Activity level

The day by day description of the tour will tell you how many miles you'll be walking each day, if you participate in each facet of the tour. Caveats: the walking isn't all at once (likely interspersed with bus rides, meals, etc) and you can often opt out of a particular walk or hike. However, if you identify as not being in the best of shape, it would be wise to either begin to train well before your trip, or to choose a less strenuous tour. If you choose this tour, and then have to opt out of a lot of the activities, it may not be the best use of your money and time. You also might feel badly if you can't keep up with the rest of the group when you all go walking or hiking together.

I’ve not done this tour but did the 21 Day Best of Europe. I “trained” for it and was doing a long walk of 5-8 miles once a week with the other 2-3 days about 4-miles. This was in the days of pedometers not Apple Watches and the 2 longest days, Amsterdam and Rome, we did 10 miles throughout the day.

I would definitely start a walking program if your health care provider gives you the OK. I’d get up to a base of 4 miles 3 days a week to get the most put of this tour. Add in hills if you live where this is possible!

When are you considering going?

My husband and I just returned from that tour. We are active people in our 70’s. We found it’s not the amount of walking that was exhausting but the number of flights of stairs.Rome and Paris have metros. You are climbing up and down to get to museums. Then once you get to the museums there are steps to get to the various levels. The Louvre in Paris is mammoth and has many levels. The Ufifizi gallery in Florence has some stairwells with 40+ steps. Yes, there are elevators but there is always a line and you may lose track of your group. would I recommend this tour? Absolutely! There were amazing things to see and do in each city. My might consider practicing walking up several flight of stairs at a time several times a week. Enjoy!

Reply to Pam - We're looking at taking the tour sometime between April and May, 2025. To everyone, thanks for responding!

Oh, that is a wonderful time of year AND you’ve got plenty of time to ramp up a walking program and find shoes that will work for the amount of steps you'll put in!

I read the RS description of the Budapest tour, and living here, i knew the description overly described the distances and stairs and commented as such on one post. The RS folks responded that they had stock activity level descriptions that they just plugged into the text. The text is "could be worst case". For anything accurate you should rely on the responses here. Do keep in mind that the demographics for a RS tour is somewhat at the far end of mature and they aren't going to alienate their customer base by driving them into the pavement.

I agree with Pam.
If you are not used to walking a couple of miles at a time, and are not used to hills or stairs, you might find the tour pace a bit much. Note that you will also have to handle your luggage yourself.

I’ve been on 3 RS Tours, including Best of Europe 14 days. I would describe BOE 14 as a “go go go” type of tour. Lots of location changing, lots of travel. The bus days were a great way to recharge your batteries and rest tired feet! Not sure of the mileage, because I didn’t measure it, but definitely be prepared to walk a lot, and wear comfortable shoes. There is also a lot of standing around during some of the walking tours, while you’re listening to the guide. To me, that’s more tiring than the walking. The walking wasn’t overwhelming to me (I’m in my 40s), but it shouldn’t be underestimated if you’re not generally an active person. Some of the mileage will depend on what you choose to do with your free time.