I booked for an October tour, it's my dream trip, well the countries we'll be visiting,anyway. I've been on coach tours before so I know what to expect in the way of routine etc. I'm researching everything and I'm so excited! This is such a great site for comments - thanks everyone!

Congratulations -- this looks like a lovely (if a bit fast-paced) tour. Perhaps after your glimpse of all the places on the tour, you will be able to choose your favorites and go back to visit each in depth. Hope you have a wonderful time!

Hi slkillin,

I am also booked for Best of Europe in October. When are you going? I am going solo. I am going Oct 1-19th. I have also been researching like crazy. It's been informative to say the least. You're right - this is a great site.

Hi

I've been on 2 Cosmos tours before - Greece and Spain - and thoroughly recommend them. Great value for money. My only complaint was the dinners (no I'm not a fussy eater). But no one else seemed to mind sooo... Have fun. TIP: For those thinking about booking a tour make sure it's for a guaranteed departure date i.e it starts irrespective of numbers.

thankyou for your posts! I'm also booked for Oct 1-19, mogsanova. That's exciting. I'm going with my son(adult) - he hasn't travelled out of Canada too much so it should be quite a trip for him! Sorry I haven't checked your post before now and I'm "off again" for another 10 days -hope to hear from you before Oct!

Hi slkillin,
Have been out with some surgery and just getting back into the researching game and starting to finalize what I want to do (or try to do). This is my first ever trip to Europe. I'm a 39 yr. old mom from Nashville. Wish there was more info on Cosmos' exact itinerary so I knew how much time I would have to explore on my own. My son is 12 and I can't wait to take a trip like this with him someday. Will be looking forward to meeting you both. Only 8 more weeks!

Cosmos is a terrific company but the one thing you want to know is that their hotels will sometimes be well located, and many time will not be, even on the outskirts of a city where you need to take taxis or public transport into the city center. They can also change hotels on you from what is listed in the brochure

Hi magsonova...

You will have to decide, in most of the big cities on these tours, just what suits you.

Most of the time, the itineraries are very crowded, especially on what is best referred to as a travel day when you go from City X to City Y....you will leave very early (around 0800) and arrive late in the afternoon (1630 or later) with a couple of stops either in some small city on the way or at what you would recognize as service areas on a US toll road (Autogrills in Italy for example)...is there a lot of free time...well let's look at whathappens on most tours in Paris (it could be Rome or most every other big city)....

You arrive, as noted late in the afternoon. In Paris, there is almost never an included dinner. There will most likely be an optional dinner plus some evening sightseeing...it could be the second stage of the Eifel Tower with a Seine River cruise and a stop at a cafeteria near the Champs Elysee...of course one problem with Paris is that in summer, it gets dark very very late (around 2200) so you have to be out late to see the Eifel Tower all lit up or enjoy the Seine Cruise as a night activity)...other times of the year not such a problem.

Now you can opt out (it is optional) and do your own thing but as noted, you won't be in Central Paris..but riding the Paris metro is very easy and I am told every address in Paris is within 150 meters of a metro station.

The next day the tour will include an orientation sight seeing..they'll drive you around and point out various landmarks and maybe one or two stops for pictures...then again you'll have your choice...the tour may offer an optional guide tour of the Louvre and/or a drive to Versailles or whatever...or you can opt out and walk and try to find bargains (there are none trust me) in Paris...the tour director will tell you when and where to meet the coach for the return trip to the hotel or you can opt to take the metro back to the hotel...that evening there will be, usually, yet another optional dinner (sometimes the Moulin Rouge very very expensive of course) or again, you can decide to do your own thing.

Same thing is true in Rome although Rome public transportation is nowhere near as good as Paris..so basically it's up to you to decide....sightseeing or shopping (I would pick sightseeing on a first trip to Paris but that's me)!