Help me with a tour of Italy
 

I am planning a tour of Italy next summer with my children and spouses and am overwhelmed. Any suggestions on a tour company or should we try to go it alone. I am so confused at this point

I'm the type to go it alone without a tour company. I like the freedom of changing my mind at the last minute.

We just returned from a trip to Italy a couple weeks ago and we had a wonderful time.

We went to Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento. With the help of this forum and Tripadvisor.com we found it pretty easy to find hotels/apartments.

We walked everywhere inside the cities and took the train in between. We found most people spoke English, especially where we needed them like train stations, hotels, etc.

We did hire a guide for one day to take us out to the country side in Tuscany - and it was a lot of fun.

We stayed in mostly B&B's and Apartments, we used the owners for local recommendations and they were really helpful on the best sites to see and the best restaurants.

But do to it on your own, you have to be willing to get lost once and awhile (though we never did for long) and to be able to stop and ask directions. And have a good sense of humor about things that always go slightly wrong on vacation.

We've done Italy twice on our own - once northern (Rome and cities north) and once south (Rome and cities south). The trains between cities are easy to manuever, and with a good guide book and suggestions on sites to see from friends, you can have quite an adventure and create your own timeframe and schedule. Your hotels can always suggest local guides in the area for the larger tourist attractions.

I'd be overwhelmed if I had spouses, too.

And I'd definitely go it alone.

A few questions. How much time do you have? How well do people get along? Does everyone have the same agenda or do you have people who love ruins and others who absolutely hate them? Two weeks definitely seems like enough time to see Rome, Pompeii or Heculaneum and Florence. Venice could be added in, but it's a bit of a drive each way from the western coast of Italy. Venice and Florence are both great places to say "let's split up and meet again at 7 for dinner" because they are so walkable and compact. Sienna always gets great reviews from Fodors posters and it's pretty close to Florence. Lucca is supposed to be great too. We didn't visit either one (that's for our next trip).

Hi kob,

Italy is very, very easy to DIY.

We need some info from you.

How long?
Ages?
Interests?

Have you a draft itinerary?

((I))

Hi kob; You havn't posted much information on where exactly in Italy you would like to go, as ira said. However, if it is a tour company you are looking for, try Pavlus travel for discounts on many of the major companies. cheapertravel.com ENJOY Iris

We can help but need to know the things that were asked; budget, number of days, basic interests.

When my husband, son and I went to Italy for the first time we flew into Milan and stayed in the following cities Verona, Venice, San G. (small town in Tuscany), Assisi, Sorrento and Rome. We rented a car for part of it but it can be done by just train travel. Taking the train is easy in Italy.

Sit down with your family and discuss the top 10 things or cities you've always wanted to see/do in Italy. Read giudebooks and watch travel shows and videos to get ideas. Then look at a good map of the country and see what makes sense geopraphically. Remember it's sometimes a good idea to fly "open-jaw" meaning flying into Milan (for example) and flying out of Rome, so you don't have to backtrack.

Once you have some structure to your ideas, come back and ask your questions.

You said in another post that there are 10 adults in your party. I think you should get a travel planner to sort all this out.

I would not put myself in the position of trying to make 10 adults happy on a trip to Italy.

I would prefer to do it on my own. I found the planning to be almost as fun as the traveling.

Have the group narrow down the places you want to go. Then start one area at a time researching and ask your questions on this forum, I found many, many answers and many, many extremely helpful people.

First plan the transportation from one area to the next. Once that is worked out, plan each area one area at a time with hotel/apartment reservations and then sites and restaurants. We took lists of restaurants recommended on this forum and other places, then tried to make reservations when we arrived.

If others are willing to let you do the planning, do it, but try to get some input from everyone along the way. Maybe leave some down time for individual/couple exploration. Book your main tourists sites ahead of time if possible so you are not wasting time in lines, EVERYONE will appreciate that.


The fodors people are willing to answer just about every seemingly stupid question you can come up with. They answered mine!!

I would start with a rental for a week in Tuscany and then let each couple join you there. You cannot move 10 people around easily--let them set their own entry and exit points and have the entire group together for just that one week. That way they can each do what appeals to them before and after. No one will be happy if you try to herd them.

Part of my husband's extended family did what Bobthenavigator suggests. They didn't rent enough cars, so there was squabbling over daily outings. One couple invited friends to stay for a couple of nights because a cousin had invited her adult kids, and that created tension. Granted, these relatives will always find something to choose sides about, but they had done no planning in advance other than to rent a large villa. When you have this many people, you really need to have many conversations at home so there's no confusion or conflict while you're there.

I really like the idea of a villa in Tuscany and then travel from there. Any ideas of a site for Villas?

kob - you might want to look at the responses on your two other threads. Click on your screen name above to see all of your posts.

Spend some time at www.slowtrav.com for rental reviews and more about Tuscany. There are also tons of trip reports, some with a similar scenario.

Villa rental with daytrips sounds like a wonderful idea. Maybe southern Tuscany will allow more flexible day tripping to Rome and Florence while staying near Siena allows for day trips to Florence, Tuscan coast, southern Tuscany and even Emiia Romagna.

As others point out, we also had a heck of a time on one our family vacations with about 10 of us. We ended up renting a stretch limo for a few day trips, whcih was real hoot in the centros! After about 5 days part of the group ended up pealing off while us "adults" stuck to the itinerary....

I had no idea you were referring to 10 of you. I guess when there's multiple spouses involved...

kob, see our trip report http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34699548
from several years ago. A good friend of ours (our travel mentor)
planned the trip. We have subsequently planned our own trips, getting a guide for various things at various times. The research is truly almost 75% of the entire travel experience. I agree that 10 people are more difficult than just 2 or 4. We at one point on the listed trip had 7 people. Transportation is always the issue as is how much luggage each will bring. Get it all out in the open right away. It is silly to give up your vacation because someone along has to have 10 bags or doesn't want to do what you want to do. Also, some times you just want down time. Good luck planning. Love Italy!

I think for such a large group a tour might be a good idea, unless someone has experience and is willing to serve as the trip coordinator.

I think in this particular case taking an organized tour (like Globus, Trafalgar, etc.) would take the pressure off everyone.

We stayed at a fantastic villa in Panzano - Villa Pecille. There are several apartments in the complex. Our apartment was the largest (Loggia) - four large identical bedrooms, each with ensuite bath. There was also a very large living room, mammoth dining room, and very large kitchen. There was also a loggia with a fantastic view of Panzano. If you want further information, you can email me at: [email protected].