Would it be possible to extend this tour a couple of days to go up to the Lake Como area, then fly home out of Milan. Would your company help us with this or would we be on our own ?
Posted by
SE Pennsylvania
2630 posts
Note that this forum is for travelers to talk to other travelers, and is not a direct access to Rick Steves.
Read this for help extending your trip with help from the company:
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-help/plan-your-trip-with-our-expert-consultants
Posted by
Atlanta
2509 posts
Mark,
You could add days before or after the tour for your own activities. Yes, you would be on your own to add days to this tour. Very easy to do, many of us on the forum who take the RS tours extend our time beyond the the tour. A nice combination of independent travel and fully guided tours.
Enjoy!
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14605 posts
This was my first RS tour. Although we didn't have time to extend much others on the trip did. Some went to Venice, some went south so it's completely possible and easy to do on your own. As noted you'd have to make arrangements yourselves for the train tickets and lodging in the Lake Como area. By that time you will have an idea of how to manage in Italy, though!
I'd only add Como if you have at least 3 or 4 extra nights. One day will be mostly shot with transit getting there and then I'd want to be in Milan the night before my international flight. While there are a few international flights out of Milan I've had to take an intraEuropean flight to another hub (Amsterdam in my case) to get my flight back to the US. Since the flights leave the main hubs between say 10 and 2 you'll often have to be on a 6A flight out of Milan.
If you are not sure you'll be comfortable with this on your own, have you looked at Rick's Best of Italy tour which starts in Varenna which is on Lake Como? Maybe you don't have a full extra week, though....