I know I was looking at doing it all by myself, from Venice to Milan to Florence and then to Rome all by train, but somehow I got spooked by all the reservations and so on. Plus it looks like the cost is about the same if I go on an Insight bus instead of the train, i.e. on the tour. I think that because my wife tires easily and cannot visit any one place for longer than 3 hours or so, the Insight Route looks good. Any thoughts about Insight at all? On the included tours, does one see very much? On a *free* day or *day at leisure* I could see whatever I miss I suppose. Please remind me as to what the following words mean ( I am dubious ) *See* *Visit* *Tour* *Explore* ( are there any other words I need to understand?

Thanks

Dave

I have been on 3 Insight tours and 1 Trafalgar tour. I like the Insight tours but I have never been on a tour of Italy. As I have gotten older I have found it a lot easier to take tours instead of travelling independently.
On the tours I found you see a lot in a much shorter timeframe.
I still prefer to be on my own in the cities like London, Paris and Rome where it is easy to get around by public transit. I do not enjoy European trains and find them expensive.
The Insight tours take a max of 40 people so there is plenty of legroom and getting on and off the bus does not take as long as the 49 passenger Trafalgar busses.
See means you quickly drive by it and you will be lucky to catch a glimpse of it. Visit means that you spend time and usually go inside the place. Visit often means you spend at least an hour and maybe several more depending what it is.

Most of my travel has been independent but I have taken a few tours for various reasons. One of the things I don't like about most tours is the limited time in each place and how expensive they are. Tours take you to many places but you only get a short look at the location rather than having time to explore.

I imagine you are looking at Easy Pace Italy. You aren't staying in Milan but at Lake Maggiore with trips to Milan and Lake Como but only to Como City and not to the small, charming towns on the lake.

Enroute to Venice you stop in Lugano and Verona. From Florence to Rome you stop in Assisi.

These side trips are all great places but it's a lot to do in 2 weeks and they take time from your focus of Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome (which is also a lot to see in 2 weeks).

You will need to do some research for your leisure days to make the most of them, or take the optional tours. In Florence you have a half day included sightseeing and 2 free days.

I looked at the location of the hotels in Venice and Florence and they seem to be centrally located which is good. Some tours put you outside the city, making it difficult to wander around in the evening or to have a full leisure day in town.

Hope this helps.

You said that "wife tires easily ". This, for me, should be the main reason to NOT take a tour. On a tour you see more things than on your own, but in the higher speed; you have to be in time at the bus, to finish to see a museum in a given time and to be ready to continue.
On your own, you do what you want, how long you can, you rest if you want, etc, and even you will see less points, you will enjoy more.

It is very easy to visit Italy independent and I think that it is the best option.

I've done both tours, and on my own travel, and both have their place. The only thing I really don't like about tours are the included meals, which are usually at the hotel and more like a wedding reception meals. I prefer to wander and stop at some great little restaurant. The fewer included meals the happier I am. About the early wake-ups. I actually like (and need) to be "forced" to get up and get going. Having my hotels and transportation set for me is great sometimes. Once I'm in a city, I go off on my own. It's rare if I take an optional group tour. I like museums, and they just don't spend the time in them that I like, so I book online ahead of time on my own, or just wander into one. I know where my hotel is. With the internet you can easily research and book your own city tours online, or just relax. Trafalgar, Insight, and Globus/Cosmos are all great companies. They all have many versions of their tours so read VERY carefully. Pick the perfect itinerary first. Then read EVERYTHING. They aren't out to fool you, it's all there. Research each hotel online (location, services, public transportation, etc.) About your tour director. Be nice. Be understanding, and they will be VERY helpful. Remember you are not their only charge and things don't always go perfectly. If you don't enjoy the tour, you probably didn't pick the proper itinerary, or didn't do proper research about it. You can have a fantastic time, see just what you want to see, and meet some fun people. Affordabletours.com is a great site to compare company itineraries. I've never booked a tour with them, but they get very good reviews, so maybe next time. Tripadvisor.com is a good site for hotel reviews. This is a great site to get answers to travel questions. Just remember, be at the bus on time.

We took an Insight Tour to Turkey last March. The tour, which could take up to 40 people, had a guaranteed departure, no matter how many people signed up. Our tour ended up with 15 people, which as great. We did go off season, leaving the end of March. Our guide did tell us that his Insight Tour right after us had 35 people, though. We were very pleased with the tour.

Hi bif,

>Venice to Milan to Florence and then to Rome all by train, but somehow I got spooked by all the reservations and so on. Plus it looks like the cost is about the same ...<

I'm surprised that the tour would be the same price as DIY for similar hotels.

Is airfare included?

If you limit yourself to
Fly into Venice - 3 nights
Train to Florence - 4 nights, daytrip to Siena
Train to Rome - 5 nights, daytrip to Orvieto
Fly home

I don't see much difficulty in making 3 hotel reservations and 3 train tickets.

Train schedules, prices and tickets are at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

The only cost that would be included in your bus tour would be transfers from hotel to train station and, possibly, from airport to hotel.

> my wife tires easily.....<
As noted, that might be a very good reason for DIY

On a tour, you have to stick to their schedule, not your own.

This often means having your luggage ready for pickup before breakfast.

>On a *free* day or *day at leisure* I could see whatever I miss I suppose.<

Not if your free day is in Stresa and you missed something in Venice.

> Please remind me as to what the following words mean ( I am dubious ) *See* *Visit* *Tour* *Explore*)

See = Wave to it as you drive by
Visit = Drive slowly past or through it.
Tour = Drive around it
Explore = We take you to a factory or gift shop and let you off the bus.


>are there any other words I need to understand?<

Free Day = there is nothing left to see and we are tired.

Day at Leisure = Free Day.

What specific tour are you looking at. It is quite possible that it would be better than DIY.

Hi bif; We have only been on a few tours. On travels days, it usually means luggage out side the room by 7am. Then breakfast and leave for your next destination by 8:30am. You might have a two hour stop in the morning, then lunch and a two hour stop in the afternoon. Everything is on a schedule. Ira's suggestion would work. Skip Milam. Then you are on your own schedule. Rest when your wife requires a stop. Have a wine and people watch. Iris

I don't agree with Ira, visit means at least an hour with an Insight tour. Depending on the site it can mean several hours.
If you are going to take a tour pick a tour with several nights at each place. If it only spends 1 night in a city, it means you arrive in the late afternoon or at worst in the early evening and leave early the next morning. I have only taken the slower paced trips.
My favourite so far has been the 2 week Turkey trip.

Hi; If you decide to do the tour, make sure you check for Insights discounts. But before you book, check www.afordabletours.com as previously mentioned and www.cheapertravel.com. They both offer 10% off on Insight tours and when you call these companies, you may do better than 10%. They both may have unadvertized discounts for Air. ENJOY Iris

The only Insight tour I have done was to Greece, and it was terrific. I agree to book a slow-moving trip if your wife needs to rest.

Bif, I have been to Europe many times (independently and on tours)- three times with Insight (Spain/Portugal, France, and Switzerland). I have been very satisfied with each Insight tour, including optionals. True, hotel meals are ordinary but that is not important to me. The hotels, I have found, have all modern amenities and are centrally located. Guides - very knowledgeable.

Of course, one gives up certain freedoms on a tour. But for me, driving in Europe and trying to park in cities and taking trains with luggage are not options.

In any case, enjoy Italy!

Hi

I used Insight for Turkey and I highly recommend them. Why? Small group (I think they limit it to 25), excellent first class hotels and fantastic meals. The tour director was extraordinary - knowledgable, courteous and efficient. First class coach with specialist driver. If you're wife tires easily I suggest a tour of around 10-12 days. Have a look at Insight's brochure - it will state the pace of the tour. Italy is quite compact so driving time is much less than say Turkey. We found driving time the main factor for fatique in the tours we have done. One final tip: Check with your travel agent or brochure that the date of the tour is a "Guaranteed Departure" i.e the tour goes ahead regardless of numbers.

You folks are all GREAT..thankyou VERY much indeed....I like to hear your opinions. I still do not know what we will do. We went to Paris Last year on an Air Transat package thing. we paid extra ( like $1200 CDN to go J class ) and thought it was worth while...we were well taken care of. The hotel was the Concorde Montparnasse and perfect for us. The Metro was a few minutes away and took us everywhere, I would do it all again in an instant, but that is where I found out my wife could not keep up with me. So....perhaps we may do the SAME thing in Rome alone, for the first time, and I just have to go slower and relax more and try not to see sooo much. I can always sit down I realize, and enjoy the sights with her too I still have a lot of research to do and it looks like Transat has run out of J class, but cheers to you all. I love this place. Perhaps I'll get my act together and tell you all about Paris, ( I took notes ) !

I had nothing but trouble with Insight. Stay away from this unscrupulous company.

The Best of times; the Worst of times.
Overall, our trip to Normandy, Brittany and Loire Valley was spectacular.
Pros: Fabulous tour director, comfortable bus, excellent hotels on balance, interesting itinerary, optional excursions well done, local guides wonderful.
Cons: Change of towns and hotels from those advertised with no warning. Out and out falsifying ad in brochure. Largest picture in brochure pushes the 2 night stay in Chateau Rochecotte. We stayed on the grounds of Chateau Breuil an hour’s drive from the advertised town and consistently rated lower in e-reviews. While some of the group stayed in the castle, many of us had rooms 1/2 a mile walk from the castle itself, in a farm yard. Very disappointing.
Best thing: Getting to Monet’s Garden (optional exc.) first in the morning. No one else there!! Beat the crowds. That’s what comes with early wake-ups calls.
Worst thing: Not staying in the Chateau as promised.(see above)

You could decide where you want to go and let a travel agent make hotel, plane, and train reservations for you and then you would still be on your own but not so stressed about making the plans. but be sure and check everything with them before they make the reservations, such as making sure you pick a hotel that is in a central location and not on the outskirts of town. This is what we did years ago when we first when to Italy. Now I make all our reservations (it is still stressful sometimes for me but I like it).

But I guess you have to decide what is the best way for your wife to sightsee.

Just to clarify...insight is considered a deluxe tour company an upgrade over its parent company Trafalgar. Everything is one step above Trafalgar for the most part....hotels are better and almost always central, smaller group maximum of 40. They have a dine around plan in some places where you can choose the restaurant (although meals are usually not the top line meals in the resturants but the atmosphere is there and the food is good)....I, and this is me, might not enjoy an Insight tour as much as Trafalgar as because it is a deluxe tour, it tends (yes this is an absolute generalization of course) to attract more stuffy type richer people than say Trafalgar which attracts a much more middle class varied clientele (you of course might think differently)...you will absolutely almost never be on the coach for longer than 2 hours (nature does call) with stops either at an Autogril in Italy or some smaller village.

Throwing in the cost of petrol in Europe and road tolls and car rentals, you almost always get your money's worth with the restrictions of having to follow a time schedule. And when in the big cities, there is almost always built in optional tours which you are quite free not to take and to do your own thing.

JMHO

It looks like lakesider registered on this board just to bash a tour company that the OP asked about 1.5 years ago - February 2009.

We did an Insight tour a few years ago of Britain...It was a good thing for us, as DH was recovering from a serious illness and had little endurance, but didn't want to miss anything. We had a wonderful bus driver and tour guide--she was kind, amusing, informed and very patient with some of the folks..Best part of bus tours is that you have most of the hassles handled; you get prime parking and many of the meals are supplied, rooms are predictable, all you do is walk off the bus,they hand you a room number and tell you when's dinner, or where you can choose..It was, indeed, a remarkable holiday. We made fast friends while traveling together. We just walked in to the Edinburg Tattoo and that alone made it worthwhile...tickets for that are usually bought a year in advance.!!

Down side is you are very much controlled, might feel somewhat herded, and some of the people, who tend to be older, can get somewhat tiresome...one lady would never comply with the request to 'be back at the bus by a certain time" and we always had to go look for her, remind her, chide her, etc. In the end, nobody would speak to her....stuff like that.

But I would do it for sure...they have been in the business for many years, so must be doing something right..Ours was a 3 week tour of Britain and so worthwhile..