Cosmos Discount Codes & Vouchers

Cosmos sells escorted touring holidays from the UK, part of the Globus family of brands, and has been putting groups on coaches and river boats for more than sixty years.

What an escorted tour actually is

The format is a fixed itinerary with a tour manager travelling with the group from start to finish. Transport, hotels, a schedule of guided sightseeing and a stated number of meals are arranged in advance, and on most tours flights from UK airports can be added to the package. The range covers Europe heavily, with programmes across the Americas, Asia and Africa, and river cruising is handled through the group's own fleet. It suits people who want to see several places in one trip without organising the connections between them.

Reading the itinerary for the gaps

The daily plan tells you more than the brochure headline. Look at how many nights are spent in each place, because a tour with a different hotel every night means a lot of the holiday is spent moving. Check which meals are included and which are not, since an itinerary describing breakfast daily and a handful of dinners leaves a real food budget to plan for. Optional excursions are extra and are usually where the final cost drifts upwards, so decide which ones you want before you travel rather than on the coach.

Deposits, balances and travelling alone

A tour is booked with a deposit, with the balance falling due weeks before departure, and the cancellation charges step up as the departure date approaches. Put both dates in a calendar the day you book. Solo travellers are catered for, and the single supplement is waived on selected departures, which is worth hunting for because that supplement is the single biggest cost difference for someone travelling on their own.

Protection, insurance and the paperwork worth keeping

When a holiday is sold as a package with flights, it should come with financial protection, and the certificate issued with your confirmation states which scheme applies and under what number. Keep it. Travel insurance is a separate purchase and should be bought at the time of booking rather than before departure, since cancellation cover is what protects the deposit. Check passport validity and any entry requirements for every country on the route, not only the first one.