My sister and I are planing a 3 week trip to Italy in mid-September. The main purpose is to visit the city of Gaeta where our grandparents immigrated from. However, because this will be the first time we have travelled to Italy, we would like to take in some sightseeing at the front end. We would especially like to see Rome, Florence, and Venice. My thoughts are to take an escorted tour through those cities with the final destination of the tour being Rome. From there we would take the train to Gaeta (actually Formia) where we will be picked up.
I have done some price comparisons and seem to have found a 10 day (8 night) tour with Gate1 Travel. It offers a fair amount of "escorting", as well as free time, and at the same time is much more reasonable in cost than Rick Steven's, Perillo's, or Trafalgar. The Gate 1 Travel tour that I am interested in flies into Venice, then to Florence, then to Rome (most start in Rome and end in Venice).
Has anyone used Gate1 Travel to tour Europe, especially Italy? Or perhaps you have another suggestion? I would consider starting in Rome and ending in Venice and then taking the Fast Rail train from Venice to Rome, where I could pick up the train to Gaeta.
Posted by
Santa Fe, NM, USA
192 posts
Used Gate1 for our trip to Spain. They used nice hotels. Felt we were nickeled and dimed to death with their use of local guides, being asked to give them a tip (but it may be different in Italy). Included meals were pre-set and nothing special. We even skipped a few and went out on our own. Other than RS tours you are expected to tip the tour guide and driver at a minimum. Also look at the size of the groups. The last time I checked Gate1 can have up to 40 people, Trafalgar 49, RS 28, GoAhead 45, Collette 44. If you decide on one of the non RS tours check Vacations to Go, they often have discounts for the larger companies, including Gate1. We have used several tour companies and the RS tour we took ranked amongst the best (and no tipping allowed). You will love Italy. Good Luck
Posted by
Wisconsin
466 posts
My husband and I went on the Enchanting Italy tour with Gate 1 in 2009. While we prefer Rick Steves Europe tours, we were taking my husband' s 80 year mother on that trip, and she would not have been able to handle a RS tour very well (the amount of walking, the need to carry her own luggage). The Enchanting Italy itinerary was 2 nights in Venice, 2 in Florence and 3 nights in Rome. There were side trips to Assisi and Pisa, and two excursions into Tuscany, one for wine-tasting and one for dinner. We loved that trip! We stayed in wonderful hotels, located in the center of each city, within very convenient walking distance of many restaurants, cafes and shops. Our tour leader was absolutely wonderful. They use local guides in each city, as does RS, and they were wonderful also. Gate 1 uses the same local guide for Assisi as I have seen used by RS tours. Our group size was 37. That's about 10 people more than on a RS tour, but it never seemed too large. It was a friendly group who got along well. We were very comfortable on our bus. Gate 1 uses the whisper technology, so you can put in your ear buds and hear everything your guide is saying even if you are lagging behind as the group walks down the street or are standing at the back of the group at a museum. We had about the same amount of group dinners as on a RS tour, and ate in wonderful restaurants. The price of a Gate 1 tour does not include tips so you will have to factor in the extra cost for tips for your tour leader, local guides and bus driver. However, wine was included with each group dinner. A nice option with Gate 1 is to have them arrange the air transportation. They offer very good rates for air. When we were booking that trip, the price that was quoted for air was out of NY. When I changed the departure city to Chicago, the add-on was under $30 per person. By having Gate 1 book our air, we received transfers in Italy. We were picked up at the airport in Venice and taken by boat to our first hotel, then when the tour was over, taken by cab to the airport in Rome, all included in the cost of our tour. We did not feel as if we were nickled and dimed to death by excursions not included in the price. There were a couple extra excursions offered. Most people in our group did not do them, as they were things we could arrange to do on our own more economically. This tour was a wonderful experience for my mother in law. The bus would let us off right in front of each hotel. By the time we were issued our room keys and had gotten to our rooms, the luggage was in the rooms waiting for us. There was one day when the group was walking to a museum at the start of the day. The tour leader found my mother in law and two other older ladies in the group and told them that she had arranged for a cab ride for them, so that after the museum, they'd have plenty of energy left for a short walking tour of Florence. Based on my own experience, I can highly recommend Gate 1 for a tour of Italy. We did the "enchanting" itinerary for an upgrade of the hotels and felt it was money well spent.