How Strenuous is Strenuous?

Unless you have mobility issues that you are not sharing, you should be fine. Given what you say, you will not be among any "slow pokes". I usually find that I walk considerably more in my free time and on the days before or after the tour, than I do during tours activities and walks.

Since you are not used to walking 8 miles per day for multiple days a week I would say this tour might be too much for you. I think you should choose something else.

Donna

You should have no problem.

It's not an eight mile march. It might be 8 miles spread over 10 hours

I am a member of Mountaineers club in Seattle. What's considered strenuous under Rick Steves Tour criteria would be under very easy by Mountaineers criteria. So everything is very relative. With Rick Steves Tour I did Paris and Heart of France, Turkey and Adriatics. All of them were easy. I was then about your age but there were people in their late seventies and nobody had problem.

I did the Village Italy tour this summer. It's billed as moderately strenuous. As one of our tour participants said, "Uh, no." She and her husband have been on over 10 RS tours and she thought it was second most strenuous of all of them.

We later learned that the categorization has more to do with stairs and distance than the steepness of the terrain, in towns or not. That's what got to me. So if you plan to do this tour that is categorized as strenuous, believe it and expect that the slopes may be much steeper than you might imagine.

I kept up fine on the flat, but those slopes, both up and down, were killers. I highly recommend that if you do the Heart of Italy tour, you train like Jane from Sapulpa trained for Village Italy. You can find her very well written, Tour Report: Village Italy, here. Much of what she and others have to say is relevant to your question, even though the tours are not the same.

We have never taken a R.S. tour but travel here a lot. Italy can be tough on the feet and knees, but you seem to be good walkers. Perhaps increase your distance for your walks at home in preparation for the trip and go daily for a while. Also make certain your shoes are up to the all-day wear, well broken-in. I like to wear orthotic inserts from The Walking Company. they take the impact well, even on cobblestones. They are my salvation!

We are 64 and 73 and are in our 6th week of a European trip. We've been many times and consistently walk at home but rarely the 6 to 8 miles-a-day we do (almost) daily in Europe. It took us a couple of days to get used to the pace/distance but then we were fine and easily walk 2 hours without sitting.

The Rome days are the toughest.

I would say you could do it but I would bump your mileage one day a week. Keep to your 2-3 miles 2X a week then start increasing miles on the 3rd time. Go up by 10-20 percent a week. It’s easiest for me to figure this by time. So if I’m walking 60 minutes I’d add 6-12 minutes week 1, then keep adding on to your last longest time. So, 60, 72, 84, etc.

Also add in hills or stairs if they are available.

This is a short tour ( but excellent) so you’re not having to keep up the pace for 2 or 3 weeks. However, you’ll enjoy it more the better shape you’re in.

This is an excellent intro to RS tours!

We are in our early-late 60s and we had no problem. I don't think you will have any problems with the walking portion. What is "strenuous" about the trips is the fact that you have to lug your luggage around when the bus can't drop you off in from of the hotel. Most cities the buses are too large and they drop you off a few blocks away. So you have to lug your luggage from the bus to the hotel or to the train station. You also have to carry them up the stairs at the hotel. We went on one of Rick's tours a few years back and a few women had these huge suitcases that were heavy and they couldn't get them up the stairs to the train station or onto the train. The men had to step in and help. So pack light and wear comfortable shoes and you shouldn't have a problem.