Globus Tour -- Switzerland at Leisure
As my 11 day bus tour of Switzerland with Globus approached, I began thinking about the possible bus mates I would have. I was already going with seven other friends, but the makeup of the bus can make or break your vacation. I was very pleasantly surprised. Since our group was made up in age range from 21 – 65, we were hoping to have a varied group to complement our group. We did. We had a family with teenagers, several young singles in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, a few family duos and several couples ranging from 50’s – retirees.
Everyone was friendly and we got along very well.
I was also very pleased at the accommodations that we had. All the hotels were very centrally located which made it very easy for us to stroll at night or during the day when we had some free time. The rooms were very nice. At some of the hotels we even had balconies. All the hotels offered a large and varied buffet breakfast ( equivalent to breakfast on a cruise.) There was no way that you could walk away hungry . Staying at only three hotels in 11 days does take the edge off of packing and unpacking every night and it does make for a more relaxed vacation.
Globus has a very good system for rotating seats on the bus. The tour guide explained the daily rotation system that they use, therefore everyone gets to sit in the prime location front seats and everyone gets the dreaded back of the bus. There was no arguing and running onto the bus as soon as it arrived. It made for a very pleasant bus ride.
This trip was labeled “at leisure.” We were always busy. The down time that was listed in the brochure was filled in with extra excursions to complete the trip. Yes, you did not have to go and you could have some more leisure time, but I figured I will only be here once and some of the offerings I really did want to see. I decided that if the excursions had something extra to see I would do it, if it was only another Swiss meal I would pass. The reason, I picked this tour was for the itinerary. I was very pleased about the tour itself. We definitely did see most of Switzerland. Starting out in Zurich – went north up to the German border – west to the capital, Bern near France and south to Zermatt in which you can see the highest Alps of the country. The only part of the country the tour was missing was the southern tip adjacent to Italy. My group did the 3-day pre stay that Globus offered. It was well worth the extra money. We were able to see all of Zurich at our own speed and we even spent a day going out to the traditional Appenzell region which is the western most part of Switzerland adjacent to Austria.
We used every mode of transportation that Switzerland has to offer. Trolleys, small cable cars, standing room only cable cars, trains, cog rails, ferries and of course a tourist bus. This tour allowed us to interact with native Swiss people, to experience their culture and to see what is is like to live in their country. We found out a lot about their customs. Sitting on a tour bus all day and going only to the designated tourist attractions would not offer you this. Globus had townspeople, at two of our stops, give us local walking tours. I do commend Globus on their varied itinerary.
One negative was the included meals and of those on the excursions. We were not given a choice. The meals were pre – set and after a few of them I did get tired of just beef and veal and swiss pasta or fondue. There are more than enough restaurants in every town that we visited to eat in. We did have to find them ourselves, since our tour guide would not really give us any names if we didn’t join her on the extra excursion dinners. Many nights we joined others from our group who also did not go on the pre- arranged dinners. We went with their suggestions that they were given at home or we asked reception at the hotels.
The only other negative that we found with this tour was that my group would have liked more time at many of the stops. We spoke to the tour guide and she told us she would do
the best she could in changing the length of each stop. It would depend on how much we had to do that day. This negative would be found with any bus tour though. Each day is jammed packed. This is why many people go traveling on their own. Although we would never would have seen so much of Switzerland as we did on our own.
Switzerland has a bad rap about how costly everything is. I found dinners to be about the same price I would pay for a dinner at home in New Jersey or in New York City. I spent an average of sixteen – thirty dollars depending on what you ordered. Bottled water is quite costly about $3.00 per bottle, but I found that you don’t need to buy it – tap water was one of the best I have tasted – equal to NYC. Transportation was also equal to large city prices. You can buy an all day pay in which you can use any trolley, train or ferry within the city. Swiss Rail prices are the same as New Jersey Transit.
All in all, I would highly recommend going to see Switzerland. It is a beautiful country at any time of year and definitely use Globus.
Sherry L
As my 11 day bus tour of Switzerland with Globus approached, I began thinking about the possible bus mates I would have. I was already going with seven other friends, but the makeup of the bus can make or break your vacation. I was very pleasantly surprised. Since our group was made up in age range from 21 – 65, we were hoping to have a varied group to complement our group. We did. We had a family with teenagers, several young singles in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, a few family duos and several couples ranging from 50’s – retirees.
Everyone was friendly and we got along very well.
I was also very pleased at the accommodations that we had. All the hotels were very centrally located which made it very easy for us to stroll at night or during the day when we had some free time. The rooms were very nice. At some of the hotels we even had balconies. All the hotels offered a large and varied buffet breakfast ( equivalent to breakfast on a cruise.) There was no way that you could walk away hungry . Staying at only three hotels in 11 days does take the edge off of packing and unpacking every night and it does make for a more relaxed vacation.
Globus has a very good system for rotating seats on the bus. The tour guide explained the daily rotation system that they use, therefore everyone gets to sit in the prime location front seats and everyone gets the dreaded back of the bus. There was no arguing and running onto the bus as soon as it arrived. It made for a very pleasant bus ride.
This trip was labeled “at leisure.” We were always busy. The down time that was listed in the brochure was filled in with extra excursions to complete the trip. Yes, you did not have to go and you could have some more leisure time, but I figured I will only be here once and some of the offerings I really did want to see. I decided that if the excursions had something extra to see I would do it, if it was only another Swiss meal I would pass. The reason, I picked this tour was for the itinerary. I was very pleased about the tour itself. We definitely did see most of Switzerland. Starting out in Zurich – went north up to the German border – west to the capital, Bern near France and south to Zermatt in which you can see the highest Alps of the country. The only part of the country the tour was missing was the southern tip adjacent to Italy. My group did the 3-day pre stay that Globus offered. It was well worth the extra money. We were able to see all of Zurich at our own speed and we even spent a day going out to the traditional Appenzell region which is the western most part of Switzerland adjacent to Austria.
We used every mode of transportation that Switzerland has to offer. Trolleys, small cable cars, standing room only cable cars, trains, cog rails, ferries and of course a tourist bus. This tour allowed us to interact with native Swiss people, to experience their culture and to see what is is like to live in their country. We found out a lot about their customs. Sitting on a tour bus all day and going only to the designated tourist attractions would not offer you this. Globus had townspeople, at two of our stops, give us local walking tours. I do commend Globus on their varied itinerary.
One negative was the included meals and of those on the excursions. We were not given a choice. The meals were pre – set and after a few of them I did get tired of just beef and veal and swiss pasta or fondue. There are more than enough restaurants in every town that we visited to eat in. We did have to find them ourselves, since our tour guide would not really give us any names if we didn’t join her on the extra excursion dinners. Many nights we joined others from our group who also did not go on the pre- arranged dinners. We went with their suggestions that they were given at home or we asked reception at the hotels.
The only other negative that we found with this tour was that my group would have liked more time at many of the stops. We spoke to the tour guide and she told us she would do
the best she could in changing the length of each stop. It would depend on how much we had to do that day. This negative would be found with any bus tour though. Each day is jammed packed. This is why many people go traveling on their own. Although we would never would have seen so much of Switzerland as we did on our own.
Switzerland has a bad rap about how costly everything is. I found dinners to be about the same price I would pay for a dinner at home in New Jersey or in New York City. I spent an average of sixteen – thirty dollars depending on what you ordered. Bottled water is quite costly about $3.00 per bottle, but I found that you don’t need to buy it – tap water was one of the best I have tasted – equal to NYC. Transportation was also equal to large city prices. You can buy an all day pay in which you can use any trolley, train or ferry within the city. Swiss Rail prices are the same as New Jersey Transit.
All in all, I would highly recommend going to see Switzerland. It is a beautiful country at any time of year and definitely use Globus.
Sherry L
