RS tour or guide book for Italy first timers

Rachelle, if you are both planning on signing up separately for the RS tour, you will each receive a code worth $100 to spend in the RS store. You can begin using it just after the date of your deposit becomes nonrefundable (about a month after you are confirmed on the tour, I think). With that you can buy a tour book(s) and whatever else you want/need (money belts?) up to the $100. If you "spend" more, you can make up the difference if you want. I haven't been on that tour but from all reports posted here, it's a really wonderful choice and a great introduction to Italy's "big 3". Paris would be fun before joining the tour (or after), or you could stay on in Rome a few days after the tour ends. Whatever you decide, have a wonderful time and celebrate!

You absolutely can do a tour on your own! Our first trip was to Italy in 2010 for 21 days and I planned it all. (I love the planning, too.)

As to time, if you only have 10 days (hope that is 11 nights), stick to Venice/Florence/Rome. Do not try to add Paris. Paris needs more than a night or two and you don't have that time. Plus it will add expense to make that stop.

Three nights in Venice is a great way to start your trip, giving you a chance to get used to Italy and to get over jet lag. With 11 nights, 3 Venice, 4 Florence, and 4 Rome is a classic way to divide the time.

If you can manage 13 nights, then perhaps add 2 nights in Orvieto or expand your time in Florence and/or Rome, depending on interests.

The RS tour of Venice, Florence and Rome sounds amazing, but also
wondering if his guidebooks will suffice to keep costs down? The one
thing about the tour is Venice for 3 nights, would rather do like like
2, and one more in Rome than it offers.

Rachelle, there are good reasons why some travelers opt for tours and some don't. Your comment about wishing to customize the length of time you spend in one place versus another is a reason why my husband and I travel independently: we get to choose how long or how little we spend doing/seeing what we wish to.

But there's also a tradeoff: you have to research and make your own hotel reservations, figure out how to best purchase tickets for the attractions, how to get from one place to the next, etc. This forum is a WEALTH of info for all that but it takes time.

We do our European trips for longer periods of time for less than the price of a QUALITY tour but we give up the convenience of having the details handled for us. There is no right or wrong choice: it's what YOU are comfortable with and the amount of effort you're willing to put in yourself.

I can promise you that the "Holy Trinity" of Venice, Florence and Rome are about as easy as it comes for a first-timer to Italy: all are used to hosting travelers from all over the world. I will say that I would save Paris for another trip: there is far and away enough to see in the Italian cities you list + easy day trips from some of them to fill two weeks. We did three on our last trip - including a return trip to Rome - and it wasn't the first!

Guidebooks: look at ALL of them. Check them out of library and see which might appeal. I'm obviously a loyal supporter of the RS community (the folks here are great!) but compile our trip knowledge from many different sources.

Hi rachel, you can do Italy on your own but I think there's more "value" in a RS tour than you might think. I've done 8 RS tours and loved every one. I've been to places and seen things that I never would have traveling on my own. The guides are great and the hotels and transportation are all taken care of. I've been to Venice and Rome on my own but I'd love to do the tour you're considering. On this site under the Tours tab there is a block called Tour Experience Videos. Check them out before making your final decision. Hope you have a great trip! 😎👍

PS - in addition to the $100 shopping spree, you can save another $100 by signing up early for a 2018 tour.

And while you're at the library, look at the original RS book "Europe Through the Back Door" which has tips on how to plan and pack for your trip. Useful whether you do a tour or independent travel or a combination.

Start looking at airfares to get a feel for what they are. Open-jaw tickets - in to one city and out from another - usually gives you a fare near round trip, without having to backtrack. You would need to arrange your own air even if you do the RS tour.

When you compare costs of tour versus independent, you have to take into account the added value and benefits of having tickets to sites, transportation, and tour guides. We did V-F-R tour and recognized that we would not have had nearly the in-depth experience if we had done it on our own.

You could take the VFR tour and just add as many days as you want to Rome. The 'extra' day in Venice will not be a burden or waste

Trying to add Paris is probably trying to do to much on this trip, unless you add several more days to your total trip time

A slice of pie is a nice dessert; trying to eat the whole pie.... not so much

If your leaning toward self-planning I would start by reading Europe Through the back door, to understand RS travel philosophy and what it will involve.

If your planning on your own you should have your itinerary nailed down about 6 months before you go, then start booking accommodations (Hotel? AirBNB? Bed and Breakfast? Does the hotel offer breakfast in the cost?), airfare, train tickets, event tickets (Vatican, Colloseum, Accademia, Palazzo Vecchio?) etc. The guide books will help you know which days these places are closed, how to purchase tickets online etc. So if your looking at April then by October 2017 you should be ready to start booking stuff, which is 3 short months away.

There is a price to pay for self travel. I'm not going to lie, self travel takes a lot of time to plan and there are just so many moving parts. I have planned 3 Europe trips and they have all gone off without a hitch. But I have a system that works for me that involves an excel spreadsheets, pocket folders, envelopes, I really really enjoy trip planning and the more I do it the more comfortable I am. I would go in September.

Thank you everyone for your feedback, some very good tips and things to consider!

Probably will skip Paris to make it reasonable, so many things alone to see in Italy. I've been saying for like twenty years Italy is my #1 destination if I go to Europe. Lots of other places to see obviously but also want to make the most of the time when there.

Really appreciate the feedback from the more experienced travelers, and those that have done RS tours!

Thank you everyone for your feedback, some very good tips and things to consider!

Probably will skip Paris to make it reasonable, so many things alone to see in Italy. I've been saying for like twenty years Italy is my #1 destination if I go to Europe. Lots of other places to see obviously but also want to make the most of the time when there.

Really appreciate the feedback from the more experienced travelers, and those that have done RS tours!

My preference between April or mid-September would be to go in September with the warmer weather. We've been to Italy three times in September and usually have beautifully sunny weather for sitting outside in the piazzas for lunch & dinner. Consider the benefits of each - you might find the hotel prices are cheaper in April vs. Sept. Also, do check to see if museum, etc. hours are shorter in April, though.

For your trip, I would purchase the RS Italy book. It will also give you ideas if there's another town that you would like to add to your itinerary before/after the tour or for your general planning; yes, Paris is too far to add to this trip and deserves several days.

Even with lots of planning ahead, you would definitely (no comparison!) see & experience much more if you were on the RS tour. If you decide on the tour, arrive in Italy ideally two days ahead of the tour start date so you can get over the jetlag before the tour starts. If you're doing the VFR tour, Verona is a nice town near Venice to enjoy for a few days. It's an easy train connection to Venice.

Enjoy your trip celebrating your 50th!

My first trip to Europe was to Italy. You will love Venice, Florence & Rome!

Timing wise - well, September gives you more time to plan, but April means you don't have to wait as long! The earliest in the year that I've been to Italy is mid May. I definitely needed a good sweater and a rain jacket, but I also needed some cooler clothing on warmer days.

How are you thinking about getting from point A to B to C? Train? Driving?

I agree with all the points made above. If you don't mind lots of legwork, you can certainly do this on your own. If you like having someone else do the work for you (and there's nothing wrong with that), taking a tour is much easier. There's a reason it costs more to take a tour - you're paying someone else to do the work, which would otherwise take a lot of time. Some people love the planning and booking, others love having someone else do it.

There's another factor. Do you like self-guiding? A coworker of mine was not happy when she went to London and Paris armed only with Rick's books. "I had to play tourguide all the time!" was her lament. She and her husband are very much "where do you want to eat?" "I don't know, where do YOU want to eat" types. She is also very worried that she will miss something she's supposed to see. With these factors, she much prefers having someone taking her around and telling her what to see and do each day. I, myself, would chafe at this; I LOVE being my own tourguide! But everyone is different in this matter.

To find the flights everyone is talking about (into Venice and out of Rome), use the "multi city" or "multiple destinations" option on Kayak https://www.kayak.com/flights or Google Flights https://www.google.com/flights/ or Skyscanner https://www.skyscanner.com/, rather than the "one way" or "round trip" options.

As for when to go, it's hotter in September. Some don't mind the heat, some really really do. April has more risk of rain, but also will be more pleasant in the middle of the day. When I went to Rome in September, I ate most of my dinners outdoors. When I went in April, I ate lunches outdoors but dinners indoors. I liked the experience of September, but a friend found it too hot.

As for what guidebooks to get, I agree that your first move should not be to buy any guides, but to hit up your library and get out as many books on Italy as you can. See where you want to go. Even if you're taking a tour, learn what you might want to do before or after on your own. Look at as many videos on Italy as you can; Rick's are here (scroll down to Italy): https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show Also look at Rick Steves Europe Through The Back Door, to learn the nuts and bolts of traveling on your own (what to expect in hotels, how to handle money, etc).

Then, closer to the time you are actually going, get Rick Steves Italy (it comes out every year, so for a 2018 trip, wait for the 2018 edition), and possibly one or two others to supplement. Rick's book does not cover every place in the country, so if you want to go to, say, Bologna or Turin, you'll need another guidebook too. But Rick's has, by far, the most practical details on the places he does cover. Other books will say there's a bus to a place; Rick will tell you exactly where to pick it up, where to buy the tickets, and warn you that it doesn't run for 4 hours in the middle of the day so you aren't stranded.

If you are going to only be a few days in each city, the Italy book is sufficient. If you're spending more than a few days in a city, the individual guides have more information. On the webpage for each guide on this website, there's a section "Is This The Right Book For Me?" which compares books (eg, Italy to Best of Italy to Rome). Go to this page and open that section to see what I mean: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/italy-guidebook

Even with lots of planning ahead, you would definitely (no
comparison!) see & experience much more if you were on the RS tour.

Jean, sorry but I have to disagree with that, depending on personal style? As good a reputation as the tours have - and there's no question that MANY people love them - they simply don't allow the time per location that we want. For us, it's not about how much ground one can can cover in a day but freedom from set itineraries and timelines. If we want to spend X-number of hours in a single church or museum, we can do it, or shuffle a plan and do inside attractions versus outdoor on the day it pours rain.

A plus about about a tour is that they can be great opportunities to get the feet wet and get a look at some places you might want to return to for longer next time. That said, we've never felt as if our self-planned trips have come up short in the experience dept.

As for the best time to go, it depends on your heat tolerance. Mid-September can be very warm, even hot. April can be quite pleasant. We were in Italy last March and the weather was very nice. But we come from a cooler climate where it doesn't really warm up until July.

First, congratulations!

All good advice, especially to look at different guidebooks. I buy e-books, to save packing weight, and keep them on my iPad (which goes with me everywhere).

To take a guided bus tour or not? I think you can do this on your own, but I have never taken a bus tour, so I am biased about independent travel. I can change my itinerary six times at a bus stop. You are going to major cities, you can take tours in each of them if you like (city walking tours or for specific sights), some are very inexpensive, others are a splurge (for me, anyway). Finding hotels/B&Bs is easy, I use booking.com a lot. Filter by location, price, amenities and read the reviews.

Some cities have multi-day transportation passes, a real value in Venezia, and some passes combine transportation with free or discounted entry to museums. Important to know how you will use these to get to the "break-even" point without feeling obligated to visit something just because you have a pass that covers it.

And make sure you and your sister are on the same page, or that you are okay splitting up for a bit if you have different interests.

Keep posting questions here. Most of us love planning!

PS: Pack light!

On timing . . . On one of our trips to Italy, we landed in Rome to 32 degrees F. It got only to 40 that day. The next day was a bit warmer, but raining. The cold weather lingered for about a week. September weather is somewhat more reliable.

Another downside to April is that it's best to avoid Rome for at least a week before Easter. The usually crowded city is just mobbed with visitors. Many schools systems all over Europe have vacations at that time, and trips to Rome are often scheduled for secondary school students. Hotel prices are higher because of the higher demand.
We almost always travel independently. I, too, like to be in control of what I see and how long I stay. The negative of that is what I disliked about the only tour we've taken. (There were positives,too.) The few times I've considered a tour, I found that I could save 30 - 50% doing the trip independently. That's with staying in nice, not luxurious lodgings and eating well.

rachelle,

Although you could certainly plan this trip on your own, that's going to be considerably more work to figure out hotels, transportation, sightseeing, etc. As this is your first trip to Europe, my suggestion would be to sign up for the tour this first time, and plan for some time before and/or after the tour on your own. Spending a few days in Venice prior to the tour will allow you to get over jet lag as well as see a few sights not covered on the tour. Spending a day or two in Rome after the tour will allow you to see sights not covered, and it's a more relaxing finale rather than rushing to the airport as soon as the tour ends.

In addition to seeing the three cities, you'll also learn a lot on the tour about travelling in Europe, and you can use the knowledge you acquire as a foundation for future trips. You'll be well looked after by the very professional RS guides, and you'll learn far more about the history, culture and foods than if you travel on your own. You'll also get preferential entry into Museums and other sights (ie: no waiting in queues). Above all, you'll probably have more fun on the tour as the people that take RS tours are usually great (no grumps - that's what I've found after eight tours).

If you and your sister get along reasonably well, you can share a room. When you sign up for the tour, you'll receive a credit towards purchases in the RS store and you can use that to buy whichever guidebooks you want. Don't forget to also buy Money Belts, as there will be pickpockets and scammers operating in Italy. The guide will be able to give you all the information you'll need to travel well in Italy.

In terms of what time of year to travel, I'd suggest either May/June or September/early October. I normally travel in September but have also travelled in the spring on occasion.

Taking the tour would also give you an idea whether you prefer travelling with a group or doing self guided travel.

Finally, congratulations on your upcoming 50th!

Good luck with your decision!

Can you do it on your own? Absolutely. The real question is do you want to handle all the logistics yourself having never planned a trip like this before? And then just travel by yourselves?

Taking the RS tour removes all the stress of that for a first timer. In addition, the tour gives you so much more information and takes you places you might otherwise miss.

We've both lived in Europe, have traveled there independently, and still take RS tours because they are fun, fun, fun, and you meet really great people.

If you go on the RS tour, plan on arriving a day (or two) early in case there are transportation snafus.

My advice is to read the itinerary of any tour carefully and then decide if it matches your top "must sees" for a given area. I think there are pluses and minuses for both options. If you like to research and plan, you can save significant money by traveling yourselves. However, the advantage of having a guide at certain locations is that not only are you seeing the sights, you have a deeper understanding of what you are seeing. This can still be done as independent travelers, but involves more research and planning.

Example: My sister and I choose to travel independently. We often have different ideas of what we want to see or do in an area than a package tour. We wanted to spend 3 days at Hadrian's Wall. We hired a terrific local guide (Peter Carney) the first day who brought to several key wall locations and taught us about the wall and its history. We spent the next two days walking the center section of the wall and having a terrific time that was made all the better because we had taken some time learning with a guide.

Your target areas in Italy strike me as places where having a guide at least part of the time would enrich the experience. A tour provides a guide and I think you can count on Rick Steves tour guides to be good quality guides. You could also do a little research on this forum and come up with names of some excellent local guides if you wanted to go that route.

It gets down to making sure you really want to do what is scheduled on the tour as scheduled and how much work you want to put into planning. You can have a terrific experience either way.

Rachelle,
Don't sell Venice short. It is an amazing city. I have been to Europe on 6 occasions, the first 5 times on my own and the last time on an RS 17 Day Best of Italy tour. I am very comfortable traveling in Europe on my own, but I must say I never had a better vacation than the tour we took. It was stress free and I was really able to relax. I also enjoyed our tour mates. If you are just doing Venice, Florence, and Rome, they are fairly easy to do on your own. However, you will not get as much information from a guidebook as a tour guide can provide. Also, there is no waiting in lines for the sites. Since this is your first trip, I would recommend a Tour if you can afford it. I think it is better to have a positive experience on your first trip so you will be more willing to return.

A couple more comments if weighing DIY versus a tour?

Hotels: I do recommend them over apartments for first-timers as the added support from a guest desk can be comforting on a maiden voyage. They also aren't any tougher to search than accommodations in U.S. cities you've never been to.

Use a booking site - I like www.booking.com - and search by date and desired price.

Don't let the number of stars throw you: those are more often based on amount of amenities an accommodation provides- such as room service or on-site restaurants - versus quality. If you don't need a lot of extras, then a 2 or 3-star hotel can be just fine if....

...it has decent reviews. Check reviews from previous guests, and check them on multiple sites: booking.com, Venere, Trip Advisor, etc. Ignore the glowing few which sound like advertising, the few simply too terrible to be believed, and those from tourists who are (obviously) ridiculously picky. The truth usually lies in the middle. You can also browse the forum for prior suggestions from trusty RS respondents to the hotel question.

Check their locations CAREFULLY. While there aren't really any "bad" areas in the centers of all 3 cities you list, some hotels that list their location as, say, Rome, can in actuality be way out on the fringes. That's not where you want to be if planning to hit the star attractions. If you find a few which suit budget but you're still confused about location, just post the question and you'll get help!

Read the fine print. Depending on the site you use, you may see two prices: one for non-refundable rate and another for free cancellation up to a certain date. This is common on booking.com. Those lower, non-refundable rates can look pretty attractive until or unless you have to cancel a trip. "Non-refundable", means exactly that: you're on the hook. Taxes are almost always included (nice!) but there is usually a small, separate per-day, per guest city fee which is not. Those vary depending on the per-night price of the hotel, and are usually asked to be paid in full, in cash, upon arrival.

Some folks like to book directly with the hotels they've chosen, and many offer have their own websites for doing so. For the ones which may not, a booking site can be nice as you can reserve your rooms at any time of the day - no time-zone difference - and there's no language barrier, should you be a little nervous about that. Again, though, you'll find that most hotels have desk employees who speak excellent to entirely passable English.

Time of year will dictate some desired amenities. For instance, air-conditioning isn't a given in smaller properties. If that's important to you - considering the current heat wave in Italy, I'd DEFINITELY want good AC if booking Rome in early Sept. - then read carefully. Same goes for in-room wifi.

All-in-all, not so different than finding a place to sleep right here in the States!

It's good that you're starting your planning early. If you decide to do it on your own, you can post your desired itinerary on this forum, and get lots of help, i.e recommended hotels, places to eat, tours to take. I would personally prefer to choose my own hotels rather than use Rick's-although the ones I use are often in his guidebook, just not necessarily used on all his tours(we have a favorite across the street from the Vatican Museums)

You might want to consider a My Way tour. You could do two weeks on a My Way tour to more locations for about the same cost of the 10 day V-F-R. All hotels and transportation are taken care of and days are entirely on your own (no guided touring). You will have a tour manager who is there to answer questions and help you with your options. We took two My Way tours in three years before I decided to do an independent trip this year. If you have time to do all the logistics (more than you think), it's definitely cheaper to go independent. But you better really like your travel partner. :D

I second the My Way Tour of Italy. It gave us the freedom to plan out our days but took care of our transportation and hotels. It was our first trip to Italy and gave us the confidence to become independent travelers! Since our tour we have traveled to Europe on our own to Scotland, England, France, and this fall we head to Germany, each a month long trip! Our My Way Trip was fun, we met great people, and gave us the knowledge to travel independently!

We jumped right in with both feet to our first trip to Europe. It takes a lot of time and much planning, but we never, and we mean NEVER, could have done it without RS books. We have since been back to Europe five times since our first trip in 2007. Each trip was for two months at a time with his books. His books are far and above any other travel book we have used. Our scariest trip was in Sicily because Rick has no book as of yet, for Sicily. We realized then how much the RS books help with everything you need to plan a trip with little or no problems. Happy traveling. And we were in our 60's on our first trip.

I have travelled on my own for years to England, Wales, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. I love to plan trips and see what I want to see as opposed to having my entire day planned for me. Having said all that, I opted for Rick Steves' VFR trip in June 2017 because I knew zero Italian and wasn't sure Italy was the best place for a woman traveling alone. I was extremely impressed by the VFR tour. There was a good split of structured tour time and free time (and you don't have to do any of the structured tour activities; I skipped the cooking class in Florence to see more art). In addition to our superb regular tour guide, we had outstanding local guides in the various art museums and at the Roman forum. I recommend that you do the VFR tour for your first time in Italy/first trip to Europe....then consider traveling on your own for future trips to Europe.

Wow, I so appreciate everyone's response. Lot's to think about, and pros and cons to each option. I've shared this link to my sister as well. It is nice to see a community here and value your experiences to learn from, that's actually invaluable.

Thank you again for your input. Look forward to planning our trip, and will maybe meet some of you there, or in the future!

Rachelle

Whether you take a tour or do it on your own please get hold of a RS guide book as soon as possible. Generally guide books are encyclopedic while RS books are more like a series of travel essays that are fun, inspiring, opinionated, clear and provide more practical help than a typical guide book, Just his sections on getting around cities like Paris and Rome using public transportation are worth the price of the book.

I ripped apart a few of his books to carry around but was sorry that I did after the trip. Now I get a Kindle version to have with me on my smart phone. Just one less thing to haul around.

It really depends on how comfortable you are with doing the planning, how well you deal with problems , your style of touring, cost, and how well you get along with your sister (😀😀). I first toured Italy with just my sister and we had no problem getting along, but I have known people who toured with friends and then swore 'never again' ! If you are in a tour group, you can each get some space if necessary.

Rick has the itinerary shown on the website and it looks pretty good to me. I will be doing a very similar route with my wife next spring. I am doing all the planning, which I enjoy.

If the itinerary is to your liking and the price is o.k., then I think a tour is a good idea, especially since you haven't been to Europe before.

If you add days to the vacation, I would add them to the end of the trip after you will have started to 'learn the ropes'.

I agree with many posters that you can do either way of travel and have a great time. Our first trip to Italy was an independent where I planned everything. It turned out great. We made a few mistakes but nothing that was earth shattering. Since then we have taken 7 RS tours. We took the first one (Village Italy) because we wanted to go to small towns and did't want to drive, we thought it would be more relaxing that way. It was so good that we have continued to travel on the tours. We have made friends on some tours and have travelled with them again. The addition of the local guides is tremendous. We have learned a lot from them and have noticed and seen things that we wouldn't have known to look for.

When you are buying guidebooks, get a copy of the RS Italian language book. Hubby and I use it every night during dinner for a few months before the trip. We talk and quiz each other and it really helps.
Make an effort to learn at the very least, the polite phrases and questions and you get very good responses.

I agree with Kathy that if you are going to plan it yourself look at the reviews of the hotels. On Venere the reviewers must have booked with Venere, so you know for sure that they have stayed at the property.
The one thing that no one has mentioned is trip insurance. Originally we didn't buy it. Since a friend tripped in Europe on a cobblestone and broke her leg, we buy it. She spent time in a hospital (travel insurance paid) and travelled home in a cast that had her leg stretched out straight. By the way, Medicare (I know you're too young) won't pay in Europe and some insurance companies won't either.
Trip Insurance will. Economy wouldn't work, so the trip insurance sent her (and traveling companion) home in first class. She needed a lot of help.

We just buy it and count it as part of the trip. There are many different kinds and coverages.

Whichever way you decide to travel, I hope you have a great trip!

On Venere the reviewers must have booked with Venere, so you know for
sure that they have stayed at the property.

Same with booking.com. And Mimi's advice to buy trip insurance - especially medical - is sound: check what your own will cover outside of the country but we never go abroad without it. This applies to going on your own OR with a tour.

Thank you so much for all of this information! It has truly been helpful, and has me thinking of things I hadn't considered, such as getting medical insurance (or checking my policy for coverage), and beyond.

I also shared the link with my sister who agreed there were many great tips!