Cossack Explorer Reviews

We spent most time in Russia and it was great. Saint Petersburg, Novgorod and Moscow the three nightly stays and each presented us with eye opening insight into the Russian culture and history. Palaces, wow, people very accommodating and helpful. Have to admit we were a bit apprehensive about about venturing into Russia given the bad press it gets ...read more in the Western press but our fears were soon put to ease. Would go back no problem.

Other places on the tour were Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Minsk and Warsaw. They all offered some great experiences. Optional tours whilst seemed expensive were top class and completed the tour. Tour guide and coach driver, well you could not ask for better. Goran and Tomic where very good. Goran, our guide, was approachable, helpful and considerate. He ran a tight ship and no one complained.

He did introduce us to vodka as a night cap and arranged a pre-departure dinner with a musician. The main dinner was the following night. In summary not everyone has the same taste but based upon our likes and dislikes I would recommend this tour. Maybe a little hectic and optional tours expensive but still worth it.

Good trip to see the basics of Scandinavia and Russia. The long drive to Belarus and then onto Warsaw (including 3.5 hrs wait to get through the border into Poland) was a waste of a couple of days and would have preferred to stay longer in Russia instead. Hotels were good but a bit far from town centres so would have preferred lower quality with better ...read more locations.

We really enjoyed the tour with our lovely and experienced driver, knowledgeable and wonderful tour director, and beautiful tour companions. Overall, we had a fantastic time and enjoyed every single day of the trip.

The tour was lengthy, some very long days, and then to go out to dinner and bags not arrived in rooms. Some specialist tours the guide spoke broken English and felt didn't get the full benefit of experience. We needed American dollars for Belarus visa, would have been easier if taken these from NZ. No WiFi in coach although told there would be.

The trip was good and interesting. Air conditioning not very good in some hotels - i.e. Berlin which was a little uncomfortable. Too little time in Stockholm and Helsinki. Poland and Russia were fantastic.