Which Rick Steves’ Italy Tour?

Take this with a grain of salt, as I have never been on a RS tour. However, I have been to Italy twice, and I would suggest the Best of Italy 17 day tour. With this you will really hit the highlights of Italy; Rome, Venice, Florence, Lake Como and some of the smaller villages. Plus more time! Always a plus.

Otherwise, I would go with the Village Italy tour, as I have seen quite a few tour reports raving about this tour.

I took the Village Italy tour last month. Loved it! It was my fourth RS tour, second Italy tour (South of Italy in 2019). Lots to do and see, mixed with free time.

Do you have time to visit more cities before and after the tour? You can easily fly into Venice (my favorite city anywhere) prior to the tour, spend a few days, then take the train to Padua the day the tour starts. Afterwards you can easily go to Milan, but my choice is Florence and/or Rome and fly home from Rome.
Buon Viaggio!

I have done the 17 Day BOI.
WONDERFUL tour.

As noted above it provides a good mix of small towns and the BIG 3 ( Venice-Florence-Rome)

How much time, in addition to the tour, can you spend there?

We just did the Village Italy tour in May. It was our first Rick Steves tour and we loved it. We flew into Venice and spent four nights there. It would be easy to do a city beforehand.

We did the Village Italy tour a few years ago, pre-Covid, and loved it. We've taken over 20 RSE tours, and Village Italy would rank in the top 2.

We went several days early, and spent all that extra time in Padua. We never lacked for something to do. Village Italy is a tour we would seriously consider doing again.

We have taken other Italy tours, but not Best of Tuscany or Best of Italy, so I can't comment on those.

Having done several RS tours, Village Italy is my favorite. A mix of interesting places on the tour and excellent local guides. When I filled out the survey I said I couldn't think of a "wow" moment because each day was so uniformly enjoyable.

I traveled solo on the Village Italy Tour and then with a friend more recently on the Best of Tuscany tour - which has since been changed to spend more time in Maremma and no longer visiting the island of Elbe. Both tours are very good but I would say the Village Italy tour is better because it offers a greater variety of experiences, the villages have more distinct characters and things to see. You can add Florence onto the front end of the Village Italy tour. My vote is for Village Italy.

We took the RS 17-day Best of Italy tour back in 2006. We absolutely loved it! Since that time, we have been back to almost each location during subsequents trips, and I have also been at almost every location included in the Village Italy tour, plus many more.

Personally, I am really glad we did the Best of Italy tour! It gave us guided tours of the major cities’ highlights, plus we both enjoyed the Dolomites more than we expected (returned there again) and still were able to stay in some smaller cities and an agriturismo. (I know some people love agriurismos, but originally being from Iowa, I felt like I was trapped on a farm overnight - LOL!)

Since 2025 is the busier Jubilee year, it might be beneficial to have the RS guide with you in Rome, too.

We’ve done the BOI, Southern Italy and Village Italy tours. I guess it all depends on what your group wants to see. If you want a general overview of Italy, by all means do the BOI. If you just want to concentrate on a more specific area, do one of the other two.

Total fan of Best of Italy in 17 days. EVERY day is a greatest hit. No fluff, just awesomesights, day after day.

I've only been on the Village tour. It was my 1st of 9 Rick tours so far and still my favorite. The guide, the people & the small villages all made it #1. I flew in to Venice for a few days 1st which made the entire trip perfect. Later that year I took the 7 day in Rome tour. It was xmas week and also wonderful.

I’ve done the Best of Italy, Village Italy and Heart of Italy. I vote for Best of Italy which gives you a great overview. I did Heart of Italy first only because one of my travel group had time limitations. I loved Village Italy but I’d been to the big spots on previous trips and really enjoyed the smaller towns.

We are thoroughly enjoying reading all of the responses! Thank you. The more the merrier! Lots to think about!

I posted two 10 minute YouTube video s on our 17 Day Best of Italy Tour which will show you all the places the Tour went to. It might help you decide.

https://youtu.be/c5mdy0OzRC4?si=-6y7zZvws4AwJt-N

https://youtu.be/MZia6oOs8iA?si=j-0gWEGBP-obQx0h

Be sure to turn on the sound for some music.

I loved the Best of Southern Italy tour. This was my 3rd time in Italy (traveling independently with my late husband the two previous times) and I had already been in many of the major cities and regions covered by other tours. Southern Italy is very different from other areas. Mettera and Pompeii were the highlights for me but the whole trip was fantastic.

Here’s another vote for Village Italy! I’ve done both Village Italy & Best of Italy. After 4 RS trips, Village Italy remains my favorite. Best of Italy was too long for us. Village Italy just felt magical!

It really depends on what you all 4 feel comfortable with in terms of time since 17 days is a long time to be on a tour. I've done 9 RS tours, the longest one was 16 days and while I loved it and could have gone on even longer, many of the others on the tour were tired and ready to go home (or at least be on their own) after about 12-14 days. Having said that, the BOI tour would be great because you are going to see much of the highlights of Italy. This past Spring we did the Villages tour but spent 4 days in Venice on our own before beginning the tour. This gives you time to see the beautiful city of Venice while you are getting over jet lag. At the end of the trip we rented an AIrbnb in Lake Orto area where the tour ends. This gave us a chance to rest up, relax. be on our own schedule and unwind before the jolt of returning home and dealing with life. Re-entry is so difficult!

Just home from Village Italy and it was amazing. Loved the smaller towns. Agree with Horsewoofie, add Florence before or after if it's a must. In my personal opinion, Venice is must pre-trip stop since you are right there and an easy train or bus to Padua. Not as much of a fan of Florence myself.

BOI looks great too. Much of the same stops as VI. I just wish the BOI tour went in opposite direction and started in Rome and ended in Venice. If you chose VI and added extra days for Florence, you'd be at almost 17 days anyway.

No bad choice. Have fun!