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RS 17 Day Italy Tour (September)

Posted by (Placentia, CA) on

I booked a 17 Day Italy tour for September. I wanted to arrive a couple of days early and spend our first night in Milan and our second night at the Hotel Royal Victoria in Varenna where the tour starts. I had no trouble booking a room in Milan, but was surprised that there was a limited number of rooms that were showing available. It could be a marketing gimmick, but with the World Expo in Milan, it may be an accurate reflection of the rooms available. The Hotel Royal Victoria had no openings when I went to their website. I sent them an email saying that I was going to be on a Rick Steves Tour that started at their hotel and they responded that the only had a couple of rooms left so I was able to book one for the night before the tour started. I got the impression that if I would have waited to make that reservation, I would been out of luck.

I also checked out flights out of LAX and ended up booking my flight earlier than expected. I know I probably could have gotten a cheaper flight later, but there were very few seats showing as available on the flights I was looking to go on. I think the World Expo in Milan is going to have a big impact on travel plans so be aware and probably book sooner than later.
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Posted by
14995 posts

Good job e-mailing the hotel even though it showed full. I did that for a night ahead of my 21 day BOE tour and it worked out really well. Sometimes the hotels will have a series of RS tours coming and going and that will fill a place. You will find that there will be people on your tour who have to stay elsewhere.

I agree with booking air fares when you see a price you can live with. Leaving from LAX you have more choice than leaving from a tiny Idaho airport, but if many seats are showing full, I think you did the right thing. I encourage you to check your reservations at least every 2 weeks between now and Sept especially if you picked your seats. Sometimes there are plane changes which wipe out your seat choices, so stay on top of it. Things can also change with connection times as well, so watch that flight times don't change and run you too close on a connection if you don't have a direct flight in to Milan. Don't go back and check the price!

I did Village Italy last Sept and had a wonderful time. Do make sure you take a waterproof layer. It rained buckets on our last couple of days.

Posted by
3580 posts

I usually resist phone calls to Europe from home in the USA but sometimes that is the best way to determine availability and make a reservation. Instructions for international calls are in all the Rick Steves (ETBD) books. There is often (usually) an English speaker on the other end.

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