I will be going with my sister for her 50th birthday next year along with our other sister. We are debating if we should take a land tour company to see the south of france (Provence and other areas) or should we just take a cruise from Spain to Italy? Has anyone used Globus or any other company that was good?
Thanks in advance for your comments.

You're not going to find a whole lot of bus tour dévotés on this site. Have you considered planning your own trip? Loads of people do it - and you get to do what YOU want to do, not what some tour company thinks you want to.

I've been on a Globus tour and it was very good. You just have to be sure the hotels are centrally located (they are on some tours and not on others). I've also been on a Grand European Tour and also liked that very much. I've heard good things about Insight, although I've never been on one of their tours, so you might want to check them out too.

Insight Tours were very good and be ready for an avalanche of people from this board telling you how awful tours are. Take it with a grain of salt, most of those people have probably never taken a tour.

Tours can be great, but at the same time they are not for everyone. If you are someone who likes to sleep late during your trip and stay in one place for days on end, tours are not the thing for you. If you like to see alot and do alot during your vacation, and you don't want to be bothered with worrying about reading maps, especially if it's in a foreign language you don't understand, you want all the hotels to be taken care of for you, then tours may be for you.

But, for some people, doing it on your own may be best. I personally like both for different areas of the world and depending on what mood I'm in.

But to answer your question, Insight Vacations, is very good, their hotels are located centrally and most of their tours have 2 night stays.

Whatever you decide to do, have a great time!

Something I like to do late at night in Paris is to stop at the "Place de la Concorde" on the way back to my room near the "Assemblee Nationale". The twin fountains and Oblisk are beautiful at night with the cascading water and soft lights. Often, while there I will see a tour bus circle the fountains slowly while the tour patrons take a photo of the fountains through the closed bus windows without even stopping. Then off they go to do the same at Arc de Triomphe. I am then left to walk along the Seine and over the Pont Alexandre III with the soft golden glow of the Eiffel Tower to my right in the midnight blue Paris sky. Geez, maybe I should take a bus tour next time.....nah....not in this lifetime.

Larry J

Contrary to rumors that tour operators keep the tourists in chains and make them travel as a group 24 x 7....it's not true...you have most nighs free, UNLESS, you choose to take an optional tour, and several days as well....but then again, how would I know?? Oh, that's right, I've actually taken a tour!

lyb -

I've taken both a tour (Scandinavia and St. Petersburg when that was the only real option for seeing Russia) and a "Package Tour" (2 weeks in London, Amsterdam and Paris - the first time I went to europe by myself). So I do have some experience.

I know that there are some people who prefer tours for the convenience that they provide. However, I think a lot of first-timers to europe assume they should take tours becuase going independently is too difficult or simply through a fear of the unknown. And for those people, its only right to point out the detriments as well as the benefits of a tour or package and how easy/enjoyable independent travle really is.

I'm glad I took an organized tour the first time to Europe, otherwise I may have never started traveling outside the country. I'm a nervous nellie type, and was overwhelmed with the 'ideas' I had about European travel, language barriers, etc. Our first trip (Trafalgar, 17 days) opened my eyes to a lot of things and got me over my fears (however unfounded they were).
Now we travel independently (only within western Europe so far) and my problem is overboard planning & research (b/c it's FUN).

However, if we decide to go to China I will definitely be taking a tour.