Private or group tours

He/She is private. You have their undivided attention. You can go or do anything (within reason) that you want to see and do. Good to lunch with them, share a coffee, etc. You get to decide what you want to see and do.

A middle ground would be those tour vendors who do very small groups. I've found they are good about adapting the tour to the interests of the group. The one I've used repeatedly is Context Travel (websites, Context Rome, Context Florence, etc). Most of their tours have no more than 6 people, and they'll go with smaller groups (maybe 3 or 4). Academically well trained guides, good English, well managed administatively.

One potential benefit to doing a group tour or event (such as a cooking class) is that it can be fun to connect with other tourists and exchange tips and stories.

Advantages of Private Tours: Flexibility - a good guide will check with you to see if you are getting what you want out of the tour and change their approach if you aren't happy More information - you can ask the guide as many questions as you want and for more clarification if you want it Extras - many times the guides will take a few more minutes to show you some of their favourite places, or have a coffee together Easier to understand - you are all standing in close proximity to the same thing, not several feet away - easier to understand some of the finer details Extra information - most tour guides are happy to answer questions about stuff that's not even on the tour - restaurants, local etiquette questions, places to see that aren't on the beaten path, transportation questions etc.