First time traveler with Rick Steves, need advice on first trip

I've been on 7 RS and numerous other tours. My first RS tour was Eastern Europe. Lots of great stuff to see and shoot there (I too enjoy photography.) I don't think you could go wrong with any of his tours though.

I did three R.S. tours: Turkey, Paris and the Heart of France and the Best of the Adriatic. All of them were excellent. It does not matter which one you choose. You cannot go wrong with any of them. If you cannot decide write each of them on the piece of paper, put in in the hat and pick one.

I would pick the one that either a) you're the least likely to want to do on your own or b) the region where you think you'd most benefit from a professional guide and the knowledge they impart. I only took the Turkey tour for the above reasons - otherwise, I'm much happier and comfortable to travel on my own. The only other tour I'd consider is Bulgaria (same reasons) and the fact that the tour would bring me closer to genuine encounters with local people (I have a strong language barrier due to the cyrillic alphabet).

The key to RS tours, or any guided tours, is really the quality of the guides. With that in mind, I would not expect any notable differences across tours because the RS folks aim for all their guides to be excellent and for the tour experience to be consistent across tours, no matter which. That's not to say that folks won't have their favorite tour - but I think that's more due to the draw of the region visited and how it speaks to them, than the guides.

One thing to remember is that it's not only possible, but desirable, to arrive a few days earlier than the tour starts, and use the time to see something not covered by the tour - for instance, if you go on Village Italy, you could stay in Venice beforehand. (And of course have extra time after, if you wish.)

I cannot say enough on how much I enjoyed the 17 Day Best of Italy Tour. The variety of the tour was amazing. I don't think you can beat it if you want get to know Italy.

I just returned from the Adriatic tour. It was a photographer's dream come true. You will get to see everything on your wish list -- mountains, waterfalls, beaches, and beautiful architecture.

I would pick the one that either a) you're the least likely to want to
do on your own or b) the region where you think you'd most benefit
from a professional guide and the knowledge they impart.

Agnes makes a really good point. As independent tourists ourselves, places which would be a lot more challenging to do on our own would be our deciding factor for choosing a tour. Much of Italy is easy to reasonably easy to do solo so it wouldn't be that one.

I've done several RS tours but of the ones on your list, I've only done Village Italy. It was great fun and a few of the places we went would have been difficult or impossible to get to with public transport or would not have been available without the RS tour (thinking the farm experience with the truffle dog and the lunch at the olive oil mill). If you do pick this one, I also recommend coming several days early. If I were doing it again I would stay 3 or 4 nights in Venice pre-tour and 1 night in Padua pre-tour. I took the train from Venice to Padua on the day the tour started and then realized there was a lot I missed there!

I've been on 22 RS tours and I would hope that any of the ones you listed would give you a good first impression of a RS tour. The only one on your list that I haven't done is Best of Italy and that's because I've covered the same places on other tours. Photography is important to me when I'm traveling and I thought the Adriatic tour was especially great for that. I haven't checked to see if the itinerary has changed, but we found Ljubljana to be very picturesque with all of its interesting bridges. And, you'd be hard pressed to find a more beautiful place to photograph than Plitvice Lakes National Park. From there, you head down the beautiful coast and ending in Dubrovnik with its pretty amazing wall. Our stay in Mostar, gave us some very different, but still beautiful, photographs, and I loved the seaside towns we visited and stayed in.

That being said, I loved all of the tours you listed and I came home with beautiful pictures from each. You might think about whether you prefer larger cities or smaller ones and how much preference you want to give to being along the sea. Another consideration is bus time. You can add it up for each tour and decide if that's a factor to you. I really don't think you can go wrong with any of them!

I suppose which tour to take will depend to some extent on your budget. I'm also a photographer and based on the places I've seen (both on tours and travelling on my own), the Best of Italy, Sicily or Adriatic would all be really good choices. The tours are all structured the same way, so I don't think there will be any difference in terms of "the best first impression of a RS tour".

Good luck with your decision!

I have taken Village Italy, and it is still my favorite of all the RS tours I have taken (12 so far)!! It is the only one that I would take again. Nothing wrong with any of the others, it is just my fav. I am taking Sicily off season this coming March. I enjoy Italy very much, such good food and wine, plus the people are so friendly. I have not taken Eastern Europe or Adrictic tours, so I may be biased.

Narrow down your choices and then flip a coin. :) No matter which tour you select I am sure you will enjoy.

For me personally, I'd do the Villages of Italy... and here's why. I'm a solo, independent female traveler. With the others, transport will be very easy to get from place to place. With the villages, you ideally need a car, which I don't normally do on my own (I'll rely on public transport & keeping to a group setting while on my own). So if you're like me, that one I'd do because I'm least likely to have all the logistics sorted as easy with it vs. the other tours. Good luck choosing! :)

We have done 10 RS tours, and have loved each and every one. Some we liked more than others, but I don't think there is a single one we wouldn't gladly do again. Best of Sicily is the only one on your list that we have done; we have heard rave reviews of Village Italy and Best of Italy. I have never met an American who didn't love Italy. We actually lived in Eastern Europe (Poland) for several years, and it's an interesting part of the world. I think Debra's advice was good: narrow it down if you can, then flip a coin. You're in for a great time.

We both loved the Best of Italy which jumpstarted several follow on trips back to Italy. Every place was a wow moment for us.

I started with a "My Way" tour because I wasn't sure I was a tour person. I wouldn't discount those as an option. I've done four guided RS tours since after that.

I'd recommend the Adriatic tour because it seems to meet all you criteria and is my second best RS tour experience (best for me has been Bulgaria). That being said, I've not heard one negative word from those who took the Sicily tour. Not one.

You say your passion is photography. What kind of equipment do you take along on these tours? This is a passion of mine as well and I'm still trying to figure out what to take. I never seem to have the right equipment for what I want to photograph.

They all look fantastic! I agree with the one you are least likely to do on your own, though I personally would choose the Best of Eastern Europe.

sean,

What kind of equipment do you take along on these tours? This is a passion of mine as well and I'm still trying to figure out what to take. I never seem to have the right equipment for what I want to photograph."

Although I've travelled with several Lenses in the past, I find that I use a 24-105 medium zoom and a 10-22 wide angle about 99% of the time. The one minor disadvantage of those lenses is that neither is especially fast, but I manage. I may add a 17-55, f2.8 to the mix this year, just to try it out.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I agree totally with taking a tour I wouldn't or would have a hard time doing on my own. The Adriatic was at the top of my list when I first started reviewing the RS tours, followed by the other Eastern Europe tours. Italy is a draw because I've been to that country the least and seen the least. The Villages offers the most unique experience so it's next on my list and also would be hard to duplicate on my own. The Adriatic wins for now. Thanks again everyone for your input in helping me to decide.

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You say your passion is photography. What kind of equipment do you
take along on these tours? This is a passion of mine as well and I'm
still trying to figure out what to take. I never seem to have the
right equipment for what I want to photograph.

• Sean I use my Nikon SLR D5300 and my 18-140 Nikkor lense. It's a kit lense that came with the camera but with some correction through software on some shots the pictures are pretty good. But there is still some distortion on the extreme angles. I'm planning on updating my lense before my next big trip. Last year I went to Israel and Egypt and brought two cameras. My Nikon and a really good point and shoot camera my canon powershot sx60 HS. It has an ultrazoom which takes really good pictures. In fact I didn't want to be weighed down this year so I took that camera with me to Colorado and came away with some really fantastic shots.
  

The Adriatic tour is incredible and you'll have an almost endless supply of good photo op's. Some of my favourites were Ljubjlana, Lake Bled, Plitvice Lakes and especially Korčula. There were many other good spots, too numerous to mention. The sights in Mostar were very poignant.

The tour moves along at a good pace, so you'll have to get into a routine of charging camera (or other) batteries at night when you're back in your hotel room, as there won't be a lot of time to do that in the day time. As I recall, there will be an opportunity to do laundry in Split. If you're travelling solo, you might consider paying the single supplement.

When were you thinking of taking the tour? Some of the budget airlines only offer seasonal service to Dubrovnik, so getting out of there are the end of the tour may take a bit of extra planning.

Hope you have a great trip!

Do the Best of Eastern Europe one! I've done four tours and while I've enjoyed them all, the Eastern European tour was my favorite!

Hi Ken,
I watched a few of the clips on the Adriatic tour and I'm very excited. I usually pack several batteries already charged and then recharge when needed at night like you suggested. When I'm going is complicated. My friend and I were supposed to travel to Austria/Germany next June. I have the whole trip already planned. But now she's not sure she can go. She'll know by December. If she can't go then I'm going to do the Adriatic tour next September. I was planning on flying in a couple of days earlier. There's a few things I want to see before the tour starts. Then I was planning on going to Montenegro for a day after the tour. Funny that you mention flights because I've been looking at flights just to see what's available now and it's a bit of nightmare. I've looked at leaving from Dubrovnik and also from Montenegro. Flying in seemed reasonable but flying home? Boy. Both departure cities had multiple layovers which I expected but the first layover was 35 minutes!! No way. The next layover was 13 hours. I thought about getting public transportation to Zagreb and flying out from there but that was just as complicated. I let that part of the planning go for now since my friend is making life a bit complicated too.

I bought a RS carry on bag this year and used it for my last trip. I'm a new convert to packing light and only carry on. What a great feeling. I was able to pack enough for 10 days and didn't need to wash. I now need a better solution for my camera and accessories plus my tour info and such. A bag big enough but not too big. I'm thinking of buying the RS Veloce shoulder bag.

I thought about getting public transportation to Zagreb and flying out from there but that was just as complicated.

Try Split - better choice (easy to get from Dubrovnik, lots of nice modern buses run up and down the coast). You've discovered that getting to Croatia is not very efficient or inexpensive, especially Dubrovnik which is tiny. I don't think Montanegro will be a better choice - way too small, like Dubrovnik. All Croatia flights seem to go through Zagreb (or they did when I went in 2011) - it's just the way it goes.

Hi Agnes,

I looked up flights from Split to my airport but the flights were just as poor. I changed my departure city to JFK. JFK isn't ideal because it's a 3 hour drive from my home. I don't think I'll be up to driving 3 hours post trip. The price will wash out though. Just looking now a flight from my airport averaged around $1100 and the flight out of JFK around $800 so a car service would be a wash. The flights still aren't ideal. A 2 stop flight had one layover very short around 1 hour and the second around 8 hours. The 1 hour layover is not good. Any flight delay, going through customs, back to security, changing terminals, gates, in an hour? I'm not comfortable with that. But I did find a flight 1 stop each way but both were 13 to 15 hour layovers, Munich going and Frankfurt leaving. So if this is an option (hopefully) next year why not take advantage. I thought I could leave the airport and take the subway into Munich to explore and going take the train into Cologne, I love the Cologne Cathedral. Anyway this is a bit early too obsess over. But I'm glad I looked and glad for you advice.

For what it's worth, I checked my old ticket and indeed there were 2 stopovers as well and the price was about $1100. I had to fly Washington (DCA) to Boston (BOS), then Boston (BOS) to Frankfurt (FRA), then Frankfurt (FRA) to Split (SPU). On the way back, I had to fly through Munich and then Frankfurt. By the way, the Munich Airport is phenomenal. There was a very tight connection but I had really efficient service in Frankfurt. Croatia is simply easier to get to once you're in Europe...it's a small country (only about 4 million people) with a small airline market.

highland,

Although some of the budget airlines aren't operating in September, it's actually not too difficult to get out of Dubrovnik. You might consider taking only a day trip to Montenegro and then returning to Dubrovnik the night prior to your flight.

I'd suggest using Croatia Airlines to travel from Dubrovnik to a larger hub such as Munich or Vienna, where you'll have easy access to flights back to your home area. I believe there are some direct flights to Munich in September, departing about noon (which is a big improvement over the flights I used, which departed at 06:00). The flight with Croatia Air will be a bit pricey, which is why it's a good idea to keep that segment as short as possible. With travel from Dubrovnik, I found it was the easiest solution, so just budgeted for the cost of the flight.

I have participated in one RS tour --Southern Italy-- and will be taking another soon to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Several things impressed me with the RS tour. 1) their organization is first rate. You never wonder when you will get information, who is going, etc. 2) the host guides and the special guides for museums are also first rate. They are knowledgeable and provide much information not only about the area but also about economic structure, family life, "how things really work here", etc. 3) I have traveled extensively and led large tour groups to the then Soviet Union in the 1970's. Large tour groups are hard to manage in a personalized way. RS tours are smaller and the "quality" of those who join them are more seasoned travelers who work together very well. I never thought I would join a tour again. After one RS tour, I am sold.