We have traveled with Insight Vacations several times and think they are great. They have knowledgeable guides, mostly well-located hotels and utilize a roomy 40-seat passenger coach (extra legroom that my hubby prefers) with washroom.

I found a similar itinerary with Grand European Tours which interests me since it includes an additional city that I’d like to see, but wonder if we are compromising quality if we go with GET. We are looking at Vienna, Budapest and Prague plus Salzburg.

My question: Has anyone been on both Insight and Grand European Tours who can provide any input or feedback regarding GET's guides, hotel quality AND location, dinner quality, etc. I very much appreciate and welcome your thoughts!

I have never been on an organized tour to Europe as we travel independently. However, very good friends of ours went on a GET and were very disappointed with it.

Since you know and like Insight tours can't you do the extra city on your own, either before or after your tour?

I have thought about that but have wondered about GET for some time and am interested to hear how they stack up. Another thought is that if we do Salzburg on our own, we would likely need to also get to Munich for our return flight - doubt it would be a good connection from Salzburg to US gateway.

HappyTrvlr - thanks for your input.

"Another thought is that if we do Salzburg on our own, we would likely need to also get to Munich for our return flight "

So? It's 90 minutes by train, direct, 19 euro on a saver fare.

[For timetables: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml
For info on European train travel: http://www.seat61.com/index.html ]

"Another thought is that if we do Salzburg on our own, we would likely need to also get to Munich for our return flight "

I think you can use the Bayern pass between Salzburg and Munich for about E30 for up to 5 people. The pass also allows use of Munich public transportation for the day it's valid. Very easy.

Why don't you give a link to the two tours and people can take a look at them and compare them. But perhaps you've done this yourself. There may be reasons why Insight is better.

Can you look and research on trip advisor? Maybe there will be answers on there. People on here are mostly independent travelers.

Adrienne: thanks for your suggestion to post the links.

http://www.getours.com/tours/vienna-...budapest-tours

http://www.insightvacations.com/us/e...e-preview-2014


thursdaysd: i appreciate your info on the train. Sounds easier than I thought!

I will also do some additional research on TripAdvisor.

There is such limited sightseeing included on both tours you're basically paying for transport and accommodation. Any special reason you want a tour? Those cities are very easy to do yourself.

Language would be a factor for us in some of these locations. maybe we will travel independently next time.

Language is really not an issue. I speak English and some bad French, and had no trouble in any of those cities. But if you really want a tour just for accommodation and transport you might look at Gate1 as well.

<< Language would be a factor for us in some of these locations >>

If you're concerned about not speaking the local languages what will you do during your free time?

As thursdaysd point out, most of the time you will not have the guide with you. If this is the only reason to take a tour I suggest a tour that offers more guided time than these do.

English is the lingua franca in Europe. What would a Dutch person do in Hungary if he/she does not speak Hungarian? They would speak English. The same is true for all other nationalities. English is spoken in Europe not only for native English speakers but for the rest of the world as well.

Even 20 years ago I had no trouble speaking only English in these locations.

Language is a non-issue. There are some valid reasons to take tours . . . but the language difference is not one of them IMO (especially on those 2 specific tours since you are on your own so much)

Insight and GET are part of the same group The Travel Corporation.

You can usually get a fairly good idea by looking at the specific hotels they list. Are the Grand European as good/close to the center as Insight?

We didnt have any trouble finding English speakers in Czech Republic and Austria.