Holiday in Europe - tour or self guided

Although I haven’t done a tour before I’m in the "plan your own" camp.
I have a friend who does an Intrepid tour every year & more often than not he comes back with stories about a couple of annoying types in the group that sort of spoil it for everyone & also the amount of travelling.
He normally stops in Thailand or somewhere similar for a holiday to get over the holiday.
When we went on our European honeymoon for a month we went to a travel agent who was very well travelled in Europe & she gave us great advice about how long to spend in each city & where to stay given our budget.
It was amazing
(I love Italy too :))
 
This is where we're staying in Barcelona:

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/753322

I'm looking forward to spending 10 nights there. We've booked similar places in Rome and Venice.

One of the advantages with airbnb is that you get to meet at least one local and pick their brains about local stuff to do as well as the usual tourist stuff.
 
we went twice to europe and both time we booked it ourselves.

I downloaded google earth, and zoom in around places that we had plan to visit. and then clicked on bed icons... we booked all our accommodation using that method.

Not only, it was cheap, but it was convenient as we didnt had to travel far to see things!

Feel free to PM me, if you want hotel list.

We stayed on La rambla to avoid any traveling issues, right next to McDonald!
 
I am off to Europe for the 4th time this Sat...I am doing a tour of Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

For this particular part of the world...my preference was to do a Tour. The 13day tour is costing me $1800 dollars. It is Cosmos Tours...but on this particular tour...most hotels are 3.5 - 4 stars (need a good standard hotel in Eastern Europe as they are typically about half a star less then comparables here). I also get 4 dinners and 12 buffet breakfasts.

We are also am doing some touring on our own...but just organising this was a major pain in the ar$e. Booking trains and flights requires a lot of work...I would rather just enjoy my holidays.

Organized tours in countries outside of the major European cities (London, Paris, Rome, London, etc.) is better ..just make sure the pace is comfortable. You need to spend at least 2-3 days in a city.
 
Eastern Europe is generally pretty affordable. We're travelling through Europe next year and the hotel we've narrowed down for Istanbul is ~$50/night including a good-sized breakfast and is right in the centre of all the attractions. Have fun on the tour :)
 
cimbom said:
Eastern Europe is generally pretty affordable. We're travelling through Europe next year and the hotel we've narrowed down for Istanbul is ~$50/night including a good-sized breakfast and is right in the centre of all the attractions. Have fun on the tour :)
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Love Turkey!!! Make sure you stay in the Sultanahment area, that's where all the action happens!
 
That's a good price Sash. You'll love it. I did Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia/Herzegovina, Bosnia and Croatia last year on an Intrepid tour. Amazing.
Loved all my Intrepid tours.
I do organise my own trips too but sometimes it's just nice to let someone else do it.

Love Turkey. We stayed in the Hali hotel in Istanbul. Older hotel but the view is amazing.
 
sash said:
Organized tours in countries outside of the major European cities (London, Paris, Rome, London, etc.) is better ..just make sure the pace is comfortable. You need to spend at least 2-3 days in a city.
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How come? Europe - even the far east is pretty easy to travel around. Plenty of trains, buses and cheap airline carriers. Even in Albania it's easy enough to flag down a minibus or donkey cart.

Cheers

Jamie
 
Yes...the excitement is building......I plan to do one big trip and one small trip every year!

travelbug said:
That's a good price Sash. You'll love it. I did Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia/Herzegovina, Bosnia and Croatia last year on an Intrepid tour. Amazing.
Loved all my Intrepid tours.
I do organise my own trips too but sometimes it's just nice to let someone else do it.

Love Turkey. We stayed in the Hali hotel in Istanbul. Older hotel but the view is amazing.
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This takes too much time....this is a commodity I have increasingly very little of these days. I like 3.5-4 star is standard as I like my comforts...though the stars there are a 3-3.5 star here.
Jamie M said:
How come? Europe - even the far east is pretty easy to travel around. Plenty of trains, buses and cheap airline carriers. Even in Albania it's easy enough to flag down a minibus or donkey cart.

Cheers

Jamie
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