Focus on Scandinavia Reviews

Met some lovely people - all ages and nationalities, quite a few Australians - and shared experiences. For me this was a good time to travel in Scandinavia as the busy holiday season was over and I liked the cool climate. My first experience with a coach tour so although I am not sure if it is something I would do frequently it certainly was a way to travel as a solo woman.

A very enjoyable tour of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The highlight of the tour was Norway which is easily one of the most scenic countries that we have visited in recent years. We would have liked more time to explore Copenhagen and Stockholm as the optional excursions took up most of our time in those cities. The tour guide Jane and the driver Igor read more were excellent and the hotel accommodation value very comfortable. We particularly liked the Quality Straand hotel in Telemark and the Best Western hotel in Stockholm. The only shortcoming was the time spent on the coach. Perhaps extending the tour by one or two days and dropping Odense in Denmark and including a stop in Gotenburg would have made the tour more enjoyable. It's also a pity we did not drive across the Oresund Bridge.

Completed the tour in early July 2017, in general it is very good though there are scope for minor improvements. Highly recommended this one for people who don 't mind sitting on the coach most of the day enjoying the breathtaking beauty of the Nordic regions especially Norway 's u spoiled wilderness. Booking with Global Journey is always a top notch read more service, Yvonne Brooks is truly a champ!

A trip that was on my bucket list and am so glad I decided to go. Rather daunting doing it by myself but decided I have to get used to doing these type of things on my own since losing my husband. Having the transfer from the airport to the hotel on arrival was a great relief and I arrived a couple of days in advance of the tour just in case there read more was a hitch with the airlines. Biggest problem was not being able to read the signs especially on the ticket machines for the metro. Everyone spoke English once they realised you were looking at them blankly. The tour bus was comfortable though my poor knees didn't like the climbing up the stairs all the time. I made an effort to fit in from the first night by asking if I could join a couple at their for our first free dinner. We became good friends by the end of the tour. The travelling time was long but we had plenty of breaks every 2 hours for rest stops and food.

Norway was my favourite country as it was so pretty and even though it was their summer we came across snow which we could play in which was a bonus. There were 46 on the coach and the only negative was that in the 12 days we never got to know everyone as we had no 'meet and greet' at the beginning of the tour. Some of the travellers' were of different nationalities and were inclined to keep to themselves and unless you went up and approached a person and asked for their name you would not have got to know them. The hotel staff at all our stops were friendly and helpful and the rooms clean and comfortable.

The trip was better than expected. The itinerary was good. Coach new and comfortable. Tour director and local guide all excellent. Some hotels are in the city center. All hotels with excellent breakfast.

We really enjoyed our trip. There was a lot of driving most days but plenty of time for resting, looking around and enjoying the trip. Our guide Ausra was fantastic giving us clear instructions on what time we were due to get up, get out of the room, to have breakfast and departure time. We usually caught a nap in the bus at some point. We got two of read more the optional extras and didn't feel we missed out on anything. I'd never done a tour before and found it really great, especially not having to worry about our luggage on and off the bus. Breakfasts were really quite varied with fresh fruit, cereals and hot meals every day at the buffet. We managed to see a fair bit of Scandinavia which we would have found hard to do on a self-guided tour.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. The tour guide was extremely helpful and very friendly. The driver was well skilled and went out of his way to help with our drop-offs and pick-ups i.e he would drive as close as possible to the venue so we didn't have to walk very far from and to the bus, particularly when it was very cold or raining.

Suggestions: read more
1. The hotel in Copenhagen was too far from the city and the hotel restaurant had a very limited menu consequently most people on day one had to catch public transport into the city to have some dinner. Similarly with the hotel in Stockholm. Many people on the tour stayed extra nights and there were no restaurants or cafes around. The hotel was next to the domestic airport and there was a lot of traffic noise. I suggest in cases where travelers have to find their own meals, hotels should be within walking distance of a choice of cafes or restaurants, considering many people have limited choices because of food allergies.

2. Many of the hotels did not have tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms which was disappointing. A couple of hotels had tea and coffee making facilities on another floor consequently we couldn't relax in our rooms before or after dinner with a cup of tea. A few of the tour group were disappointed about this, particularly on long days when everyone was fairly tired.

The pace was fast but that was expected. The tour guide was knowledgeable, professional and experienced. I enjoyed the trip and gained a wonderful insight into the area.

This was our second tour with Cosmos & Globus through Global Journeys. We have really enjoyed them and will continue to book through you all.

This trip so educational and inspiring on how scandi history placed them as one of the most beautiful countries in the world today. High praises to our trip tour director Milos for being so professional in handling 54 different personalities and cultural background with grace and our very skillful driver Segui (hope i spelt it right) - nobody can drive read more the tricky streets than him. IMO, the highlights of the trips too many to mention as every place in svandinavia is beautiful, unique and different in many ways. I was impressed with the millions of bicycles in Copenhagen, the zealand castles old tapestries the stories behind them; the thousand sculptures in oslo parks, thousands of electric cars and breathing views of the pfords and the story behind the Nobel peace price in Norway; to the old town pieces of history of Sweden and amazing harbour building architectures.... all are mind blowing indeed! T'was a dream come true adventure.... thank you Cosmos for the fantastic journey!

Very well organised tour with great guide (Nikola) and driver (Igor). First time travelling with escorted tour and certainly enjoy to have all the accommodation/breakfast/transport sorted out by Cosmos. We are allowed plenty of free time to explore cities in the afternoon and also gets to decide what to eat for lunch, which was good. The optional tours read more are well worth going - the one we have been to are great - including Zealand Castle, Mount Floyen, Vasa Museum. The scenery was beautiful , weather great (which was a bonus), and good mix of people from all over the world (US, Australia, Philippine, Hong Kong, UK)!

Nice enjoyable holiday and great views of Norway countryside especially the Fjords and Zealand castle (Copenhagen) visit were our highlights. Well organised and run but long hours in coach. Good local guides. Areas for improvement - the hotel in Telemark ran out of hot water in middle of shower. Payment for Optional tours on site need to be better read more organised & some comfort stops were really rushed (I suspect this is to make up for lost time).

A great trip. Great operator as first time user of Cosmos. Accommodation was very good. Our tour guide was fantastic. Long days in the coach but we wanted to see everything there. Expensive for food items and drinks. Great scenery. Highly recommend to all.

Global Journey consultants are so professional and helpful in the way they handled my booking from the start till the end. Lily K. was a lovely, knowledgeable and professional tour Coordinator. Vradal is so peaceful and beautiful! And I loved travelling on the zig-zag mountain roads in Norway. Everything was great. Thank you and would love to join read more your company for another trip in the future. All the best.

Global Journeys online bookings were very good and would choose them again. We were very fortunate with the weather and would recommend spring time for this tour. Accommodation and meals supplied were very good. Tour guide and fellow passengers very friendly and got on well together. There were too many great sights and places visited to pick one out read more above the rest. A couple of days for me were too long, travelling too far. The on board toilet was permanently locked, preventing any access.

I thought that tour was good value, excellent tour staff. The long distances needed to be covered to be able to see the most fantastic scenery. Autumn was a perfect time with mix of colors in the mountains. Thought tour could also have started in Oslo. I had a great time and looking to see where I will venture next.

Our tour guide was brilliant and our driver superb, We would never have seen so much without them. Baggage service was awesome and the accommodation as good as could be expected for the price.

Prepare to be stimulated! Eye opening. Tour director was nice to everybody and but did talk for hours. She said more than enough to stimulate our interest and read too much data from her crib sheet. She was a nice person. Hotels were nice and central and breakfasts were good but first hotel and last hotel were a long way from the city. The first was read more close to the international airport but the second was way out at the domestic airport.

Denmark, Norway and Sweden are so beautiful, everyone should visit these places. There are few days bus rides are really scenic drives, especially the one from Telemark to Bergen, I went during the month of May (16May to 27May) and there are still so much snow, half frozen lake, river, during one stop I got to play with snow and walked on the snow, read more it is just a wonderful experience. Hotel quality is very good except couple locations are too far away from the city centre (Copenhagen hotel and Stockholm hotel), it would be nice that more dinner can be included so save your time to look for food at night.

Tour was great, but some hotels, like Copenhagen and Stockholm, were too far out of town to do things on your own, so you were more or less obliged to join the optional tours.