Balkans Local culture Trips

The 2 night stays made the trip more relaxing. The tour director was great (Chris Henderson). The excursions covered varied sites which rounded out the stay in each country The best included dinners were the excellent as were the buffet breakfast. Lastly our driver was fantastic guiding the coach through extremely tight streets and locations

The local guides make the archeological sites come alive. It is easy to see why the monasteries are a UNESCO site. The stop at the family owned olive grove was wonderful in atmosphere, in learning about and tasting olive oil. It was a fabulous lunch and a relaxing atmosphere. The music and dancing were a highlight. The stops for the seaside lunch and in the seaside town were delightful. Insight would be better off letting people find dinner on their own than attending the first 2 hotel dinners that were poor at best. The Greek food is spectacular so to be "provided" such poor meals was a real downfall and not up to Insights normal standards.

Excellent tour, lots of historical places to visit. Very good guide , she was very knowledgeable and kept us fully informed. if anything she gave us too much information. In general the hotels were very good and clean, the only complaint was the limited staff on reception at the two Amberton hotels. At Klaipeda, there was only one girl on duty and I had to await over 10 minutes before she could attend to me. In Vilnius there is only an information office which closed at 8pm.

A lovely holiday with a good variety of activities. We were able to explore the different cultures of Java and Bali - the crafts, the history, the wildlife, the countryside and the food. The hotel accomodation was good, and the food was plentiful and good value. (Cheaper than I expected) I particularly enjoyed the visit to Mount Bromo volcano, the tour of Kalibaru spice plantation and the Balinese dancing at Ubud. Our tour leader, Ihsan, was excellent. He was efficient, helpful, enthusiastic and also friendly and chatty.

Enjoyed Donald Morrison, Tour Director. He ensured things went smoothly, and was attentive to needs of the travelers. Provided good info with a sense of humor that made the tour fun. Our bus driver was very competent and handled several challenging roads effectively. He was very kind and patient and always stood near the bus door to ensure that all passengers exited safely, The hotel accommodations were nice overall. Rooms and food services were excellent in the hotels in Glasgow and Edinburgh. I would have preferred having the tips for the tour director and bus driver included in the cost of the tour. Our Collette rep encouraged us to place the money into envelopes before we left so that we wouldn't have to find cash machines in Scotland. This was good advice since it was difficult to find machines and there wasn't enough time in the airport. However, I strongly disliked having to carry that amount of money around with me for two weeks. I wouldn't have minded giving an extra amount to supplement what could have been included with the tour. I spoke with several Collette representatives to have questions answered prior to the trip, and they were always polite and helpful, though I probably would have preferred talking to the reps assigned to our trip. I get it that probably would have been difficult to arrange. I liked the Collette app. My family at home enjoyed following along. They were disappointed when it was deleted before we got home. (They texted me to get my flight numbers.) The breakfasts provided at the Glasgow Hilton and the Voco Edinburgh were excellent. I also enjoyed all of the restaurants that were selected. Sometimes it was a little difficult to grab lunch, but I think that was only at some of the botanical gardens that Collette doesn't usually have on their itineraries.

Chose that tour so I could experience the mainland of Greece as well as the islands. Probably would have preferred 2 nights on each island instead of 3 with Crete included. The mainland was beautiful with so much history and excellent local guides. The weather was perfect in May. Would definitely recommend the tour!