The Baltic States, Russia & Scandinavia Reviews

This was a very good tour. It was fast paced as you would expect to cover many countries in a short time. We travelled from 3 August 2019 and the weather was very good - most days around 22 Celcius. It rained only a few times. We have travelled with other tour operators and this was our first Cosmos tour. Overall it was excellent and quite a few of ...read more the people in our tour had travelled with Cosmos previously. The accommodation was very good. Our tour leader and drivers were excellent.

The content of the trip was excellent, as were the optional excursions. It was necessary to purchase EVERY optional excursion to take full advantage of the trip, so bear that in mind when considering the overall cost of the trip. There was only one optional excursion (a 'feast dinner') that was disappointing. I would not recommend taking young children due to the pace, and I suspect not a lot to interest small children. Most people on our tour of 42 people were aged in the 50 to 75 bracket and most were 55 - 65 and from varying countries. All were English speaking and everybody got along well except for a few incidents, which is to be expected.

The trip was OK as I expected. Perhaps staying an extra day in Berlin would be perfect. We didn't have much time to explore this vibrant city at all. The rest of the Baltic States are amazing to explore. Thank you for organising such as nice trip.

What an amazing trip! We saw so much... every country had its own special highlights... never a dull day. Our tour director was excellent, so well organised and tuned into the groups needs. There were 44 altogether and we all got on so well, there seemed to be just the right mix of lunches/dinners together where we had opportunities to mix with the ...read more other tour members.

We were surprised to find the temperatures much higher than you would normally expect, but we all handled it well and our bus was always the correct comfortable temperature. Our bus driver was amazing... nothing was a problem for him and he had our bags inside our hotel in no time. All our hotel stays were convenient for us to do some exploration if we ever had some free time and our tour director was always in the lobby with maps and suggestions on how to best spend our time. It was simply an amazing trip... Thank you to all those involved in the planning of it.

The Baltics & Scandinavia trip was very good. Warsaw, the Baltic countries & Russia are amazing. The old town centres are picture postcard. We spent time in Scandinavia before & after the tour. It is a beautiful part of the world. Our tour had 42 people which was quite large. Would have been nice to have a few less as meeting so many new faces took ...read more time. Our tour guide had her hands full with such a large group. She worked tirelessly to ensure the smooth running of activities & extra visits. Meeting new people was a real highlight though as we have normally traveled by ourselves. Their were some seasoned travelers (some had done 3,4 or 5 cosmos tours before). Overall a great trip.

Some days there was a lot of driving & because of health & safety you were unable to move about the coach.Their was a toilet on board (it was tiny). We were discouraged from using it. Don't think it was ever used. Our courier fitted in as many comfort stops as possible.

It would have been nice to have an extra day in a few places but we new the itinerary before we left. 16 days was probably long enough for the tour as it was fairly full on. Some early starts. There are extra activities (and extra costs) such as visits to castles evening meals out. They do add up so do your sums (some are quite expensive & probably in hindsight not good value for money).

As in life, our travel experiences in this tour will be different for everyone and you make the best of it. We were fortunate that "making the best" out of our tour was made easier by our highly efficient and hard-working tour director Ausra. She has done her best and more to make sure that everyone was kept happy and all issues sorted out...not an ...read more easy feat for such a big group like ours. Thumbs up to Ausra- my "dream" tour guide. How Darius (our driver) managed to maneuver on all those narrow streets and alleyways in Berlin to avoid traffic was an experience in itself...nail-biting. Overall, I had ball with this tour and with my tour buddies...highly recommended. Special thanks to Yvonne for organising and making this trip a reality for me.

This tour was very good. The first four days were long but we saw a lot. The days crossing the Russian border were long due to delays of 3 & 4 hours at the border. Accommodation and included meals were very good. The tour leader was helpful and informative. Overall the tour exceeded my expectations but it would have been good to spend another day in ...read more Stockholm.

This tour was very good. The first four days were long but we saw a lot. The days crossing the RUssian border were long due to delays of 3 & 4 hours at the border. Accommodation and included meals were very good. The tour leader was helpful and informative. Overall the tour exceeded my expectations but it would have been good to spend another day in ...read more Stockholm.

Having now returned from this trip, I would prefer that some of the 2 night stays be allocated to Sweden and Finland. It will be worthwhile for Cosmos to consider a cruise option from Estonia to St Petersburg to avoid the border crossing. This was a long and excruciating travel period.

We had a very good time. Both the tour director and driver were excellent. The tour was fantastic with incredible sights, wonderful scenery and history thrown in to appreciate and inspire.

What a wonderful holiday with Global Journeys and Cosmos - you could not ask for any more on this trip. Very well arranged by Yvonne who we have booked through a number of times and are presently organising a further holiday with her.

We will travel with Cosmos again, the tour director Andre was best I have ever come across. Nothing was too much for him, patient, thoughtful with good sense of humour.

We had a wonderful time on the bus trip with a group with a wide range of ages and nationalities. Our tour director was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady who handled every situation with empathy and humour. We saw incredible sights and wondrous scenery. One of the most enjoyable trips I have had.

The tour director was excellent. Very organised and gave us excellent preparation and managed our expectations throughout our journey. Local guides were mixed. Some were outstanding In Stockholm, Tallin and Berlin but a couple could have been more engaging and inspiring particularly in Russia and Poland. There was a good mix of free time with tours ...read more and we were surprised with the quality of the hotels. Overall we had a great time and got a great overview of the countries we visited. Hannah at Global Journeys did a great job prior to leaving for Europe in making sure we had all the information we needed for visas and for packing.

Our Tour Director Gordana Grzic was excellent. She did everything to make us comfortable and satisfied in everything we needed; very informative and friendly. She is outstanding in the way she looked after the lot of us before, during and after the tour. For the amount of money we spent, our tour accommodation was very good although rooms of a couple ...read more of hotels were too small. Once we opened our luggage, there's no room left for us to move around the bed. The coach was very good. Some of the optional tours should have been included such as local sightseeing. A lot of us were disappointed we had to pay extra to do the local sightseeing. I also suggested that maps of each city about to be visited should be handed out to travellers, pointing out the locations of the hotel, ATM's, supermarkets, some nearby landmarks. That way, travellers can see where they will be in relation to the places they want to go as soon as they arrive at that place. I like the way they rotated the room mates for single travellers. I was very satisfied with Yvonne's service of the Global Journeys. She fixed everything for me and my friend who ended up cancelling her trip for health reasons. She assisted her in getting a refund from Cosmos, for which I am truly grateful. Yvonne ought to be promoted. (GJ: Did she put you up to that!)

We had a very good time. Both the tour director and the driver were excellent. The tour was fantastic, however it was a pain entering Russia. We were given visa exactly two days stay in St. Petersburg's. The tour director had to check all our visa again to make sure that the date was correct. It is expensive for a two days visa. Some of the group members ...read more said that they received the travel document quite late and had to pay extra to get their visa on time for the trip. Thanks to Yvonne we received our travel document well ahead. Thanks Yvonne for your diligent and first class service. We were apprehensive about booking our trip with Global Journeys because we are in Sydney and thus cannot have face to face contact. We are now happy and feel confident to book our travel with Global Journey again.