GoAhead Tours vs. Plan-It-Yourself?
 

My family is planning their first trip to Italy in June. My mom wants to schedule a whole package on GoAhead Tours. Has anyone gone on this package deal and if so, did you find you had a good experience and plenty of time to do things independent of the planned tour events? Would you recommend it for first timers? Thank you!

How big of a family are we talking about? I've never personally done a tour. Too regimented for me, but for a large group, it might work well for you. I like just seeing something and exploring it.

Thank you...there are only 4 of us; my mom and her two sisters and myself. All capable of walking all around. I thought they might be too regimented as well but the itinerary looks fairly open, except for the scheduled guided tours which we planned on doing anyway.

I did a self-planned trip to Italy for 3 weeks last October & spent almost a year planning it-as you are going in June, you may not have enough time to work it all out but it is preferable to a packaged tour(at least for me) as I wanted to see a lot of art & found tours too structured w/very early starts in the am-good luck

There are private tours available. Google private tours italy and thousands will pop up. They are more expensive, but now that I've done private tours, group tours, and on our own, the private tours are far and away the best. You avoid the never-ending waiting for a group tour and standing in the street with your group going "OK, what's next?" It even happens with a small group of four, believe me. Especially with a group of sisters. You can also arrange for day tours if you want to. But any group bigger than 2, you need a very well defined plan and every day somewhat planned so you don't waste your time talking about what to do instead of doing it.

My husband and I just returned from our first trip to Italy a few days ago. We used Brendan tours, but picked a independent tour. Brendan booked the hotels, the airport transfers, a 1/2 day hosted tour of each city (Rome, Florence, and Venice), and the train tickets between the cities. All the rest was on our own and since we spent 3 nights in each city, we had lots of time to do what we wanted. We liked the 1/2 day tours; an orientation and then we decided what we wanted to go back to. Also, we took a day trip out of Florence to some villages in Tuscany to visit family sites. We did the buses and train and taxis on our own. I liked the idea of a independent tour. I also didn't have time to spend searching for lodging, so for us (over 50), this was the perfect solution.

I have never used the company myself, but many people I know have and give it great reviews. Which tour were you planning to take?

Yes, I would recommend a tour for a group of slightly-nervous neophytes. Definitely do some of your own research too, so you aren't totally on their leash; maybe even get maps of the big cities before you go so you can see where the hotel is, etc. I think it's an excellent way to go for the first trip.

Regarding the Brendan Tour...how do I book exactly what you did? It sounds perfect for us.

http://www.vacationstogo.com markets all those tours. Very attentive company; I booked a tour that was cancelled a month before I was to leave, and they arranged for another similar but much more expensive tour at the same price.

brendanvacations.com. I am pretty sure you can only book them through a travel agent, but they are all through the US. We did Tour INR. There are three price ranges. We did the lowest and had wonderful hotels (small, charming, helpful, nice bathrooms) in Rome and Venice. Florence's was a little larger and not so homey, but good location. This was our second Brendan tour. We went to France and England with an escorted tour. We preferred this independent one. Good luck.

Maybe this wasn't clear: vacationstogo.com is an online travel agency.