Lisa1271

My Mom and a few of her friends are considering a guided tour to Italy (Rome & Florence). These are all active but still senior ladies. Could anyone suggest as to where one would even start for planning this trip? Any organizations (AAA, AARP) offer anything like this?
Thanks much, Lisa S

grandmere

How about Elderhostel? www.elderhostel.com

grandmere

Make that www.elderhostel.org

Sorry!

halfpint

I have been on 13 Grand Circle Tours and a great value, great people, fun. On the internet, gct.com will get you there. Worth looking into. Halfpint

ira

Hi lisa,

As a person who qualifies for the senior discount, I wonder if visiting only Rome and Florence requires a tour.

How old are these folks, how well traveled?

suze

Elderhostel would be excellent! I have a dear friend who has traveled with them a dozen times to all kinds of places (3 weeks in Spain, a trip to Amazon and Machupichu, the Seychelles, Iran, etc.) You need to be 55+ years old. The itineraries are slower paced and stay in each location more days than other tour companies I have read about. They are not cheap tours but offer tons of educational stuff, very good hotels and food, informative guides, deal with transfers, etc.

The only negative (one I recently overheard on a train ride from elderly ladies) was she didn't want to stay in one city for a whole week and preferred a fast pace, move around alot kind of schedule.

Giovanna

Ira has a good point. We too have reached the "golden age" and we travel by ourselves. Why Lisa do you feel only a senior tour is appropriate? There are many tours with a mix of age groups, which I would much prefer if we traveled on tours. They might do very well on their own visiting Rome and Florence. Train between the two cities is an easy trip, and if they felt they needed guides, this could be arranged in each city.

suze

I agree that these two cities are fairly easy to self-organiz. But since Lisa specifically asked for a guided tour recommendation, I'm assuming she has reasons (level of comfort about planning, following thru with what her Mom asked for, whatever).

Anyway I'll suggest another company, Rick Steves. While not specific for seniors he does small groups, slower paced, seemingly more sensitive tours (than on the Big Bus).

www.ricksteves.com

Lisa1271

These ladies are all in their mid seventies...bad knees, can't carry luggage and so on. So going it alone is out for them. I hoping to find something that will provide the bus from location to location, hotels, restaurants and tour guide. Thanks for the recommendation of elderhostel, I will definitely reach out to them.
Thanks again, Lisa

Bubba2

You might check Globus. They offer several different tours in Italy.

Ozarksbill

I'd opt for Grand Circle (just back from our 4th, to Central Europe-see report) or Elderhostel as we've been on many IF you do want a more leisurely and more educational approach to travel. Both good values.

Some would in fact rather be sightseeing and shopping...forget the history please. Yes, Globus and Perillo would be good for Italy, but certainly you are on the move more...the old have your bags out at 6:30 a.m. routine. We noticed that in stops like Prague, CGT was much more comprehensive than Globus, really giving you a feel for the place. Elderhostel even more so.

One big advantage in group travel for your senior ladies is that baggage and such is arranged for, as well as arranging for hotels, etc.

Halfpint...wow you are really a GCT inner circle! Any favorites?
ozarksbill
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valtor

I recommend Tauck tours. Very well organized, very good conditions, nice guides, drivers. You can check at www.tauck.com.

LinoandRita

Hello Lisa,

Two suggestions: One,contact a trip planner such as Jim Zurer at [email protected] He visits Italy several times a year and has lots of contacts.

Second: many times when we are looking for space for our small groups, the holiday accomodations rent on a weekly basis from Sat. to Sat. But they might make other arrangements. We do, too.

How many are in your Mom's group of a few friends? Three, five, seven? And what season are you thinking of? Spring, Autumn? Great time to visit Italy.

Best regards,

LinoandRita

tuscanlifeedit

Pricing and hotel levels come into play. If they like nicer hotels, I would not recommend Rick Steves. If they like a little luxury, Tauck would probably be my choice.

Globus is in the middle, as is Perillo. Perillo has very nice options, and I believe they do a Rome and Florence tour. Check them out.

Also, Donna Franca should be researched. I believe they do just Italy, and have many options.

crefloors

I have a friend who did a Tauck tour last year. She's about 66 I think. Everything was great but like with all tours, she did make the comment that it would have been nice to have a little more time to just relax. I'm not sure of her itinerary, but be sure and read all brochures carefully to see how many nights in each city, what is included or optional sight seeing to see how much "down time" you might have. I believe the upper scale tours, Tauck is one of them, included just about everything and don't offer as many add ons. There are some tour message boards and there are a "gazillion" tours, so I'm sure there will one that is just right for your mom's group.

mermaid_

Lisa, here's an interesting article that mentions Elderhostel and Rhoad Scholar tours, both of which are aimed towards the senior travellers.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssen...printstory.jsp

Friends of ours (in their 50s) did a Rhoad Scholar tour to Italy and loved it.

mermaid_

Oops, sorry, it's "Road Scholar" and the address is www.roadscholar.org.

ed

We are definltely "Golden Ages"we have traveled 8 times with GCT and can recommend it highly. Their tour guides are excellent and the pacing is about right.

We have also traveled with GoAheadVacations and Uniworld so we have room for comparison
.

We went on the Italy trip that included Sorrento the Amalfi Coast and then Tuscany. Wonderful

FTW We are going with Vantage in a week. I am not impressed with their Boston Office