Has anyone gone with Donna Franca vacations? Or anywhere else? If so how was your experience?

We are looking at doing a 2 week honeymoon to Italy. I think we want to do a package that just includes the hotels (certain number of nights in different places). We do not want a package that tells us what to do everyday.

The best advice for any package of the type you're considering: check the locations of the hotels offered carefully. Often the less expensive options are not well-located, sometimes on the outskirts of the city.

Central Holidays used to have escorted tours that provided a 1/2 day city tour in each city, but then left you on your own to do whatever you wanted. A hostess traveled with the group, and optional side trips were offered in every city.

This was 10 years ago--ours went Venice, Florence (Pisa), Sorrento (Pompeii), Rome. Hotel locations were fine--not perfect, but not out in the boondocks either; e.g., we had a corner room on the Grand Canal and were a 5-minute walk from the Duomo in Florence.

Not sure how Central Holidays handles things now, but we were pleased 10 years ago.

I have a friend who actually worked for Donna Franca in the U.S. - do yourself a favor and look elsewhere (without my having to resort to slander). Especially if you do not want the escorted tour segment. Those large operators tend to choose large hotels with no personality and nasty staff...Any decengt Rome operator or your local travel agent can help you with hotels and give you advice on tours. Have a look at www.wheninrometours.com or www.tuscanytours.com for example.

Hi S,

You canvery easily book your own hotels in Italy and stay where you want, when you want.

Start with www.venere.com

Also see Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

Some airlines may have packages that offer exactly what you want--an "unescorted" or "independent" tour that includes a few different cities. They might have airfare, hotels, airport transfers, train transport between cities, and some also include half day city bus tours. This might be a good option for you if you don't feel like doing too much research. I used to buy one-city packages of this type from Central Holidays mentioned by Rufus, although I think they might have become affiliated with Far and Wide, which had trouble.

But as I said before, check the locations of the hotels offered. Also check the hotel reviews at tripadvisor.com.