1st RS Tour - what do I need to know?

luann, V-F-R was the first of three RS tours we've done. We enjoyed every minute of it. My suggestion is to be sure to bring the guidebook they sent you, as it helps with free-time activities, and also reading about some of the things you will be seeing helps appreciate them.

But most importantly is to arrive at least one day early to help adjust to the time change. We had people in our group show up the day of the tour starting, who were falling asleep at the welcome dinner. We chose to fly into Milan three days early, and stayed at Varenna on Lake Como, before taking train to Venice. Glad we did that as an added bonus to the tour.

I agree that getting there a day early is a good idea.

You could check out some scrapbooks from tour members (on this site).

Thank you both for the comments. I discovered the search function after I posted so have done a little looking through scrapbooks and videos. Everyone is so helpful!

I agree with Stan and Zoe about arriving early if you can. At least one night before, two if you can manage it. You'll thank yourself for being over jet lag by the time the tour starts! For this trip, I would probably want to add a couple of days on to Rome if you can manage, but if not, that's OK too. You'll be back.

I also have learned to do some research on what to do in free time. I've found that, particularly on the walking tours of the cities, I don't get to spend as much time as I would really like in some of the churches or museums, so I pencil them in for free time or to do before the tour starts. Go thru what the tour says you do, then figure out from the guidebook what also interests you. In Florence, do try to get by the Galileo Science Museum. It is excellent! The guides usually give ideas but for me, I do better if I have some plans in place, then can change if something is mentioned I don't know about.

I've done 8 RS tours and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I don't have any real minuses for the tours because I love the added value the guide provides. I've not done this particular one but I've visited all 3 cities on a variety of RS tours and love how they focus on teaching you how to navigate the cities and learn to travel on your own. Now, even as a fairly confident European traveler, I continue to take the tours because of the things I learn! I also enjoy the other tour members.

In Venice, do know that all the bridges you see actually are steps, not ramps SO having manageable luggage is essential for getting to your tour hotel. When you leave Venice, as a group you will board the vaporetto to the place where the bus is parked (Tronchetto parking lot) to leave so you'll have to manage it again on the way.

You are going to have SO much fun! I'm excited for you.

The cons of a tour are often the pros for other people. The travel group can be a joy (we are in touch with a few people who we toured Turkey with three years ago) or a burden (like when one of our tour members got lost at Ephesus or that horrible couple who lagged behind the group at every stop... oh wait, both of those were my parents... but I could see other people who felt chained to them. Or the guy who bugged a Turkish farmer about his electric bill... Sartre can be more or less accurate on the Hell depending on the individuals who are the other people).

Also on the Turkey tour we visited a school house, had a couple homecooked meals in rural places and visited with a family that lived in a luxe cave in Cappadocia. All things I probably couldn't have booked myself. At the farm I ate a strawberry that has haunted my dreams since. Three years ago.

As mentioned elsewhere, the structure can also be a pro and a con, given that you may want more time doing a thing or less time at a thing. The free time can mitigate the first problem but there's no fixing impatience.

The fact that the transfers are all taken care of for you, huge pro. But losing flexibility can be a con for some. Wife and I always have a fight during a transfer, but had zero fights on Turkey tour.

Basically, with a tour, you are trading flexibility and customized experience for enhanced access, company whether you like it or don't and ease of use.

Not how I want to tour in my 40's (now) but maybe how I will want to go in my 60's.

Thanks Pam for the reminder about the bridges in Venice. We will be there in September with the My Way Europe tour, and are hoping for better weather than we had on our first visit to Venice three years ago. We have worked at our packing light efforts over the last few years, and we agree with that philosophy. But we do not want to not have to spend our travel time shopping for necessaries unless we have to. Again thank you for the reminder to keep the "necessities" to a minimum Those bridges are especially a problem when the sidewalks are flooded!

I totally agree with the advice to arrive 2 days before your tour starts. We have taken 7 RS tours and started Village Italy in Padua. We spent 3 nights in Venice (that tour doesn't go to Venice) and by the time we got to Padua we felt great. If you can add a few days at the end to stay in Rome, you will be glad that you did.

Originally the company used to send each person a package with guide book, ear plugs and money belt. Now they give you some credit in the RS store. Buy the guide book, money belt for each person, and an Italian language book. It is small, easy to carry and very helpful.
We would sit down with it every night at dinner and quiz each other. Besides learning some, it was fun.
Don't forget to let your banks and credit card companies know that you are traveling and where so that they don't put a hold on your debit and credit cards.
Definitely pack light! And late October is a great time to go! Read the part of this website about scams to educate yourself, but don't get scared. It just makes you more confident and comfortable if you are aware.
The Italian people are great and you are going to have so much fun!

If you have anymore questions come back to the forum.

Hi Luann: I am going on my 9th rs tour this December. I really like the RS philosophy. You will be hooked.

Some practical things are to bring an extra set of glasses if you wear them and prescription and otc meds you use. Bring more than the exact amount you will need. Yes, I did drop a pill down the sink 😳😳😳 It can sometimes be a challenge to try and find benedryl or some other otc Meds.

Bring an adapter so you can plug in your electronics and you may want to look into an extension cord as some plugs are in strange places in hotel rooms. However in Switzerland there were places to plug the charger cord into the wall no adapter or wall plug needed.

I also scan and email myself copies of the front and back of my credit/ debit cards, passport, medical id card and flight info. That way if anything gets misplaced or lost I have copies. I also send copies to a family member as well. Get a money belt to keep your important documents in.

But most of all sit back, relax and have a wonderful time!,,,

You will really enjoy that trip!

Definitely arrive a couple of days early. I would recommend Verona as a beginning town. When we took the Best of Italy tour several years ago as our first time in Italy, we flew to Milan, took the train to Verona 3 days before joining the tour. Verona is a tourist-friendly nice sized town with a Roman arena and some nice pedestrian piazzas. They're used to English-speaking tourists, so it's a nice town to acclimate yourself. We bought their city Verona Card and enjoyed exploring the historic center of town, stopping into several of the sites on the card. Afterwards, it's handy to take the fast, 1-hour train to Venice to meet the RS tour.

What's the RS tour like? Nice tour guides, you'll see a LOT in each city and understand their history & gorgeous art so much more, and enjoy meeting fellow tour mates. You're able to be on your own completely during the free times or you can see if others might want to join you. My husband & I met a few couples for a dinner or saw some others & joined up for a drink but otherwise, we liked to spend our free time as a couple.

Any drawbacks? None that we experienced.

Best tips? Go with an attitude of planning to have an amazing trip, and it will be reality! Other tips: ATM is the best way to obtain cash. Wear your money belt. A lightweight cross-body purse is nice. Each of those towns has plenty of stores in case you need an item, so don't over pack "just in case" stuff. Flag the items in the RS book that interest you, so when you're on the bus between cities, you can review what you would like to do, first, during free time. And, lastly, pack a couple of small & quart sized Ziploc bags. They're always handy for picnic food or misc. items.

You all are wonderful! Thank you so much for all the information. I'm starting a physical conditioning program in case I can't get a Sherpa to haul my bags up all the steps. Cheers!

So excited about my first RS tour. Hope I can manage to pack lightly. First question of many: Does anyone know if the bus has outlets to charge cell phones? Thanks!!

Although I will not be doing a Rick Steves tour until 2019, the best advice I can give is follow through on the fitness regime! We walked, and walked and walked on our European vacations, there is so much to see, bell towers to climb, bicycles to ride...you get my point. I literally wore the tread off of my shoes ( great walking shoes are a must!). You will enjoy yourself more the fitter you are! I am no athlete, but can walk around Europe with the best of them. Have a fabulous time!!!

" Does anyone know if the bus has outlets to charge cell phones? "

Not that I can recall on eight RS tours. If you're really concerned about power for your mobile phone, you may want to pack along an auxiliary battery pack such as one of these models - http://www.jackery.com/

Not how I want to tour in my 40's (now) but maybe how I will want to go in my 60's.

Max, we are in the second half of our 60's. We've taken a tour (Viking) and a DIY trip in the last year or so. We still prefer DIY, but we are adventurous.

Luann,
I haven't been on a RS tour, but if you've never been to Europe I think a tour is a great way to go first time out. If I was to ever take a tour again, it would be with RS since I'm a firm believer of their philosophy. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time!

If you can arrive a day or two early, all the better, but it won't be the end of the world if you don't. When we took our Viking River Cruise, we flew from Atlanta, arrived at 5:30 the next morning in Amsterdam, flew to Basel after a three hour layover, arrived at the ship in time for lunch and went sightseeing before dinner that night. We stayed up until 10:00 to help acclimate to the new time zone. We were fine for a full day the next day. Personally, I think it is better to push through and stay outside and active when you arrive.

@DougMac: Yeah, those Viking Cruises are about the only group tour (and the only cruise) that wife thinks she's down for.

I think I will likely remain an indy traveler until such a time when the logistics and the carrying of a light bag become untenable.

Feel free to skip any group activity. Remember that it is your vacation so if the group is visiting a church and you've seen your fair share of churches then by all means use that time for something else. Just make sure to tell your tour guide and buddy.

I've been on two RS tours and they were both far better than my expectations. The guides truly are amazing.

Have a great trip!

Max - we're in our early 70s and still travel DIY. Not sure if tours will ever be for us.

We did that tour in May and had a great time with a wonderful group of people. It was our second RS tour and we definitely plan more in the future.

The arriving early advice is pretty standard. We can't sleep on planes, so we just power through the whole first day, and we're good to go the next morning. But I wouldn't want to be jet-lagged and punchy on the first evening of the tour.

As this specific tour, I'd advise that if there are personal care items you're picky about, Venice is not the place to find them. Our 19-year-old son has hair products he is very particular about. Rather than buying a small container for his 3-1-1 bag, he just figured he'd easily find some after arriving in Italy. Italians must have great hair products, right? I can't even tell you how many tiny, hard-to-find pharmacies, stores and shops we went to before finally, on our third day in Venice, IIRC, finding something acceptable at a little beauty salon where little English was spoken. We laugh about this quest, but we really did waste too much frustrating time on it. So be sure to take at least a few days of everything you really need/prefer to last through Venice.

Also, be aware that your guide is free to change the itinerary. The generic VFR itinerary that's always posted and which they will send you as the "final" itinerary is no such thing. Our guide switched our Vatican/Sistine visit to Friday evening instead of morning. All well and good, since that meant smaller crowds (though it was still packed). But, based on the itinerary, we purchased non-refundable, reserved tickets for a 5 p.m. visit to the Borghese Gallery, which we really wanted to see. Because of the schedule change, we couldn't use those tickets and everything else was sold out. So no Borghese for us. We were able to sell two of our three tickets outside the museum (we'd gone over in the morning to see if there were any other options), but still, we missed one of the things we most wanted to see. Another couple had 3 p.m. Borghese tickets and had to dash through the museum, then get a cab to catch up with the group at St. Peter's. It's not something we're bitter about at all, but in the future, we'll plan to go with the flow a little more and not make expensive commitments for expected free time.

Also, based on the itinerary and RS advice on free-time activities, we visited the island of Murano, which didn't do much for us, since we didn't expect to go there with the tour. Yes, the guide took us to Murano two days later.

So, just be aware that things can change and don't get too hung up on planning out every free moment. Enjoy the tour!

RE VFR: I have traveled on my own to many western European countries and have shied away from tours because I like to make my own choices about spending my time. But, I chose a June 2017 VFR tour because I knew 0 Italian and wasn't sure how it would be for a woman traveling alone in Italy. End result: I was very, very impressed by my Rick Steves tour. Nearly everyone has already recommended you pack light and to arrive 1 or 2 days before the tour begins. Here are my specific recommendations:
1. My friend and I arrived 1 day early in Venice (I had already been in England so was well over jet lag). My friend with whom I was traveling had contacted the Rick Steves office well in advance to find out that our tour would be staying at Pensionne Guerrato. We reserved a room there for the night before our tour. Rick Steves books this hotel ALOT, so if you want to stay there before the tour begins, go ahead and contact them. Others on our tour had had to book other hotels for the night before the tour began then move to Pensionne Guerrato.
2. While in Venice, my friend and I were interested in visiting Burano to see the lace museum. We didn't want to go there on our free time on day 1 if the entire group were going to go there on day 2. After our "welcome" meeting, we asked our tour guide which island we would be visiting as a group. For our group, it was Burano, so my friend and I used our free time on day 1 to do something else.
3. If you are interested in seeing the Borghese Gallery in Rome, you will need advance tickets, and I recommend going after the tour ends. That way if your tour guide changes the time of your being at the Vatican from morning to night, you haven't forfeited your Borghese reservation.
3. Be ready for lots of walking! I walked 6 - 7 miles/day.
4. We had excellent local guides in the museums and at the Forum.
5. Be ready to have a fabulous time!

I just thought of something else. I usually stick a couple of greeting cards in the folder with my paperwork in case I want to give the guide and/or bus driver a thank you note. I purchase cards at the Farmer's Market from a local photographer who takes wonderful shots of my region of Idaho.

Just a note about reserving rooms ahead at Pensionne Guerrato. Be sure to check with the RS office, first, to find out exactly which hotel is reserved for your specific tour. We were in Venice last year and stayed at Hotel Ala. We saw the "Today's Agenda" sign for two RS tours during the 4 days that we stayed there. Actually, we ran into our former RS tour guide from several years ago! He was leading one of the tour groups staying in the hotel.

"Just signed up for RS Venice,...What's it really like? Any drawbacks? Best tips from those who've done this? Many thanks!"

You have gotten some wonderful and helpful advice. However, maybe next time consider asking your question and doing the research before you sign up, rather than after. Not much you could have done once you've already booked.

Thank you for all the great advice and perspectives. Autumn in Italy was so unexpectedly beautiful! Our guide Cecilia was knowledgeable and I feel certain I got more out of the trip than I would have as a solo traveler.

I went on the tour with a flare up of a nagging knee injury. I called the RS office and talked through options before I left. That made me feel like I had some contingency plans in my head already. And I needed them.

For anyone vacillating or just looking for more information, I’d add three points:

1. Pack EVEN lighter than you ever thought you could. I’ve visited Italy previously and I’ve read lots of information but traveling with RS is different because taxis can go where busses can’t. I was cold during most of the trip because I didn’t pack enough warm things. But boy am I enjoying some of the gorgeous warm things I got along the way! We walked so much more than I ever thought we would and even my well packed bag was too heavy in the end. Intellectually I knew what walking 6-8 miles per day felt like but add in the significant amount of standing and you will wish for the lightest possible bag.

2. I paid the single supplement for a private room. Believe them when they tell you it doesn’t get you a bigger or better room. The tiny twin bed in a hotel room smaller than my office made for a miserable night’s sleep. The hotels were charming, conveniently located and the owners were all wonderful. But my last two nights in Rome were at the Boscola Excedra and I reveled in the king size bed!

3. One bus had outlets for charging and one didn’t. A Halo or similar device came in handy.

I think RS tours provide great value for the money. I don’t think I will do it again because I prefer more personal control. But I’ve got some great memories from this one.

thanks for the report back. Please hang around and share your thoughts when others ask questions.

My wife and I are long time confirmed independent travelers to Europe (we have taken tours to Asia where we are not comfortable doing it alone) but, now at 75+, are signed up for two RS tours. Why?? When I called the rental car company while planning our next European trip I was told I was too old. They would not rent to anyone over 75. Time for an old dog to learn some new tricks.