Irish Discovery Reviews

This was my fourth tour with Cosmos and the best. Perhaps it's because I'm biased because Ireland is my favourite country. If I wasn't so darned old I would do it again but a bit later in the year when there would less fog.

This tour is fast but gives you ideas for a future visit of both Ireland's which can be done at your own pace. I intend taking my wife and parents back in the next few years as the scenery is magnificent and I would not have known except for this tour. Global Journeys and in particular Leanne took the hassle out of organising everything.

This is the first tour I have been on. My tour consultant at Global Journeys answered many questions that I had before booking and also before leaving. Right at the start of the tour there was a hiccup as our first nights hotel had been changed just the night before - this was not Cosmos doing but the hotels. After that things were great. We had a ...read more great tour guide and driver. The tour guide gave us so much information and history which helped me to enjoy and understand Ireland more. The optional extras were great. There was a good variety of things to do and see. Each days travel was broken by stops at different places to see, photograph, shop and explore. It was a great tour and I would use the same company again if I want to go touring again. I would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see as much of Ireland as possible in a short time.

A good way to see Ireland without the hassles. Everything is organised from transport to accomodation to activities. The optional tours allow you to pick and choose what interests you or have the opportunity to have some down time.

I enjoyed it. The places we stopped at, the views we saw and the history we learnt was fantastic. I particularly loved the Giants Causeway, the Ring of Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher and Galway. I would recommend doing the optional extras that you are interested in doing. I enjoyed the tradional irish caberet dinner for the Irish dancing and comedian, the ...read more Titanic Quarter, Muckross House for the history, the Siamsa Tire National Folk Theatre performance to see some local performers and the Tamore pub evening for the sing-a-long. The tour was easy to book with responses from Global Journeys prompt. The bus driver George was funny and courteous. The tour guide Barbara was fantastic. She had so much knowledge and patience. I learnt a lot about the origin of the names of towns and not only past history but current events. The tour pace is quick. You have breakfast at 7pm and are in the coach ready to go at 8am or 8.30am until 5pm. If you do some of the optional extras at night it can be a long day. You get plenty of time to shop as well. You also make some good friends.

Great tour. I loved that I was able to see both Northern Ireland and Ireland all in the one tour. I especially enjoyed seeing the west coast with such amazing scenery. Carmel, our tour guide, was lovely and told us so much information that you wouldn't find in an ordinary guide book.

Fantastic tour. Surpassed all we expected of it. The Cosmos tour director Stewart and coach driver Garry were superb and made our holiday extra special. We made a lot of new friends from all over the world and We're planning our next tour already once the visa's paid off. Leanne at Global Journeys set it all up beautifully for us and we're really grateful ...read more to her.

A very well considered tour encapsulating a great cross section of what Ireland/Northern ireland is about. The outstanding guide was a walking/talking encyclopaedia of his country with an excellent sense of humour.

Ireland put on it's best for us weather wise. What a beautiful country with so much history. Hilary, our guide, was excellent. As a born n bred Irish lass was a wealth of information who imparted her love of her country to us. I would not hesitate to recommend this tour.

Great value for money - very well run tour. Tour guide Allie & driver George were excellent and very professional. Accommodation was great and as expected apart from first night in Dublin where we would not stay at that hotel again. In saying that, some people had the renovated section which was good and some (us and a couple of others) had the un-renovated ...read more section which was not so good. Excursions were excellent. Will travel with Cosmos again in the future.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with a great bunch of people. Both the tour director, Mary and bus driver were excellent. The tour director's knowledge of the country was amazing and the driver went out of his way to look after us and ensure our safety. On our departure he even walked us to our terminal to make sure we didn't get lost. We would and have ...read more recommended Cosmos to our family and friends.

We enjoyed the whole package. This was a great way to get a taste of beautiful Ireland. The whole tour went off without a hitch thanks to the well organised booking through Global Journeys. Our tour director set a relaxed atmosphere at the start and the whole group got on well together. The coach driver was friendly and helpful. The coach was comfortable ...read more and all the accommodations were clean and comfortable. The itinerary was a good pace with no boring bits in it. We would recommend this tour to first time visitors.

I suggested to Tom (our tour guide) that a preliminary 'breaking the ice' session would have been helpful but even so we got to know each other on the tour quite well and personally I found everyone courteous and helpful. Due to flight bookings I missed the first tour of Dublin but found that accommodation at the Regency had been booked for the previous ...read more night (of which I was unaware) as this hadn't been made clear to me when the booking commenced. Due to my later arrival I also missed out on the Cosmos transit bus but was able to get a local bus for E3.20 instead of a taxi - perhaps you can add that to your choices. After the visit to Muckross House we were able to enjoy a quiet drink and soak in the scenery - just a little relief from the pace of the tour. We all expressed admiration for Gregory the coach driver for his expertise and unflappable courteousness and this added to the overall pleasure of the tour. One female tourist wouldn't give up her window seat which caused a 'compulsory' (but very pleasant) introduction to new travelling companions. Tom was a very knowledgeable guide but his 'Irish' humour sometimes wasn't understood but he handled difficult situations very professionally. The hotels were first class but I found that showers in the bath very challenging - the food plentiful with a good variety.

The tour was well organised and the tour guide well informed of his country. He was helpful and attentive. Some of the hotels could have been better, but then it was Ireland and some of the hotels in the towns were older hotels. We appreciated that not all dinners were catered for in the price, but we're not informed until after we had booked that some ...read more of the excursions listed were extras and needed to be paid for at a cost that was quite high. The experience of these optional dinners/evening performances made a difference to the variety of the tour. Overall we had a great tour. Thanks.

Tour was full on and our tour guide Liz was so informative and our coach driver George was brilliant. Highly recommend, you see and hear so much about the history and legends of Ireland. Only negative was I wasn't fully aware of all the extra costs involved. eg. Blarney Castle was part of the tour but not the entry into it. A group photo is done but ...read more we are not told there is a cost if you want it. The group I was with were mostly mature aged (well over 45) bar 3 people and you would need to be fairly physically well, as there is some walking involved and a lot of getting in and out of the coach steps. Hotels were basic and the food was good.

Guide and driver were very good and 7 out of 8 hotels were excellent, my only complaint was that one of the seats 2 forward from the rear of the coach was incorrectly adjusted which did not leave anyone using the seat enough leg room, however the rear seat behind the troublesome seat had so much legroom it was like business class. Using seat rotation ...read more many passenger of above average height were not happy. It was merely a case of the coach company not getting the seat spaces right. Just for info the taxi cost from Dublin airport to first hotel is approx. 18 Euro's and from City center approx. $20

Thank You to Ally Carr our guide and to Micky the driver. We had a fantastic time with a great group of people. This was our first time overseas and they made it so much fun. Ally is so knowledgeable on anything Irish and certainly loves her country. We got to experience parts of Ireland that were spectacular and the brilliant Irish sense of humour. ...read more Would not hestiate in touring with Cosmos again.

We went on two tours the first in September, doing the Irish Explorer tour. Both the Director Kevin Murphy and Jim the coach driver were very professional. This tour was all that we expected, great hotels, fantastic knowledge for the different counties. Kevins poems, short stories and songs made it a trip to remember. The optional tours were well balanced. ...read more Our second tour in October 15 was European Masterpiece , this tour was just as fantastic, a credit to the Cosmos staff.

Had a great time and both tour quide and bus driver were wonderful. Tour guide was very informative, chatty, funny and willing to help in anyway possible and both driver and guide made tour very easy to enjoy. Would have liked a little more time at some attractions and perhaps a little more personal time for shopping etc and some of the hotels did not ...read more give you information their facilities (i.e. how showers worked, control of heating). Would like to travel again with Global/Cosmos tours as this tour was more than we had hoped for and the tour consultant was very helpful with all questions and extras required in conjuction with tour. Tour information and tickets and extras very complete and well presented when received in useful folder.