What is not included in RS 10day in Italy tour?

You might also post this under the Rick Steves Tour tab, as you might get more responses.

My two cents.

Thats why they send you, and want you to bring, the Italy guidebook. You can see yourself what things might interest you. RS does a great job of listing major attractions and ranking them in his order of whats more worth doing, depending on your time. What you might find on the tour, is that you will meet other people with whom you might want to join up on the free time and do things together, so booking everything ahead of time limits you as well The tour leader also can provide good suggestions and information while you are there on site.

We found that we had enough of the ruins/museums/churches /Carravagio, etc., on the tour, so that we preferred to use our free time spontaneously and leisurely, walking around, shopping, eating, resting, etc. There is much to enjoy in just being somewhere without having to fill all the time with sights.

The Coliseum tour was fairly long. It did not include the underground. We had a local guide/university history professor as a guide. She was very detailed but not to the point of boredom.

We did Doges Palace in our free time in Venice. If you can get a discount on the tickets, buying in advance would be OK. None of us had any issues buying at the door.

As others mentioned, get and use the RS guide book. It has lots of options for free time activities. I thought we covered enough (other than Doges) and just enjoyed relaxing with gelato in our free time in Venice and some nice espresso and deserts in Rome.

Yes I have my RS guide book. Lots of detail for all travels. Does not detail what individual RS tours will cover. I’m asking others who have been on the 10 day tour what was not covered. I do want to see the Doges palace and I see the guildbook recommends buying ticket at the Corner Museum to bypass the line. we do not want to over tour ourselves, yes want plenty of time to Eat gelato and just get lost 😽

On the tour description page there are some suggestions on what the tour doesn't cover in Venice so yes, I'd book the Doge's Palace on your free day before.

I agree with Mark in that the tour of the Colosseum was fairly long but did not include the underground tour. You can see down in to the underground area from one of the upper levels that you'll tour and since this is your first trip I would not spend extra time on another Colosseum tour to do the underground if that's what you've got in mind. You'll also likely do the Forum tour right after as it's just across the street. My favorite thing at the Colosseum are the displays of graffiti that was carved into the seats as the spectators were waiting for the next battle. Very charming!

I know in Rome many book the Borghese for a free afternoon. I would not do this on the afternoon after you visit the Vatican as you may need some outdoor time after having seen that museum as well as St Peter's. You could also easily book this for one of your extra days since you've got the 2 extra at the end.

I enjoyed the Capitoline Museum which you could nip in to after your day with the San Clemente Basilica (very interesting!) and the Colosseum and Forum. The Capitoline is just up the hill from the Forum. I just looked at a googlemaps route which is very dumb - there are stairs from the Forum area up to the Capitoline area so don't go by the walking route google gives you. There is also a neat terrace on the rooftop of the Capitoline Museum which might be a nice place for a glass of wine! You do not need to get tickets ahead for this.

I also did the National Museum of Rome which was nice but not as good to me as the Capitoline. I've also never been to the baths of Diocletian or Caracalla. None of these would need advance ticketing.

Have a wonderful time! October seems like a wonderful time of year to visit!

editing to add: I just saw your last comment and will add that while I've not done this tour I've been to Venice on 1 RS tour (21 Best of Europe) and Florence and Rome on 2 different RS tours (21 Best of Europe and Heart of Italy). The sights they have in common were done the same way on both tours.

Deb, according to the tour description on this site, under the "What's Included" tab it lists the following

Venice backstreets walking tour • St. Mark's Square and Basilica • Venice lagoon excursion • Accademia art museum • Renaissance Florence walking tour • Accademia Gallery (Michelangelo's David) • Uffizi Gallery • Florence backstreets walking tour • Cooking class and lunch • Palazzo Davanzati • Umbrian wine-tasting lunch • Rome orientation • Roman Forum • Colosseum • Church of San Clemente • Pantheon • Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel • St. Peter's Basilica • Evening walk through Rome including Trevi Fountain

I would assume that if it is not listed above and you want to see it, you should purchase tickets on line, if possible, or at the site itself.

To see the online description of the tour, including the daily itinerary, click here. The previous poster's summary is great. This link will get you to more details, including when you will go where, when you will have free time and what meals will be group ones. All that can help with your planning.

Thanks All. I did find the info I was looking for. As I read the fat guild book I see so many extra things to do and have a hard time deciding. The rating system on ea item does help. I will make up my own itinerary calendar and see what I can fit into free time.
I was reading comments on the Colosseum about different area tours and some sell out. Just didn’t want to miss out on a “must see” Thanks for sharing your personal experiences. 😽

One thing to mention days of the events may change. Last minute strike or something else may be added at the last minute. For instance they added a bus tour of Paris on one of our free nights. We had tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower that night on our BOE14 tour. We skipped the bus tour. I would try to get tickets for things on the days before & after the tour to be safe. Enjoy