I confess to being astonished at a couple of the negative reviews posted on here...the writers must have been very unlucky with their tour guide, or had quite different expectations to what they got.  We took our first Cosmos tour last year, the 13 day Bohemian Rhapsody.  We have nothing but high praise for the tour.  Firstly, our guide (a Hungarian lady named Barbara) was terrific, organised as clockwork, helpful and informative and as cheerful as the day is long.  Our driver (Mustafa), was a funny, but low key kind of guy and an impeccable driver.  The bus was fine, and as this tour had 3x3 night stopovers, you didn't feel like you were constantly on it.  The hotels varied from adequate to pretty damn good and the breakfasts were without exception excellent to outstanding.  Not all were in the city centres, but if not, were close to public transport and cafes/restaurants/supermarkets etc.   The city guides were great, especially Vladimir in Prague (the human equivalent of the World Book Encyclopaedia on all things Czech).  The tour included no lunches or dinners.  We actually preferred this, as having to be back to assemble for a meal would have been a constraint we would rather do without.   If you do a little research beforehand, or just take a good look around, you will easily find somewhere good to eat at.  Most nights you could join an "optional extra tour" that provided dinner, if you wanted the easier option.  There are quite a few "optional extra tours" on offer, take a good look at what's available, and pick and choose what you want.  We did join a couple of the dinner tours, the meals were fine, nothing fancy, but floating down the Vlatava river viewing the night lights of Prague takes some beating.  A couple of the optionals however, were outstanding, including "The best of medieval Prague" (heaven for history buffs), and "The Danube cruise" passing some of the most glorious scenery in Europe.   The pace of this tour may be a little slow to younger people (but the option is there to just go your own way should you choose), but it gives you a real chance to get the feel of a city.  We are a couple in our 40's, but apart from 3 others (30 & under), all the rest of the tourers were quite a bit older.  Some of them kept to themselves, but some of them were up for anything, and great company!  We quite liked the slower pace, as we were going on to tour & hike through Germany & Austria on our own afterwards.  So, in summary, you can "join" as much as you choose, or do your own thing.  You can expect comfort, but not lavishness.  You will see the most beautiful places, and some that are still recovering from their recent communist pasts.  This is a long review, but I remember being frustrated that I could not find any myself before I booked this tour, so I hope it will help someone else decide. We had an absolute ball, and would recommend it to anyone who goes with a good attitude!

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Couples
Tour format: Bus
Tour type: Group
Tour length: Over a Week