InfurnoTravler

We are a family of 4 with two teenagers (16 and 18). My husband and I both work full time and we all have lot of outside commitments and activities. After a year I have made very little headway on getting a European trip off the ground. We have finally all agreed on sticking to Italy, but beyond that is still up in the air.

Several of the tour companies have Italy trips that include several places without my having to figure out transportation and lodging everywhere.

Are there good tour companies out there? If so which ones are trustworthy and have a good balance of free time to tailor your own thing and highlights that you would have planned anyway?

Rome is our must see. We have not been able to effectively prioritize Venice, Pompeii and the Almafi Coast which appear to be the next few items in priority. Total trip time could be 9-12 days. What places have older teenagers found most interesting and entertaining?

Suggestions please!!!

justineparis

yes.. but not cheap.. but attractive more active types..so your kids may have some other teens or young adults.. and not be stuck on a bus with a bunch of 80 plus year olds( which is not to say older folks aren't fun.. but many tours cater to a much older demographic ..)

Rick Steves tours. They are reliable, reputable.. and have several Italian tours that are very highly reviewed. You can go on their website.. go on the tours section.. and look at "Scrapbooks" which are actual trip reports by those who have taken certain tours.. they are a lot of fun to look at and give you a very good idea of what to expect.

Rick Steves also have "Go Your Way " tours.. ( may have mixed up wording) which may be perfect choice because they arrange all the hotels, and bus trips between cities.. but you sightsee on your own each day.. so logistics are handled for you.. there is a tour guide.. but he/she doesn't guide you so much as makes sure everyday goes smoothly.. and is on hand to answer questions, suggest things to do and see etc.. so all day is free time.

Anyways.. I would go on the website.. look at the tours. .and go on the forums.

I have been travelling independently to Europe since I was 18.. many decades ago.. I have gone solo , with my kids, and with friends.. but once I did take a RS Family tour with my 11 yr old.. it was simply the easiest way to see a lot of places with the least amount of planning on my part( I had taken my 13 yr old son the year before and did it all on my own, but like you I just didn't have enough time to plan this trip)..

anyways .. good luck.. there are many tours out there.. but I would not take my teens on most of them.. up at 6 am.. rushed about etc..

Look at the RS Village Italy tour..

dreamon

To decide whether a tour company is good, you really need to have a set of criteria.

Ask yourself:
Do you want lots of free time to spend as you choose?
How many nights do you want to spend in each place?
Would you rather spend 3 weeks in one country or 8 countries in 8 days?
How many people do you want to travel with? e.g. 10 or 40?
Do you prefer to use local transport?
Do you want to see country as well as cities?
Do you want to stay in hotels in the middle of town or on the outskirts?
Do you want to be able to choose (and pay) for optional extras such as tours and meals or have the tour to all inclusive?
What standard of accommodation do you need?
Are you happy to carry your own bags?
Do you want a guide who can tell you everything about what you're seeing?
How active do you want to be?
What sort of night life do you want to experience?
What age group do you want to travel with?
How much do you want to spend?
Do you have a special interest e.g. cooking, hiking, architecture?
Do you whizz through museums or like to take your time?
How much are you prepared to fit in with a fixed timetable and other people's wishes?
etc. etc. etc.

Once you've set your criteria it's much easier to evaluate and decide. If you google small tour companies, you'll find a range of offerings (e.g. Intrepid, Gap, Peregrine, Gecko, Tamarillo, BackRoads and heaps of others).

If you decide to not take a tour, the easiest way to plan it yourselves is to visit a very limited number of places (e.g. just two maybe in 10 days) and each person in your family plans one day's activities for each location, including some day trips if you like. That way you only have to book two hotels/apartments, one or two transport options and do some research for things to do (which you could even do on the plane on the way over with a good guide book).

dreamon

With your wishlist and time available, I would consider splitting your time between Rome and the Amalfi coast. If you are flying home from Rome, I'd visit Rome second and head straight to the Amalfi coast on your arrival. These two places will give you heaps of things to do and see.

If you favour Venice over the Amalfi coast then just visit Rome and Venice. Day trips are easily achieved from both if you wish.

With kids of that age, if you stay someone where a bit longer, they will quickly become familiar with the place and may like to go off by themselves occasionally.

If you can fly into one city and out of another, so much the better.

nytraveler

Tours are usually not a good choice for older teens - since they will not want to be sitting on buses all day, will want to be able to meet local students in cafes and clubs in the evening (difficult if your hotel is at the end of hell and gone and you have to be up at 7 am every day) and they might want to do some more active things - like biking or hiking.

In terms of adults the food on tours is very often poor - an americanized version of real local cuisine - and also hotels at a distance from the center are not convenient for free time (of which most tours have limited amounts).

For all the tours tend to move very quickly - spending no more than 2 nights (one full day) even in major cities - so you would have to search for flexible tours.

What might be better for you in a package rather than a tour. Gate 1 has these - and I'm sur eother do to. They arrange (at your direction) flights, number of days in each city (based on what you want to see) and hotels (you pick from a list they provide basedon location and price) and they can also arrange triain tickets between cities - and offer 12 local tours if you want. But you can get a hotel in the center (but at higher prices), time where you want it - but NOT individual help on the ground (cost would be exhorbitant).

If you are overwhelmed that may be a place to look - but you will still have planning and decisions to make.

We took several independent trips with our tween/teen daughters - with them taking a large part in the planning (sights they wanted to see, shopping they wanted and some restaurants - as well as searching out student cafes/clubs when they were older teens). This allowed us to split into groups some days with DH and I doing something different from the kids, This worked great for us in London, Paris, Rome and Venice - with our being together for the road trip portion of trips. But it does require kids that are not super naive, are self-reliant, used to big cities and public transportation and comfortable with basic of other languages (enough they can learn in a couple of weeks - although ours both had good French from school).

You could easily do a trip similar to this using a package company rather than a fixed tour for a large group.

mama_mia

Yes, there are good tours. But I think your children are at an in-between age where finding the right tour may be difficult (too family oriented or too older adult oriented). Also, my older teens preferred cities and activities over scenery and "quaintness."

I planned my first trip to Italy in similar circumstances (busy life!), so I hear where you are coming from. But, you really need to work out only the bare bones of the trip in advance (transportation to and from the cities, accommodations, and pre-bookings or time slots for only a few major sites). I made some mistakes on our trip and probably could have found a better deal here or there, but we still remember it as a great experience.

First, buy a few guide books and glance at them when you have a free moment here and there, maybe noting sites that interest you. (Also get some good city maps so kids can go off on their own in cities. They will be fine.)

Transportation wise, Venice-Rome seems easier than Rome-Amalfi, so I will use that as a model.

Fly open jaw into Venice. Figure out transit to hotel or apartment IN Venice proper (not Mestre or Lido). Possible pre-bookings: time slot for Basilica San Marco, Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries Tour.

Book train Venice to Rome. (You will probably need taxi to Rome apartment or hotel).

Possible Rome pre-bookings: Forum-Colosseum tour, Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel ticket (closed Mondays)

Take taxi/limousine to Rome airport.

You can decide on other sites on plane to Italy and train between cities.

Come back here for recommendations for hotels/apartments. Also some itinerary suggestions. (But start a new thread with specific cities in title.)

mama_mia

Sorry--if you read my long post. The Vatican Museums are closed Sundays, not Mondays. (They are open last Sunday of month for limited hours and for free.

BigRuss

The Rick Steves tours are called MY WAY tours, not "go your way." They registered a trademark for it.

Here's the one for Italy: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/my-way-italy

Look: you have two teenagers - that means two kids with plenty of time and energy to investigate, research and figure out what they'd like to do and then present the info to you. Make them work.

And a soup-to-nuts tour with teens will absolutely suck for them. Too many oldies on the tours. It's hard to get a bad meal in Italy, but the tours will do their best.

Quite honestly, the work full time and activities complaint is an excuse for not taking the bull by the horns - others can plan, you can too.

InfurnoTravler

So what is there near the Almafi coast that teenagers would like? The pictures look beautiful but what is there to do? My 16 yo son loves history so Pompeii will be on the list if we go there, but how long will Pompeii take? All day or just an hour? Last year we were at an Inca Pyramid in Mexico and there really wasn't much there to interest my daughter after a long bus ride, so I am worried about getting somewhere and it is just static scenery.

How do you find the places where other teens will be? I have no idea how to do that. We plan to go in early June. My kids are self-reliant and go off together without us. But both are somewhat shy, they won't usually just strike up a conversation with strangers like I will.

Yes I know all the down sides to many travel companies with your time over-planned with little time in a given place, so that is why am asking if people know of tours that have more free time. I will look further at RS's site.
I have the tour books, that may be why I am overwhelmed, I'd like to do it all, but I don't have a month of vacation! And no I don't plan to do a single overnight at any one stop.

dreamon

Look at intrepidtravel tours. Small groups. Unstructured compared with most. Mixed age groups. uses local transport. Free time in each place.

greg

Combining Northern and Southern Italy would limit tour options. This combination is usually offered as a part of big excursions including many other places.

Have you found tours that focus on Venice, Amalfi Coast, and Rome only?

I somehow thought Amalfi Coast as mostly an adult destination. If you drop Amalfi Coast, your itinerary can get stunningly simple: three hotel reservations and two long distance trips. Find accommodations in Venice, Napoli, and Rome; and arrange Venice to Napoli trip and Napoli to Rome trip. All of these can be done easily online. The rest can be done as simple day trips.

Pompeii is a large site. There is no one answer to how much it takes. It depends on what you want to get out of it. You can visit a few well known ruins in one hour and call it good. Or you can study the classic Roman architecture and the painting style and spned days visiting buildings scattered around to be able to decipher various buildings as well what the paintings on walls represent.

If you read tour books linearly, you will get overwhelmed. Start from the summary of highlights in each area. I know Fodors and RS have such pages. RS calls it "Venice at a glance," etc. While many here would rather do highlighting on their own, for a first timer, it would be overwhelming and time consuming without prior knowledge of the areas.

justineparis

At ages 11 and 13 my kids contributed to trip planning for their trips to Europe, make your kids find places that would interest them, why should you? You are already paying for them. My 13 yr old found out about the Catacombs in Paris so we had to go, not my fave, but it was one of his!

nytraveler

Have a look at the Michelin green guides to get an idea of major sights and how long it takes to see them. Pompeii is an entire town (a resort town of the Roman wealthy) that has been uncovered and you can rush through in 3 or 4 hours or spend the whole day if you want. You need either a local guide or an audio guide - and be aware that there is no shade and it can get very hot.

To find places to meet other kids yours should look at the Let's Go Student Guides and the Thorn Tree section of the Lonely Planet website. And place with a university will have a lot of places where students gather. They will love to practice their English.

Also be aware that in Italy your kids will be served wine when you order for the table - unless you specifically request that they don;t get it. They served it to our daughters from about 14 on at meals, The other choice is water - tap or bottled - since soft drinks are very tiny and very expensive - compared to the US -a minute can can be 3 euros.

kybourbon

>>>make your kids find places that would interest them, why should you?<<<

I agree. Everyone needs to list a must see and work out an itinerary based on that.

justineparis

At 18 your " child" is a legally allowed to drink and buy alcohol, at 16 your child is legally allowed to cisume alcohol.

I allowed my kids to consume wine with dinner in europe, but realize Americans are more uptight about it( my kids we're both over 14 of course when allowed, but just so u know they poured for my 11 yr old in a restaurant in Paris , and when I objected my french family laughed at me! I allowed her a sip, she hated it, and that was that, she had sparkling water instead!

InfurnoTravler

I am not up tight about wine and drinking; we already talked about it and even looked up drinking ages. You gotta learn sometime.
It was my daughter who first identified the Amalfi coast. She has been to lots of sites. I will corral her into a list of specific sites.
I did not realize Pompeii was without shade that will be hard if it is a hot day... But if there is a lot of options for focusing on the various things it could keep us all occupied. How far from the Pompeii site to the town with shopping. Daughter and I could always shop while the history buffs explore the lost city.
The RS My Way tour in Italy is 13 days with 6 different places 2 nights at each so that seems to be too fast paced. I was thinking two to four locations.
What about travel agents to help plan. Has that worked for anyone?
What is Venice like with teenagers?
I had really thought either head toward the Amalfi Coast or head toward Venice from Rome and not actually try to do both.

dreamon

I think it's sensible to choose either Amalfi Coast or Venice, but not both.

If you choose Venice, then I suggest Rome, Venice and somewhere smaller in between. It's nice to experience the small towns and villages as well. My kids enjoy hiking and cycling so doing something active would be good if they enjoy that too.

Venice is great with children/teenagers. It's very safe, lots of interesting shops for small trinkets and souvenirs and wonderful for just wandering aimlessly around. It is, however, very easy to get lost so I'd make sure that everyone has the name, address and phone number of the hotel written down.

I still think that splitting your time between, say, Rome and Venice (or somewhere near Venice like Vicenza) would be a good alternative. From both places you can do day trips, without having to pack up and move on.

Like yours, my kids are reserved. But I encouraged them to order at the bakery, market, etc. as I'm sure you will too. Splitting up and doing things in pairs also worked well for us (e.g. my daughter and I would go shopping and my son and my husband would play football or find something they were particularly interested in) - what a cliche that is!

My experience of travel agents has been pretty negative. They have a product to sell and will not look beyond that - and typically it's a product that's too expensive for us and not what appeals anyway. I've also found them to often be fairly ignorant of many place that I'm interested in. They typically sell for places all over the world so they can't be expected to know everywhere well. If you can find an agent who specialises in a particular region, then they're much more likely to be helpful. My casual investigations into these sorts of agents is that they are more expensive than booking things myself but may save time if you're short of that. Certainly, if you decide on an itinerary, you could ask an agent to book your airfares, hotels and trains. But nowadays that's very easily done online anyway. If you have specific questions about hotels or transport, ask on this forum. People are always willing to help.

kybourbon

>>>How far from the Pompeii site to the town with shopping. Daughter and I could always shop while the history buffs explore the lost city.<<<

Sorrento is about 30 minutes by train (about 3€) from Pompeii (Sorrento is between Naples and the Amalfi coast). It has plenty of shopping on the main drag or in little alleyways between the main street and the water.

>>>What about travel agents to help plan. Has that worked for anyone?<<

Often travel agents haven't been to the places so don't have first hand knowledge. They tend to book chain hotels or things that pay them commissions.

I would make your trip 12 days, not 9 (more if possible). It's unclear whether the 12 days include your travel days to and from Italy (you can't count those as usable days in Italy). From your original list, I would try to fly into either Venice or Naples.

Fly into Naples, take the shuttle bus from the airport (Curreri 10€) to Sorrento. Stay there a few days, visit Pompeii, the Amalfi coast, Capri or w/e is on the list.

After that area you can either train to Rome or Venice (depending on your departure city choice). Local train from Sorrento to Naples (about 4€) and change to fast train to either Rome (70 minutes) or to Venice (about 5 hours and you may have to change trains elsewhere). It would be easiest to stop at Rome after the coast area. Spend a few days and then take the fast train from Rome to Venice (under 4 hours).

Once you nail down an actual itinerary, then people can help you with hotels (you'll need to state your budget), entrance tickets to sites or guided tours, trains and other transport.

Sometimes Pompeii has night visits in the summer. I don't know if they will this year.

If you decide Amalfi area and Rome only, fly home from Rome. Naples does not have flights to the US so the flights from there will depart very early since you would have to connect somewhere in Europe.

mama_mia

Re: Amalfi Coast with teens. If they like hiking, the Path of the Gods is a wonderful walk with great views. There are several other nice hikes.

It would probably be a good idea to choose a hotel with pool to maximize chance that they might meet other traveling teens.

The following is copied from another Fodorite's post. I can't say I am crazy about the idea of the 4WD up Vesuvius--seems like it would have a negative impact on the area.

(from FamilyFriendlyItaly post): There's so much to do on the Amalfi Coast. If you're based in Sorrento. In addition to your visits to Naples and Pompeii, some kid-friendly things to consider:

- a visit to Pompeii combined with a 4WD tour to the top of Mt Vesuvius - kids really love peering into the crater!

- a (private?) boat trip around Capri with snorkeling and lunch on one of the small islands (the scogli), plus visit to Capri. Otherwise, public ferry to Capri. Because of the size of your group, a private boat can be very economical.

(Tip: Kids love the blue grotto on Capri, but also check out the green grotto (grotto smeraldo)near Positano.)

- you can also do a lot of hiking in the hills above Sorrento and out to Massa Lubrense.

- visit Positano (by ferry) where you can eat at "clam shack" on the beach, then take a boat out to the Galli islands

- In addition to Amalfi and Ravello, also consider a visit to Paestum to see the Greek temples and visit buffalo mozzarella farm and watch mozzarella cheese demonstration

InfurnoTravler

These are great tips Thanks Everyone!
I did know that the trip from US to Italy eats up a day each way. We are not avid hikers, so any hiking has to be easy to moderate. We figure this trip will be lots of walking...

We should get snowed in tomorrow, so hopefully I will have time to nail some stuff down. I like the pool idea for a place to kick back and meet other travellers. As for budget I can't go first class all the way, but I don'd have to squeeze every penny.

So I think I'd rather stay over on or near the Amalfi Coast rather than in Sorento but looking on a map it seems like Sorento is more central. Is a day trip from Amalfi to Pompeii reasonable? I like the idea of the private boat around Capri!