Caroline

I'd like to take a 7-10 day trip to Rome/Venice/Florence in September. Any tour groups to recommend? Perillo (?sp) has been suggested, any others? I'm in my mid 30's and don't know the language. More interested in art and the sites as opposed to wine tasting/cooking. Any suggestions are appreciated!

arline

We are leaving for a 2 week tour to Italy in 4-1/2 weeks, using Insight Tours. I investigated quite extensively and wavered between Perillo and Insight as the apparent two top tour groups. Perillo has an "aura" of being a better tour, but I just wasn't convinced. They were quite a bit more expensive, most of the tours seemed to be only 1/2 day ones, the quality of the hotels appeared to be almost the same as Insight and your choices for dinner were either: every dinner was included or NO dinners were included and priced accordingly. I felt that both choices stunk! We wanted half and half. If you would like to email me after the 3rd week in August, I would be happy to let you know of our experiences. (We are going on to Switzerland, Germany and Vienna afterwards, upon leaving Italy.)

dimitra

May I suggest Trafalgar tour for people ages 18-35. You won't be sorry - I adored it. Especially if you like museums. If you need any more info email me. Caio!

Jane

I am going to Italy in August on a Globus tour. People I have chatted with seem to have been pleased with their tours. Price was more reasonable then Perillo and others. We were more interested in seeing historic sights and dining at small resturants on our own then the fancy evenings that Perillo's was offering. About half of our meals are included.

Dodie

My husband and I took Maupintour's ten day "Italy's Famous Places" in 1996. It went to Venice, Florence and Rome. We enjoyed it very much. The guides were excellent, and the meals were very good. Not all of the meals were included, but the tour manager would make recommendations if asked. It was a good balance of meals on your own and group meals. The tour gave plenty of free time for people to follow their own interests. We love art and can spend hours in museums, but other people prefer to shop or whatever. So after a morning guided tour of, say Florence, we were free to spend as much time at the Uffizi or Pitti Palace while other people would take a nap or go visit gardens. This seemed to make a happier traveling group! The ages were mixed, but tended to be over 30.

Bee

Just got back from a 2 week tour of Italy. My brother and I went on a Trafalgar tour. It was a good, well priced tour. Some hotels were excellent, the others were okay. The tour package did include guided city tours in the morning and gave us free time to explore in the afternoon. We stopped and visited a LOT of churches in the tour! We also went to some musuems and other historical sights. Buffet breakfasts (which were disappointing!) and most of the dinners (except for 3 nights) were included. Trafalgar did offer a bunch of optional tours, the cost of which were not included in the tour price. Each optional tour cost about $28 to $60 -- ranging from special dinners with entertainment at local restaurants, lake cruises, special musuem visits, etc. <BR> <BR>We're both in our 30's and the group we were with varied in age from 11 to 81!!! It was so much fun! The country is soooo beautiful!! Assisi is spectacular! Don't miss it!

Debbie

I took a Globus Tour in Nov. 1996 with 2 girlfriends. We visited Rome, Florence & Venice. We had a great time, but be prepared - on a tour you are on the run constantly! We were up every morning between 5:30 and 6:00!! All mornings were spent sightseeing and we would have a few hours to ourselves in the afternoons. We covered ALOT of ground and saw so much more than we would have on our own for the price we paid, but it was exhausting. (very reasonable for all we did) Optional excursions were offered every day and we signed up for most of them because almost everyone on our tour did. We didn't realize until the end of the trip that if we didn't do so many optionals, we would have had more leisure time. The included breakfasts were VERY disappointing and the included dinners were not great. You will enjoy your meals much more by going on your own to neighborhood cafe's and mom and pop places. And one last note - my friends and I are in our early 30's and we met the most SPECTACULAR people on our tour!! We still keep in touch with quite a few and that was the most rewarding experience of all! Age group was between 30 (us) and about 75 with everything in between!! <BR>