Which Italian tour - 9 Day Heart of Italy or 10 day Best of Venice Florence Rome

I've done and enjoyed the Heart of Italy tour.
I think you need to decide if you want just cities or a mix of city and smaller places. I'm sure either will be enjoyable.

To me, it seems the deciding question is whether or not you want to go to Venice on the tour(you could go on your own after the tour.)

As usual, I agree with Liz's assessment. Is this your first trip to Italy? How do you feel about big cities?

Heart of Italy was my first trip to Italy and I loved it. Rome felt a little overwhelming to me as it is so chaotic so I really appreciated the next stay in Volterra which was just wonderful as well as the outdoors in Cinque Terre. By the time we got to Florence I was OK with a bigger city but it is still not as chaotic as Rome. You can always add Venice on to the end of Heart of Italy. I WOULD add a day or two onto the front end for Rome. Both to adjust to jet lag and because there is so much to see if Rome!

I will add that I am not much of a big city gal...except for Paris and London, hahha! You might prefer something different from me!

Yes, will be 1st trip to Italy. Don't mind big cities. Like the idea of adding Venice at the end. Also like the smaller city feels of Volterra and Cinque Terra. We had originally booked a day ahead for Rome and an extra day in Florence before heading back to Wisconsin.

I did the Heart of Italy tour and loved it! Rome was good, Florence even better, but the small towns were the best for us.

You can always add on extra days on your own to one of the tours, if you feel you missed something. We did VFR (our first time in Italy) and started with 3 days in Varenna (Lake Como) and Milan at the beginning. We chose VFR because we wanted to see three of the great cities of the world. A second tour in Italy, if we ever do one, will include the smaller destinations.

I saw it the same way Stan did -- wanted to see the "big three" cities on my first trip to Italy, and didn't know whether I'd be able to return. I fell unexpectedly in love with Venice, arriving a few days before the tour started there. I'm glad I had more time there than the tour provided, excellent though the tour was. If Volterra and Cinque Terre interest you, then I suggest the tour that includes them, with additional time in Rome before the start and a few days in Venice after. In fact, if the tour ends in Florence you might add some time there if you can before moving on to Venice.

I've found it rewarding to spend time in country before and after a tour, as I've done in Italy, Spain, and Ireland. The RS tours are great but they can't include everything I want to see and do. But it's easy for me, retired, to tack on extra days. Hope you can do so as well, whichever tour you end up taking.

I've done both tours and like others, VFR was my initial visit to Italy and we had a fantastic time. The 3 night pacing in each city is great. HOI is wonderful for providing an excellent variety of Italy's fascinations, bookending as it does with eternal Rome, small town life of lovely Volterra, the seaside fun of the Cinque Terre, with artful Florence for a finish with a flourish. I am in the camp of adding nights to both the front and back ends of RSTs, which allows for jet lag adjustment and a relaxed onset of getting the 'lay of the land' at the beginning plus independent explorations that can also be accomplished at the finish, and I don't have the feeling I'm rushing out the door at tour's end. I prefer to book the extra nights at the tour hotels mostly as I like not having to go thru the pack up and move to the next spot, especially if it's only for 2 more nights. I'd consider moving to a different location if I were staying longer and had the luxury of more time for my trip.

Thanks for all this

Rick just sent out his November tour news newsletter. I thought of you when I read thru it as he's got a nice day by day slide show for Heart of Italy!

https://cms-admin.ricksteves.com/tours/tour-news/heart-of-italy-slideshow

Perfect! Thanks!