We are looking at two trips to Italy and I wondered if anyone had advice on which is a better trip for a family with a 20yr old son? We want to make this a great vacation for him and all of us but mainly him. Anyone been on these and have advice on activities and how a active 20yr old would do on them? Average age of other travelers etc? Thanks,
The Sicily tour is wonderful-I took it twice, it was that great (slightly different itineraries). That said, I'd go for the B of Italy 17 days. Much more of a dip into Italy and Italians and oh, my goodness, what wonderful places you will visit. Ages vary-summertime seems to skew to a "younger" set. I have observed that whatever the ages of the tour participants, all are young-at-heart, physically proficient and certainly capable of taking these more active tours-and then some. Every one of the tours I have been on (lots!) has had a variety of ages and every tour melded nicely into a "family". There is a nice balance of "guided" time and free time which he could use to be as active as he'd like to be. Does he prefer one itinerary to the other?
Hmmm well, you'll wonder why I'm posting because I haven't been on either! BUT my brother, SIL and I took their 2 sons who were 20 and 25 on Heart of Italy and they had a blast! They got along with everyone else, went out a couple of times in the evening with other people, got worried when one of the couples didn't come back from hiking in CT when the kids thought they should be back so went to find the guide and let her know....really they bonded with the whole group!
If you are going in the summer there is often more varied age ranges when kids and teachers are out of school.
Such a kind and generous parental unit, that's one lucky son. First RST, Venice-Florence-Rome with my then 20 yo daughter, was a mid June departure. We had another mother-daughter pair and a family with 2 same age daughters, among members on that tour. We just did Sicily off-season last April (fantastico, highly recommend) and same as all other tours we've done during non summer time frames, my DD was youngest participant by far. My Millennial doesn't mind it, in fact loves what she thinks is a favored/special position being youngest in the group and is generally appropriately grateful just being taken on a trip to Europe. I advise going over each prospective itinerary closely to evaluate activities covered and contrast and compare with what you know your 20 yr old is drawn to. Consider pacing and length of the multi-stops; these tours provide plenty of variation of guided time and free time but packing up and moving every couple of days does mean you do not have the luxury of parking it and just being 'there' and some places are harder to leave than others. We're heading out next month on the Loire to the South of France tour and with adding nights before/after as I prefer to do, it's going to be our longest trip so far by dint of days we'll ramble on. I'm making mental preparations to achieve zen mode when inevitably our close quarters and familiarity may get the better of us, even while scarfing down as much fromage, baguette and vin as we can possibly manage. I'm in the camp where I expect any travel partner of mine may well get on my nerves at some point of a lengthy journey and simply try best to keep things light when crankiness rears its frustrating head. We're not joined at the hip, we take solo time at different junctures and that works for us. I've always asked my gal to do her own research/provide input on additional treks/alternate activities we could/would do while we're away. She's been spot on many, many times and it's added a lot to our travels. I consider myself lucky, she has a knack of quickly getting physically/geographically oriented once landed in a new spot and I have benefited greatly from following her navigational lead. Happy family travels to you and yours wherever you roam.
Did the B of I , not the other.
Our B of I had 13-69 age range Everyone got along well. See no reason not to do it. Has a wonderful variety in the itinerary.
If this is a first time trip, I suggest the 17 day B of I. A great 'sampler buffet'
I've done the Sicily trip, and while it was amazing, I'd go for the Best of Italy trip if you have the time. The longer trip will give you a better introduction to many different regions of Italy and offer a more varied experience overall.
rich,
My suggestion would be the Best of Italy as it will provide an interesting view of the history of several different parts of Italy. During the free day in the Cinque Terre, you'd all be able to hike, to enjoy the beach or just "chill". As the 11-day Sicily tour is shorter, it will likely be faster paced without as much free time.
Definitely Best of Italy. Especially for a first time, it offers a much more varied experience. Save Sicily for another time.
Hi
we are planning a 2 weeks trip to italy either in the last two weeks of september or the first two weeks of october. we would like to cover venice( 3 n), florence( 4 n), cinque terre( 2 n), amalfi coast( 4 n) and rome( 4 n). please give your inputs on the following:
1.will there be any significant difference in the overall costs between the two timelines. costs including accomodation, food, entry tickets to monuments/ museum, day trips.
2. will there be a difference in the crowd and waiting time at the various places.
3. we have a total of 17 n to spend so does the above split looks good and workable.
thanks a lot
regards
dishaasinghal,
You need to start a new thread and post your question there. You will get more responses :)
