Which tour to take to Italy?

Having been on VFR as my first RS tour, I can't recommend it enough! The caveat is if they enjoy art as you do hit the best of Italian art cities on that trip and get a taste of Italy. We went two days early to enjoy Venice and get over jet lag, and stayed 5 more nights in Rome making it a two week vacation.

The tours are all great, and the guides are phenomenal! I would review the two tours and see which sounds like it does more of what you want to do since they are both about the same in length and overlap some cities. Also, you can opt out of stuff the guide has you doing, as long as you let them know so the group is not waiting for you. And you can add stuff in to your "free time" as we did in Florence as we also went to another museum for more art on that trip.

Beware, you will be hooked! Doing our 5/6 RS tour in the Fall and our 3rd Italy trip (VFR, South Italy and now Village), we are still working and they are hard to beat time wise to make the most of your time away. We do take a "vacation" and not do anything once a year too!

I'm not a fan of Venice, but if this is the only time you go to Italy, I think it would be a mistake to miss it. I have been to Italy 4 times and have not been to Volterra or Cinque Terra, as they are not on my bucket list.

I would suggest Venice, Florence and Rome because you get 3 days in each. Florence and Rome definitely needs 3 days each. The other tour only allows 2 days in Florence and Rome. Keep in mind you will need an extra day at the beginning of the tour when you arrive and you can stay after the tour for as long as you have time and money. Enjoy.

Since this is your first visit, you will find most people will recommend Venice, Florence, Rome. The big three! The other towns are wonderful to visit, too, but save them for your next visit!

My first Rick Steves Italy tour was the Heart of Italy, and I have since done others.
I liked the variety offered in the tour, it wasn't just cities.

Three days is fine for Florence and Venice, but three days is not enough for Rome. If you can find a tour with at least 5 days in Rome, do that one.

Take a look at the tour scrapbooks to see if one trip seems more like what you'd enjoy. https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks

Personally I'd choose Heart of Italy so that you aren't just visiting large cities.

VFR was my first RST with then 20 yo daughter nearly 20 years ago and HOI was our 8th in 2019, we greatly enjoyed both. The 3 nights in each city pacing on VFR is great for easing into small group tour travel. HOI is fabulous for the small town and waterside experiences. In both tours, traveling between stops is comfortable, informative and has plenty of comfort stops. Either tour choice is absolutely terrific in my book, maybe make the flight availability / cost out of your home airport part of your deciding factor? Look at the tour reviews on this site for input on what alums thought and review the RST travel shows about the destinations. Take serious note that it is truly worth the extra cost to plan on arriving at least 1 day prior to tour start, paying for an extra night at tour hotel. Adding an extra night at tour end and not having to depart early morning that same day, means you can leisurely enjoy the last night's group dinner as well as have the provided breakfast (since 7 am is usually the start time for that service).

VFR was our first too, and we loved it. They are three great cities that everyone should experience. You could add a day or two on each end and that would give more free time to explore your interests.

Since you are short on time, I would pick the VFR tour to reduce your overall time on a bus. Venice is my husband & my favorite city in Italy, and I have stayed in 40 cities in Italy so that’s an excellent recommendation!

If you fly into Malpensa (Milan) or Venice, stay your first night in Verona by train. It will give you the feel of a different city besides the Big 3.

Welcome to the forum!

I vote for Heart of Italy! That was my first RS tour. I did it with my brother, SIL and their 2 adult sons (ages 23 and 20). We had a marvelous time! We chose that tour because the older nephew could only take 2 weeks off work. We added 2 nights in Rome ahead of the tour and 1 extra night in Florence afterward. By that time the guys were comfortable with taking trains on their own so went to a nearby disk golf course for the day.

I think we all enjoyed the variety of city, country and seaside this tour offers. None of us are big city people and honestly, Rome can be overwhelming. It was a good place to start and then Volterra was a wonderful relief from that craziness! We loved biking around the wall at Lucca on the way to Monterosso al Mare. The guys hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso with some other tour members while we three enjoyed a more relaxed day.

While I have not done the V,F,R tour, I have done Best of Italy, Village Italy and 21 day Best of Europe that spends about 8 nights in Italy.

I know many love Venice and although it is certainly worth seeing and is completely different from any other city, it's not my favorite. You might feel differently!

Whatever you do, plan to get in to the tour start city at least the day before or 2 days if your schedule can manage it. That gives you Flex Time in case there are travel hiccups and to get yourself re-oriented after the long flight/s.