Myway tours

I booked tickets on my own. I don't think RS books tickets for the various sites through his business. Though that could have changed.

I highly recommend booking in advance. I wanted to see the Schindler Museum earlier this year and found out I should have booked the tickets 6-8 weeks ahead of time. And this was in April.

FWIW, while the MyWay tours are cheaper, I think the guided tours are a better value. Having done a number of RS fully guided tours, I had forgotten how often one's wallet comes out when you have to pay for every admission, meal, bus tickets, Metro ticket, etc. But, I have to admit we had a lot of fun on the MyWay tour. So do what fits you best.

I've never seen anywhere on the RS site to purchase tickets like that. In addition to individual sites, you can also book guided tours thru outfits like Viator. In all cases be sure you read the cancellation policies carefully, opening hours, and what do you need to bring with you for validation (printed ticket, id, credit card used, etc.). In general, for all but the most popular sites you don't have to have tickets ahead. RS guide books are very good at letting you know when/where prebooking makes a difference.

I understand and want the freedom Myway Tours offer, but just don't
know if I have the opportunity in various cities to book in advance
via the tour site.

dwhite, you'll need to book any advance tickets/guided tours yourself. As far as I know, they won't be available through the RS website. Not to worry, though? If you post which attractions you are interested in, posters here can help you the best websites to book through (and those won't necessarily be Viator). Also, not ALL attractions in every city are busy enough to require advance tickets/tours to avoid long lines.

When you book a tour with RS, you get a copy of his book for that area. He gives good information on sites and how to get tickets to them. For the Alpine My Way tour they created a special book, pulling the appropriate sections from the Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France books. I think on the Itinerary page for each tour, he mentions which sites it's best to get tickets in advance. For example on that tour, if you want to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, or the Eagle's Nest history tour, those are best booked in advance and he tells you how to do it.

We love the MyWay tours - have been on 2 of them in recent years - Rick's country guidebooks will tell you which attractions/activities will require an advance reservation and usually give you the website. As an example, on the My Way Italy tour, I think we only booked the Sistene Chapel/Vatican Museum in Rome in advance (early to avoid crowds) and the Uffizi in Florence. However, for the My Way Spain tour, we needed advance reservations for most of the major attractions in every city we visited including the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcazar in Seville and the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona plus others. We found that one reserved entry (usually in the morning) worked well for us, allowing plenty of time in the afternoons for roaming and spontaneous sightseeing. You may need to ensure that your US credit card is "open" for charges to your destination just to book the reserved entry tickets unless the website is US hosted, but that can often be done online with your bank or a simple phone call with your bank and setup for one or more days when you expect to purchase your advance tickets. Enjoy!

I did the RS My Way Spain Tour in Sept 2017. I did a number of advance bookings myself online well before the trip, printed off all the confirmations, plus archived any email confirmations on my phone. No, RS does not have a platform to do this work for you; however, the tour dept will send you a tour summary sheet which tells you which popular sites are highly recommended or mandatory for advance ticket purchases, like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Do MyWay tours give you the same $50 alumni discount the full tours do? I'm assuming they do, but want to make sure.

Yes, they do give the same discount as other tours.