Anyone used Grand European Tours?
 

Has anyone used Grand European Tours? I am especially interested in the tour of Vienna, Salzburg,Pragud and Budapest-16 days in May. Any other suggestions for tour companies with a good tour of these areas?

I recently saw postings on Grand European Tours - mostly negative, I'm afraid. Maybe you should do a search on GET and see for yourself.

Globus does a similar tour and is a reliable company.

I took Grand European's Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and Budapest tour in May 2000 (a perfect time of year) and thought it was wonderful. In fact, it's the best tour we've been on. Before choosing this particular trip, I had researched a number of other tour companies to see what they offered in this area. One of the main reasons we choose Grand European is that this is one of their "super leisure" tours and that worked perfectly for us. We had an overview tour of each city (each with a fabulous local guide) and then the rest of the time (several days) to explore on our own. They offered lots of optionals to fill up that time, but we chose not to take any of them. The hotels were very nice and in good locations. Also, before choosing this tour, I asked Grand European for references. I got a list and called several people, all of whom had very positive things to say. I recommend this particular trip highly.

We took GET 2 yrs ago to Rome-Sorrento-Sicily. They did a good professional job and we are looking into using them again for Spain, although we usually prefer to travel independently. Our first experience with a group tour and we liked them fine.

Re: GET. I have had friends who used this company and thought it very good. The negative post mentioned above, was, evidently, posted by someone who had not done enough investigating of the tour booked and had expectations that didn't fit into the particular tour. Her main complaints were about the bus--which can be a big factor in tour comfort--but since tour companies do not own, but lease, the busses used, it is possible to get a lemon. the 1st class tours usually have better busses with more ammenities. We've traveled quite a few times, on Trafalgar or Globus (one similar to the itinerary you mentioned), done a barge trip with GET and enjoyed all the experiences. Not all were PERFECT, but we've gone back again, so I guess that we forgot the bad times. My advice is : do a lot of research and ask lots of questions, so you can make an informed choice.

We took a tour of France and Italy last summer with GET / Far &amp; Wide. Extremely uncomfortable, over-crowded bus with ridiculously long bus rides (up to 12 hours) and the hotels were not central. We did not do adequate research before we booked the tour and we very disappointed. I would not go with Far&amp;Wide / Grand European Tours again. Surely there is a better way to see Europe. Do plenty of research and read the many travel review sight for insight from other travelers.<BR><BR>