ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

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mholdi1540
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ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by mholdi1540 »

HI -thanks in advance for advise. Planning 10-12 day trip to Italy (first time) this October and looking for advice on Guided Tour services such as Perillo, Go Ahead etc. NOT the lease bit interested in Cruise Boat tours (we both get sea sick) !!! Wife wants to see Venice, Florence (2-3 days each) with last 3-4 days in Rome and would like pre-scheduled tours like Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, Gondola ride etc. Wife does NOT want to stay just in Rome and take only day trips from there. Has anyone ever used American Express to set up select tour service and what did you think of that. Some friends of mine have suggested American Express services and really liked it. Regardless, thanks for all or your advice but I do need to get back home with 1-2 days of rest before I go back to work so it can not be some endless date vacation. If we really like it we can always go back again to see other places missed on this trip.
MathWizard
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by MathWizard »

We plan our own tours, but we always watch and pick up a Rick Steves book.
We plan as inexpensively as we can.

You might want to check out his tours:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy

If you haven't planned travel yet, the high speed train between Rome and Florence (one stop in the middle)
is excellent. 2 hour trip, and smooth enough that my wife fell asleep. The local trains are not nearly as comfortable.
OCDinvestor
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by OCDinvestor »

Smartours or Gate1travel.

Both excellent. They plan everything, just show up for the flight and they do the rest!
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ResearchMed
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by ResearchMed »

mholdi1540 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:53 am HI -thanks in advance for advise. Planning 10-12 day trip to Italy (first time) this October and looking for advice on Guided Tour services such as Perillo, Go Ahead etc. NOT the lease bit interested in Cruise Boat tours (we both get sea sick) !!! Wife wants to see Venice, Florence (2-3 days each) with last 3-4 days in Rome and would like pre-scheduled tours like Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, Gondola ride etc. Wife does NOT want to stay just in Rome and take only day trips from there. Has anyone ever used American Express to set up select tour service and what did you think of that. Some friends of mine have suggested American Express services and really liked it. Regardless, thanks for all or your advice but I do need to get back home with 1-2 days of rest before I go back to work so it can not be some endless date vacation. If we really like it we can always go back again to see other places missed on this trip.
Sounds like fun!

Have you considered finding your own hotels, and then finding day trips in each city that do whatever you want to do there? And with 3-4 days in each city, perhaps 2+ days of specific day tours, and then 1 (or 2?) days on your own, to return to things you liked or noticed/thought of but weren't included?

We have had extremetly good luck finding private tours online, and the same could probably be done with small group tours.
We would find a good "prospect" and then email and ask about including specific things, and then something like, "what else would you suggest for someone like us who tend to like....?"
One advantage of a real private tour is that it can be totally customized (and if not, find a different guide!), even during the day, to "we love this, can we spend more time here, and less at...?" etc. Or plan to return to "this" later.

A guide (group or private) will probably get you into major sights/sites without the long lines. Do ask about that if it isn't clearly stated.

We found a guide in Rome who had done his Ph.D. research in the Vatican archives, so we had a great time at the Vatican with him. We spent the day before with him at some Roman ruins.
(I need to rest frequently, so we can't do group tours without upsetting things or getting left behind, but that turned out to be a blessing, albeit expensive. But in most places, we are only there once... And if we go back, it's without a guide.)

If you haven't been to Venice, and you like detective/police procedural novels, there's a series by Donna Leon.
If you get the hard copy, the inside front cover has a map of Venice, with the locations shown of the main "places" in that particular novel. I had read a bunch of them before going, and I kept referring back to those maps. (I love maps; DH hates them... his loss :wink: ). So in many places, as we were wandering around (with a guide the first two days on a different trip), I really had a vague sense of the place. I write "vague" because if ever there was a town with twisty streets/walk-ways, well, Venice has those plus canals everywhere.

Given the Covid situation, you might want to double check on travel insurance, for any medical care overseas (unless your own health insurance has adequate coverage) and also for quarantine expenses, should that occur. Or even cancellation, should *that* occur...
A place to start is www.TripInsuranceStore.com (a broker, but no extra charge to traveler). Let them help you with what you might need/want. They don't try to upsell. And we've had several claims with policies purchased through them, and al were paid promptly, including a couple of large claims. (We had no affiliation other than as "satisfied customers".)

Also look at www.CruiseCritic.com at the "Ports of Call" subforums for each town. There will be recommendations of tours, guides, special restaurant recommendations, etc. We've found that very helpful. Most of it is not specific to cruising, except the actual cruise/ship discussions, of course.

The fast train between cities is very comfortable and easy... city center to city center. Perhaps a day in Milano along the way, to see the Duomo (cathedral) there? And La Scala, if you enjoy any classical music/opera. There are endless things to see in Italy.
Enjoy!

And yes to Rick Steves books.
And you might want to watch a couple of his shows for some background about each city before you go.

RM
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Vogatrice
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Vogatrice »

I second the Rick Steves recommendation. Another good company is Road Scholar. It's targeted at seniors, and I don't know your ages, but it has very knowledgeable guides and learning experiences beyond just bus in, look and leave.

If you are willing to arrange transportation and lodging yourselves, those three cities all offer very good day tours that you can book with a few clicks. Then you don't need to arrange entrance tickets etc as they are included in the tours. Recommended companies are Walks of Italy, Context Italy and Through Eternity.

I am not familiar with the luxury tour companies, not my style/budget, but I'm sure there are some more posh ones. Many universities, including mine, offer so-called affinity tours for their alumni - guided tours to places, often with a faculty member, with higher-end accommodations, transportation, and tours. Have you looked at that? Also National Geographic tours, if you have money to burn.
NiceUnparticularMan
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by NiceUnparticularMan »

So we pick our own vacation apartments and such. We've then had a lot of success using ToursByLocals for day trips as well as transfer days (we often like to make a transfer day a trip day as well):

https://www.toursbylocals.com/

You can search for guides wherever you might be looking, read reviews and such, then message anyone who looks promising to explain what you are looking to do.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (travel).
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rjbraun
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by rjbraun »

A friend recently took this Tauck tour and was very pleased. It seems to hit most if not all of OP's desired cities, albeit not an inexpensive tour option.

https://www.tauck.com/tours/lake-como-v ... tcd=ih2022
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GerryL
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by GerryL »

I would second the suggestion to check out what is available from Road Scholar. They have lots of programs in Italy. Focus on education not shopping. (There is plenty of free time for shopping, but those opportunities are not force fed.) Of course, RS is limited to "mature" travelers.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by DebiT »

I’m curious if in general there are groups that are more loose, that book planes and places as a group, but with fewer or more optional activities. I ask because I don’t always sleep well, and prefer a slow morning in general, but would rather be connected with a group instead of completely on my own (at least as a I learn how to do this travel thing as a widow rather than married).
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Vogatrice
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Vogatrice »

@DebiT: Rick Steves again. He runs "My Way" tours that basically manage the sleep/tranport logistics for you and leave you to your own sightseeing and meals. Not all his tours are runs as My Way so you'd have to look to see if they go places that interest you, mostly in Western Europe where traveling is pretty easy.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Starfox »

Adult only 8 day private tour is available with Adventures by Disney in October.

https://www.adventuresbydisney.com/euro ... vacations/
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JupiterJones
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by JupiterJones »

Rick Steves. :sharebeer
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delamer
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by delamer »

Cruising on the Mediterranean is very smooth. I’ve been seasick on cruises, including on the Caribbean.

But never on the Mediterranean.

We recently met someone who used Globus for a motorcoach tour and was very satisfied: https://www.globusjourneys.com/tour/eur ... d_tl%3Dasc
Last edited by delamer on Mon May 16, 2022 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by talzara »

mholdi1540 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:53 am HI -thanks in advance for advise. Planning 10-12 day trip to Italy (first time) this October and looking for advice on Guided Tour services such as Perillo, Go Ahead etc. NOT the lease bit interested in Cruise Boat tours (we both get sea sick) !!! Wife wants to see Venice, Florence (2-3 days each) with last 3-4 days in Rome and would like pre-scheduled tours like Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, Gondola ride etc. Wife does NOT want to stay just in Rome and take only day trips from there. Has anyone ever used American Express to set up select tour service and what did you think of that. Some friends of mine have suggested American Express services and really liked it. Regardless, thanks for all or your advice but I do need to get back home with 1-2 days of rest before I go back to work so it can not be some endless date vacation. If we really like it we can always go back again to see other places missed on this trip.
What king of trip are you actually looking for? A big bus tour, a small bus tour, or a custom itinerary? Those are very different styles of travel.

Perillo runs big bus tours that put 40 people on a bus to be driven around Italy.

Go Ahead runs small bus tours that put 10-22 people on a bus or mini-bus.

American Express books custom itineraries for just the two of you. Perillo also books custom itineraries, but it's like a very bad travel agent that will only use its preferred providers. You can't customize your trip like at a real travel agent.

If your friends liked their American Express travel agent, get that person's phone number and call him directly. They're all franchises, so quality depends on the individual travel agent, not the American Express brand. In fact, American Express is getting out of the business. It's cutting its franchisees loose to become independent travel agencies.
Jags4186
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Jags4186 »

Would help if you shared your budget. A Tauck Tour for 12 days can be like $9k per person, a Gate1 tour will be more like $2500.

Personally, I'm not that into 100% hand held guided tours if you're only going to be somewhere for 2 or 3 days. Almost any city in Italy will have some "yea duh" stuff you can do for 2 or 3 days. Guided tours work out better if there's something hyper specific you want to see a lot of, IMO.

FWIW the last time we went to Italy we flew into Rome, stayed 4-5 days, then rented a car and drove from Rome to Florence, Sienna (can't remember which was 1st), then drove to Venice and dropped off the car and then stayed there for 2 nights. Flew back from Venice. It surprisingly worked out well.

Best of luck! Italy is great.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by talzara »

Jags4186 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 4:00 pm Would help if you shared your budget. A Tauck Tour for 12 days can be like $9k per person, a Gate1 tour will be more like $2500.
Since we have no idea of the OP's budget, the suggestions include almost many price points between $2,000 and $10,000:
OCDinvestor wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 11:32 am Smartours or Gate1travel.
Vogatrice wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 11:46 am I second the Rick Steves recommendation. Another good company is Road Scholar.
rjbraun wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 12:45 pm A friend recently took this Tauck tour and was very pleased. It seems to hit most if not all of OP's desired cities, albeit not an inexpensive tour option.

https://www.tauck.com/tours/lake-como-v ... tcd=ih2022
Gate1's "9 Day Enchanting Italy" tour is $2,100 in October.

Rick Steves' "Best of Venice, Florence & Rome in 10 Days" tour is $3,200 in October.

Road Scholar's 12-day "Italian Extravaganza: Rome, Florence and Venice at Their Finest" tour is $6,400 in October.

Tauck's 10-day "Lake Como, Venice, Florence & Rome" tour is $9,600 in October.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by douginct »

"Tauck's 10-day "Lake Como, Venice, Florence & Rome" tour is $9,600 in October."

We did this tour a few years ago. It was wonderful. Tauck tends to be pricey, but they have a great product. The biggest difference is they use 5 star hotels and provide excellent meals.
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Watty
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Watty »

mholdi1540 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:53 am Planning 10-12 day trip to Italy (first time) this October .....
....
Wife wants to see Venice, Florence (2-3 days each) with last 3-4 days in Rome.....
For Venice earlier October might be better than late October since that is the beginning of their flood season which has been a big problem in some recent years. Be sure to research what to expect when you go there.

I was in Venice before the pandemic and the areas around the main tourist attractions were overwhelmed with tourists and not enjoyable because of the crowds. I don't know how it is now.

I found the best thing to do in Venice was to get a good map and go for a long walk and get semi-lost walking through the small canals. Once you got a few blocks from the tourist areas it was almost like a ghost town that was fun to walk through. I would avoid any tour that focuses most of the time on the big tourist sites in Venice. We had just been to Rome and Florence so we were already pretty saturated with better church's and museums so we skipped those and had a really good time mostly just wandering and taking boat rides.

You want to be in a hotel that is actually in Venice, I would avoid any tour that has you staying in a hotel on the mainland so be sure to check on that.

You can also ride the inexpensive vaporettos(water buses) and see the grand canal. I would assume that it is still on his web site but Rick Steves has an audio tour of that which you can download.

Three full days in Venice might be longer than you need and some of that time might be spent better in the other two cities or a side trip somewhere else.

If you are taking an organized tour then try to arrive a few days before it starts and then stay longer after the tour ends if at all possible. Getting there early will allow you to handle any travel delays and recover from jetlag and a long trip and be rested and ready to enjoy the tour. After the tour extending your stay only costs you the extra nights in a hotel which does not have to be that much if you spend them outside the big cities.

Be sure to research what the average age of the people that will be in the tour group will likely be. Some of them may have an average age in the 70's since many younger people will travel independently.
mholdi1540 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:53 am Planning 10-12 day trip to Italy (first time)
Keep in mind that you to not need to return from the same city that you flew into. For example if you fly into Rome and see Rome/Florence/Venice then it is more logical to have a return flight from some place like Milan than to return to Rome just to catch a flight. It probably is not a huge airport but you might even be able to catch a return flight from Venice. This is called an open jaws ticket and usually does not cost anything extra.
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Watty
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Watty »

mholdi1540 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:53 am Planning 10-12 day trip to Italy.....
One more thing. If at all possible try to extend your trip since spending extra time there does not cost very much per day. When people say a 10-12 day trip that likely means 8-10 days there and two travel days.

It is a bit trite but nobody on their deathbed says, "I wish I had worked more and taken a shorter trip to Italy."

If one you has a tight time restriction and cannot take a longer vacation then you might consider having the other person stay longer and do some solo travel. They can come back on a different flight a week or so later. If they would not want to be in Europe on their own then they could look for some other organized tour to take with a group.
DemySD
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by DemySD »

If anyone is serious about private Italy tours I know a great guide. Fluent in English. Fluent in life. Fascinating guy with a ton of off the beaten path knowledge (and, of course, beaten path knowledge if that's what you want to stick with). He's out of Tuscany but when I traveled with him he indicated he could do most regions.

I don't want to just blast out his contact here, but if anyone's interested DM me.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Pacific »

Up until Covid, we went on yearly river cruises with Uniworld. A good Italian friend suggested that we not do any "Italian" cruises with any cruise company, but to do a land tour. After much research, including Rick Steves, Perillo, Tourissimo, and others, we decided on Tauck, even though it was one of the costlier companies.

We never regretted a single moment. It was fantastic and our on-tour guide and the in country guides that they have at various destinations were knowledgable, humorous, and informative. It actually made us regret the previous 35 years of traveling that we did without guides.

Only negative to on-land tours is having to re-pack up suitcase every 1-3 days.

Whatever you do, make certain that the tour you choose includes Tuscany.
Emilyjane
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Emilyjane »

We really liked Rick Steves tours. Especially liked that 1/3 to 1/2 of time during most days was free to explore on our own. Guides were excellent, but love having that free time.
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btenny
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by btenny »

I highly recommend Globus tours. We did a Globus 14 day tour of western Europe back in 1996 with two teenagers and two adults. It was great and very modestly priced. We stayed in 3 star hotels and had good dinner meals for half of the evenings. American breakfasts were included for all mornings at our hotels. We had a British tour guide who prearranged everything. We never stood in lines. He was constantly explaining what we were seeing. We spent two days in Rome and got tours of the city for one day and the Vatican for the next day. We saw the Sistine chapel, St Peters basilica and St Peters Square. Pope John also made a short appearance and speech and blessed the crowd while we were there. The entire trip was arranged to make this event happen on a Sunday morning. We also visited Florence and Pisa and Venice and lots of other stuff.

Good Luck
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by DarthSage »

I've gone to Italy on both an Insights tour (4 star, "Best of Italy") and a Tauck tour (5 star, "Grand European Tour"). One thing that stood out to me was that the Insights tour had a lot more add-ons (extra, optional tours) that made the price differential much less than I would have expected. Tauck had a lot more "freebie" activities/experiences thrown in. Plus, Tauck had an after-hours tour of the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel that was the supreme highlight of that trip.

Age range on the Insights trip was ~14-retired. The Tauck tour was a Bridges tour--meant for multiple generations--and the youngest was 8. Many teens were traveling with grandparents. I imagine a regular Tauck tour would skew a bit older. Since the Bridges tour was geared towards families, they had kid-specific activities--for example, in Paris, the adults did a chocolate tasting, while the kids made chocolate bars.

Two nights in Venice should be plenty. My least favorite was our night in Assisi, but I may be biased (I threw up in the bidet that night). My favorite city was Sorrento--beautiful, and the lemon groves scent the entire city.

Whatever tour you choose, you can't go wrong reading Rick Steves' books. In addition to his Italy book, his "Europe Through the Back Door" is extremely helpful for the less-known sights and experiences.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by ksquared »

I have my eye on this for a future trip - might be what you are looking for! https://ciaoandiamo.com/trips/italy-immersion/
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by koryg75 »

I have to say I enjoy Rick Steves for his ideas about saving money and views on interacting with the locals. But he does have a strong bias towards larger cities. The real magic of Europe is in the villages and smaller towns. But I do understand many aren’t comfortable with driving in other countries.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.

Post by Bogle7 »

Guided tours are just sad, in my opinion.
We are going to Italia for the 5th time this October. Return visits to Bologana and Firenze. First time to Roma, Siracusa, Catania.

My advice:
1. 5 days in the landing city. Jet lag and all that.
2. A minimum of 3, preferably 4, nights in other cities.
3. Reduce travel time.
4. AirBnB is for us.

I would do Venezia, Bologna, Firenze.
Consider Venezia, Bologna, Milano. We loved Milano even though we got to experience the first days of Covid madness.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.

Post by GerryL »

Bogle7 wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 8:50 pm Guided tours are just sad, in my opinion.
We are going to Italia for the 5th time this October. Return visits to Bologana and Firenze. First time to Roma, Siracusa, Catania.

My advice:
1. 5 days in the landing city. Jet lag and all that.
2. A minimum of 3, preferably 4, nights in other cities.
3. Reduce travel time.
4. AirBnB is for us.

I would do Venezia, Bologna, Firenze.
Consider Venezia, Bologna, Milano. We loved Milano even though we got to experience the first days of Covid madness.
I had never been on a guided tour before I retired and decided to return to France after 20+ years away. I combined a Road Scholar river cruise from the south of France and then spent two weeks on my own in Paris in a VRBO apartment. I appreciated the educational aspects of the tour and have since been combining RS programs with independent travel. Have not been interested in the "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" tours, but group tours, if well-planned, can be a useful way to get an introduction to a country or region. For some people.
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Re: ITALY Vacation this October.. Any GUIDED Travel Tours Suggestions??

Post by Tribonian »

There are fantastic AirBnBs in Venezia, Firenze & Roma. All are well served by train.

I’d start in Venice, best for jet lag as there are no Vespas or other street noise. Go to the Doge’s Palace & the Accademia. That is enough to blow out your retinas for 2 days. Recover walking around and stopping in at any church along the way to sit. Or shop. But get a good recommendation for food. Venice is one of the few places in Italy where you can eat poorly. If you like modern art Peggy Guggenheim’s place is a bit remote but beautiful.

Florence is culturally rich but small and walkable. The City publishes walking tours that good. Don’t miss the archaeological museum- 2 of the 3 extant full sized Etruscan bronzes are there- L’arringatore and the Chimera of Arezzo. The Medici were fanatical collectors of ancient art- a lot of the source material for the rinascimento is under one roof. The goldsmithing skill of the Etruscans will astonish you. David is great but any one of the 3 copies on public display will do; the original is not so much better that it is worth the price of admission. The copy in front of the Palazzo Vecchio- staring towards Rome- is right by the Loggia where you can enjoy many original masterpieces- including Cellini’s Perseus. For a more intimate Michelangelo statuary experience, go to San Lorenzo, very close to the Duomo and one of the best open air fashion markets on earth. San Lorenzo was the Medici’s church and their chapel is imperial. The Uffizi is a must visit. But again, plan on what you want to see or you will be fatigued before you reach Botticelli. Consider just hiring a guide off TripAdvisor. Florence is full of aspiring art historians who could use an extra euro.

There is a good hop on, hop off bus tour in Rome with headsets in multiple languages. Ride the circuit, see what catches your fancy. The Capitoline Museum has a collection of Roman art only surpassed by the Vatican Museums, but with about 2% of the crowd. You can see the third Etruscan bronze, the Capitoline Wolf there as well as the equestrian Marcus Aurelius. Relax in the piazze. Try to visit Piazza Navona, the Campo dei Fiori and the Spanish Steps. Villa Borghese is an amazing park with world class museums, if you have time. If you do want to go to the Vatican Museums or the Colosseum, those are the two sites in Rome where you’d want to shell out for a “professional” tour guide, but mostly just to jump the queue.

Otherwise, you really don’t need a professional tour- hard to go wrong as a tourist in those places. Hire a guide or professional tour when you want to hit the hidden gems on a return trip. The towns of 40-60k people are magical.

Buon viaggio!
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