For first trip to Italy should we plan ourselves or take a tour?

A sizeable majority of posters to these threads are independent travelers. Because of that, we are spring loaded to "doing it our own way," even when taking advantage of organized tours.

Many folks like the idea that a tour takes a lot of the pain out of arranging traveling, accommodations, and eating while still getting that feeling of freedom and independence. Personally, I have never taken a RS tour, because I enjoy the planning almost as much as the actual trip.

Purchase two books. First, get Europe Through the Back Door by Rick Steves.

https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/europe-through-the-back-door

Second, purchase Rick Steves' Italy Guidebook 2019.
https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/italy-guidebook

Watch the videos on this website, as well. After reading the books and watching the appropriate videos concerning the places you have an interest in, if you feel like planning the trip yourself is too difficult, then opt for a tour. If not, then make your own customized trip and enjoy yourself.

Based on the information in your prior post I'd suggest a comprehensive tour or a combination tour / independent trip. The logistics of putting together a comprehensive independent trip for six people who've not been to the country before will, in my opinion, be staggering even with the best of guide books and lots of research. If, as indicated in your other post, you plan to go only to Venice, Florence, and Rome, then you can probably do it on your own but it will still be a challenge. Any inclusive "complete" tour will be more expensive than doing it on your own. Perhaps you can plan the air, hotels, and getting from place to place on you own and then use the RS Guide Books and / or local guides to cut down on the expenses. So far as having someone such as a travel agent plan the trip, many (but not all) of them just sell tours and have never even been out of the U.S. The forum is frequented by a lot of knowledgeable folks who've "been there and done that", so feel free to ask away for advice. Sorry this reply is so general, but it's hard to give specific advice without knowing more about the interest, budget, and time line for the group.

I'll give two answers. I'll give them and then elaborate:
1) planning it yourself should, generally, be WAY less expensive.
2) I subscribe to Travelzoo.com emails (they send one out each Wednesday), they advertise travel sales by lots of companies. Go to their website and see what the prices look like. This spring, when we were returning home (MN) from Spain, I talked with several people that had taken a GoAhead tour (I believe) and they were all very happy with it and several had taken ones w/ GoAhead before.

1) not counting airfare, the 4 of us that traveled to Spain and covered 13 days, with all housing, travel and major admission fees, spent less than $1,000 per person. It was my Christmas present to a son/wife that went w/ my wife and me. I don't think you'd get a (nearly) two week trip for $1,000 (not counting airfare) from a company.
** BUT you need to either feel a bit adventurous AND/OR
** Rick Steves has all his travel videos online and you can watch a) regional (to plan WHERE to go) and b) packing tips and c) general tips (to know HOW to go - once overseas). I love his videos.

Tours usually start earlier in the morning than teenagers would like and may be too heavy on museums to suit them. Their biological clocks are set to stay up late at night and sleep late the next morning. Add that to jet lag where they are already getting up 7 or more hours earlier than usual and I think a group tour is a recipe for unhappy people. My advice is based on 5 trips, all independent, with our daughter, starting when she had just finished 6th grade through college.

Is this your first European trip? Italy can be a little overwhelming due to so much history, architecture, art and food.
But it is relatively easy to visit from city to city on fast trains. Food is also very good to the North American palate--no problem.
We see many taking groups with them to Italy. If you get more than 4 people, it's quite a responsibility I'd never want to take on.
My wife and I have been to Italy time and time again, and it's one of the few places we don't tire of.

If you are a self starter and experienced traveler, there's no reason you couldn't see Rome, Florence and Venice on your own. Read a lot of good travel books, and good information is available.

It isn’t too hard to plan it on your own. You might want to stay in apartments since you are a family of 6.

My wife and I stayed in places run by nuns. Good value. monasterystays.com

You could take individual tours in the various cities. My only objection to them is that they may not be of interest to all and the cost for 6 can be expensive. For a tour that you know will be of great interest to all , a private guide might be a good value.

November seems to be the month with the most flooding in Venice. Try to be there when the tides are lower.

Only you can decide this one. There are pros and cons for both.

First of all, you need to realize that there is a difference between cost and value. One travel plan may cost less than another, but not deliver the same travel value in the end. I know that sounds a little strange, but there are certain unseen perks that may be associated with a tour that you would not experience going independently.

I tried my first Rick Steves tour last year, after years of fun and successful independent travel. I found that I really enjoyed the tour and received a value from it that I did not receive from independent travel. I would have to say that I think the two major plus factors for a well run tour is that the logistics are carefully thought out and optimized and that the educational value of the guide(s) is not comparable to just using a guide book.

Logistics is way more than just someone figuring out where to stay and how to get from place to place, although that can be quite helpful. It is also knowing the time of day to arrive at a location, how long to plan to stay there, and special arrangements such as a catered picnic lunch in a D-day museum to maximize the time available to enjoy the D-Day sights. The tour was far better organized than I do as an independent traveler and I am actually a very good travel planner.

The educational value of the guide is very hard to quantify into dollars and cents. I learned so much and I learned it through enjoyable and engaging presentations by both our tour guide and the series of local guides that would lead us through their speciality areas.

The con of a tour can be that the tour itinerary may not match with what you are interested in seeing. You need to carefully decide what your top interests and goals are for this trip. Does it match with a tour offerring or would you be "settling" and seeing places that you are not interested in?

Since my first Rick Steves Tour last summer I have done an independent trip to Ireland, will do an independent trip to London, and have signed up for the Rick Steves Switzerland tour in August. Travel doesn't have to be just independent or just a tour. You need to determine for your particular family what matches your needs best.

We had 8 teenagers on our tour and they had a blast. I am completely unsure why a previous poster felt that the tour and teenagers weren't a match, unless of course, they have never been on a tour.

I do caution, however, of thinking only in terms of dollars and cents, since this doesn't adequately equate to the value of the experiences.

You are on RS’s forum so I will give a shout out for his tours. We are getting ready for our 6th tour. It is our teen & College student’s 4th tour. Yes they are not cheap but we feel good value for our money. Half your time you are on your own during the day so you can do your own thing. Our first tour was Venice, Florence & Rome.

We are doing the Rome one this week & started out by going to Sorrento on our own. It is only day two & I am already tired of what are we doing next questions. It is tiring to keep a group happy even with only 4. I am happy to turn this trip over to Rick & I am sure his excellent guides shortly.

Planning is fun but can take up
A ton of time. My cousins also going to Rome this week tried to use a travel agent. Had more expensive rooms, tours etc than when they researched it on their own it they didn’t have the hours to invest in the planning at that time.

Enjoy!

This is a very subjective decision to make, and previous posters have given great food for thought. I think Carols post is especially spot on. We have traveled independently as well as with tour groups. Although we have only experienced RS tours, so I cannot speak to other organizations. We will be off on an adventure in Feb. to Vietnam with a RS endorsed tour company, so we'll see. But there is another format you might consider, and that is the RS My Way tour. We did the Best of Europe My Way tour in 2017, and I have to say that it truly the best of both worlds. Since I enjoy the travel planning almost as much as the actual event, the My Way was a great fit! We planned our daily activities while not stressing over the logistics of the travel. You don't have to worry about a glitch getting from place to place, ie. interruptions in train schedules, road closures, etc., the RS crew handles plan B's with ease. And you can count on staying in an area of each city that is easily accessible by public transportation and near those places that you want to visit. Your tour manager will give you an introduction to the city and how to utilize the public transportation. They are also there to give advice as you travel. Just another option, it worked well for us!

I would do this, alluded to upthread: Take a couple months--all six of you--and do your due diligence research-wise. On this forum (of course!) but also using the RS books/videos and other well-known travel websites like booking.com and TripAdvisor, but also the logistic website Rome2rio.com. Decide what you all really want to see in that timeframe, and what is feasible. Less traveling is better, and that time of year, urban is better than rural.

At the end of that time, if it's still overwhelming, then find a tour that fits your desires. Come back and visit with your questions--planning a trip is a gas!

Lots of good advice above. I've traveled independently and with tours, but never tried to set up something for six people. If you go that route, try to involve at least some of the others in planning so you don't feel responsible for every detail or every time someone is less than thrilled. Maybe you should confine yourself to (after consultations) arranging flights, ground transportation, and accommodations, and let people plan their own daily activities.

I took my first RS tour this fall, to Venice/Florence/Rome. But I arrived in Vence four days early and stayed in Rome five days longer, so I had enough time to experience both cities. Florence was more of a blur, but the city that interested me least of the three. RS tours allow more free time than many others, but on any tour you're tied to the itinerary. I like the idea of the "My Way" tours, but the one in Italy allowed no more than two nights per location and went to some places (like Cinque Terre) that didn't really interest me. (My only experience with GoAhead Tours was an excellent one in Cuba.)

So it's a tradeoff. You will save money planning your own trip, and using a travel agent would be a mistake I think.

Is it considerably less expensive to plan it myself?

I will say yes, you can do it less expensively on your own (we do) but that also means being willing to do the research and bookings for your accommodations + attractions for which advance reservations/tickets are almost a must. You'll also want to research which attractions you'll wish to see in the first place, and learn about them before you go. Audioguides or guided walking tours are often available at some of them, and this site even has some freebies you can download to your own devices!

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours

My husband and I are die-hard independent travelers and have found Italy not very difficult as long as you do the advance planning and reading. The big bonus (we think) for planning your own trip is flexibility, which is a significant value for us. You can choose your attractions and how long (or not) you want to spend at them. You can choose how many days you want to spend in one place, what time you want to get going in the morning, and when you want to take breaks. Other than aforementioned attractions you'd want reservations for, you can also flex your sightseeing schedule around whim and weather.

So whether you want to sign up for a tour or do it on your own depends on how important/limited your budget is, how much work you're willing to do on your own, and your personal travel style. You can find all sorts of help getting started for an indy plan with some good guidebooks and this forum!

I will add that your four young people (ages 17,15,13,11) should have a hand in the plan. They're going to be much more engaged if they've had to crack a book and searched the net for the places your family wishes to visit. It's also great training for planning their own trips down the road.

Editing to add: with 6 of you, you probably want to look at apartments for the most cost-effective accommodations. That may also involve longer versus shorter stays in one place to even out cleaning fees but the plus would be having kitchen facilities for some meals, such as lunch, in for feeding that many every day. There is also a difference between paying someone to help you plan an indy trip and taking 6 people on a good escorted tour.

Taking a family of 6 on a first trip to Italy (new for all of you as I understand) is both an exciting and ambitious venture, for sure. You know your own family, and must figure this is a viable idea. Fortunately you still have many months to do your research, involve the kids in planning the itinerary, and make advance reservations for air travel, and lodging. I agree that apartments with kitchens and even laundry facilities make the most sense for a family of 6. A fully escorted tour for 6 people would be very expensive, and might bind you to a daily schedule that may not work for all your family members. I will offer a new idea. For exploring the places you visit, evidently primarily Venice, Florence and Rome, I suggest you contact one of the excellent tour companies in Italy that conduct various half-day and full-day tours, often walking, sometimes with vehicles. It should be considerably less expensive and better to book a private tour just for your family, than for 6 individuals to join a group. A good guide (and company) should be able to design and conduct a tour suited to the ages of your family and your interests. I suggest you start with Walks of Italy, a tour company highly recommended by many on this forum. They have a toll-free number here in the States, in Texas or Oklahoma, if I remember correctly. Tell them what you generally have in mind, and I expect they can be very helpful, especially far in advance of your trip. They might even be able to suggest apartments, etc, I’m not sure. Last I knew, Walks of Italy offered an RS discount for RS readers, when mentioned, and further discounts when booking multiple tours. Good luck for your (upcoming year of) travel planning for wonderful, wonderful Italy!

Personally I would plan it myself. Our first trip to Europe was to Italy with kids/teens and I am very glad we did not have to go at the pace of a tour. I suspect it will be much cheaper as well. You can choose what sites you are all up to, even split up if some want to see a museum and some don't. With teens flexibility is often an asset
We found we mostly stayed in apartments, as hotels would not sleep 6.

I just wanted to say that I planned a trip for 6 people to Greece last year. None of us had ever been to Greece. 4/6 of us had been to Europe before. Our children are young adults (21-31) so a bit different dynamic. It was a wonderful trip!
I did all the planning in consultation with my husband. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed the planning. That is important. Everyone said to get the children involved but honestly I wasn’t very successful. I got them to watch a few videos but not much else. But I know them well and took everyone’s interests into account.

A few pieces of advice from what worked well for our group.
1. Stay 3 to 4 nights per location. It is a lot of work and time to move. We found this gave us enough variety without undue stress.
2. Have enough space. You are together more than you are accustomed to. We had 3 house/apartment rentals with at least three bedrooms. In one location we had multiple hotel rooms because larger rentals were not available.
3. Have an outdoor area. We spent a lot of time on porches and balconies and it was good to have a place to gather. I felt like it was much more important for a group than when my husband I traveled have by ourselves.
4. Eat take out. European dinners are 2 hour affairs. About half the time we had take out and spent less time on dinner. People then really enjoyed the nights we went out. The other nights they were happy to be able to walk around in the evening. Obviously it was cheaper too which is important with a group but I also really don’t like eating out every night.
5. Mix up activities. We did hikes as well as ruins and museums.
6. Plan, plan, plan and then be flexible once you get in Europe.
7. Things
take longer than you think so make sure you do what you care most about first.

Enjoy!

As another poster mentioned, I plan my trips on my own, but I also like to make sure I get the MOST out of a museum or site, so I do the guided tours.....I would rather listen to somebody than read a book or sign to learn about what I am looking at. That way you can put as few or as many daily tours as you would like, but then have free time to wander about or to change your ideas on a whim!

Thank you so much for all the advice
I appreciate it!

Lots of good advice here, especially from Carol regarding cost versus value. Someone once described the choice between a tour and independent travel as similar to the choice between preparing a meal at home or going to a restaurant and having someone do it for you. No doubt you could do it for less yourself, but sometimes its more enjoyable to have someone do the hard parts for you.