Need Active Travel Company Recommendation to Europe, Mainly Italy
 

My wife and I are trying to plan a weeklong vacation for June. We have been on several trips with Backroads and enjoyed them. We love that everything is organized for us and the groups are filled with motivated, interesting travelers. The only problem is these trips usually don't hit major cities or attractions. Is there a good travel solution that will hit big cities like Rome and Venice. We are both 40 and don't want to be stuck on a bus with a bunch of college kids or retirees (unless they're active). Age is not the issue as much as enthusiasm. Please let me know if you have any advice. Even a tour that put together nice, convenient hotels and transportation allowing for us to explore on our own.

Thanks.

Why do you want to go on a tour? Is it because you want to travel with a group?

If you're only going to cities it's very simple to navigate on your own using bus/metro/taxi. You can take a train between Rome and Venice.

Once at your destination there are lots of guided walking tours if you want to be in a group travel situation or want the benefit of a knowledgeable guide. You can also hire private guides. There's a great thread on this board about private guides in Italy - do a search for this thread.

Pickup guidebooks for Rome and Venice for hotel recommendations that meet your budget (or, again, do a search on this board - there's lots of info). You can book a shuttle or car service from/to the airport. You don't want anyone arranging daily transportation for you as you won't have flexibility to go as you wish. It's better to walk or take a bus from one sight to another.

If you don't want to do the planning on your own, I believe that some of the bigger tour companies have a package selling trains and hotels in Italy's major cities. I would look at something like Perillo:

http://www.perillotours.com/italy/index.html

I am unaware of any travel company that books active tours in major cities in Italy. I'm not sure that I understand the idea, unless, as I said, you are not interested in researching your own transport and hotels. I do believe a company like the one mentioned above would do that for you.

Another option in planning is to hire a good independent planner that will do all the arranging for you, including finding some "active" pursuits in each city. A good independent planner will do all the research and booking for you, for a fee, then usually give you a booklet or folder with the completed itinerary and plans.

Venice being what it is, active pursuits, other than running in the mornings, are limited.

Thank you for your replies. I don't really care as much about being active (hiking, biking, etc.). I just like the Backroads type trips because I really enjoy the people. Also like that there food/accommodations/transportation/guides are always excellent. I

I've been on more traditional tours before where we ride around on buses and it's a somewhat stale atmosphere. Wasn't sure if there was such a thing as a "hip" travel company for 30-40-50 somethings. Will check out perillo.

Gate1Travel and Go-Today offer packages or tours.

http://www.gate1travel.com/italy-travel/default.aspx

http://www.go-today.com/italy-vacations.aspx

I've used Gate1travel successfully in Italy. Great organization, all our needs were met, some independent time and less expensive than Perillo. We felt their service was very good. Nice mix of people as well. We did Rome, Florence, Venice trip.

Don't know what your budget is, but you might want to check out Tauck Tours.

I last posted on this topic in 2011. Wife and I ended up doing Windstar Mediterranean cruise and enjoyed it very much. Want to do a week in Europe again this summer and am looking for a tour for active people. We're in our 40's. We've done several Backroads trips and love them but the wife is not big on the biking and those trips don't hit the major cities (we're thinking Rome, Venice, ...)The Tauck trips look like a great itinerary. Anybody have any advice about those trips. My friends like the company but have only done those trips with kids. We're sans kids for this one. Any thoughts?

CYESQ - I am considering a Gate 1 trip to Italy in March. I am concerned that the group size might be too large. Did you find this to be an issue? Were there included lectures/tours good?

We have started travelling with organized groups rather than independent travel, which we did for many years. PROS: easy and the professionals do the planning CONS: less flexible (you might want to spend more time in a location/museum/garden than is allotted).

My recommendation -- do not take a trip with a large group (more than 20 - 24 people) if you really want to learn about the area.

It really depends on what you want (e.g., activity, lecture, free time). We especially like learning about the people and culture

Take a look at Peregrine, Adventures Abroad, Friendly Planet, and Tauck. We have not travelled with them, but they limit the number of travellers. We have travelled with Overseas Adventure Travel, HF Holidays, and Ramblers Holidays (they do offer trips for different age categories). We just took a river cruise in France with Vantage Travel and it was fabulous (but a bit older crowd that you are looking for). They offer land trips with a max of 24 persons. Just look for ACTIVE on these trips and you should have a pretty good pace regardless of age.

If you only have 1 week, you might consider picking just 1 city to visit so that you really get an understanding of the city. You could spend a month in Rome and still have things to do.

Hope it is a great trip for you.

gawd, being with hipsters on holiday :-)

Years old thread. Sucked in again.