Trying to decide on a tour for next year

I loved Village Italy which I took many years ago and was my first RS tour. The Itinerary hasn’t changed that much. Great mix of history, culture, FOOD and wine. Also spent a few days in Venice before the tour started which was a great intro to that city. I have long wanted to see some of Provence and have been eying the Eastern France tour, adding some extra days in Provence at the end.

What time of year will do you plan to travel? That would affect my decision, because I like to maximize my chances of good weather.

My husband and I have done the Village Italy tour two times. It was our first Rick Steves tour in 2007 and that tour sold us on the Rick Steves company. We enjoyed the first tour so much, we did it again in 2019. We have gone on 10 Rick Steves tours and Village Italy has been our favorite. I highly recommend it.

Of your list of 5 tours, the only one I have taken is the Best of Scandinavia and it is my second favorite Rick Steves tour of all. I have taken 9 and will be taking the MyWay Alpine Europe tour in September, number 10. My very favorite is Paris and the Heart of France, my 1st tour. First love wins out!

I learned about Scandinavia’s unique and interesting Viking and seafaring history, its beautiful scenery and fascinating current style of government and social contract with its citizens. Of course, Sweden, Denmark and Norway all are different in their own way but as a whole, people pay higher taxes and gain a lot of benefits for their money. I found so many aspects of life there to be amazing as a contrast to America! You will experience cities, ship museums like the Vasa, that will knock your socks off, a gorgeous island, Ærø Island, the mountains and fjords of Norway. If you want a place very different and beautiful from your Amsterdam to Basel cruise in the heart of Europe, then Scandinavia is for you!

Enjoy!

I've only done the Best of Ireland tour and would recommend it - great scenery, fun pubs, etc. The tour doesn't have a lot of blockbuster sites, but I came back quite relaxed and refreshed (perhaps due to the pubs).

Your tour choices are all very distinct from each other, so for me it would come down to which tour has the easiest/reasonably priced travel options - I don't think Columbus has any direct to Europe flights, correct? It would also depend on when you want to go - potential weather would be a factor in the decision making. Your choices may also be limited by tour availability - for example, some of next year's Village Italy tours are already fully booked.

Good luck deciding!

Acraven, we don't like hot, humid weather, so we will travel in the April/May timeframe or in October.

We've done Village Italy and Eastern France, and would gladly do either of them again. They were among our favorites of the 17 tours we have taken. We're signed up for Best of Portugal later this year, and have heard nothing but rave reviews.

Taking back-to-back tours can be taxing; I would recommend allowing some down time in between the tours if you can. We've taken back-to-backs three times already, and have another set coming up this fall, and yet another next year. I think it depends more on your available time. Since you are both working, it would be difficult to manage the logistics. But so much fun!

We did the Scandinavia tour last summer and we loved every minute of it! This was our ninth Rick Steves tour and each one has been amazing in it's own way. Another tour I would recommend, even though it is not on your list is the Sicily tour, it is unique and absolutely a joy if you love Italian culture and food.

If you enjoy wine, the Eastern France tour is a good option - there are a number of wine tastings and vineyard visits included in that tour as well as some WWI history. The countryside is beautiful and you are well positioned to add extra days before or after the tour. I loved that tour. The Scandinavia tour is very different from the Eastern France with lots of beautiful scenery, history, and interesting cities. Maybe pick one tour for next year and start setting up an annual (or maybe 2x a year) tour with extra days added in. I have done back to back tours twice and would not recommend it unless you have several days for down time between them to "have a vacation from your vacation" as the guides sometimes call it (plus the extra day or two needed before the start of the first tour to get acclimated to the time zone and avoid any issue with flight delays). It would be easy to get burned out on touring by the middle of the second tour if you're not careful. Instead of back to back tours, perhaps just add on extra days on the front and back end of a tour to explore more of the country at your own pace.

We did Village Italy in the Fall of 2019 and absolutely LOVED it! We want to repeat it once we have taken all the other tours on our list. In April of this year we went on the Best of Ireland in 14 Days. Beautiful country and truly 50 shades of green. Throughly enjoyed the tour and feel so lucky to have been able to see so much of Ireland. Would we do Best of Ireland again, no been there done that. We did the tour of Sicily in November of 2022 and enjoyed it. On our way back to Italy this October for the Best of South Italy. There is just something about Italy that keeps calling us back. Warning, once you take one Rick Steve tour you will find yourself wanting to taking another and another and another………Enjoy!

Portugal is the sleeper on your list. We’ve taken 11 RS tours and it’s one of our top 3. You can arrive in Lisbon a few days early and day trip to Sintra. Staying late in Porto and spending more time in the Douro Valley would be great and we are sorry we did not do that. Greece is not on your list. We ranked that at #1; fabulous.

Prior to retiring, my husband and I did several RS tours with time before and after, usually making it 3-4 weeks. Since retiring we have done back to back tours several times including Scandinavia followed by Village Italy. I would repeat any of our tours. I’d recommend Scandinavia in spring as from June 22on, the days get shorter. We did Scandinavia in August with 3-4 days off then Village Italy. I was worried about differences in weather but Scandinavia was having a heat wave, so my Italy clothes worked well. Italy in late August and early September was warm (80’s) but tolerable, just no midday hiking.
We have done Eastern France in the fall (harvest season) and weather was fine. (We did 10 day prior on our own and visited Arles after). We did most of the Ireland tour last fall (Covid) and had to cancel our linked Portugal tour. We should be leaving in 6 weeks for our third attempt at the Portugal tour.
You won’t go wrong with any of these.

Chiming in with everyone who loved Village Italy…we repeated it again with friends and still our very fav. And we’d agree, add in extra days in Venice and an extra day in Padua.

I’ve taken Village Italy, Eastern France and Best of Portugal and would encourage and support any of those choices wholeheartedly! All three were truly terrific tours and I would happily repeat any of them. We have traveled extensively in Ireland and less so in Scandinavia on our own but I know either Rick Steves tour would be wonderful. I doubt I would add another tour to any of the ones I have taken although I definitely would (and did) add extra days at the beginning and end of the tour. Whatever you chose you’ll enjoy and I know have a great time!

Of the 8 tours I have taken both Village Italy and 14 day Ireland tour rank as 1 and 2. I would even take them again.

Since you mentioned you want to avoid hot and humid weather, I recommend you go on the May 28 Scandinavia tour departure date as all the earlier May dates are waitlisted. I went in May 2022 and the weather was lovely, a little cool in the Norwegian mountains but otherwise we had mild temperatures and lots of daylight.

Regarding back-to-back tours...my husband Michael and I are both retirees in excellent health. April-May 2023 we decided to capitalize on one round trip flight that included 2 tours (Holland & Belgium with Berlin, Prague & Vienna). We spent additional days at the start in Brussels and Ghent and extended our Vienna sojourn to a week. We allowed 10 days between Amsterdam and Berlin with 5 additional days spent in each city. That allowed us to be sure that we could probably complete the second tour even if we succumbed to covid on the first tour (RS policy about subsequent tours considered).

That allowed us time for several Vermeer retrospective visits, tulip field visits, a day trip to the Kröller-Müller Museum, Brussels Fine Arts Museums, the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Berlin, tour of the Reichstag dome, the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein, Prater Park, etc. There's quite a bit more I could add. You might guess we are art enthusiasts and in particular I'm an art historian/artist.

We found a great laundry in Berlin which allowed to wash everything so that we could still do carry on even for a 6 week trip.

We accomplished all that we set out to do but I can tell you that it does become grueling even being in great health. Some unusual and unexpected aches and pains developed which hasn't happened for us on 3 week trips. Eating away from home becomes less of an enjoyable adventure at some point and the names and faces of the tour group participants become a blur. I was a bit embarrassed as I usually have great recall. We did however save several thousand on flights. I'm not sure I would do it again but I still love the idea of economizing on the flights.

Ohhhh....and I would NEVER again attempt the train from Amsterdam to Berlin. What a nightmare....

Well, I am laughing at the replies...I love that people generally have loved every tour, lol!! Really does not give you any guidance though, haha.

On your list I've only done Village Italy and Best of Ireland.

Village Italy was excellent as everyone else has said. I did it as the 3rd of a back to back to back set of tours plus some extra time. The trip was something I'd promised myself when I was providing care to my elderly parents after I retired. When I was having a time coping I'd sit out on their back deck at night and flip thru the catalog saying I'm gonna to that one and that one and that one, lolol!

So....Village Italy was after the 21 day Best of Europe and Best of Paris plus a week on my own with a friend in Paris. For myself it was not too much. I'd trained physically for it by upping my walking and being able to do 9-10 miles for a long walk one day a week. I will say I do not remember the names of the people on my Best of Paris 7-day tour but that tour did not bond like the 21 day tour and the VI tour did.

Best of Ireland was not my favorite but mostly because of the group. There was a group of 11 people traveling together with 2 others kind of associated with them. That changes the dynamic drastically with a group so there was little camaraderie and a lot of faffing around at every group meal so "they" could sit next to each other. At this point in my tour "career", hahaha, it would bother me less than it did then.

I'm the person in the household who cooks and trust me on this...I did not get sick of eating out! I don't always have full meals which DO become tedious for me but I also don't mind just picking up a salad or sandwich when I can.

So...hard choice, ALL great and you might just have to flip a coin or throw a dart at a map!

I vote for Village Italy as well- went in 2016 never having been to Italy before- I have wonderful memories of it! Take the tour- you won’t be sorry!

I have no opinions on which tour to take. However, I just wanted to mention that we did the same river cruise, actually in reverse. We spent a couple days in Basel before our tours started. Basel is a beautiful city on the Rhine. If you aren't already, I'd encourage a day in Basel. (But don't give up any time in Lucerne, which is amazing!)

I loved Village Italy (June 2022) and did a trip report on it, if that’s helpful. I’ve found trip reports and especially scrapbooks a good way to get a feel for tours I’m considering, Village Italy was a great first tour for me.

broekerd, 2017! What a great tour that was.

Another fan of Village Italy and/or Eastern France because they both have a greater variety of locations than many tours. Eastern France - wow - WWI battlefields to Alsace (asparagus in spring) to the Alps to wine regions, inclusive of Roman ruins and then the Mediterranean! Village Italy - before the tour I took in a cow parade near Innsbruck in autumn. Lovely to be able to move from the Alps to Padua (I took a day in Venice, too), and then to towns/villages I may never have visited on my own. Not a village, but new to me was Orvieto. Fantastic! Then Lucca and the CT (Levanto) - I sat on the beach all day even though it was October. Local families came down to the beach after school was done for the day. Enjoyable and relaxing.

I have not taken the others on your list, but these two were great!

We've done Village Italy, Eastern France, and a similar, but more adventurous, Ireland tour with an Irish company. Of the three, Village Italy was my favorite (although I could have done without a few of the day tours). Eastern France had a lot of wine/champagne tasting. I thought that was going to be a favorite part for me, but three of them were inside on nice days when I would have preferred being outside enjoying the scenery. Ireland is beautiful, but our second week was full of rain and the guide/driver was a bit arrogant. All three are lovely destinations, and none are a bad choice.

We are now planning our own self-driving trip to Norway. I looked at the RS Scandinavian tour, but it missed a lot of what I wanted to see.

I don't have a desire to do back-to-back tours. Three weeks is my max before I am ready to go home.

Let us know what you choose!