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Costsaver vs Trafalgar
Compare the travel styles, pricing, destinations and popularity of Costsaver and Trafalgar.The Low Down
CostSaver is Trafalgar's affordable range of coach tours. Comparable to Cosmos in price and quality, their focus has always been on Europe and the UK, but have more recently launched a range of new itineraries in the US, Canada and South America. If you are looking for an affordable touring option, then CostSaver is a great option, and if you've travelled with any of its sister brands like AAT Kings, Trafalgar or Insight Vacations further savings are available.The price for that affordability - while all the must-see sights are included, there are lot of optional excursions which can add up quickly if you choose to do them all. If that's likely, perhaps a more inclusive Operator like Trafalgar or Insight is best. However if you like the freedom to explore on your own, and are after a relaxing and hassle-free holiday, then Costsaver is a great option.
Over 250 coach tours around the world, and one of our clients most popular Operators, Trafalgar is part of the Travel Corporation, which includes under its umbrella the sister brands of Insight Vacations, AAT Kings, Uniworld, Contiki & Costsaver. With a worldwide presence along eith local operations in Australasia for many years, you'll enjoy the company of many nationalities aboard your coach, including those from Downunder. Sitting between Insight and Costsaver, Trafalgar pride themselves in touring innovation, introducing 'Insider Experiences' (where you get to know and dine with the locals) and travel styles to suit those that prefer smaller groups or those that prefer a more leisurely itinerary.Look out for Trafalgar's Early-payment savings where you can enjoy significant savings on your trip as well as further savings if you are a past passenger on any of the aforementioned sister brands.
Stats
No. of Trips
94
No. of Departures
1,399
Avg. Trip Length
12 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$343
Accommodation
3 - 4 Star
Budget
Affordable
Trip Styles
Coach Tours
No. of Trips
348
No. of Departures
8,399
Avg. Trip Length
11 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$558
Accommodation
4 Star
Budget
Premium
In Their Own Words
We asked the travel companies themselves why you should travel with them
We know lasting travel memories don’t have to cost the earth. Our value tours cover all the essentials, while providing you the building blocks to tailor your dream holiday. We plan and include all the essentials – your quality transport, accommodation, sightseeing, many meals and the very best Travel Directors, leaving you the time to tailor your trip your way.
As an active founder and supporter of the TreadRight Foundation, you’ll travel confidently knowing we support the protection and conservation of the places we visit. We tread far, but always tread lightly. Having won the 5 star gold award for highest travel satisfaction, from the independent review provider FEEFO, you can be assured you’ll get an unbeatable holiday at an unbeatable price. Value is in our blood, and thanks to our Ready To Go Rate, you’ll be confident that when you book, the price you see is the best it’ll be. Travel the world without a hassle in the world.
We are the world’s leading and most awarded travel brand spanning all 7 continents of the globe. From the iconic to the unexpected our guests connect to the real depth of the places we go. They will break bread with the locals at our exclusive Be My Guest experiences and unlock local secrets of our Travel Directors and Local Specialists. Everything is taken care of, so they travel with true ease and get the real thing without worrying about a thing.
We consider how we can positively impact the communities we engage with. Through our JoinTrafalgar initiatives powered by TreadRight, guests don’t just leave footprints on the ground, but leave a lasting legacy for the betterment of locals and the future of their communities.
It’s 72 years of destination experience and feedback from over 5 million happy guests that fuels our innovation to continually delivery simply the best holidays.
Recent Reviews
4.4
Enjoyed my time on this tour....considering the heat and some places lacking AC or fans for the rooms. Had the most amazing tour guide...Joe...and bus driver...Kamil. These 2 made the adventure a pleasant one. My trip highlight was 100% the week spent in Ireland...lovely people, lovely food, lovely environment, amazing Guiness and Baileys on ice!!!
It was fabulous. Needed more time in Glasgow and Liverpool as we didn’t get to see much at all there.
Costsaver changes a bit disappointing 0
Panoramic Canadian Rockies
Mark and Janis, NSW, Australia, May 2026
We liked the more flexible nature of the Costsaver tour with options to join additional activities or arrange our own time. A couple of the hotels were disappointing and although not an inclusion many of the guests would have liked the hotel to be close enough to facilities to provide for breakfast. In Vancouver Island the hotel provided a breakfast read more room but we were not allowed to enter even to purchase a snack. Moving the hotel to Canmore when we were told we would stay in Banff was very disappointing we wouldn't have chosen this tour had we known at the time of booking. Bus and tour guide were very good. The new app for booking additional activities was always showing full when it wasnt. Needs work to be more dynamic.
Costsaver 15 Day Britain and Ireland tour 0
Britain and Ireland Experience
Paul and Patricia, SA, Australia, May 2026
Thanks to Tracy for looking after our booking with the Middle East conflict affecting the uncertainty of the tour. We had a great tour with only 20 people on our tour with plenty of room on the bus. The downside was having 20 on board some elected not to rotate with nothing being inforced. We had great commentary from our tour director Simmone of the read more history of the UK. Some of the optional tours were a bit expensive due to our dollar compared to the English pound and Euro. We had a record heat wave for May in the UK with only 2 days we had rain for half an hour on our optional walking tours which we accepted. The accommodation was good apart from Treacy's in Waterford being an Irish Pub. A couple of hotel meals were an inconvenience due to the hotels booking out dinners and the the hotels being out of town was not acceptable and treated as such. More time in Dublin would have been nice as we only had time to go to the Guiness factory with 8 of us doing the tour on our own which should have been part of the optional tours. If you want to see the UK Costsaver 15 day Britain and Ireland experience is worth considering.
Very well organized! We had an amazing Tour Director and coach driver. Nice to be able to sit back and enjoy.
I found the actual Costsaver tour absolutely amazing. I did all the optional extras and they were all well worth it. The only issue I had was with Global Journeys themselves, as I had 3 different agents and I didn't feel I was important once I had booked and paid for the tour.
4.6
The trip is organised around drivers hours, coach drop off and parking. None of which help my experience of seeing Europe. The "sell" to buy optional experiences takes place at the slowest part of the trip when you drive all day to spend an hour of time at a location, and you realise that you spent all this money and won't see anything.
The travel read more director made a great sell, and he was great and everybody's best friend. He was just like my buddy that sells cars. A slick positive guy that everybody likes. I don't know what his kickback is on the sell, but he pulled in an additional $100 thousand on the options for the bus. If you opt out of the optional experiences, they drop you off at a random spot and need to find your way to a meeting spot. I bought the options.
The places we go are the places the bus is allowed, not really the highlights. The best parts of the trip were when I took off to do my own thing. The logistics can be difficult and that was what I thought we were paying the travel director for, not going to places where the bus can go and people stay together so they don't get lost.
The local specialists should show highlights and let us see what is there instead of holding us back and together so we don't get lost, explaining in great detail one piece of art, or a room. Because of this detail, I did not get to see all of the castle, palace, Vatican Museum, roman Colosseum, etc. Let us see all of the highlights.
Another example was, there is a path through the Roman ruins, but we don't go there to see them, instead we walk the other direction to walk in a dirty back alley, slowly so we can get picked up by the bus. I could have walked through the ruins and been back in time to catch the bus at the pace they move if I had been given an option.
I am there to see Europe, not find a convenient place for them to pick me up. The hotels are good, but away from the things you want to see when you have time in the evening. I would recommend this trip to people that want to sit on busses, get out for an hour to buy souvenirs, shop, eat and drink, and you can now say you have been there. It is not for people that actively want to see Europe. This is the 5th month long trip I have taken, and the one I saw the least and cost 3 times as much as the other trips.
The travel read more director made a great sell, and he was great and everybody's best friend. He was just like my buddy that sells cars. A slick positive guy that everybody likes. I don't know what his kickback is on the sell, but he pulled in an additional $100 thousand on the options for the bus. If you opt out of the optional experiences, they drop you off at a random spot and need to find your way to a meeting spot. I bought the options.
The places we go are the places the bus is allowed, not really the highlights. The best parts of the trip were when I took off to do my own thing. The logistics can be difficult and that was what I thought we were paying the travel director for, not going to places where the bus can go and people stay together so they don't get lost.
The local specialists should show highlights and let us see what is there instead of holding us back and together so we don't get lost, explaining in great detail one piece of art, or a room. Because of this detail, I did not get to see all of the castle, palace, Vatican Museum, roman Colosseum, etc. Let us see all of the highlights.
Another example was, there is a path through the Roman ruins, but we don't go there to see them, instead we walk the other direction to walk in a dirty back alley, slowly so we can get picked up by the bus. I could have walked through the ruins and been back in time to catch the bus at the pace they move if I had been given an option.
I am there to see Europe, not find a convenient place for them to pick me up. The hotels are good, but away from the things you want to see when you have time in the evening. I would recommend this trip to people that want to sit on busses, get out for an hour to buy souvenirs, shop, eat and drink, and you can now say you have been there. It is not for people that actively want to see Europe. This is the 5th month long trip I have taken, and the one I saw the least and cost 3 times as much as the other trips.
We travelled as an extended family of 13 and, overall, really enjoyed the tour. Days 3 and 4 involved very long hours on a bus, which made for some uncomfortable days. A few of the hotels were located away from main attractions. During our free time we often had to catch taxis to get where we wanted to go, which added extra cost and reduced the convenience. read more
A few of the included dinners at the hotels were also a little unusual, with combinations such as a pizza slice and tempura and other bits and bobs that didn't feel very authentic or particularly appealing. The included lunches - such as the sushi making and the Hida beef lunch were you cooked your own beef on individual burners - were AMAZING! We loved the tour overall. It was well organised, we saw some wonderful places, and it was a great way to experience Japan. PS Japan is extremely hot and humid in July!
A few of the included dinners at the hotels were also a little unusual, with combinations such as a pizza slice and tempura and other bits and bobs that didn't feel very authentic or particularly appealing. The included lunches - such as the sushi making and the Hida beef lunch were you cooked your own beef on individual burners - were AMAZING! We loved the tour overall. It was well organised, we saw some wonderful places, and it was a great way to experience Japan. PS Japan is extremely hot and humid in July!
We loved this Trafalgar Trip of France. The Tour Director made sure everyone was happy, he sorted any problems and answered all of our questions. He had great knowledge about all the places we visited. The Coach Driver did an exceptional job manoeuvring the bus through some very tight streets. Both were very always polite, knowledgeable and helpful. read more
Grace from Global Journeys arranged our booking, she answered all our questions and rearranged things for us when we made changes to our trip or wanted add on with no fuss. Our trip went smoothly thanks to the professionalism of all involved.
Grace from Global Journeys arranged our booking, she answered all our questions and rearranged things for us when we made changes to our trip or wanted add on with no fuss. Our trip went smoothly thanks to the professionalism of all involved.
Very informative tour around Portugal 0
Best of Portugal
Fredrick and Liesl, WA , Australia, Jun 2026
Enjoyed the 10 day tour around some interesting cities in Portugal. Our tour director Rui had tremendous knowledge of the places we visited and all the local guides too were well informed. Rui was kind and treated us to the many flavours of Portugal, more than any other tour director had done and this was our 7 th tour with Trafalgar. All the hotel read more accommodation was 4 star, with wonderful selections of breakfast. Only one hotel hadn’t done a clean of the bathtub which was disgusting. Although our Australian contact Hannah, did a great job, and although she advised the Trafalgar team, in plenty of time prior to departure of my change of dietary needs, I was embarrassed at the welcome dinner when I was counted as a special diet.
It was such a great trip. Thanks to the excellent service from the tour director (Craig Hill) and the coach driver (George). Appreciated the stories and insights provided by the local guides. As well, enjoyed the friendly and fun travel companions on the coach bus. Overall, a memorable trip with laughter, memories and great company!
Beautiful Norway, a magical paradise. 0
Scenic Scandinavia and its Fjords
Faye and Dianne, WA, Australia, Jun 2026
Thank you so much Tracey for all your help in sending us off, worry free for a beautiful holiday with Trafalgar. We did the Scenic Scandinavia and its Fjords. We spent most of our time in Norway which has the most amazing scenery. Our mode of travel included bus train and boat. Our tour director David was a wealth of information on any subject or read more enquiry about this beautiful country. Nothing about this tour could disappoint.
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