Fully guided or 'Own Way Tour"

Betsy, I think the type of tour depends to a large extent on personal preferences and budget. Some people prefer to manage their own sightseeing and for them the "My Way" tours are a great option, as the transportation and hotels are arranged and an assistant Guide is there to answer questions. In my case, I prefer the fully guided tours as I learn far more and have a more interesting travel experience with those. Also, with the fully guided tours, the group tends to enjoy more activities together, which is fun. I've never been on a "My Way" tour, but suspect that for the most part, everyone just "does their own thing". I'll be taking my sixth RS tour this year, and quite looking forward to it. One other point to consider is that the "My Way Italy" tour covers only one Itinerary. The fully guided "RS Italy" tours cover a variety of locations and "themes" in Italy (ie: Village Italy). Happy travels!

I did a "my trip" tour several years ago - when they were called B B&B - tours. We still did many things together and it was wonderful. I have also been on 5 guided tours and I agree that the guides do add a lot of info and are wonderful. Since I have been to Italy 5 times - this fall I'm doing a My Trip to Italy and I know it will be great. There are always folks who like to do things together and lots of opportunities to join in on "adventures".
As posted above - it depends on the type of travel you like to do or are looking for - which is the best for you?

Hi Betsy, I don't have first hand knowledge about the "My Way" tours, but they sound interesting! I went on Rick's Venice, Florence, Rome fully guided tour this May and it was wonderful! It was nice to go on a fully guided tour since it was my son's and my first time in Europe. It gave me a sense of confidence during our free time and built up my confidence to explore should I travel again to Europe. If you like going to a lot of museums, having a guide explain and point out many things, then fully guided is a good choice. It also provides a nice sense of structure, keeping you moving and motivated on a schedule. If you are more into the cultural aspects, then the "My Way" tour might be a good option. Actually, both my son and I were more into the cultural part,the non-touristy (as well as touristy) things we saw on our free time. That was the most memorable for us. However, being our first time in Europe, it was very wonderful to travel with a great group of people and have an outstanding tour guide. The group was so nice and supported each other. Also, on our own,we would probably not have seen many of the things that we saw with the fully guided tour (such as a VERY fun cooking class!) However, that can also be ok - one doesn't always need to see and experience everything to have a super time. Rick's book gives many helpful tips as well. In short, the tour was GREAT, and in the future I wouldn't hesitate to take another tour and dream about doing so in the future. The guided tours, however, can be a lot faster paced than if you explored on your own , it depends on what you are looking for. I highly recommend Rick's tours either way you decide to go. (Also, locals appreciate when tourists show they care about learning about the culture, not just coming there to see the sights.) Buono viaggio! Ruth

One other opinion... hope this isn't considered heretical. I looked at the RS trip that just provided transportation and lodging, thinking it might be a money saver since group travel often is. It was notably more expensive than what I arrange myself, staying in the same type of lodging. So if you are considering traveling that way, you might want to compare the RS approach with the cost of arranging all yourself. I found the latter much cheaper. You are paying a premium for the convenience of having their office arrange transport and lodging... which isn't surprising.

We are about to take our 10th RS fully guided tour - 14 day Village Italy - in the last 10 years. When adding up all the costs of what we get on those tours, and then comparing that to what it would cost us to do it on our own plus the time involved in planning and making reservations, we have decided that we like doing it on RS tours better. We certainly do not stand in any lines, so far, on RS tours. Happy travels.

thanks for asking this question, since I hadn't seen it before. I was curious about the same thing and hope maybe more people that have done both with add their advice.

I took the first My Way Europe tour Rick offered last year. I took it because that tour visited locations I wanted to see again. (I was in the US Air Force in the 70's and had visited most of the biggie tourist sights that were on this tour.) However there were some new sights also. And they were great. My impression after the My Way trip was that the lower price of the My Way Tour would have been just about a wash if I had visited all of the sights the guided tour would have visited. But again I didn't need to see them again so I visited new sights I had not seen during previous visits. And of course I had to buy all my meals. For me a major benefit of the guided tour are the group meals. We got a wide variety of local food that I would not have known about to even think about ordering. Both types of tours had a wonderful group of travel buddies. Rick's people do a good job of weeding out the whiners. I think It comes down to how you like to travel or if you have been to Italy / Europe before. If your goal is to see the biggie sights for the first time the guided tour will probably take the hassle out of the trip. You don't have to figure out which line is the line to buy tickets and which line of people is the line to go into the sight.
The first time I heard Rick say "My tours are for people who have more money than time." I did not get what he was saying. But I do now. If you are big on planning everything yourself (except your hotels and transportation between towns) take the My Way tour. If you want a little more laid back but still great tour take the regular guided tour. Just my thoughts of having done both types. Robert

We started out traveling Europe by planning the trips ourselves and had some great times. Then we started taking RS tours (4) because we wanted to see smaller towns and villages, and not just walk around and look at them. We have enjoyed the travel both ways, but the addition of the guide, group dinners (they are great) and the local guides makes the RS guided tours a great value. We also enjoy the free time to do things that we want or revisit places.
The guides are great at making suggestions of extra things to see, We have made some good friends on the trips and one of them is coming to visit tomorrow! We haven't done a My Way tour, because if we are going to travel without a guide, reserving hotels and transport is not that difficult, we can do that. Whatever you decide, have a great trip!