After Village Italy tour in October

If its rest you are looking for I think Assisi is perfect. I also stayed in Tuscany in a small village and it was beautiful.

If I am lucking enough to go back, Sienna would be my 1st choice, I did like Assisi too. We did stay in a small town Soriana nel Cimino, it was very quiet. Sienna & Assisi would have more things to see & do.

I also liked the Amalfi coast. I have not been to the Cinque Terre (sp?) but anywhere near water is nice.

Mary

My husband and I were on the Village Italy tour a couple of years ago. I wouldn’t suggest that you remain in Lake Orta. It is a truly lovely lakeside village, but there’s not a lot to do there. I’m very glad we went there on our tour. It was actually a great place in which to end the tour because it was a day to just relax and stroll around and soak in the beautiful views and spend some final hours with the many new friends we made on the tour. Having another day there is not necessary, especially since all your tour mates will have left and it may feel lonely to re-visit by yourself the places you enjoyed with friends the prior day.

About half of our tour group headed to the airport in Milan on the final day of the tour, for their flights back to the U.S., while others had made other plans. Only one couple stayed in Lake Orta for another night. Two couples who were on the trip together went to Stresa for a night or two, and then, I believe, they were going to go up into Switzerland a bit. One couple was headed back to Tuscany where they were meeting with friends from home to stay in a villa for a week. One couple was traveling home, but with a layover in London for a couple of nights. One couple planned a final night in Milan, with reservations to see The Last Supper. My husband and I wanted to stay in Italy’s lake district for one final night on our own after the tour, but see a different part of it, so our final night was in Varenna. You can travel to Varenna from Lake Orta by train, with a train change in Milan. It is easy to return to Milan by early morning train for the flight home. We loved Varenna and had a wonderful final day of vacation strolling around the village, taking in the picture perfect views, relaxing on the lakeside terrace of our hotel while we watched a stunning sunset. My husband would say we should have either skipped Varenna and gone home, or stayed in Varenna for two nights, because it was a lot of travel for such a short visit, but if I had to choose between skipping it or visiting it for just one night, I’d pick the latter.

Although we chose a final day in a quiet lakeside village after the tour, we didn’t find the Village Italy tour to be so busy-paced that we required that final time to relax and unwind at the end before traveling home. True, your bus is on the move to a new place every couple of days, but this tour is focused on smaller towns and villages, and doesn’t go to major cities with crushing tourist crowds. There is plenty of free time. You’re not bustling from museum to cathedral to monument, etc. It’s a tour that’s more focused on absorbing the local culture in some very beautiful places. The tour had a very relaxing pace for us.

So if you feel like you can’t be in Italy without re-visiting one of the world-class cities you’ve previously loved, go ahead and plan for a final couple of nights in Florence or Rome before your flight back to the U.S. Personally, though, I’d add those days on the pre-tour end of my vacation, so that I could just head home in a serene and relaxed mood after the final night in lovely Lake Orta.

There are suggestions for Assisi and Siena, but your tour already goes to those places. Siena is new on the Village Italy itinerary. It appears to be a replacement for the "tour leader's choice," a day spent visiting your tour leader's favorite Tuscan hilltown. On our tour, our leader chose Volterra. All of us loved it. It's beautiful, historically significant, interesting, with lots to see and do, and it feels un-touristy. I don't know how easy it is to get to, or if you will want to backtrack at the end of your trip and return to Tuscany, but if you are looking for an interesting place to spend a couple final nights, Volterra could be considered. I wonder if this would require a rental car, though.

Thanks for some great tips! I am especially happy to hear that the pace of Village Italy tour is not overwhelming. I have been concerned about schlepping on and off the bus. The appeal of getting to see small town Italy and eat some great food won the battle over reluctance to move to a new hotel every 2 days. I am looking forward to it. I had given some thought to Switzerland after the end of the tour, but wonder if the weather might be cold by the end of October. Thanks again for your thoughtful responses.

After my tour I took the train to Milan and stayed there for a few days. Saw the Last Supper (pre-booked entry), I took a 1/2 city bus tour and just enjoyed walking around and relaxing.
I was flying out of Milan - so that was another reason I stayed there.

I agree with Vickie about not remaining in Orta. I did this tour in 2014 and my brother, SIL and I stayed an extra night and it was too much. We did the Sacro Monte the next morning but were done by lunch. It was in mid Oct and things were winding down. We also hit rain there so we could not do much outside after we finished with the Sacro Monte.

I also agree that this is not a real taxing tour. I had done the 21 BOE and then had some time in Paris before I met up with Bro and SIL for this tour. Probably the biggest days were Padova and maybe Ravenna at the beginning of the tour. I also had great fun on this tour! Lots of tasting things!