Imperial Cities

Well organized, planned well and generally interesting. Some locations could have been skipped without impacting the tour.

Everything was excellent except for the hotel in Budapest I was not too impressed. The tour guide Patrick was excellent very nice personality and very helpful always there for us. Friendly and polite. Every tour guide should be like him.

I prefer traveling with Colette because they place us in nice hotels in great locations. This wasn’t the case on this trip. Our hotel in Prague while lovely was at least a 25-30 minute walk to the center of town. In Vienna we were in a “historic” hotel. My room was tiny and hot!

Enjoyed every moment of this tour. Beautiful landscapes, rich history, wonderful cultural events, hard-working tour guide.

River cruises, dinners, hotels

From the sites we visited to the terrific tour guide of Polina, it was a wonderful and educational experience.

Excellent experience, and all excellent tours. The communist talk, however really want something I wished to have listened to and would not suggest that be included again.

Learning the history of these great cities from Tomas, our Collette Guide and the many local guides inch city.

+ Some were great, others less so.

Incredible locations, exceptional Tour Manager as well as interesting historical sites.

The variety of experiences on this tour made for a great experience.

The trip was fabulous!!!. The hotels were in excellent walking distance for activities, eating, and sightseeing. Unfortunately, I felt that a few of the side options were just filler activities to make easy money. The music walking tour in Vienna was a perfect example. The Music performance people and venue workers were very rude and the show again was not worth the money. A few of the others were at restaurants that appeared to only be open for our group and not very inviting.At times, we felt rushed and would have liked a few extra minutes. Prague was a fairytale land. Loved it !!! The tour of the Jewish section was emotionally impacting.Vienna was a big city, not as enjoyable, although historical buildings and history was interesting.Two of the side options were not worth the money. Budapest had a lot to offer. Could have spent a bit more time there. Eliminate Vienna and add days to Prague and Budapest.Jousting show and dinner was enjoyable, but little village for a waste of time. Local tour guide seemed to be a marketing person for the village. I would use Collette Tours in the future. NINA was the BEST!!! She not only was there for us at every moment, but provided a really personal connection to the area.

Yes

The tour included many experiences but I think that the dinners in local restaurants and the entertainment,especially when we were singled out to dance was definitely one of the highlights.

Knight’s tournament and dinner

I just wrote my thoughts in the previous box where the same question was asked!

The evening cruise in Budapest was beautiful. And the events of the last day with the Medieval competition and meal was great fun. By then, we knew everyone in our group and we all just had fun together!

The hotels were great but the Grand in Vienna was really special.

The walking tour of the city was a bit long for me that day. My fault though for not having the best shoes and it was extremely hot. I would split it up if possible.

I hate forced essay feedbacks: The tour manager was great and patient with us. He also arranged nice events with other very knowledgeable guides. We had a great time and would definitely book with this tour manager again if he was avaialble. The whole trip (minus walking on horrible cobblestone that was not comfortable) was great. Oh, the bus driver was excellent too and getting us safely to locations, and the best driving of I bus I've ever seen through tight traffic.

Was wonderful would advise changing hotel in Hungary

We had so many unique experiences! Boryana was a wonderful guide!

Prague was breathtaking and very enjoyaboel

The location of the hotels were perfect. The day to Dürnstein, cruise to and tour of Melk along with the concerts and the rose gardens at the summer castle outside Vienna are a few favorite memories.

There were too many people 42

Cities were beautiful and the tours were informational. Not impressed with some of the group meals & the location of the Budapest hotel was a bit seedy. However the Vienna hotel was spectacular.

Enjoyed the Hungarian Medieval Castle with the local "knights" performing ax-throwing, archery, and "sword" fights. The generous medieval banquet service was tasty; fun to wear the paper crowns. We learned about the area's past and saw the local revitalization in the countryside. Way to blend the past and present for tourists!

Hungarian feast in the forest with musicians that came to the tables and played requested songs. Food was plentiful, atmosphere picturesque.

See previous remarks. We loved everything we saw, but the boat rides outside Vienna and Budapest by night were very special.

Very well planned and executed.

excellent tour guide (Marius); options were entertaining and informative,

Very well informed tour guides. The cities we toured were beautiful. I especially liked the boat trip to Melk on the Danube.

So many things the beautiful buildings, the history, food, people and music.

Everything we had an experience I thought it was my most memorable. Every experience was my most memorable.

The tour manager, Dariusz Kuzniar, made our tour great. Prague is a beautiful city but at Budapest we discovered unexpected wonderful city.

History and people were amazing

Loved having 3 days in each city

Good ratio of planned tours and free time

The lower rating here is more my issue than the actual tour. I am not much for history so not sure why I chose this tour. Loved Budapest. The food was amazing. The tour manager I felt did not get our group under control before leaving the bus, which lead to some people wandering off and not hearing full details on times and meeting places.

Each city was beautiful and each one was even better.

I enjoyed the musical concerts, the optional tour by night on the Danube River in Budapest, visiting the palace in Vienna, the castle district in Prague, the Renaissance-style dinner at the castle in Visegrad.

I thought the tour was very good but there were some glitches that were handle very well by the tour guide. I have two suggestions. !.The first day in Prague was very taxing. Could the day 1 and day 2 events be switched. 2.Many people complained because the bus seats weren't assigned daily. Tour manager was excellent except he could have been more organized and communicated better. He was good at fixing problems beyond his control. Had a problem getting coins in Czech Republic and Austria. Enjoyed the Danube cruise at night in Budapest.

From JFK back to JFK every single day was pleasant and Memorable.

Seeing the old and new side of Prague and going to concerts in both Prague and Vienna.

Everything expected and more!

Jewish walking tour. All the free time.

great value, most attractions, enough free time.

I truly enjoyed this tour. It was a good mix of exploring the big capital cities and also enjoying trips outside of the hustle and bustle into smalller towns. Actually I thought the day trips out of the city were more enjoyable. Prague is by far the highlight of the tour. We arrived a day early which I highly recommend. It gives you a full extra day exploring the beautiful city. The micro brewery in Prague was a fun night. Good beer, good food and music. Cesky Krumlov was a picturesque village on our way to Vienna. We had just a couple hours here on our own for lunch and exploring. The town of Durnstein was another highlight. We only had about an hour to shop. Would have loved extra time. Then we took a boat ride from there on the Danube. Great time. Bratislava Slovakia was wonderful too. Had free time after a short guided tour through the old town area. Fisherman’s Bastion in Budapest was amazing. But the best part of Budapest was the optional evening dinner and boat ride. The Parliament building lit up at night made for the most incredible photos. Our last day we went to this artists village outside of Budapest which was probably the best place to pick up souvenirs and gifts. The only complaint I have was in Prague during our tour of the Castle we had lunch in the Palace then had to go straight into a classical music concert which was an hour long where everyone was basically falling asleep. It was not the right time to sit through that with a full stomach in a warm room in uncomfortable chairs. Most people in our group of 40 agreed.

The countries had much history and the guides provided much information.

There were several changes from the original itinerary. Tour guide had to clarify the changes several times. Enjoyed time spent in Prague especially the free time to tour on your own. Needed more assistance in negotiation with three different currencies. Not pleased with the hotel accommodations on Budapest.

I lked the tour of the Lobkowicz Palace and to meeting with the Prince.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and loved all the sites and the food was great throughout the tour. We would recommend this tour. each city we visited had its sites which make it hard to select our favourable moment. All the palaces were fabulous, the cathedrals and churches in Europe are incredible. The Parliament buildings in Budapest are just a stunning site to behold.

Prague walking tours and wonderful guides.

Prague was my favorite place. Every place was wonderful.

The actual tour couldn't compare with our 3 other tours we have taken with Collette. Walking pace too slow. Mozart Tour slow and boring. Spent too much time driving to locations out of town vs. touring main attractions in the 3 cities. Tour Director was not top notch. Collette needs to schedule other sightseeing options into the tour such as Parliament. Tour Director needs to attend Dinner with group vs. Restaurant staff asking each table where the tour director is and who has a voucher to pay for dinner. Tour Director needs to sit and eat with tour participants sometime.

Hard to remember one. Will anything happen for the night the 22 folks stuck in Philadelphia and missed one night and part of first day of tour. When our group finally landed in Prague it was the first time a representative from Collette did not greet us. We had 22 people waiting for 10-15 minutes. Not good!

Vienna palace and concert.

Excellent tour. well paced. was probably a bit more physically challenging with walking and steps than expected. Some tour members had difficulty with this. Beautiful cities.

The brewery tour in Prague was great! Most of our good memories were when we were on our own. Could have skipped Vienna.

I rate Collette as one of the best tour companies. They are dependable, reasonably price, and professional.

Well planned and done at a comfortable pace.

Favorite experience was visiting Cesky Krumlov and having a potato pancake wrapped around sauerkraut. Also, enjoyed eating a pretzel ice cream cone in Bratislava. Enjoyed shopping in Visegrad. We felt the tour was way overpriced for what was included. Food and bathrooms were deplorable at the underground place in the Grinzing region.

Maury's was knowledgeable and fun. I thought we saw the high spots and enjoyed the entire trip.

Beautiful Cities and the hotels were very nice. They were each centrally located which allowed us to walk anywhere in the city. Especially enjoyed our tour manager Borianna who had exceptional knowledge of the history of all the cities. She was also very amusing and kept us laughing.

Prague was great and would like to revisit this city. There’s a lot to see.

Great cities loved the cities outside the main cities

I had many memorable experiences. I would like to have had a number of additional/ replacement experiences that are big highlights of the cities but not included on this tour.

Mediocre food, location, restaraunt staff and musicians in Vienna.

Great trip for a real value. Loved Budapest.

Probably touring Prague and the small towns around. Budapest was the prettiest city.

Three nights each in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest, with side trips out of these cities to other sites, as well as a stop in Bratislava. Most memorable experience was probably the concert in Vienna (an option at an additional cost) and a nighttime trip on the Danube at Budapest (an option at an additional cost).

Good experience and fun!!

Danube river night cruise

see 1 and 2nhotels had construction going on

tour great, hotels below par and several group dinner restaurants miserably hot

Loved the cruise! It was beautiful.

We enjoyed almost every thing. The hotel in Vienna was not great

enjoyable and inexpensive.

Did not like the evening spent in the village (i.e. restaurant) in Prague. Local dancers and singers were okay for an hour or so, but not all evening. Did not like being herded in to the uncomfortable tables where we sat for a VERY long time. Food was adequate, but not great. Nothing about this was event was good. Also did not like the crowded accommodations at the buffet in Prague. Did not like the rushed dinner in Austria prior to the river boat cruise.

The concert at the palace in Vienna was the highlight of the trip.

Loved Cesky . We had an extended time here due to a national holiday that altered our schedule.This town was a gem . Our hotels were nice but could have been better . Prague hotel lgreat .Marriott beautiful hotel but did not offer free wifi in room Nh hotel in Budapest didn't like.Courtyard design,room windows faced into lobby courtyard . It was noisy throughout night.

Excellent Hotels, Good Sightseeing, Excellent Tour Guide,

Better hotel maybe and more included events would have been needed to improve rating and I would have paid for this.

Enjoyed the side trips outside main cities. The dinner in Budapest was the most awesome dinner/buffet ever.

One of our better trips and we have done dozen trips.

Beautiful picturesque cities and towns. Loved visiting Cesky Krumlov.

Our tour manager gave us much information and personal experiences since he was from Budapest.

Really enjoyed the Danube cruise. Beautiful section of the river.

Several guided sites we needed more time

I chose this tour because it stayed three nights in each city. I do not like to cover a lot of ground by bus and I avoid tours which visit many cities over a short time period. The bus travel was not overly long and less than three nights in Vienna and Budapest would have been far too short; three nights is already inadequate. The highlights of the trip where the preset tours which took you to the city highlights. The hotels were excellent. The locations and quality of rooms exceeded my expectations. The downside of tours is generally the meals as large groups entail a drop in quality but not quantity.

The tour manager knew the tour very well answered a lot of questions. Our guide Nina in Prague was fantastic. Very knowledgable and great sense of humor.

The tour overall was an excellent experience with tour and free time nicely divided. I think this tour should be two days longer as I found adding an extra day on each end helped us with jet lag at the beginning and then gave us time to do a few things we could not do on tour at beginning and end. Most of the meals were good but I would not choose the all you can eat buffet style restaurant. These destinations had so many choices of restaurants that even eating out on your own was almost a guarantee to find a good meal at a reasonable price. As for the hotels they were all good. In Budapest I would chose a different location. While near the bridge and easy access to other areas it was not in the best part of town. I would gladly pay a little more to have stayed closer into the city center. Overall we had a congenial group. Ralph our tour guide was informative and witty, relayed historical details, and helped us with currency, history, and language by providing us with handouts. I also would recommend the extra add on tours. One thing I like about Collette is they keep these add ons to a limit. We did two out of the three and found that to be just right. I would not miss those extraordinary nights out on the town or going to dinner and musical event or boat cruises as they were part of the highlights. Also the small towns on the way where we made stops were excellent. I would only say maybe give us another 1- 2 hours per stop over towns so not to be as rushed. That is where the extra two days would allow this to happen without sacrificing time away from other things. I could go on but this trip as it was like no other. Eastern Europe has such old world charm and beauty. Monasteries, castles, cathedrals, museums, music, cobblestone streets, villages, river valleys, mountains, goulash and pastries...need I say more. It truly was a trip of a lifetime for us.