Prices for Italy now are so high - considering signing up with a tour group, but somewhat leery of packaged tours. Does anyone have good/bad experiences with tours? Or upsides and downsides? Are most participants older? Cosmos appears to operate budget tours. Trafalgar more upscale. Want a 2-week vacation for a family of 5 with 3 adult children.

I would not sign up with a tour grop just to save money. They do have some benefits (organizing everything for you , moving your luggage, giving you a running commentary, giving you some confidence if you are not comfortable travleing on your own) but saving money is not one of them. Some downsides: following their schedule rather than your own (lots of 7am starts), touring to the least common denominator (rather thanseeing what really interests you), hotels that are usually fairly out of the way, included meals that are always boring and generally not very good, frequently an older clientele (often all retired folks). There are lots of ways to save money doing things yourself and not having to put up with the disadvantages of a tour. I think the 3 adult children would find it especially onerus.

Why not consider renting apartments in a couple of different places and doing day trips - this can be very economical.

After a fist fight broke out in one of my tour busses during a two week Seine River Cruise, I vowed never ever to go on a tour again, except for a day tour.

I happened to have been with a mixture of people who were first rate pills from day two (day one everyone is giddy).

These were people I would not even want to talk to more than hello in real life and I was stuck with them for two whole weeks. We made friends with one other couple from the East Coast and we stuck together.

I find it a lousy way to travel whether you save money or not, but this is just my experience, I have read that others have good times and meet nice people.

It is the luck of the draw, but you have your own little group already so why not just pool your money and rent a place?

Your best bet would be with a company that only does small groups.These afford a bit more flexibility. I've had a couple of good experiences, and one otherwise. The tour director will make all the difference. Personally I would do a detailed study of any tour company before signing up.

We have had very successful trips with Tour groups - both Trafalgar in Europe and APT in Australia. However, while it suited us (semi-retired) for a number of reasons, I feel you could do a lot better by taking apartments in several central places as has been suggested, for the children's sakes especially.

We have been on several tours including ones with Globus (Cosmos is actually the budget branch of Globus), Grand European, Perillo, and Tauck, and have had very good experiences. You do have to read the brochure very carefully to see exactly what you are getting. It is a good idea to check out the hotels so you don't end up with ones that are out of the way. It's also good to note the amount of free time in each place you are visiting, how many nights you spend at each hotel (it's tiring when you stay in a different hotel every night), what the tour actually takes you to and what is a drive-by, and also how many meals are included (we tend to choose tours with fewer included meals). I have found that by doing good research, I have been able to make the tours work really well for us and get a lot out of them. It is true that most people on the tours are older, but there is usually a pretty good age range in the group.

If you like being organised, bundled off at sparrowfart each morning, doing the rounds of glasscutting shops, socialising with other tourists rather than locals, participating in group singalongs en route, take a tour. If you like choosing your own itinerary and stopping places, lingering longer when you find a nice one, being free to follow an interesting road sign on a whim, and meeting the locals on their own ground, go independent.

We had a very good trip with a "tour" several years ago. I put tour in quotes because it wasn't the typical all-inclusive tour. It included airfare, hotels in each city, bus between cities, an escort person, and lunches when on the road between cities.

But in each city we were all entirely on our own--no follow the leader to the sights, glass factories, etc. No crappy set tourist dinners.

We saved a pile of money on that trip (we couldn't come close to the package price for transportation and equivalent hotels on our own), and the other folks in the tour turned out to be a very diverse and interesting group--ages 12-70; folks from all over the USA and Canada; Italians returning to their homeland for the first time in decades.

We would not have been able to tolerate a typical fully excorted tour, but this worked pretty well. Though not so well that we prefer it to independent travel.

I do not like anyone telling me when where and why--esoecially when I find something i would like to enjoy at a more leisurely rate.
We have taken trips with a tour "Booking" goroup ABC Tours.com,
they are cheap take the upgrade, they transfer you from the airport to the hotel and OFFER tours for you to take.
They are available to you if you need info, ex:restaurant info, will make reservations more easily than attemptig to request from the concierge who may or may not speak english.
This group offers all kinds of "tours", butr they have completely stayed out of our way--and ran interference with hurrying along customs.
We also took a day tour from a bus co to verselles (sp), What a nightmare,
attempted another when in italy to Capri, Sorrento and Amalfi Coast, lets just say I'd rather walk barefoot backwards than attempt surviving that bus ride again. But believe me the barefoot and backwards would be worth it just to experience this beautiful place and its people.
Good Luck,

I just returned from my first trip to Europe. It was with a tour group. It was actually a singles group so we all pretty much started off with something in common. The ages varied from 37 to 65 but I was actually interested in going with older adults. I am past my partying all night phase! The tour was arranged so that there was some structure but also a lot of free time. As another poster mentioned, it is important to do research ahead of time to make sure that you are choosing wisely. I would recommend tours but personally, I like a little structure.

We can report from experience that there is no one-size-fits-all way to travel. Yes, we have taken tours. Some bad, some good, some extravagantly great.

Now, in our 70s, we no longer want to lug luggage, seek shelter in strange places, take our chances on sanitation and food. We are used to getting up early and even too early. We like guides who know their stuff. We like to be able to have a tour company to whom we can complain and get adjustments or refunds. We usually like our fellow companions. We always get a lot of laughs out of those we travel with who are, shall we say, eccentric. We bear up with the unbearable, tease the super-sober, and ostracize the boors, both male and female. We treasure the friendships we have made over the years. We know how to play cards or read on rainy days. We know how to keep our mouths shut. We've paid our dues and shoulder our part of the load. We are travelers, not merely tourists.