Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - tour co. for eastern europe

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tour co. for eastern europe

can anyone recommend a tour co. for eastern europe, budapest, prague, warsaw etc. have your traveled with grand circle tour co?

I have a more-or-less standing offer here to organize a "Fodorites' trip" to that part of Europe (I call it central - - europe extends much futher east than Poland and Hungary) - - in case that should interest you. It would be - - by definition and by virtue of my inexperience with that part of Europe - - a much more freewheeling kind of trip. And you could largely have the itinerary designed to your liking. Totally non-commercial, non-profit. May 2003? October 2002? Best wishes, Rex

mr cramer, i don't wish to alarm you, but please stop whatever you are doing and very quietly and calmly walk to the nearest door...that's good...now RUN LIKE THE WIND! RUN! RUN! RUN! DON'T LOOK BACK...JUST RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!!

Don, I have the Grand Circle Tour brochure and it looks interesting. However, I am going to suggest two alternatives. One is Paul Laifer Tours out of New Jersey. Basically all Laifer does is arrange the air, hotel, transfers, and 1/2 days tours in each city. The rest of the time is your own, and you can decide how many days you want to spend in each city. Frommer's gives this company very high marks. The second option is for you to go to these cities on your own. I have spent 9 days in both Prague and Budapest. I was in Prague in November and Budapest in March. I was able to make arrangements for both of these cities on my own, and had great success. I also arranged all day tours with private guides. Presently, I am planning a trip to Poland, however, I was told that Warsaw is only worth about 2 days of sightseeing, and that there is more to see in Krakow. Although I can't speak for Poland, you will have no problem sightseeing in Prague and Budapest on your own. Many of the shopkeepers, hotel personnel and restaurant staffs speak English. Lastly, you might want to look into also going to Dubrovnick, but of course, that depends on how many days you plan on spending in each city. Just a piece of advice, to do justice to Prague, you will need to spend 4-5 days there, and then you can make day trips to other sites such as Terezin, Kutna Hora, Cesky Krumlov, Karlovy Vary, Telc, etc. In Budapest, you will need at least 3 days, and then you can make day trips to Godollo, the Danube Bend, Szentendre, etc. It can be very crowded in these cities during the summer, so I suggest to go either in the early spring or mid to late October.

I have not traveled to eastern Europe,but plan to go next spring. These are two websites from which I as given and have received their brochures also. www.generaltours.com www.laifertours.com I like what I am seeing as some are independent and some more guided. Grand Circle has tours also but they seem to be much more directed, and for people over 70 as I was told by their tour office when I called. Hope this helps you. I would like to know if anyone has used any of these tour companies.

Check out smartours.com as we just returned from a Scandinavian trip with them, and they also do an eastern European tour. Our tour was excellent..good locations on hotels, decent meals, and a real bargain price. Much, much better than the large company we've traveled with in the past.

I'm also looking at Grand Circle for Eastern Europe. I traveled with them to Thailand in February and they did a fantastic job. My cousin recently went to Australia with GCT and couldn't say enough nice things. My tour group ranged in age from 55 to late 70s but this is typical of tour groups, at least any I've been on. Remember, most people on tours really want to travel and are up for it. Don't let the age "thing" discourage you unless you really want an independent tour.

Took a two week tour of Warsaw, Krakow, Zakopane, Budapest, Vienna and Prague last year with Tauck tours. It was excellent. All-inclusive tour with great hotels in great locations. Included side trips to Auschwitz and Birkenau - very moving! E-mail me if you want any further info.

Dear Mr Cramer, A further idea is to book with one of the big natinal companies that are well used to running tours for north Americans. I think of Orbis in Poland, www.orbis-usa.com/, and Cedok in Czechoslovakia, www.cedok.com/. But I admit that both websites are down today. Ben Haines

You really need at least 7 days to do Budapest justice. It is a wonderful city with a long and very interesting history. Over 70 museums, as well as the largest Parliament and the largest Synagogue on the continent.

We are going to Eastern Europe with a Rick Steves tour. Have traveled independently and with Rick's tours and enjoy his tours. We did a Grand Circle tour with friends 2 years ago. They love Grand Circle (they are a few years older then we are). We are in our 60's. The people on Grand Circle are definitely older, and shopping is high priority on their trips.

Do all these comments also apply to Slovakia?