tours

In June I will take my 4th RS tour in Italy in just a couple years. I have loved all 3 of my trips and I was not a 'tour person' before I took my first one. To get the best of both worlds, I schedule independent travel time before &/or after the tour also. As for value, yes, they are pricey, but I always feel I get my money's worth. The guides and the local guides are fantastic, the meals provided are wonderful and your fellow travelers become friends very quickly.

As a former tour director and tour planner (not Rick's), my only suggestions is if you decide to do it on your own and want to try to copy one of his tour itineraries, don't expect to do it in the same time frame. You won't be able to do it. Or if you do, you'll miss a lot.

Remember...when on a tour they have the luxury of a coach to get them from place to place while you'll have to rely on public transportion.

The tour has the guide which gets them into museums, attractions, etc, without having to wait on line for tickets or to enter. Tickets are gotten ahead of time and the group enters differently.

On a tour, there's not need to find your way to your hotel or to included attractions. Your guide does that. On your own, you do it.

Whether or not to take a tour is really up to you. Do you prefer your independence or are willing to give some of it up in return for just about everything being done for you? On a tour, hotel, transportation, most sightseeing, and some meals are all taken care of. On your own, you are responsible for doing all the planning. (And for some, the planning is just as much fun as the trip itself.)

On a tour, you need to stick to the itinerary of the tour. On your own, you decide where you want to go.

There are pros and cons to both types of travel.

My husband and I went on the Venice, Florence, and Rome tour last year, and we loved it. We were actually quite happy to leave the major logistical planning as far as hotels, transportation, and museum admissions up to them. We still had ample free time to also be able to fit in other things that weren't on the itinerary. Our guide, Ben, was wonderful, too. We'd both recommend a tour, but like others have said, if you really want to have control of everything, you're likely best to plan it yourself. Hope that helps!

Mily,

I agree with the others. There are pros and cons to independent travel vs. taking a tour. Since you specifically stated you'd love to go on one of Rick's tours, that is what I would do!

I don't know how experienced a traveler you are, but in my case I decided that I wanted to go to Rome for my 25th birthday. I wasn't comfortable going alone, so I signed up for the 7-day city tour and I absolutely loved it. The following year, my dad and I went on the 7-day Florence city tour and we also built in some independent travel in Rome and Orvieto prior to joining the tour. Now, I would probably do all my Italy travel without Rick's tour, but use him for other countries I'm not familiar with (France, Spain, etc.) Taking that first tour taught me how to be comfortable traveling around in Italy independently.

In my opinion, and what many people on this board have reported, the tours are definitely worth the money. In addition to what is covered, there are intangible factors such as the guide's knowledge and ability to go above & beyond for you as our Rome guide did in arranging a side trip to Florence for a small group of us, or as our Florence guide did when I lost my gloves on the tour bus.

As for which tour to take, I would go to the "Tours" section of the site and read the itineraries for each of the Italy tours, compare pricing, etc. and pick the one that appeals most to you. You can't really go wrong.

Mily,

My usual travel method for the last few years has been a combination of a RS tour along with some travel on my own. For me, that provides "the best of both worlds".

I've found that in travelling with a tour, I tend to learn far more about the area and it's a much more rewarding travel experience. I've found that I really enjoy the company of a small group (no more than 28 people). The groups tend to "bond" to a certain extent, and there are usually a few tearful "goodbyes" at the farewell dinners.

The benefit of travelling solo is that I can visit spots and perhaps "linger" a bit longer if desired. I can also visit places that are of specific interest to me, but may not be so interesting for other people.

I would definitely say that the RS Tours are "worth the money"! I've taken three tours so far, and I'm booked on another one in May. IMHO, once you've taken a RS tour, you'll be "hooked", as the rest of us are!

If you're interested in visiting Italy on a tour, have a look at the tour descriptions. You could perhaps start with one of the shorter tours to see if you like them, such as the Heart of Italy in 9 Days or the Venice, Florence & Rome in 10 Days. The Italy in 17 Days is the best, but also the most expensive.

Rick's Italy Guides (and those on other tours) are outstanding (if I start with the superlatives, I'll run out of room here), so I'm sure you'd have a great time. You may also want to check the "Tour Feedback" section for comments from tour members on each of the Italy tours.

You could also order the free Tour DVD to have a look at the "flagship" Best of Europe tour.

Good luck with your decision - Buon Viaggio!

Mily,, I have always travelled independently,, and loved it, but 2 years ago decided to take my then 11 yr old daughter on a Rick Steves Family Tour of Europe. ( I had already taken my 14 yr son on a seperate independent trip to Europe 2 yrs before that,so it wasn't that I was unprepared to travel alone with a child).. I wanted to try a Rick Steves tours for several reasons. The ability to see quite a few places in a relatively short period of time without having to arrange anything,, and I liked the small group philosophy of the RS tours.

We had a GREAT time and I thoroughly recommend tryinga RS tour. I did as most suggest, and combined 12 days on our own with a 14 day tour.. you may not have the amount of time,, but even flying in to join a tour a few days earlier and flying out a few days after a tour ends will allow you some indendent time.

RS tours seem to cost more then some tours( my MIL did a Globus tour and my nephew did a Contiki tour) ,, but include more and we were never nickle and dimed which is nice. Groups are small. You do get independent time on tour.

Read the tour "feedback" site here.

For me, it's mostly in the numbers. After reading the thread so far, I looked at "14 Days, Best of Europe". That's eight grand for two people!

Last year we made three trips to Europe that totaled eighty-two days as best I recall. The most expensive trip averaged $203/day and the least expensive $189/day -- that's car, gas, hair, and feathers -- everything except airfare and souvenirs. If the combined average were $200/day (which it wasn't), that's close enough to sixteen grand. Two tours would have shot our whole travel wad. As it was, we got almost three months for the price of one.

Like Lee, I enjoy the planning and I'd rather see what I want to see rather than having what somebody else wants me to see take up half my time. Unlike Lee, our plans hit the trash when we get off the plane and we often skip whole countries that seemed like a good idea before we left.

Since we're pretty much "citied, sighted, and museumed" out, we enjoy finding the odd stuff and meeting people - we may go days without coming across anybody that speaks English. I don't think I'd like taking a vacation to walk around with a bunch of folks that are too much like me; I can do that at the grocery store.

Mily,

I'm also on the side of taking a tour. I took the RS Village Italy tour 2 summers ago. I have taken 2 other tours with other companies in the past (one in High School, one shortly after college) and the RS tour was the best one. I'm going to be taking another tour with them this summer.

I'm not sure how long your time frame is and what your budget is, but you may want to consider the Village Italy tour to get more of a small town feel for Italy. However, if you haven't already been to Venice, Florence and Rome, you may want to start there instead. Or, you can do as the others suggest and add one of these places on before or after. I LOVED the Village Italy tour and I would highly recommend it over the others, especially if you're traveling in the summers - the cities can get really busy (but that's just me).

Our group had a mixture of people and ages, which was nice. We had a family of four (two college-age daughters), myself and one other person in his 30s, some people in their 40s, 50s, and even some people in their 60s/70s.

I HIGHLY recommend taking a tour! GO FOR IT!

I guess I'm one of those people for whom planning is as much fun as the trip itself.

Also, in conjunction with Rick's comparison of solo travel vs. traveling with someone, a group tour has to be the extreme. Traveling in a large group of Americans would seem to make it difficult to meet anyone but them. I like the experience of interacting with the locals.

But the biggest thing, for me, is the difference between "having" to plan for myself versus letting someone else do what I can do for myself and paying dearly for the service. Case in point, my trip last November was 15 "days" (13 full days and 2 partial days, 14 nights) for which I spent $1500, solo, on the ground in Europe. Pro-rating that for one less day and subtracting my average for 7 dinners, I get $1275. Compare that to $4120 for the Germany/Austria/Switzerland tour ($3495 + $625 single supplement). I can go by myself three times for what one tour would cost me.

Maybe that's why I can afford to go every year rather than once every three years.

But, if I were going to do a tour, I would do one of Rick's.

I've done both travel on my own and travel with tours. As solo traveler I like it best when I do a combination of a tour and solo time.

When you travel alone, your time is your own and no one looks over you shoulder. If you want to slum it and sit in a cafe watching the world go by and read a good mystery you only have yourself to answer to. But you have to work to meet people if you travel alone. There are ways to do it--hostels, pubs, day tours etc--or be satisfied with your own company.

A tour gives you people to talk with about the sights that you visit. Certainly, it's more structured and all the pros and cons discussed above apply. But for me, the advantage of traveling with other people is the social aspect. It's all well and good to talk about meeting locals when you travel, but it is not easy and doesn't always happen. And, for women, it can still be challenging in this 21st century.

That's why I like to do the combination. I know that at least part of the time I can satisfy my social gene and talk with my tour mates and exchange perspectives. Then I can go solo and enjoy my own company or meet locals if possible.

I've done one Rick Steves Tour and I would recommend them. Mine was Berlin, Prague and Vienna. They are as advertised.

Pam

Yikes! I looked at "alone" and thought it meant "not with a tour". The only time I go to europe all by myself is to hike and that's because nobody will do it with me. Talking to myself is extremly boring.

Undisregard all my previous comments except those having to do with money.

I have also participated in several RS tours. Initially, my husband and I took one because we had not been to Europe before and frankly were a bit intimidated to do it on our own the first time. I'm no longer intimidated, but I choose these tours because they are just fantastic. The RS guides are highly knowledgeable and all that I've encountered are genuinely interested in making sure you have a great trip.

I also love to plan trips, and with the RS tours you still have to do a bit of planning because 1) your airfare is never included and 2) you have most of your days at least 1/2 free to do things on your own. So you definitely need to plan what to see and do when not on tour time. And, as the other posters said, you may want to plan a day or two before and after for independent touring. That's also a good way to get rid of the jet lag before the tour starts.

I can also say that on each tour I've been on there have been at least a few solo travelers in the group. In every case they have quickly made friends with the other solo travelers or other couples and don't ever need to worry about being alone if they don't want to be.