Revisiting a Best of Europe site on another RS tour

I've done it the other way around. I had taken the Rome, Florence, and Paris tours, and then took a Best of Europe tour. I thought it was great fun revisiting those cities, even though I was essentially seeing the same tour stuff as the first time. I had a feeling of, "Ha! I know how to manage this city. I know which direction to go. I know that this place has amazing gelato!" And there were a couple of times (like visiting the David in Florence) that it was fun to watch my tourmates' reactions. I've actually been to Paris several times, so on the BOE tour I opted out of almost all of the tour activities and put together my own personal tour, and I had a fantastic time. Plus, my tourmates were interested to hear what I had seen and done that they didn't do.

Not on RS tours. But this does give you an opportunity to leave the tour for the day (or afternoon) and do stuff on your own

Not on a tour,, but since you have only seen those places on a tour then you have lots of reason to see them again. Even a RS tour only does 2-3 days in a city,, and thats never nearly enough to see everything, so this time you can skip the sightseeing day with the guide and do a few things on your own. You will get the best of both worlds,,still have the transport and hotels all arranged,, see some new places,, and get a bit more independent time to really explore a few more sights other then the tour offerings. Enjoy it.

Agree with Teresa, given our experience. It was worthwhile having visited some sites and knowing those we wished to visit again, perhaps in more detail. Also, if once was enough, then explore sites that time did not allow for during the previous visit. We were a bit more relaxed as well knowing the general lay of the land.

You didn't say if you were on the 14 or 21 day Best of Europe. But doesn't really matter. I would suggest looking at the Europe My Way Tours. I took the 14 day Europe My Way this past June. My Way tours are un-guided and cost less. I had been to all of the stops (except one) before. During this tour I visited some of the big sights again but saw and did lots of new things I had not seen or done before. It was the best of both.

My wife and I took the 14 Day Best of Europe tour several years ago. We looked at that trip as a "sampler" trip. It gave us a chance to see, at a pretty quick pace, many spots throughout Europe and allowed us to decide which ones we might want to return to. Several years later we took the RS Paris and South of France Tour. This allowed us to stay in a different part of Paris and see things we missed the first time. Also we returned to Beaune on our own and were able to spend more time than the first tour. We loved it. Next year we plan to visit Italy and we will return to Venice, Florence and Rome even though we saw them on the Best of Europe trip. We have decided to spend more time at an agriturismo in Tuscany because we loved it so much on that first tour and felt rushed. The second time around allows you to go at a slower pace and explore.

Robert, how did you like the 'your way' tour this spring? Would you recommend it for independent travelers?

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I suspect there are more than just a few people who started with the Best of Europe tour and then branched out to single country tours. We're not ready to decide on next year's destination yet, but lots of places interest us. By the way, we took the 21 day regular Best of Europe tour.

After reading Marty's post I considered where I would like to re-visit and decided to sign up for a 2012 tour ("My Way," I think it's called) of Italy. It will take me back to some of the places I loved but haven't re-visited in 10 years. Beginning in Venice and ending in Rome will make it easy for me to spend extra time in these cities or move on up to the CT for more time. Great topic, Marty.

Laurie By all means yes! The "Europe My Way" tours get you a good typical Rick Steves Hotel at each stop. Which includes breakfast, it is clean, comfortable, centrally located with lots of hot water in the shower. You also get bus transportation between cities (almost door to door or at least just a block or two from door to door) and a Rick Steves escort. The escort is available to offer suggestions for local dining and sightseeing. So you don't have to worry about where you are going to stay each night and how to get to the next city. All of that is handled by RS. Your sightseeing, local transportation and other daily meals are up to you to plan and pay for on your own. That is pretty indepentant travel. However if by indepentant travel you mean solo travel again I say yes. I was a solo traveler on this trip. And there was one other solo on the group.
If you have not taken a RS tour before there is one more thing you should know that comes with the tour. That is an amazing group of like minded "travel buddies". It is great to be able to share your daily independant travel experiences with others. (If you want to). As I said in previous posts I had been to most of the stops of this My Way tour before. However I used Rick's audio guides to help with the new and some revisited sights. I had been to Rome 4 other times in the past 35 years but on this trip I finally got around to climbing the top of St Peters. Plus I walked around and explored new areas of Rome I had not seen before along with some of the classic old sights too. So if one of the My Way Tours is going to where you want to visit and/or revisit don't be afraid to try it. The tour description explains all of the tour in more detail than I have just done. Read them. Robert

Robert, thanks and yes, I did mean both independent, as in like to plan my trips and solo as in I tend to travel alone (not necessarily by choice) and yes, I have taken 5 RS tours. And, I agree, on 4 of them there were other solo travelers to 'buddy up' with.