guided tours of europe?
 

Planning a trip to Europe for the fall with my mom. Neither of us have been before so we were thinking a guided tour would be good so that we could be shown around and see key sights. Any experience with guided tours and which companies are good? Any help would be awesome!!

I took a Rick Steves week-long tour of Paris last year and was very pleased, especially with the specialty guides they lined up for museums and neighborhood walks. A good amount of free time as well.

However, planning such a trip on your own is quite feasible given the resources available such as this forum, guidebooks, and general internet convenience.

No reason you can't do this yourselves, with the help of one or more of the many guidebooks available. However, Rick Steves does have 14 and 21 day European tours. You need to be reasonably fit. If you want something more upmarket there are outfits like Tauck.

Tours differ a lot by price range.

In the more expensive ones (Tauck, etc) you will get better hotels, closer to the center of town and the food is usually not as bad (american ized versions of local foods). Also they tend to include some sights that are optional extras (for extra fees) on cheaper tours.

What all of the tours share is:

Long days siting on a bus with limited time at sights

Early starts every day (luggage outside door at 7 am and on the bus by 8 am)

Least common denominator tours (usually ver basic - as if you wee reading a guide book)

When looking at the itinerary of each tour (and you have to examine it carefully to see if it covers the sights you want and how many hours you will be on the bus - and how many one night stops it has) you ned to read it with tourspeak in mind:

View means you will see the place out of the bus window as you drive by
Stop means you will have a 5 minute photo op in front of the sight
Only "visit" means you will go inside - and that may not be as long as you want (may be inside only and no time for the gardens, etc)

If you feel this would best meet your needs that's fine - but you still have to do all of the checking to see exactly what you are buying

Caveat: friends of my parents used to arrange all of their own dinners even when they went with Tauck since they wanted more typical/better food

BEWARE of the following weasel words in tour descriptions:

"The Best Of..." It will not necessarily be the best and unless you are in a country the size of Lichtenstein you will be spending a lot of time looking at the "best" superhighways that country has to offer IMO.

"Key sights" which are YOUR words. Makes sense BUT do you have any idea what those key sights really are? IMO what you should do is do some research and decide for yourself what you think the key sights are for YOU.

Is the Leaning Tower of Pisa a key sight in your opinion? Yes? Great. And you might be amazed at how many people would disagree with you.

You say "Europe" but that is like saying "the United States" in that there's a lot of states and there's a lot of "Europe." I would limit myself to a certain area or a couple of countries (depending on the time you have) and concentrate on those ONLY.

I've done a couple of tours with mixed results. They offer many conveniences for the first-timer and even within companies there can be vast differences.

Am sure others will be helpful but I would not just sit back and wait for a bunch of answers..you need to do some independent research IMO as well and good luck to you.

One of the things you must aware of is how much walking will be involved.

First decide where you want to go.

Unfortunately for you, 95% of the people here are independent travelers and will have limited experience regarding individual tours.

"What all of the tours share is:

Long days siting on a bus with limited time at sights

Early starts every day (luggage outside door at 7 am and on the bus by 8 am)"

Not true of RS tours. For one thing, they spend two nights not one in most places. Plus you handle the luggage yourself so it doesn't have to be put anywhere except on the bus. Also, hotels are central, something else you should check before signing up.

Plenty of scrapbooks on the RS site written by people who have taken the tours if you want more info.

IMHO being on a tour AND having to handle your own luggage would be adding insult to injury. Also have seen the hotels in some of the RS shows and while they may be central they are not paces I would be happy staying (stairs and no elevators? no AC? - noway would I take these places).

For Americans used to modern hotels, and even the most modest having all basic necessities, the older hotels of europe can be a shock - as is the lack of basic amenities.

I did a Rick Steves tour of Barcelona and Madrid last month--my first.

Hotels were central, had elevators and air conditioning, and buffet breakfasts that were clearly "Spanish."

I had to roll my own suitcase from my room into the elevator, then out to the bus (which was half-empty by design. The horror.

We generally met our wonderful, local guide at 9am. He chose the restaurants for our group meals (about half), and they were always places that were clearly patronized by locals. He also gave us suggestions for things to do/eat on our frequent open afternoons.

We were never once directed to a shop.

Best of all, the entire group of 18 people was pleasant and easy-going. Not a cranky snob in the bunch.

I would happily do a RS tour again.

I want to echo what elberko said above. I went on an 7-day tour with Rick Steves in Istanbul. It was wonderful. I can't say enough about how engaging and intelligent the guide was. I'd love to have him show me around anywhere!

We stayed in a nice, small hotel near all the sights - we could walk to most. The hotel had an elevator and AC (although I was there in winter). Some of RS tours don't have these amenities in all hotels, but they are happy to answer questions about this.

The tour was organized really well, so we could see and do a lot in a short amount of time, but I never felt rushed. RS tours encourage travelers to learn how to navigate on their own, so we got lessons on using public transit, how to bargain in the bazaar, and so on. Then as the week progressed, we had more and more free time.

Our group meals were delicious and the company was always great. We also had plenty of opportunity to eat on our own, alone or in small groups.

I would be happy to go on another tour with RS.

So, I would encourage you to think about an RS tour if you decide to go the tour route. This might be a great first step in getting more comfortable with independent travel. The only "warning" I would give is that RS tours have a lot of walking, so you need to be reasonably fit. They give this advice also on their website. However, our group ranged in age from 13 to 79, and everyone kept up without any real struggle.

Have fun!

The hotels on RS tours are definitely upgraded from the ones he used to write about a couple of decades back. If nyt has never taken one of his tours, which I believe to be the case, s/he has no basis on which to comment. I have taken five, although none since 2011 and only country specific tours. However, I read the scrapbooks posted by tour participants, which include descriptions of the hotels and meals.

I prefer independent travel, but there is certainly a place for tours. I have just booked a two week tour as part of upcoming three month trip....

I think touring depends on your mom's health and fitness, and yours. There are all kinds of tour companies and the major ones are often quite similar in their offerings and their price. Collette Tours and Tauk Tours are more upscale and consequently, more expensive.

Other companies like Trafalgar, and Globus, often have different tiers. If you find a tour that interests you there are a zillion reviews, they all have websites and you can find out exactly what the schedule is, what sites are just driven by and what you actually see in more depth.

They will also list meals, what days they are included, if they are not, and what your free time is. If you do a little diligence it should not be a mystery or surprise.

I have not been to Europe a zillion times like some here, but I've been five times, and my first visit was on a Globus tour. We had a pretty good group, all ages, all types, didn't have to mingle if you chose not too. We also had almost every PM free unless you chose an optional tour. They will also show you how many nights you spend in one place. My tour was 16 days, and we had two or three nights every stop except Florence. That was more rushed than I would like.

Our tour director referred to the 11 day, nine cities type of tour as a "pajama tour" and she said she loves doing them. I told her she was nuts and there was no way I would take a tour like that, but for people with very limited time or its the "one trip" or they think it is, I guess they have a place.

I really like it because it gave me an introduction, we covered a lot more than I would have been able to do foundering around by myself, you learn that no one will bite you (LOL), most people are very helpful. I learned how to order coffee in Italy, about different tiers of service so I wasn't PO'd when the coffee at the outside table was quite expensive.

I loved my tour, and the last four times I have gone on my own and felt comfortable and have had wonderful trips.

A mid point between a tour and DIY is
Untours.
They provide the bones of the trip, plane, hotels a plan but within that you are on your own.
For many people it is a great compromise.

Also, although we have always travelled independently
We are taking the middle week of a three week trip on a tour. We will stay in the same town for a week in an apartment hotel and will travel in the local region daily. Max group size is 15, restaurants are excellent choices.

Some posters above have a very very limited view of tours .

I know several people who took Perillo and were very happy. Also Collette. You need to carefully review the itinerary. Moving every day is a drag. And days on the bus can be annoying. So decide where you want to go and there should be a tour that meets your needs. There is a lot to be said for having someone do all the arrAnging. Especially when traveling with an older person. We usually go on our own, but tours can be lovely and less stressful. Have fun planning.

My husband and myself are seniors and just do not want to handle the luggage spend time deciding what to do etc. We did a smartours.com they are located from New York. We loved it and it was wonderful. We did Hungary, Vienna and Prague, 3 cities and we had a wonderful time. I cannot say enough good things about the tour, the guide, the hotels. We also spent a night in Helsinki Finland on the way home. I give them 5 stars. It may not be for everyone but we enjoyed our time. We are now going the with Gate 1 to Paris London, Amsterdam and Brussels. (yikes I know) Smart tours did not have the itinerary we liked. We met many who were repeat customers who enjoyed there tours.

RS may be OK in the less expensive countries where he doesn't put guests in the typical very homey but simple 2* places with a not bad location but several flights of stairs to deal with and no AC or wireless or whatever.

For us, we want hotels with a nice bar, room service (for breakfast), a concierge, and large rooms or suites with super cable TV wireless and where they bring you a nice fruit basket or whatever when you check in.

Not suggesting the RS do this - since his prices won;t cover it.

But a lot of the hotels I see on his shows are just way too basic.

Clearly what you saw on TV 20 years ago describes a 2016 RS tour better than my personal experience last month.

What is a conseerge anyway? Like a portable butler?

<i> guided tours of europe?
Posted by: seaoh on Apr 19, 16 at 8:28pm</i>

Sheep need a shepherd. Any human past high school can get a guide book and map and DIY.

A conseerge delivers fruit baskets. Geeze.