[jasraj_jog]

Hello, excellent travelogue. Even we prefer going via Kesari group tours when we travel within India. We barely need to pay anything once we have paid the trip amount. Always had very good experience. One query, since your location is Bangalore. How were the flight to/fro India managed ? Did you fly from Bangalore to the first entry city in Europe? Or was it an ex- Bangalore departure?

Thanks
Jasraj

[Lord-Lannister]

I hope you genuinely had a wonderful time OP, and I wish you cherish these wonderful moments for a lifetime.

-
However to share my feedback on the same, this just gave me a flashback to nearly a decade ago, going through the similar itinerary tours through Kesari as a mere teenager on first trip abroad.

Personally, would never recommend it to anyone. My tour was by bus, where majority of the minor sites were waved from the bus without much stoppage. This, as you can guess was to cover as much as possible with little layover only at the major destinations. Majority candid photos are taken from the bus, rather than enjoying at the location. Funnily enough, the same extra destinations are served for an additional extra fee too.

I would never classify it as a leisure vacation but more of being herded though Europe. Something that stuck with me enough to never go with "tours" ever again in the decade of travel ever since.

I have no intention of dissing the OP, as I understand these are great first timer tours with even the safety net of Indian food being served throughout the tours and with almost everything taken care of at their end, it's quite economical too. But therein end the positives, as far as vacation goes majority of it is spent on the bus than at sites, of which only few sites actually do have couple hours time to spend and roam about and certainly not all. It perhaps is great for elders and retirees but a younger generation might feel differently.

Just my candid thoughts.

[sunny13]

Nice writeup on the tour and very informative. Excellent for those planning to travel there as a precursor. I hope you had a great time and had some space to break free of the tight schedule - 12 days and 9 countries. It sure must have been a tight schedule. On Kesari as a tour operator, I must admit they are good. We had gone a Thai tour with them almost a decade ago and it was indeed a good experience. They take care of everything truly. I would say they would also be perfect for the elderly senior citizens aspiring to travel on their own. Personally, for me on a Europe or a similar tour, I would possibly do a part DIY - Pre book day tours, maybe package a hotel and flight booking if possible. That would leave us ample free space and time for curating your own leisure time walking and exploring the streets which I often do in a new place, and most importantly trying out some the local dishes and flavour . For India tours, maybe a tour operator would be just apt considering the hassle of logistics. Just my viewpoint aka liking .

[Payaniga]

Originally Posted by mobike008

That must have been a jam packed itenary.

9-10 countries in 12 days seems quite unrealistic.

When the itinerary says it covers 10 countries, we should note that it does not cover all important places in all countries. It only covers 1 or 2 places in a country. Also, these countries are nearby so some of the places are covered on the way.

Originally Posted by mobike008

How much was the cost? Btw, nice pictures of the trip.

Originally Posted by ags82

What is the total cost including airfare?

It came to apprx 7L for two of us which includes everything (except shopping).

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

Would be nice to know the cost and also itinerary day wise and places. Wonder if same can be done thorugh driving (except UK) with few more days added. Good to cover so many places and great pics. thanks.

Please check their website for itinerary. The itinerary is shared with every package including day-wise details. This will give you a fair amount of idea on what is expected out of a tour.

Originally Posted by jasraj_jog

Hello, excellent travelogue. Even we prefer going via Kesari group tours when we travel within India.

Our trip was ex-mumbai. Only two families were from Bangalore including us. We had to go to Mumbai and then to Kuwait and to London.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Well done! Stress free travel.

Originally Posted by microaubin

I did the same tour last year with another group and it was fantastic. Met some amazing group of people and we still keep in touch through whatsapp.

Originally Posted by Vijay T

Very crisp yet detailed travelogue.

Originally Posted by chandrda

Nice pictures and weather seems to be excellent through out.

Originally Posted by Lord-Lannister

I hope you genuinely had a wonderful time OP, and I wish you cherish these wonderful moments for a lifetime.

Originally Posted by sunny13

Nice writeup on the tour and very informative.

Thank you all for your comments. As I mentioned earlier, the group tour is not for everyone. I strongly suggest going through itinerary before deciding on the package. This is the first time we went for a group tour.

Why did we choose this? We had a few places in mind. But none of the packages had only those places. Either a few places were missing or a lot more places were included. This package was the nearest to our list. Hence we chose this package.

The other option was a customized package but that would have costed more. Considering these options, we went for this. In some places like Vaduz, Atomium it was more of touch and go. In other places we had time to enjoy the place and atmosphere.

If we wanted to take a leisurely tour(s), it would definitely cost more to the pocket. It all comes down to time and money.

As far as domestic tours are concerned, we always prefer customized trips and more often we plan everything. If at all, we are going through a tour operator, it will be a customized tour and we decide how much time we spend in each place.

Originally Posted by Lord-Lannister

It perhaps is great for elders and retirees but a younger generation might feel differently.

One observation: we had many elderly couples in our group. It was tiring for some of them walking every day, travelling and seeing the places. My take is - this package is not ideal for elders unless they are fit to do a lot of walking.

Luckily, for the entire trip duration, the weather was pleasant. If it were raining or too sunny, it would have added more fatigue to elderly people.

[car_addict]

Originally Posted by Payaniga

Food - We got Indian food for lunch and dinner, so there is no problem here (except that we got maida made roti which was not good to eat continuously for 12 days).

This is what kills the time in most of the places and spending time on the bus. I usually book everything myself or use Viator/local agent for booking day trips once in the city. The only time I went on a Kesari tour was for Italy. The trip was really nice and well organized; except for the lack of time at most attractions. Especially in Italy, the Indian restaurants were located in the suburbs. I had timed the travel time for lunch & dinner daily. The min was 3 hours and max was 5 hours. The time was only for traveling to & fro for Indian food. We got only 2-3 hours in Venice, traveled for 1.5 hours for "Indian lunch" and got dumped in a crappy mall in some suburbs for the rest of the day. That was when I decided no more Indian tour operators.

When I booked for Bali and Thailand, I used Makemytrip Packages for hotels, flights and intercity transport. Rest of the day trip was booked through Viator/local agent. Spent max time at the destinations. Best part, we got Indian food every day with just requesting the driver.

The cost was the same as Kesari/SOTC.

[TheFonz]

Thank for sharing your experience.

I too had a similar tour operator bus trip from London to Paris and back (my first euro trip) when I was based out of Cardiff in the UK, more than a decade back and really enjoyed the experience.

Since then I have had many vacations across Europe but chose to do self planned ones but only because I had gained experience of what to expect from my first tour operator trip.

[sukhbirST]

Excellent write up, which covered all basics. Sweet and short with great details. Wish you many more such trips. Can you please share daywise travel details with hotels for future planning.

[SS-Traveller]

This turned out to be a multi-country European travel brochure with standard pictures, and not much of your personal experiences and opinions. How comfortable was it; how was the weather; who were your co-passengers and how was your interaction with them; how was the food and the places you stayed in overnight; what kind of buses were you riding; how long did it take to get from one place to another; an idea of the costs involved - we would love it if you could share all that.

[Simple_User]

A very good Travelogue. Glad you enjoyed the trip. I've been meaning to go on a European trip for ages.

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by Payaniga

One observation: we had many elderly couples in our group. It was tiring for some of them walking every day, travelling and seeing the places. My take is - this package is not ideal for elders unless they are fit to do a lot of walking.

Luckily, for the entire trip duration, the weather was pleasant. If it were raining or too sunny, it would have added more fatigue to elderly people.

Great to hear about your experience and wonderful photos

I too noticed this thing with Kesari - their tour groups usually have many elderly folks. In fact, on my honeymoon in Mauritius, I saw a Kesari travel group at the airport almost entirely consisting of elderly. I guess their arrangements, food options and all inclusive packages are big draw with senior citizens.

[vjbox]

Just glancing through your travelogue as we wind up our 10 days Euro trip across Italy, Swiss and France. Did Disney land part of our last leg and flying out of Paris tomorrow!

Swiss just stood out to us and is just incredible!

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

This turned out to be a multi-country European travel brochure with standard pictures, and not much of your personal experiences and opinions. How comfortable was it; how was the weather; who were your co-passengers and how was your interaction with them; how was the food and the places you stayed in overnight; what kind of buses were you riding; how long did it take to get from one place to another; an idea of the costs involved - we would love it if you could share all that.

I would love to post all of this in detail from our current / latest Euro trip. Hopefully will have that posted soon!

[gauravdgr8]

Excellent pictures. Since you mentioned that this tour covered most of the places on your list, I am sure it was time well spent.

Recently in August, while I was in Sweden, I traveled to Austria during the Independence Day week. After landing in Vienna, I took the 72 hour pass that literally gave me a free pass to all attractions including local transport at a throw away price. I then drove to Salzburg and Hallstatt. This drive gave me the flexibility to stop at any and all the glacial lakes on the way.

What Kesari charged you was at a upper end of the spectrum and you would have spent almost the same if you would have planned at your own pace.

Below is the pic of Lake Wolfgangsee on the way from Salzburg to Hallstatt

[Payaniga]

First of all, thanks to everyone for your comments.

Originally Posted by car_addict

The time was only for traveling to & fro for Indian food.

In our case, they had planned lunch in an Indian restaurant within the city. As for dinner, the Indian restaurants people brought the food to the hotel where we stayed. So we didn't have to travel for dinner.

Originally Posted by TheFonz

Since then I have had many vacations across Europe but chose to do self planned ones but only because I had gained experience of what to expect from my first tour operator trip.

That makes sense. If one is comfortable doing self organized trip, it is definitely a better option.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

This turned out to be a multi-country European travel brochure with standard pictures, and not much of your personal experiences and opinions. How comfortable was it; how was the weather; who were your co-passengers and how was your interaction with them; how was the food and the places you stayed in overnight; what kind of buses were you riding; how long did it take to get from one place to another; an idea of the costs involved - we would love it if you could share all that.

Did it really look like a travel brochure? In the very first post what I have shared is my own experience. I've put the things as it is from my experience. Of course, I've not given the details on a daily basis but would like to cover important points which could be useful to others. I might have missed a few more details, which I'll share shortly.

Originally Posted by vjbox

I would love to post all of this in detail from our current / latest Euro trip. Hopefully will have that posted soon!

Wonderful to hear that. Looking forward to your post.

[Payaniga]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

How comfortable was it; how was the weather; who were your co-passengers and how was your interaction with them; how was the food and the places you stayed in overnight; what kind of buses were you riding; how long did it take to get from one place to another; an idea of the costs involved - we would love it if you could share all that.

Originally Posted by sukhbirST

Can you please share daywise travel details with hotels for future planning.

In London, we got Mercedes-Benz bus and for rest of the journey, we got another bus (I don't remember the make). However, the bus journey was pretty comfortable.

I had mentioned earlier about co-passengers. Out of 36 families, 2 were from Bangalore and the rest from Maharashtra. Though Marathi-speaking crowd was majority, they were very kind and made sure we are not alienated. After a few days, we got to know about each other. There were people with farming background, teaching background, manufacturing background and a few were businessmen.

The hotels booked were good. In a couple of hotels in Italy and Austria, rooms were bit small but otherwise overall it was decent hotels.

The hotel details:

London: Holiday Inn Express TS, Slough

Paris: Hotel Inn Paris CDG Airport

Amsterdam: Amedia Hotel Amsterdam

Cologne: Parimula

Engelburg, Swiss: Central Engelberg (This hotel had Indian restaurant "Spice Bazaar")

Innsbruk: Alpenkoenig Tirol

Arezzo: Arezzo Park

Rome: Best Western I Triangoli Hotel

Weather was very good. In fact, the tour manager kept saying we are lucky that there was no rain for the entire trip duration and the sun was bearable. On top of that, the crowd was comparatively less (compared to Apr to Jun), so overall it was a stress-free experience.

The cost mentioned in the Kesari website is inclusive of everything. Things for which we had to pay was airport pickup and drop from/to home, any food we had in the airport, and of course shopping.

For itinerary, please check Kesari tours website. They have given itinerary for every tour package.

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

Recently in August, while I was in Sweden, I traveled to Austria during the Independence Day week. After landing in Vienna, I took the 72 hour pass that literally gave me a free pass to all attractions including local transport at a throw away price. I then drove to Salzburg and Hallstatt. This drive gave me the flexibility to stop at any and all the glacial lakes on the way.


Below is the pic of Lake Wolfgangsee on the way from Salzburg to Hallstatt

Nice to know that. Wonderful picture. Self-driving is always good, of course we may have to concentrate only on driving but cannot really enjoy the scenic landscapes (while driving).

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by Payaniga

Nice to know that. Wonderful picture. Self-driving is always good, of course we may have to concentrate only on driving but cannot really enjoy the scenic landscapes (while driving).

The benefit in a self drive is that you can stop as per your choice.

While coming back from Hallstatt to Vienna, we took a detour, saw multiple beautiful lakes and stopped by them, which would not be possible otherwise