Most active and/or strenuous tour?

The Best of Turkey tour is fabulous and at the farthest end of the Rick Steves activity level scale. The time spent in Istanbul involves a lot of walking - my days were on the high side of the estimated 2-8; miles per day. Various of the ancient sights, such as Ephesus, Hierapolis and Aspendos, have hills, stairs and uneven surfaces. It was fun to scramble around the sights and climb up to and around the ancient theaters.

The Best of Europe in 21 days could be what you are looking for. Lots of walking especially in Rome. You can take a hike along the Cinque Terre, walk the streets of old German towns, and begin the tour in Amsterdam where you can walk many miles to see a wonderful city. Don't forget the walking you will do in all the museums you will visit as well. Strenuous, but well worth it.

I don't think you can sort the tours by activity level, but I think most of the tours are listed as moderately to very active. On any tour you can usually adjust the physical challenge level to some degree - e.g., don't go on a long hike in your free time (or do).

I'd second CWSocial's suggestion about the Turkey tour. Not only is it physically active with walking/stairs/etc. but you also need stamina for the long bus days as well as the culture shock aspect (in a good way). In that regard, you might want to go on some of the longer duration tours if you have the time. You can filter tours by length (on the tour page in the find a tour box, there is a tab for sorting tours by duration https://www.ricksteves.com/tours)

I've heard that the Greece tour is more physically demanding than others, because of the uneven rocky paths and hill climbs, but we haven't taken that one.

I think the most challenging tour we've taken is South Italy, with lots of steep, sometimes slick, hills and stairs. That's the tour that convinced me to buy a pair of grippy shoes - too late for that one, but in time for the Portugal tour.

Thanks for this question. It's good to add to the considerations when planning to join a tour.

So, Jane, perhaps we've seen this in discussion on another thread (so remind me) which grippy shoes did you choose for active trips?

Greece tour is the one I found most strenuous with all the hills and uneven path surfaces. It seemed like everything was uphill. Yes, I know what goes up must come down. :) I wished I had a walking stick on some of that one. Never had that thought on other RS tours. I have not been on the Turkey tour.

Sicily and Greece max out the active meters on their tour web pages. I haven't done the Greece tour, but Sicily was by far our most active. Although there were some fairly flat days, Taormina, Mt. Etna, Erice, Segesta, and Agrigento all stand out to me as pretty strenuous days. I'm glad we did this one when were a little younger.

Best of Europe 21 days and Turkey standout to me. Any tour with Lisbon and Porto will definitely give you a workout. The hills are killers. I live in Santa Barbara.

CanAmCherie, it was the SAS Alpine Slip Resistant Ankle Boot. They are very comfortable, but heavy. I wore them most of the time we were in Portugal, and never slipped, even on wet tiles. Well, I did once, but I was wearing a different pair of shoes at the time, not these.

I usually wear SAS for two reasons: the quality, and the size range. I wear 11W, and it's hard to find shoes that fit.

We went on the My Way Alpine tour which was incredible. With the My Way tours you can do as little or as much as you want, but I know I would have been disappointed to be in the Alps and not able to hike. Most people were able to go on some extensive hikes but some other tour members weren’t physically able. I’m very thankful we went on that tour when we were healthy and fit enough to explore the mountains.

I’ve been on several tours and would vote for the Best of Europe. Even with a couple of really long bus days we averaged over 8000 steps and most days were over 12000. The cities had lots of walking in the group and inspired us to plenty of walking on our own. And then there were opportunities to hike—glorious. We were 65-70 at the time.
But to me the strenuous part was the fact that it was 3 weeks long. The “vacation “ days were later in the tour and we chose to be very active on those days. The nice thing about 3 weeks is that you get to know your tour mates.

South Italy was our most active - but the itinerary has changed since we were on this tour in 2010. The tour used to do Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius in the same day before going to Sorrento where we had more walking to a gelato demo and dinner. It was a very long day with lots of walking. We loved it but remember it as the most strenuous day we experienced on any of our 9 tours and that tour was probably the most strenuous.

I find that tours are as strenuous as you want them to be. Example: You can make the Greece tour more strenuous by walking up the 999 steps to the fortress in Napflio. Or hiking in Cinque Terre during Italy tour.

I’ve done both the Greece and Turkey tours, and would describe both of them as very active. So many of the ancient sites are on hills, and even in our free time there were options to climb more hills. I think I came home ten pounds lighter from both tours!

Just finished Best of Ireland 14 days. It’s pretty active with amazing cliffs! Cliffs of Moher, Giants Causeway, hiking around Dingle. Averaged 11-12,000 steps most days. Absolutely wonderful trip! Great group and Joe Darcy was an excellent guide. Joe Darcy hikes at a pace of a 22 yr old.

It is good to know that we're getting the strenuous ones out of the way early in our Rick Steves adventures. Our first tour was South of Italy last year and we just booked Best of Ireland for next year.

We’ve done 9 tours so far and consider Best of Greece as the most strenuous. Sicily, which we’ve also done, is graded more strenuous on Rick’s website but we thought Greece was more “breathtaking” haha.

Of our 9 tours we found Greece to be the most demanding. Some of the climbs are of course OPTIONAL (the top of Monemvasia, Mystras, Mars Hill, Philopappos Hill, etc).

I am going to vote Turkey and Greece simply because a large part of the challenge is the uneven surfaces that you are walking on. A certain amount of care needs to be taken and a certain level of balance involved. I realized that the first time I climbed the Acropolis, I had to spend so much time focusing on my footing, that I missed quite a few things. I saw them the second time but still had to be very careful. I really don't ever want to use my Medjet policy:)

The Portugal tour was pretty active with lots of hills and steps. Also the GAS tour or the Alpine my way tour is going to include time for longer hikes at elevation. It’s really about what you choose to do with your free time. Some prefer to keep moving and exploring while others relax, shop, or go to a sidewalk cafe. I like some of each depending on what the tour is doing each day.

I've done the Turkey tour and the 21 day Europe tour. Both involved a lot of walking.

I agree the Turkey tour involved lots of walking.
Paris and the Heart of France was very active, too.
Berlin Prague Vienna
17 Days Best of Italy
7 Days Best of Rome

I’m leaving in a few days for my 14th tour, 12 Days Best of Switzerland.

This feedback is very helpful. Let me add that even short tours can be strenuous. Last December, I took the London 7-Day tour. My legs felt it for weeks after - pretty continous, all-day walking on concrete and lots of standing on concrete as well. No bus down time. I'm sure the damp, cold weather didn't help, but the concrete was a bear. And I walk each and every day at home, largely on concrete or macadam, but London went beyond....