If you don't want the regimentation of an escorted tour, but don't feel comfortable doing it totally solo, perhaps something in-between would work for you. I usually travel solo now, but when I first started traveling overseas, I did escorted tours. I would fly into the departure city a few days early to explore on my own and would stay on up to a week afterward on my own. For me this provided a nice balance.

You could also try a tour package such as the ones offered through Alitalia. See italiatourusa.com or alitaliausa.com/vacations/index.asp, or call 1-800-845-3365. Most other major airlines offer tour packages as well. Depending on the package, they can include hotel, airfare, rental car, theater tickets, orientation tours, half-day sightseeing, and/or rail tickets. They take some of the guesswork and planning out of the trip, but give you the independence of doing things at your own pace.

Another option for independent tours is gotoday.com or untours.com. Both offer several different packages and a chance to customize your itinerary.

Whichever option you choose, have a wonderful time.

Another idea of in between would be the Rick Steves "Bus Plus Tours". These provide transport and hotels only, so you get away from the regimen of a fully escorted tour while not having to worry so much about the logistics. I have no personal experience with these, but it might be worth looking into. (He also does fully escorted tours which are supposed to be more "friendly" than the average tour.)

Paul

Hi, pheasant!

My wife and I tend to be hikers and go on hiking specific tours, so they probably wouldn't help you very much!

If you have decided to investigate tours, I would suggest going to a travel agent/auto club and get some tour brochures. As others have mentioned, there are all kinds of tours, some take care of everything, others take care of transportation and hotel only. Also as mentioned, the airlines run their own tour packages.

Which tour you select depends a great deal on your budget and your interests.

The well known tour companies are Trafalgar, Tauck, Globus, Abercrombie & Fitch, Insight, Contiki (mostly for the young), and Brendan. The German company, DER, also runs a lot of tours. There's probably a half dozen more good companies that I have forgotten or never heard of!

Oh, yes, Rick Steves would be a good choice also. He style tends to be "user friendly", so his tours probably are the same, although we have never taken one of his tours.

Happy hunting! And come back and tell us all about your trip!

Dear Pheasant,

On our first trip to Italy we did an independent self tour package with Travelwide. One of the drawbacks was that you had to pick a star level for the whole trip. You couldn't mix and match hotel levels - so we went with the 4 star, when it would of been nice to do a couple of 3 star places and one splurge of a 5 star.

Anyway, one of the funniest hotel transfers (that we paid extra for) was between our hotel in Venice and the train station. We were met by a darling and dapper Italian man who met us at the hotel - I asked are we going by boat? "O, no dear, we shall walk" - he had his attache case and we had all our luggage - I was looking for his dolley or luggage rack, but there was none ! So, my husband and I schlepped our bags to the train station while he "walked us", swinging his little case. (Meanwhile we had walked past the train station about 15x previously and knew how to get there). But he was so engaging and funny, that it ended up being a great memory.

Long story short, you will love Italy - just try not to stress out about it. And after taking a half day bus tour in Rome - I said to my husband, "thank God, we didn't take a fully escorted tour".

Do it on your own - and have the trip of a life time. You're young and not going in crazy high season.

All the best,

Tam

Which way you decide to go will depend a lot on whether you enjoy planning a trip or would like someone else to bear the responsibility. We have been to Europe many times and always on our own. But we love the planning part and you can get so much information, help and advice from this site and from some of the excellent guide books. While I would never recommend just "winging" it, you can do enough research and advance planning to have an excellent idea where you want to go and what you want to do. If you don't like the research and planning, perhaps a tour would fit your needs best.

I have learned small group tours are the way for me. I have traveled with a company called Adventures Abroad and have had great success with them. No hidden add ons once you get there. Website is www.Adventures-Abroad.com

If you do choose the tour route, I think the most important things to consider are hotel locations (you don't want to be too removed from the center of things), amount of time in each locations vs amount of time travelling (don't want to spend signicant time on the road without enough time at each location with constant packing and unpacking), amount of unstructured time (where you can do as you please) and if meals are included (there is great food to be had in Italy, you don't want to miss that).

If you should choose to go the independent route, there are many good day tours available to introduce you to the various areas. Either way, you'll love Italy.

Thanks all- Tam and Martha - appreciate the kind words and tips. You just can't imagine how valuable all your posting have been - such nice folk - and I thought Minnesotans had cornered the market on "nice and helpful". Guess where I live