We will be taking a Globus Tour of Paris and Normandy, and the Loire Valley. Is there a forum for discussing Globus Tours on this website or is there another website for doing so? We have some questions regarding the extra tours offered by Globus and whether they are worth the price. <BR>Thanks.

There is a specific forum called agents/tours or something like that (see front forum page) where you can post your questions. If I were you, I'd post both there and within the Europe forum that's a pretty specific question and many people don't peruse that other forum much. I don't know anything about those tours, but in general, I would advise that you seriously consider extra tours in areas where it is difficult to do such things yourself--this would probably include the Loire valley and Normandy areas, although I'd think that if the Globus tour had those points on their itinerary, they must be giving you some minimal included tour of the main sites, aren't they? From Paris, if it is priced right, some optional tour to Giverny might be worth considering as it's more of a nuisance (and takes up more travel time) to do on your own, espec in a short time frame and when you don't know the area that well; ditto Fontainebleau. Versailles is very easy on your own. Do you know what optional tours will be offered? From perusing the itinerary of one GLobus tour for Normandy and Loire, it appears that all the basics are included and the only optional tour is Giverny from Paris. That tour was very short I saw (9 days or so) so there really were not extra free days to fill with a lot of optional tours. If the one to Giverny is priced right, I'd take it if that interests you--it may just be making arrangements with local company Parisvision who offers such a tour (check www.parisvisions.com to compare prices). I don't know of another website that discusses tour groups, but there may well be one.

Hi Ilene: <BR> <BR>I haven't taken the tour you wrote about, but my family and I have traveled with Globus. We were very satisfied. <BR> <BR>The extra tours are a little expensive but worth it. It beats driving and trying to find your way around. My sister and I like the luxury of an escorted tour. <BR> <BR>Also, the meals were excellent and the hotels as well. <BR> <BR>Good luck. Let me know how it goes. I've been looking at the LaFrance tour. <BR> <BR>Rita

You can go on the BB for trafalgar tours and there is a lot of mention on globus tours and there are members on there that have been on globus as well as cosmos Hope this helps

I haven't taken a Globus tour, but I have taken a 12 day tour with Cosmos, which is owned by Globus. I was terribly disappointed. The accommodations were awful and too far outside of the city, and the tour guide kept trying to sell all of those extra tours, which were a rip off. Not that the tours were bad, but the prices were grossly inflated compared to buying them in each respective city. I know of many that have been happy with Trafalgar Tours. Someone on a Trafalgar tour that I met, commented that there is a big difference between the words "seeing" and "visiting". "Seeing" you never get off the bus! <BR> <BR>We went to Paris and the Loire Valley on our own last year. Took a tour to the Loire Valley, there were many options, but we opted for the most expensive tour - $100 each. It included lunch and admissions; we were each picked up at our own respective hotels, and only 6 people to a tour. The guide, trip and food were excellent. The reason we chose it was that we rationalized the length of time it takes for 55 people on a large bus to get on/off the bus, go to the bathroom, and have lunch. The $100 was the best money we spent.

We have taken several Globus Tours, as well as some Trafalgar. They are both similar and most of the time, if they have similar itineraries, you will find them staying in the same hotels. You might get both tour books and compare. Cosmos tours are the 2nd level of Globus (more budget) which is why the hotels are not always centrally located. It is important to look at the descriptions of what is or isn't included, so that you are not disappointed. Optionals are expensive and each person should determine what is important to them--taking an optional and what it includes for the cost or perhaps doing some investigating on ones own. We do both, when we take tours, and find that we enjoy our own investigating, as much or more than some who take all the optionals. But, to each his own. The more you know, before you go, the happier you will be when you get where you are going.

Check out Insight if you're worried about optional costs. They include some optionals that Globus and Trafalgar don't. These costs should be taken into account when comparing the actual total cost of the tour. <BR> <BR>If you want to do the same optionals on your own, they can be considerably cheaper, namely the 'by night' tours. I was on a TRafalgar tour and they were charging $30US to walk around the Roman sites. We did it on our own for the cost of transit and a glass of wine thrown in for a total cost of $5 pp. Think about what you're really getting on these optionals, some of them just aren't worth it.

To clarify, that was $30US pp vs. $5US pp.

Ilene, <BR> <BR>Globus does not have a message board, however if you go on Trafalgar's board there are a lot of messages about Globus. I took a globus tour and found that the hotel food was basically cooked for "Americans" - meaning bland so I ate out on my own. However, I did take two optional dinners and they were good. If you want to compare the price of optional tours, look on Parisvision.com. When I was in Paris a few years ago I took two of their tours and they were fine. If Giverny is one of Globus' optionals, both companies charge the same price. I'm going on Paris and Provence in less then two weeks and really looking forward to it. Cosmos is their sister company, however they do a more budget conscience tour. Have a great time.