Private Tours other than St. Petersburg ?

[NKG6002]

Any comments about taking private tours in Amsterdam, Helsinki and Copenhagen ? From reading here I assume they are "doable" on our own but would like to know the history of the areas. ANy suggestions would be apprciated as well as cost. Thanks in advance !!:)

[ncsongbird]

Any comments about taking private tours in Amsterdam, Helsinki and Copenhagen ? From reading here I assume they are "doable" on our own but would like to know the history of the areas. ANy suggestions would be apprciated as well as cost. Thanks in advance !!:)

 

 

In Copenhagen, Richard Karpen offers various walking tours June-Sept. and also has a tour of Rosenborg Castle. Information can be found at www.copenhagenwalks.com. There is also an excellent tour of Christiansborg Palace which includes the tapestries that cover 1000 years of Danish history. I don't believe you need reservations for either.

 

Helsinki is doable on your own. We used Rick Steves Scandinavia which has self guided walking tours for each city. It also has information on guides to contact for private tours.

[GRBlizz]

We had a nice tour of North Holland with a company called Holland Stopovers. They picked us up at the port upon disembarking at Amsterdam, and took us on a nice tour that included a number of touristy sites outside of the city and to Volendam, a beautiful old seaside town (have the fried fish, yummmmm).

 

Another advantage of this, if you are disembarking in Amsterdam, is that they have recently "consolidated" the ground transportation suppliers, and now it can take one hour or more to get a taxi after you have your luggage. Ugh.

 

If you have a tour driver meeting you, you can leave right away.

[golowjo]

We were on the Splendor in August and did all of the shore excursions on our own. It was a great experience (and money saver!) for our family of 5.

[Canadiandiva]

We just came back from the Baltic and had a wonderful guide who picked us up at the ship and took us for a 6 hour trip into the Dutch countryside - little towns, windmills and a cheese factory etc. Ingrid of Comfort Tours http://www.comforttours.nl. Also had a great guide for Berlin who picked us up at Warnemunde.

[BigBearLady]

We just came back from the Baltic and had a wonderful guide who picked us up at the ship and took us for a 6 hour trip into the Dutch countryside - little towns, windmills and a cheese factory etc. Ingrid of Comfort Tours www.comforttours.nl. Also had a great guide for Berlin who picked us up at Warnemunde.

 

I really enjoyed our day with Ingrid from Comfort Tours. She was very informative and made sure we did what WE wanted to do. I highly recommend her.

[scamper01]

Canadiandiva,

Who did you use for your private tour in Berlin?

Thanks

[love2learn]

We did a day tour with Holland Stopovers, and I just can't say enough good about them. Kris was our driver and guide, he was reccomended to us by the Marriott. We hadn't planned ahead, because we flew into Holland from Utah, and we didn't know how jet lagged we would be when we arrived. He helped us plan our itenerary on the spot, took us into Harlem to see "The Hiding Place" where Cory TinBoom's family lived. I knew I really wanted to go there, and it was a great tour. He stayed with us there and then took us to Zaans Schans, Spelling? a dutch village where we saw wooden shoes made, saw a demonstration on delft pottery, toured a windmill, etc. etc. it was really great for us and our children. Then he took us to see where Anne Frank lived, because my daughter is teaching about her in school this year. He waited for us there and took us to a nice place where the locals eat to have dutch pancakes. He taught us a lot about the area, showing us all the bicycles, dykes, etc. etc. He was great with the kids, had coins for us when we needed them for the pay potties, bought everyone ice cream cones, and candy. It was probably one of my favorite tours I have ever taken. I would definately recommend Holland Stopovers.

[FinelyRetired]

Canadiandiva,

Who did you use for your private tour in Berlin?

Thanks

 

We used http://www.Private-Berlin-Tours.com. They are out of Rostock and we had a terrific day this past June. Our guide, a law student named Thomas, was outstanding. He was very knowledgeable. We toured Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, had lunch at a lovely restaurant atop the Reichstag (what a 360 degree view, he pointed out everything), went all around Berlin and saw alot and walked quite a bit. The office/email/pre-planner, Susan, was topnotch.

 

Martha

[FinelyRetired]

Any comments about taking private tours in Amsterdam, Helsinki and Copenhagen ? From reading here I assume they are "doable" on our own but would like to know the history of the areas. ANy suggestions would be apprciated as well as cost. Thanks in advance !!:)

 

We used the following:

 

Helsinki: We used Ahti Arak. http://www.tours.ee. He's a history teacher from Tallin, Estonia which is an easy ferry ride for him over to Helsinki. He knows his history and he was fascinating & full of info. We toured both Helsinki and also the town of Porvoo. We used him in Tallin as well.

 

Copenhagen: I walked most of this on my own. Met up with Richard Karpen for a walking tour along the way and then did a canal tour on my own. Later, I met up with my friends in the shopping area. They hadn't made it all the way to City Hall from the ship, so I retraced my Karpen tour back there with them. We then did need to grab a cab to go to Rosenburg Castle & back to ship.

 

Amsterdam: We did the city on our own over 2 days. We used http://www.privatehollandtravel.com for 3 excursions: one full day South to The Hague & Delft. One half day North to several villages, ferried to an island & then drop-off at ship. And one day post-cruise where Wynnand picked us up at ship and we drove to Belgium; toured Antwerp, Brussels & he dropped us at our hotel in Bruges by dinner where we stayed 2 days. Very accommodating gentleman, one of our party of three uses a wheelchair.

 

Hope this helps. Enjoy your planning! Enjoy your cruise.

Martha