We're traveling to London, Paris, Italy and Venice in September. I've been researching tours and only come up with Aviator. I'm trying to travel on a budget and am wondering if their are other operators to look at. I'd like to do a few evening walking tours, boat tours and wine tours. Thanks in advance for your help.
We'll be staying four days in each location. I have been to Paris and Rome years ago and we just roamed around very unprepared. I'm mainly interested in evening tours. When I look up chocolate tours or cooking tours they seem over the top expensive.
Posted by
Florida
1453 posts
Are you looking for package tours which hit all those cities in the same tour? How many total days is your vacation? Have you already bought flights (from/to USA I assume)? Where else in Italy do you want to visit?
Posted by
North Georgia, USA
1159 posts
There are usually suggestions for local tours in Rick's guidebooks, and certainly enough information you could orient yourself adequately in any of these cities and most of the major sites without even needing a tour. Have you researched various guidebooks for these cities? My approach is to check out whatever my local library has available, then decide which of those books to purchase to have my own copy for the trip.
For a budget traveler, you might also arrange for a "greeter" tour in each of these cities. http://globalgreeternetwork.info/?id=214
http://www.greeters.paris/?lang=en
http://www.londongreeters.org/
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8337 posts
Every major European city has "free walking tours" where the tour guides work for tips. They're fully licensed and excellent tour guides. You can find them on Google or one of the search engines.
We always sign up for their nightlife or pub crawl tours at night. The group may be as large as 15-20 people from all over the world--of different ages. And they'll take you to inexpensive restaurants, pubs and nightclubs that are really hopping. A great time is to be had by all.
I'd also suggest Googling what every kind of tour or boat ride you're interested in. They're easy to find on every city's tourist website too.
Posted by
Boulder, Colorado, USA
437 posts
Assuming you are traveling independently you may enjoy "London Walks" which offers evening walking tours such as this Ghost Walk
I enjoyed a daytime walk with them and would try another if I visit London again.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Pariswalks
Posted by
Michigan
375 posts
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
www.toursbylocals.com is a great website to find specific local guides for specific cities. We've used the site to book guides in several cities across Europe and Russia.
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
I have noticed that there are a lot of pricey food-related tours being offered. I can't bring myself to pay close to $100 for one of those. I think your best bet is to look for tours advertised as "walking tours", which often gave lower prices. The local tourist office will often have a reasonably priced tour of the city's historic district.
Viator doesn't run its own tours; it just sells tours run by other companies. I think Viator's prices are often higher. I'd use Viator to find out what is offered, then Google to try to find the company actually running the tour.