Please help me decide: Update-Decision is made

Hi, you sound a lot like me in your likes and dislikes. When on a fully guided tour I have opted out of some activities. There is no pressure to do everything. My suggestion is that if you have a particular city you want to spend more time in you either spend time there before the tour or after. For instance, when I was to join a tour in Palermo I arrived 3 days early and explored the city. In Rome, ditto. On a recent trip to Italy that didn't include Venice, I went there after the tour and spent a few days. Only half the dinners are included in RS tours, so the other meals are on your own. Join others or eat alone, to suit yourself. My suggestion for you is to take the fully guided tour and plan to opt out of some of the activities. When standing in a museum gets tiring, just let the group know and wander off on your own.

The one tour we have done in Italy, was the 17 day one. Except for the day in Rome the bus drivers were on strike, never felt like the walking was excessive. ( note-- we were older than you are when we did it and did not 'train' before hand, and did fine.. we had no way to measure how far we walked in a day so maybe that was a case of the blissfulness of ignorance) Not been on the tour you mention so, cannot offer a true comparison. Have NO regrets about doing the 17 BOI.

You are allowed to skip out ( just tell your guide) if there is something you are not interested in doing. Or simply need to rest.. There was more than one occasion when some from the group chose to go do something else.

You have discovered there are pluses and minuses to guided tours vs. DIY. Its a subjective judgement you have to make for yourself.

Your idea to do the VFR and add time on your own before and after may be a good choice. Lake Como is wonderful and you cannot have to much time in Rome

Hard to decide for somebody else but I would choose Best of Italy in 17 days.

It seems to me that the things you didn't like about group tours make up a large part of the daily activity, including short stays in cities that deserve more time. The things you do like, such as well-informed guides, can be done on your own in many cases, by joining a city or museum tour or hiring a guide.

On the other hand, if you choose a bus tour, you do have options to opt out of some things, arrive earlier and/or stay later.

Thanks for the input. Would still love to hear from anyone else with an opinion.
As time passes from my trip, the positives are looking better and the negatives about the tour are fading.
If I had to chose today I would go with 17 d BOI.
We'll see what looks good in the future.

I'm almost 42 and am looking fwd to more solo travel in Italy! Florence is very friendly to the solo traveler since it is a very manageable size and has a great variety of smaller-scale sights. (But you really need to book a tour of the Uffizi to avoid a line. I was happy with the ArtViva tour.) As a solo traveler, I found the Medici Palace and the Orsanmichele church very soothing. Florence also has a big market and 2 Eataly's which are good to grab food for a picnic. It will take you some time to adjust to Italy's dining schedule, so I would plan to picnic and stay somewhere with a good breakfast spread (Italians basically don't do breakfast).

I wouldn't do Rome as a solo traveler. The sights are big and I would feel quite overwhelmed by the crowds. I would want a companion or two, especially since walking Rome at night is so delightful.

Venice is the same as for Rome. And I would strongly consider a Rick Steves tour in Venice, because you may otherwise be engulfed by cruise crowds and find it impossible to get decent Italian food. If you do Venice solo, definitely choose accommodations a good distance away from San Marco.

My solo travel in Italy was interspersed with accompanied travel. I definitely have rich memories of my solo days, but the culture of Italy is so social, the dining schedule so different, and the scale of tourism is so large, I was also glad to have my own tribe to back me up when hunger and sore feet sullied the romance!

Whatever you do, plan on a great time! And bring warm pj's (or a portable electric blanket for sleeping, in my case.) Happy Travels!

Vandrabrud,

My wife and I took the 17 Day Best of Italy Tour and just loved it. If you have the time and money, I don't think you will regret it. The places we visited were amazing. We did a lot of walking, but that was mostly on our own time.

I have put together two 10 minute YouTube videos of our trip. Be sure to your earphones are in if you watch them. I think you will like the music.

https://youtu.be/c5mdy0OzRC4

https://youtu.be/MZia6oOs8iA

The 17 day Best of Italy would be an excellent tour, as it covers quite a few places in northern Italy. Although the visit to Florence is only two nights, you could still spend a few more days in Florence after the tour ends. I usually arrange time both pre and post tours to do some sightseeing on my own.

I absolutely loved the 17 day tour. I thought the itinerary was a perfect blend of all the things I most wanted to see in Italy. I do think that this tour had quite a bit of together time since there was so much to see, so that's something to consider. We like the guided parts so we liked that part, but if you don't love the guided parts at sights, I will say I think there were more guided visits on this tour than any other we've taken. But while Venice, Florence and Rome and the travel days were quite busy, I thought we had a lot of time to relax and do our own thing in Lake Como, the Cinque Terre, Sienna, Orvieto and the Dolomites. If you are interested in all these different regions, I heartily recommend the 17 day tour. If you are more interested in VFR, I recommend that tour because you'll get more time in those cities.

My likes and dislikes are similar to yours. One thing I find is that when I'm alone in a museum, I don't get as tired as when I'm on a guided tour because I'm only standing still when I'm engrossed in something. Often on a tour, you have to stand for long (seemingly endless) minutes for explanations that may not interest you. I also find it hard to concentrate on the lecture when there are so many interesting objects in the room that attract my attention.

I like going at my own pace and limit my tour choices to places that I think I can't do easily or efficiently on my own, like Turkey, the Alps (not a big hiker), Ireland and Greece.

For Italy, the only tour I would consider are Village Italy because it sounds like lots of backdoor experiences. I rented a car in Sicily so I was able to do it independently. If you don't want to drive, that would be another tour to consider. The only advantages I can see to the My Way tour are the convenience of being taken from place to place and being sort of with a group, but I'd find the of 2-nighters pretty tiring and even though you can explore Venice and Rome on your own pre-and post-tour, there's not enough time in wonderful Florence to do more than see the highlights.

Italy is one of the easiest European countries to see on your own, especially if you want to concentrate on larger cities. Planning a basic itinerary is not difficult. I've never been able to plan daily schedules. My solution is to do the research (fun!!) and make a list of all the sights that sound interesting, then group them by interest (must-see, wanna see, if I have time) and by location. I usually find that I spend more time at sights than I think I will. I have stopped fretting about what I don't get to see and do. Instead I focus on enjoying every minute of wherever I am - even if it's sitting on a makeshift perch to rest my feet and people-watch.

In Venice, Florence and Rome, there are lots of options for guided tours, both large and small groups. Many sights have audio guides.

As for timing, I'd go as early in May as possible, while it's still spring. Even late September is likely to be hotter.

Everyone is making very good points. Having to make this decision is a great "problem" to have!!

I really appreciate ALL of the above comments. I have considered them carefully. My plans for 2018 have changed and instead of an autumn trip with Mom it will be a spring trip or maybe nothing (her health issues). So, I have moved my Italy trip up to autumn 2018. I have chosen the 17 day best of Italy tour. The guided tour is the best choice for my desire to have some independence within a lot of structure. Upon reflection of my last tour, it is true that I was tired and physically challenged by the "standing around" during museum tours, but that can be managed. My experience and memories and education that I received were well worth that. I am booking my trip in a way that will allow me to use 2 weeks of vacation on this work calendar year and a week and a half on the next work calendar year . So this will allow me to take the 17 days plus 1 before and 2 or 3 after, and all at once but spread the vacation days over "2 years". I think the completely ideal trip would be a six week trip covering the same itinerary with hired guides at some/most of the venues and lots of lingering in between. However, there is work and college tuition and cost that provide limits on the possibilities. I feel fortunate that I will be able to take this much time off in a row. I won't retire until I am physically unable to travel (I love my work). So all in all this choice makes the most sense to me.

That sounds wonderful! I have my eye on that tour.

I do agree with training for a RS tour or, in fact any trip to Europe. I fell behind on training this year. I’d like to blame it all on the smoke from wildland fire we had all summer but that was only partly it!! I am paying for it now - doing 8 miles (on my own, no tour) is wearing! Ideally I like to be up to doing 6 miles 3 or 4 days a week and then extending miles one day a week to get up to 10. Italy means stairs, too!!

Hope it works well with Mom next spring.

My way tour might be the best of both worlds but will have to
sacrifice the cultural and historical lectures from the guide.

vandrabrud. even though you sound as if you've made a decision for your next trip, it's not at all difficult to find middle ground with one of these tours + a couple of guided tours you choose yourself + extra days on either end. Attraction/city tours come in all lengths and levels of physical activity, and with some poking around you can find those which suit.

That said, my personal issues with the package tours, either fully escorted or "My Way", are that they just don't spend enough time one place for our preference. People travel differently, and we've found that we prefer longer versus shorter stays in fewer locations than trying to cover a lot of ground. It does mean having to be selective but the trade-off is in flexibility; dancing to our own rhythm versus someone else's, and being able to shift a plan according to weather and whim, if we feel like it. It also allows us to explore more corners and get to know a city/region better than if we'd only had 2 days or so. There's no right or wrong but whatever works for you.

As Chani mentioned, Italy is a relatively easy country to travel independently, and especially if the focus is on the cities. Train travel is efficient and inexpensive, and day trips by bus/train abound from some of the larger hubs like Florence. Speaking of Firenze, we spent 5 nights there and it wasn't nearly enough so it's on the list for a week next time!

"So all in all this choice makes the most sense to me." Congratulations on a well-planned and well-thought-out decision! I know you will have a terrific time and as Kathy says, "There's no right or wrong but whatever works for you."

Thank you Pam.
Thank you Kathy.
Kathy, I appreciate your point of view. I think Chani does some solo, independent travel. I noticed in your post you are saying a lot of "we". I am just not ready to spend 3 weeks of traveling completely on my own.
I am already thinking of the next trip. It might be RST Prague and Budapest 8 nights. I am thinking of adding a trip up to the village of Cicmany (my kids great grandpa's childhood home) and then a flight to Paris for a few days on my own. Then after that I could consider some more solo, independent travel.
I am planning on putting down a deposit soon. (Quirky part of personality insists on making finalized plans way too early). But will wait a little longer to see if another point of view changes my mind. : )

I noticed in your post you are saying a lot of "we".

True, there is a "we" in my case but I have single women friends who have traveled solo for many years and done just fine. I would be comfortable doing Italy, Belgium, Paris and some other countries/cities we've covered alone if it came to that (and there's always that possibility). But YOUR comfort level is what matters so you should do precisely what delivers the your most enjoyment and peace of mind. :O)