17 Day Italy tour - ok for 73 yr old?

I’m about to hit 80 and my last two out of 14 Rick Steves Tours were to Tuscany and Sicily. Fairly active tours. I am not active but in good health with a slight respiratory problem. There are times I chose not to participate in something that might prove taxing AND in which I had no particular interest. For the most part I would encourage you to enjoy the tour. Pace yourselves and remember that you are not required to participate in every activity.

I haven't taken any of Rick's tours, or any tour in Italy, but in case you haven't found it, there's day-to-day info on how much walking is involved in the 17-day tour here: Best of Italy in 17 Days. You'll need to click on Itinerary.

A lot of the destinations on that tour are hilly. Venice is flat as a pancake but has those little hump-backed bridges that mean going up some steps and then down some steps.

I'm 71 and have been to Italy three times since 2015 (when I was a spring chicken of 63). I've had no issues other than rough sidewalks in Rome after dark, which led to a couple of falls since my balance isn't good. However, I don't own a car, so walking 2-1/2 or 3 miles is a pretty regular thing here at home, and I can do 10 miles in Europe if I need to.

Tour members tend to skew older, from what people have reported here, so I think you'll be fine. There are times when there's an option to take a more or less strenuous walk. I can't do walks on rough surfaces, but I managed a nice walk around a lovely mountain plateau in the Dolomites. I think it was rated as OK for strollers (the baby-carriers, I mean).

For the most part the 'strenuous' walking is voluntary, on your free time in Varenna, Dolomites,and Cinque Terre.

Sienna is the one place with significant vertical change on the walking tour of the town. Our guide did not rush it so no one was left gasping.

It is possible you might be the oldest on the tour, but if you are it will be not by much. Our tour spanned the age range from 13 -70ish. ( grandpa and grandson) The folks over 50 outnumbered those under 50.

The walking is broken up, so it is not a 5-7 mile Army march in one gob.

I did this tour last Fall at age 73. It was my 13 th RS tour so I knew what to expect. I agree about Siena as it is hilly. The local guide did leave some people behind in Assisi but the RS guide slowed him down. Rome has LOTS of steps, both in the city and in the museums.

How far do you go on your daily walks? Are you able to include some hills or stairs?

One tip from one of my first TS guides…stay right with the guide and you’ll go at a moderate pace. If you drop back in the pack you’ll scramble to keep up.

Editing to add: I think I might have been the oldest on the tour. I wondered why I kept getting the rooms that didn’t have a lot of steps to them! At the last hotel I saw their list included ages!

My wife and I are in our late-late-late-late 30s (okay, we're almost 69), and are about to leave on the RSE Best of Tuscany a week from today. We did the Loire Valley tour last May, and although the itinerary often predicted lots of walking, we found that lots of days were fairly mild. Not only that, but you can always decide to take it easy and sit out one of the walking tours if you want, and nobody's going to be bothered by that, least of all your tour guide.

For us, the important things to remember are to listen to our own bodies and act accordingly; if we think we need to take it easy for a morning, we'll do so; we also bring high-quality walking shoes--my foot doctor told me to buy shoes with stiff soles, lots of arch support, so that's what I wear. We also try to keep our day packs fairly light, only carrying what we absolutely have to, but including water bottles.

On our last RSE tour, there was a couple in their mid-80s; the husband, who was 84, did every bit of the walking that we did, and looked great. Our plan is to keep going until we absolutely can't any longer, and then we'll be content with more sedate vacations, like game safaris in Africa, where you don't walk much at all, or beach vacations, where we gladly plant ourselves in beach chairs and enjoy adult beverages while we contemplate the next meal.

Also consider your ability to climb stairs while carrying your luggage. On our tour last year, the RS guide knew that everyone who signed up was told about walking and stair-climbing requirements, and rightfully did not at all consider age when assigning rooms. In a couple of hotels we had up to three flights of very narrow stairs to climb with our luggage. The hotel had minimal staff and did not assist. Having said that, I hope you go and I think you'll be fine.

The average age of people on RS tours is probably around 70. You'll be fine.