Multi-day stops on tours

We did the RS Venice-Florence-Rome Tour last October. We added a pre-tour night in Venice and 2 post-tour nights in Rome, which, I thought, was the right amount of time in each city. If you look at the list of RS tours and the itineraries, it will tell you how many nights you’ll spend in each location. There are also City tours (London, Paris, Rome, and Istanbul) where you spend 7 nights in the same hotel of the host city. We did the London tour last June and it was very relaxing knowing we were not going to be moving to another city or hotel during the tour.

You posted in the Day Tours section. Day tours, by their very nature do not have multi day stays.

The RS city stays spend the whole time in and around the same city. The VFR tour divides all of its nights between just those places.The majority of single country (or part of one country) tours have mostly 2 nights, occasionally 3 in each place. Many people bookend their tours with independant multi-day stays

But if you want longer stays, then a tour isn't for you. Better to travel independently, and perhaps book a few Day tours within your own itinerary.

Thank you for the two posts so far. We actually have been adding extended (non-tour) stays to both ends of our tours when we set them up. I was just hoping some company or set of tour types specialized in multi-day stops for all areas of its tours. I do like the city specific tour idea, but that would mean that we already know the city enough to book an extended stay. Thanks again for the quick replies.

Some tours have some 3 nights stays, but it might be one place on the whole trip. Some companies offer centre based tours where you are based at the same hotel for a week and do day trips. Many are walking or hiking type trips. I’ve done a few of these and love being able to unpack for the week.

Collette for example has a whole series of trips where you stay in one hotel, but see multiple destinations.

https://www.gocollette.com/en-CA/find-your-tour#q/stylenamesfacet=Spotlights&currentPage=1&sortDirection=desc&sortBy=pageviewsbylanguage

Road Scholar has some tours like this -3 nights in one destination.

Good ideas again...the centre based concept from same hotel seems interesting. We had looked at some Road Scholar tours, but you need to like the fixed activities (one example had you going out to harvest scallops...not my ideal way to spend a typical vacation day).

Odysseys Unlimited and Overseas Adventure Travel have tours with pacing like that. Just like with Road Scholar, you’ll need to make sure the activities are a fit for you. I’ve traveled with all 3 companies - I choose them specifically for the slower pacing.

Gate 1 has Stay & Explore tours where you stay in one place and take day trips. We have traveled with Gate 1 seven times, and plan to use them again. If you are interested, be sure to sign up for their weekly Deal email. They run sales on selected itineraries. Every Monday new sales are published.

I just received an email that the Gate 1 Stay & Explore tours are 50% the companion. So, essentially, 25% off when booking for 2 people.

I did what Reederman did with the Venice-Florence-Rome tour a few years ago -- adding days before in Venice and after in Rome. I think that's a good strategy for any tour itinerary that starts and ends in cities, as most do. Before the Best of Spain tour I spent days in Barcelona, and afterwards in Seville and Cordoba. Before the Ireland tour I spent days in Dublin. All of those tours included at least two nights, and sometimes three, in particular locations. Last year I took a Road Scholar tour in Provence that consisted of six nights in Aix and five in Arles, with bus rides to various nearby places on particular days. While I peferred the Rick Steves tours for other reasons, I appreciated the longer multi-night stays of the Road Scholar tour.

I'm not sure I understand the OP's comment:

I do like the city specific tour idea, but that would mean that we already know the city enough to book an extended stay.

If you already "know the city," why would you book a weeklong tour there? You don't have to "know" Paris or London or Rome to know that a weeklong tour would be worthwhile, assuming that the city interest you.

Imprint Tours has 3-night stays on a lot of their tours (Europe and beyond). https://imprinttours.com/

Adventures with Sarah has "staycation" tours such as a Tuscany tour that stays in one place but takes day trips. https://adventureswithsarah.net/

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice. My comment about 'knowing' a city ahead of time was silly. Most of the tours are about finding some new and wonderful sites and experiences that would never guess without 'taking the plunge'. I know already we are excited to make return trips to Venice, Tuscany, Grace Bay (Turks & Caicos) and Sedona, Ariz. Thanks all for the various tour/company suggestions. I'm happy to see so many options for multi-stop days exist.