bus, do they rotate seats (very important, in my view, so that everyone gets a chance to be in front), class of hotels, sight seeing, or do they take you to tourist traps in the guise of a sight??? been there., do they have a guide AND a bus driver? this is important, as it is difficult and dangerous for a person to try to do both...

Then I guess I would read the reviews on the travel forums. I did think Trafalger was swell, but that was a while ago. We don't usually do the 'tour' thing'...

jalewis1

I have travelled with both Globus and Trafalgar several times over the last 5 years. In my view they are equal and I look at the itinerary rather than the company - e.g when I went to France I used Trafalgar as they went to Lourdes and Globus didn't; Globus in Italy as they went to Sorento but Trafalgar didn't. Note that the itineraries do change slightly from year to year so make sure you use the current tour description.

Based on what I have seen on this and other sites, there are a lot of mis-information available:


The tours have a guide + driver. Tourists rotate thru the bus seats every day so that everyone gets a turn in both the good and not-so-good seats. Buses have similar numbers of seats - however, one tour had 39 people on the bus, another tour had 29 (you won't know until you get on the bus) and both tours were great.

Hotels are sometimes central, sometimes not and the hotel may vary from one year to another - check out the locaion on the internet. Depending on the length of time in a city and how busy the tour is, the location may not matter + sometimes a night in the hotel bar with your fellow travellers can be very enjoyable and a good investment for the rest of the tour. Hotels are quite reasonable (I prefer "4*" to "5*" since I find the food more to my taste and prefer a more casual ambience. Sometimes you get a better room than your fellow traveller's, sometimes not - the tour director tries to give everyone a turn at the better rooms.

Both companies have cheaper tour operations COSMOS for Globus and COSTSAVER for Trafalgar.

Both sell optional tours - if anyone knows a sight where you can find the optional tours are listed I would be interested in hearing. In the tour package which you receive before departure, you will get information on possible optional tours and costs - I say "possible" because tours are to some extent seasonal and you won't know which are available until your tour director tells you - usually a day or two into the tour. I usually take most if not all of the optional tours - allow approx $700 to $1000 per person depending on the length of the tour. In my opinion, the optional tours are usually the best part of the tour.

The best advice I can give anyone on which tour to choose? - Listen to what everyone has to say, then make up your own mind - what you like may not be what others like e.g. I prefer museums/art galleries/culture and sightseeing more than beaches. Sometimes people get upset over trivia and allow this to colour their whole experience of the tour - e.g. if you didn't like something, tell your tour director and then forget about it. Read up on the places the tour goes to and decide what coincides with your interests.

One last word - the tours do not give you an in-depth view of a country - they do however, allow you to decide if you want return on your own and where to spend more time in a country - unfortunately, I want to go back to every country I've been to.

FainaAgain

Gee, I hope Trafalgar is better with cruises then with their land tours.

When I complained after the tour, they explained in a letter they use local tour companies that do their best trying to accomodate the travelers' needs. What needs, I was p!$$ed at the "itinerary", if I knew it will be changed that much, I would stay at home!