rdcjus

My husband and I ( mid 50's) will be going to Italy in May 2017. We would like to see Rome, Florence, Tuscany and Venice. Is it worth the money to link up with a small group tour guide company?

zoecat

You can probably plan the trip yourself and get more bang for your buck using guidebooks and this forum. Many people sign up with local tour guides within the cities, based on interests. You could combine self-planning and local guides. You have plenty of time to research and plan.

If you don't enjoy researching and planning then sign up with a tour company for your trip.

PalenQ

Nothing against tours but you can surely do this trip easily on your own - set your own pace - tailor your own itinerary - trains are great for cities where cars are useless and even banned from many city centers - to hit an iconic Tuscan hill town you can take a short bus ride from Florence to say Siena, one of the very best for the day or other such hill towns.

Don't need a car - you do not say how much time you have for this trip - if you want to spend several days tooling around rural Tuscany rent a car for that portion.

For lots of good info on Italian trains check www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. You can book your own discounted tickets if you book way WAY in advance at www.trenitalia.com -much cheaper than just showing up and buying ducats. The Seat 61 site mentioned above is a great resource at helping you buy discounted tickets.

Fly into Venice and out of Rome or vice versa.

This is all easily done - no tour guidance needed - though some folks like the structure and effortless nature of a guided tour and that is fine - tours have their pluses but typically are rather rushed - www.ricksteves.com has tours you may be interested in - for smaller groups and not the usual rushed bus tour.

PalenQ

You could combine self-planning and local guides. You have plenty of time to research and plan.>

Yes indeedy - you can score competent guides often right at the place - like the Vatican has tours or you can do a self-guided tour - lots of places have headphones with tours on them - the Colosseum and Forum have official guides and some unofficial guides outside.

Or you can take the Hop on Hop off double-decker bus tours that circulate a whole day and let you get on and off at will and provide commentary en route.

No need to pre-arrange any of those!

nytraveler

Self or tour depends on what you want to see and how long to spend where. Tour groups typically move every day to a new city, you have early am starts (bags outside door at 7 am and on the bus at 8 am) and then long hours sitting on a bus.

If you want to spend more time in each city much better to organize the trip yourself and pick up local tours for the day or 1/2 day as you find you need them. For instance, using a guide for the Vatican often can get you in early or late when it is much less crowded. Only you can decide if that is worth the extra money.

But overall, organizing the tour yourself will likely be cheaper than taking an organized group tour.

rdcjus

Thanks everyone for the input! We are planning for a 10 day trip so I think we will plan the trip ourselves and just look for local tours.

PalenQ

Book all your trains in advance and just show up at the station - book popular museums, etc in advance too to avoid a wait in line - and just go with the flow!

suze

I would self-plan and add a local tour if you want within each city.

mjs

Ten days may not be enough time to see all the locations you want to visit. This is especially true if your ten days include your transatlantic travel days. A full day requires a 2 night stay and you will have some travel time between your destinations plus a loss of a day to/from Europe

PalenQ

Yes 10 days for those 4 places could be a tad too quick but I guess you could do 2 nights in Venice and 2 nights in Florence and 2 nights in Tuscany and 4 nights in Rome. But, I'd so Tuscany as a day trip to one hill town from Florence.

suze

I also would eliminate one of the places (keep Venice!) with only 10 days. 3 stops in 10 days is still a peppy pace.

Kathie

Or, if you really want to see all of those places, add a few days to your trip.

suze

Even with more time 3 cities and 1 region is a lot to cover.

With 10 days, I'd suggest:
Venice/Rome
Florence/Tuscany
Venice/Florence
etc.

PalenQ

Add a couple of days if possible - going to Italy and not seeing Florence or Venice or Rome is frustrating - you may never get back - even in 10 days you could but I agree with suze it's a lot to do justice to - but you could I guess with 2 days in Venice- and 4 split amongst Florence and Rome - leaving just one day for a day trip into rural Tuscany but Florence is in Tuscany I believe too!