I am planning a trip to Italy for my family at the end of June. This will be our 1st trip overseas and feel as though we would probably be better off going with a tour group. Has anyone had experiences with tour groups? We would like to have free time also to explore on our own. Any suggestions?

I gave my opinion on escorted tours on your other thread where you asked about tours.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...y-438193-2.cfm

traccall, you're a newbie. Let me suggest you make your topic headings more informative. For example, this thread could have been labeled "Guided tour in Italy for family?". When you tag the question with a country, we already know the question is about Italy.

I think you'd get more and better response that way.

Well you will probably re-post but in the meantime you might want to check out Rick Steves tours - he has some semi-independent that would give you alot of free time along with some structure (and ease of mind, not having to plan the logistics).

I am wondering about availablitly at this point - for me, it would be a bit late to sign up for a tour but then again, maybe you will find some good deals.

I'd include the ages of your children / or is the family all adults? in the next post - that might influence the answers given.

My children are 24, 20, & 17. Thanks for the posting suggestions. I will take a look at Rick Steve's tours.

I think that you will find that the majority of the people here are independent travelers.

I would think that by planning your own tour, you would have more opportunity to include the things that mean the most to all of your diverse group. A packaged tour is likely to miss some of your group's interests.

<<A packaged tour is likely to miss some of your group's interests.>>

Not to mention, with children those ages, I can't imagine being on a bus or being herded around. The kids are plenty old enough to help plan a wonderful trip that will incorporate everyone's interests.

"Has anyone had experiences with tour groups?"

Yes and you can find some with extra free time BUT, by definition, your time is organized for you on guided tours. IMHO, you will hit the "must sees" in most tours but have to be up and in the bus. On the other hand, all tickets are purchased for you and your rooms and many meals are all taken care of. Organizing these can be time eaters.

The majority of Fodor travelers here do it themselves and love the freedom and flexibility of that.

We started out with guided tours, moved to having a travel agent book our air, hotels and major rail tickets to doing it all online ourselves. Some place along that continuum will be right for you.

Check with your local college for trips. They are often very interesting. Can others help with such tours? Although very expensive, Smithsonian and National Geographic do tours.

Where in Italy are you thinking about??