My wife & I are going to Italy in October for 18 days. We are thinking of purchasing a 14 day group tour. Any recommendations or experiences with a tour co. like Globus or others???

Hi Rhino,

Most posters here lean heavily toward independent travel, myself included. To me, a tour would be my worst nightmare. But, for some people they are great.

It just depends on what kind of travel you want/need to do. What is it that appeals to you about a tour?

Italy is so easy to do on your own! Especially with all the great info from the posters here.

Dayle: The appeal of a tour is the elimination of all of the planning, reservations, how to get from one place to another, being with other people, etc..

The planning - who on Fodor's doesn't like the planning. I'm not going to Italy until June of 2008 and I've already picked out most of the hotels. I only have two more months to wait before I can hopefully snag some frequent flyer tickets - you can get them 331 days ahead (hopefully). Dayle has even lent me some of her Italy travel guides and maps.

Just kidding - I guess planning isn't for everyone. Hopefully someone who has taken the tours will help.

Ah, ok then it sounds like you would enjoy a tour. Some of us are planners and some are not. I play tour guide and travel agent for friends, as I'm the planner in our group!

Globus and other companies and various itineraries have been discussed here. If you use the search box above putting in "Globus" or "Italy Tours", you'll find lots of them!

Buon viaggio!

Hi R,

We all have our likes and dislikes. You have asked your question of a group of folks who mainly prefer independent travel.

>The appeal of a tour is the elimination of all of the planning, reservations, how to get from one place to another, being with other people, etc..

The downside is:

Having your luggage outside your door at 07:00
Being shuttled about on someone else's schedule
Long motor trips that take you past, but not to, places that you want to see
Eating in places that don;t appeal to you
Sleeping in places that don't appeal to you
Being with people you don't care for.

18 days in Italy is very easy: Fly into Venice and out of Rome, see Florence and Tuscany in the middle.

I've used Globus a number of times and they are a very good company. Depending on you itinerary you, should have plenty of time on your own once you arrive in a city. You can either stay with the group and do their excursions or do whatever you please. Sometimes an escorted tour is the perfect option. Just pick your itinerary carefully as if you were planning your own trip.

As suggested, use the search box...there have been quite a few threads on tour groups in the last ...oh six months I'd guess. I toured with Globus, my first trip to Europe, and it was a lot of fun.

Also, either go on line, or stop by a travel agent and pick up some brochures. You can see the different companies and the different styles of tours. Not all tours are a different city each night, so you can check that out. Globus is a middle priced tour..others like Perillo and Tauck are premium tours.

I have gone back to Europe three times since my tour and have done it on my own. Not to say I wouldn't do a tour again. I do NOT like to plan, so I don't. When I was in Paris last year, I made no definite plans. I had a list of things I wanted to see and do, and my friend and I would decide that day which of the museums or what ever, that we wanted to see. We'd do that and then see what else was around the neighborhood. We saw everything on the list and had a nice relaxing time. I don't want to do an itinerary so for some places I may visit in the future, a tour may be the way to go.

I personally dislike group tours -- the thought of having breakfast every morning w/ the same 45 other Americans/Brits/Aussies and then hopping on a coach to drive past all these great sites w/o getting off the bus, makes me cringe.

But I have friends (two different couples) who have each taken Rick Steves tours in Italy and raved about them. And since I'm not a huge RS fan either, that took some convincing.

But they are a different sort of tour - smaller groups, you handle your own luggage, etc.

Hi again Rhino,

Since we are on the topic and others have mentioned their pros and cons, I'll mention my reasons for preferring independent travel.

Extremely independent personality.
Can spend hours in a museum that interests me and would hate to be rushed by a pre-ordained schedule. Would rather get more for my money (better lodging, better food) than spend $ towards a company's profit margin! Would be miserable eating at places with a pre-set menu and no choice. Would not want to follow a red umbrella through the ancient streets of Roma in a crowd of 40 or more people.

Really, the main reason for independent travel is the different experience you will have! If you travel on your own, you will have much more opportunity to meet and interact with Italians!! If you do a tour, you will mainly interact with the tour group.

Also, it seems to me if you travel on your own, you absorb and remember more. My best friend is a total non-planner, just happy to go along for the ride. Later, when we talk about the trip, she doesn't remember the names of the places we visited.

Just some points to think about in deciding what's the best trip for you!

Tours are fine if you don;t like planning, don;t want to deal with luggage, don;t want to make your own decisions, don;t mind getting up at 7 am every day, don;t mind hotels usually out of town, don;t mind mediocre food - and don;t mind the irritating people(there are always at least a couple) on the tour.

I have done it twice (once it was free and once to Scandinavia/Russia - when that was the only way you could go there).

The first was a semi-tour (air, hotels and 1/2 day city tour, then 6 days London, 3 Amsterdam and 5 Paris on our own. That was;t so bad - but hotels were all in bad locations (substituted after we left).

The second was truly awful: lots of 7 am starts, lots of people complaining how expensive everything in Scandinavia was - it wasn't - and a honeymoonn couple that was late (from 10 minutes up to 45, the last was a group show at the circus - we left them behind) for EVERYTHING

I will never do a tour again - since I prefer to do what I want - not be bored to death - and be responsible for my own mistakes and successes(hotels, restaurants etc.).

Rhinowin,

I hope you do a search for group tours. If you google you'll find a wide variety of tours offered. One might be the right fit for you and your wife.

There are pros and cons to both independent and group travel. I don't mind researching and planning and have been traveling for years. I usually do independent, but have a done three group tours in recent years and was generally satisfied. I met some interesting people and got to places that I could not have had I been traveling independently (private group evening tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, home-hosted lunches and dinners) I don't recall having to put the luggage at the door at 7:00 and don't remember having to leave for an excursion earlier than 8:00 or 8:30, sometimes it was 9:00-9:30.
On one of the three tours, we spent seven nights in one city and seven in another, so not a lot of packing.

There have been a lot of generalizations made in the previous posts, such as eating from a set menu, groups of 40 or 45, being on the road every day at 7 am. There may be tours like that but there are many that are not.

Groups vary in size and some do have many meals together and some have only a few together. For example, I was just looking at a tour of Tuscan Hill Towns with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel). Of 12 days in Italy, breakfast is included every day, two lunches are included, one a home-hosted lunch in the Chianti region (10 lunches on your own) and four dinners -- so eight on your own. Group size: 10 to 16.

There are other operators that offer small group travel with plenty of free time, if that's what you would like. One friend took the Rick Steves Italy tour and liked it. There were 24 in the group, but I don't know if it's open to more.

I'm very much an independent type traveller. However, last year my sister and I took a Collette Tours Italian Vistas tour with our parents and had a blast! We actually had some free time, stayed in great places and had a fabulous tour guide! This tour was SO good that I'm doing it again in a few weeks with my hubby and some friends. If you're looking at tours, I'd check out www.affordabletours.com they can book most ANY tour company and offer you discounts. So, you might as well save $$$. In comparing tours, for our paricular tour Collette had by FAR the best hotels and included more sightseeing, etc that are "extras" with other tour companies. Compare the hotels and you'll see what I mean. For example, with Collette we stayed ON the Grand Canal in Venice whereas other tours were in Meistre. Check out the hotel choices in Stresa.....FABULOUS! NO complaints about hotel choices at all! With Collette, we still had some meals on our own. The group meals were mostly in restaurants and no one complained. Of course the unlimited wine might have helped! hehe We NEVER would have seen as much as we did on our own. It really comes down to what type of trip you want. I normally just do my own thing and love researching hotels, restaurants, etc. If you don't want to worry about those things, then just compare tour companies. Watch out for their wording. If it says "You'll see the Roman Forum" that means you'll DRIVE by. If it says you'll tour, that means you'll TOUR IT. When in doubt, ask them. The Italian Vistas tour that we're doing is a 13 day trip and we did a prenight stay in Rome. This way we'll have more time to wander around on our own. The tour has a good pace, I think. We also had a good mix of people, but never felt STUCK with "annoying" people. I really can't say enough good things about Collette Tours ( and I was leary becuase I've always traveled independently ).
Melissa <----who's heading to Italy in 17 days......wooohooooooo

Hi,
While we mostly do things on our own, we've booked tours and gone with friends and had a lot of fun. Luisah gave you good, objective information. There are tours to fit every need and budget. You have to evaluate the tour for yourself. OATs is known for small group, more indepth tours. Some tours are intense, whirlwind affairs and others are basically air and hotels with lots of free time.

Here is a web site where you can look at several different companies (not OATs) and compare tours and prices: www.tourvacationstogo.com. The most expensive ones offer better, well situated, hotels and food, but remember, the major sights are the same. The cheaper ones, may charge a lot extra for excursions, so a tour that costs just a little more, but includes excursions, might be a better deal. Often though, you can do the excursions yourself for a lot less and at your own pace.

If you decide to go the tour route, a good travel agent could be your best guide to the tour you want. Tours really work for lots of people. A friend who had been working 60+ hours week and had been too tired to plan a trip, called and asked me if it would be too awful to take a tour to Spain. No, of course not. She did it and had a wonderful time. Now she prefers tours: just book, pack, and go. Once you start looking, you might decide to plan everything yourself, but, you can have a great time either way.