The British Isles in Depth Reviews

This was my 4th Cosmos tour and value for money they offer is great. People on tour were all Aussies except 4 kiwis and were great too. Coach driver Ian was a fantastic driver and Rosalie was outstanding in taking care of us. My first tour was more than 20 yrs ago and I am still very impressed with them and would not travel with anyone else.

Having done a Cosmos tour previously and loved it, we were hoping this tour would live up to the first. It certainly did, we loved everything about it. The guide and driver were wonderful, our tour guide (Tom) was extremely professional and his knowledge was amazing. The hotels were mostly brilliant, a couple were just satisfactory but I have no complaints ...read more about anything. Loved it from start to finish.

Great trip thanks for organizing everything. Everything went like clockwork, not one hicth. Tour director (Gavin) was superb and the coach driver (Clive) was brilliant the way he drove the coach on some of those up country roads. Thanks a lot.

My first group tour. Didn't realize how elderly the group would be but all good enough people. Didn't really get the chance to meet any locals as there were limited short free times. Discovered that mass Chinese tourists have overtaken German ones as the rudest. A sightseeing only tour that satisfied that criteria. Weather was OK in July. Many sites ...read more overcrowded. Airports unable to cope with 800 seat planes and higher security. Guides and drivers very good. Cosmos and Global Journeys were very efficient. Food pretty average but acceptable for Britain. Hotels acceptable.

Our tour director Catherine, was exceptional. Knowledgeable and organising skills were brilliant. We did not enjoy the visit to a 'Pub Evening' at Tramore. The description was one of joining locals at a traditional Irish pub. We were the only people there! They gave us a small pack of crisps handed out from a plastic bucket. The entertainment was from ...read more one rude, self obsessed 'singer/guitarist' (of very poor standard.) Worst evening of our tour.

Our tour guide, Christina, was excellent. She had enormous knowledge of the places that we visited, as well as the history, culture, current affairs issues, trivia and even some great jokes. She was very friendly and helpful. The tour bus and driver were excellent. The hotels and meals were very good. We saw so much on this tour.

Our Driver Rob & Guide Tara were sensational. Relief driver's were great too. It was a fantastic tour with a great bunch of people. Lots of wonderful memories have been made and some sensational places seen. I would happily book another tour with Global Journeys.

A few disappointments with accommodation places lacking a bit of maintenance. i.e. loose ...read more toilet seats, taps in basin loose, only spare power point in wall falling out and it would be nice to have a fridge in the hotel rooms as us Aussies like to drink our drinks cold not warm. The return night in the Holiday Inn in Kensington was disappointing as we were squeezed into a room that you couldn't walk around the bottom of the bed, You had to squeeze between it and the wall. Most of the guests on our tour had the same sort of rooms for the last night.

This Cosmos tour didn't disappoint, always happy to travel with Cosmos. Ireland was our favourite place could have been better if more time in Ireland. But on a whole excellent scenery and stops.

This tour gave me a general insight into the British Isles. I started this trip in the middle of March which was still a bit cold but the scenery was absolutely green and beautiful. The coastlines, buildings and castle ruins are wonderful. All the hotel accommodation were well appointed and the food (included breakfast and dinner) were of good quality. ...read more Our tour director, Dominic, was very knowledgeable which made the tour more enjoyable. Graham, our driver, took good care of us with his safe driving. A comfortable and enjoyable tour.

No real negatives as long as you were prepared to 'go with the flow' on a very long, diverse trip. Would have been good to have had the Cosmos paperwork earlier (not in the last week, when we had already departed for a stopover on the way over) albeit got it on email in UK.

The overall trip was fantastic...travelling as a solo person for the first time, was a bit scary, but the other travellers were great, and very inclusive of me. Loved the different kinds of accommodation, even if beds were somewhat old, the character and ambience was special...reminded us of Faulty Towers ie Fiona, our tour operator was the best. ...read more Patient, amusing, always so helpful (put up with a bit from "precious" travellers... always a step ahead, full marks to her. Loved her Irish accent too. Food over all was very good, although the Irish are not known for their food! Saw so much of GB, we were on the go with early starts and long days, but how do cover such a big area without doing that.

The only negative for me was the Loch Ness cruise... not worth the money, boat operator just repeated the dialogue we had prior to boarding! And time of night heading to dark, and the few tumbled down relics of castle, well, didn't do anything for me in spite of historical relevance. I would definitely travel with Cosmos again, when I save my $. Yvonne Brookes at Global Journeys was helpful too..not everybody is computer literate!

Our guide, Michael, was excellent displaying great knowledge, especially of the history attached to the places visited. Michael's presentation was made with great humour and presented the right amount of facts to be interesting and never boring. Our driver, Andy, was careful and courteous so that we felt relaxed and content. Because there were so ...read more many places visited, a bonus as far as we were concerned, one could not expect to see and do everything in all of these places but it was great way to get an overview to decide which parts of the British Isles we might visit again to do in depth. What we enjoy about touring with Cosmos is that the company seems to strike the right balance between the organised part of the tour and the free time given to us to explore on our own the many places of interest.

This tour had a top Tour Leader, Michael, & an extremely competent Tour Driver, Andy, who together were marvellous. Michael was amazing with his extensive knowledge & sense of humour in sharing this knowledge with us. The Coach performed well & the Hotels were fine. Of course some were better than others & some were a bit too far out of town. The breakfasts ...read more were good & where there were included dinners, all were very good, especially when a buffet was offered. The optional excursions were well planned & those I chose were interesting. Scotland turned on the best weather for us & looked sensational. I would have enjoyed a little longer in Wales as what we saw was lovely but barely spent 2 days there. Cornwall, as well, was rushed, only spending 1 day there. All in all though, I had a really good trip & would recommend it to my friends.

Had a great time with everything taken care of. Our Tour Guide was fantastic as so the Coach Driver. A couple of Hotels were below average and same with a couple of meals. One thing that bothered us we were getting single beds night after night until we mentioned to Gavin was taken care after that. Could not understand why a married couple was given ...read more single beds. Other than a few little things we had a fantastic time with us being taken care of and enjoying the lovely United Kingdom.

The military tattoo is the highlight of this tour. We found 24 days on a coach was a bit long, we have done a max. of 14 days a few times before, would keep it under 20 days in the future. We had a full bus with 41 x aussies & 6 x American's, no other country's. Tour guide was great, loads of knowledge & great info, thanks. Accommodation varies from ...read more average 2 star up to fantastic 4 star, same as the meals, some poor, some great. Double nights in the one city was very good ( around 6) , to unwind, do nothing, or tour if you like. Other tourists on our coach were very good, no late one's, no loud mouths & no wingers, everyone got on great, thank you. We will tour with Cosmos again, price is good, accommodation good, meals o.k. & tour guides are excellent. We have done 4 tours with them now, thank you.

Our tour was what we had expected. The two night stop overs were welcome, gave you a chance to relax after the one night up and go. The tour guide was a walking encyclopaedia regarding British history and his knowledge of how it related to all the places visited was very impressive. The group were all friendly and fitted in well together.

This was a wonderful trip, everyone had a great time and we were blessed with the weather. Accommodation was good and our guide was very informative. Would definitely book with Global Journeys again and travel with Cosmos.

Overall it was a fantastic holiday, beautiful experience, amazing scenery, great group of people and the tour guide gave us so much information. The tour guide Kevin Murphy was very friendly and knew the history of all the areas we visited very well. We were amazed at his memory on all the historical dates. The driver was very good and quite friendly. ...read more The accommodation was quite nice and comfortable in most places except in the last hotel, the Kensington Hotel, the bedroom was so small we could hardly get around the other side of the bed. As far as the highlight of this trip, I think every where we went was a highlight because it was so pretty, very historical and breathtaking. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone who is thinking of visiting the UK. I actually think this tour should be advertised as a 21 day tour because the first 2 days the people are free to do their own things and the last day nothing happens. The tour actually concludes on day 23 because day 24 people depart.

Everyone on tour including us were very disappointed with the "Kensington Close Hotel". The rooms were very small and poky-the toilet was very poky-had to back into it. Everything was very expensive and the hotel in general were very " up themselves". Would not recommend this hotel to anyone. On the other hand the "Dorsett Inn" at Shepherds Bush ...read more was very good-very friendly and very good food and reasonably priced.

I had a wonderful time. Our tour director Tara was a wealth of information on British History and so caring with all her charges. Coach driver George was excellent as well as both stand in drivers. Some of it a little fast paced but to see everything we saw in the time allotted it had to be this way. The coach travelled off main roads giving us the ...read more opportunity to see lots of country villages and scenery. The weather was wonderful for the most part. I was a little disappointed in some of the optional excursions e.g.. the so called 'Pub Experience' saw us in a room at the Irish Pub with the door closed so as to not disturb the locals! Nothing wrong with the entertainment but it was supposed to be an experience with the locals. I probably wouldn't bother with the Jaunty Horse Ride at Killarney or the Barge Ride given the benefit of hindsight. However having said that it was a great tour.