I am going to Italy for my honeymoon at the end of May. Has anyone used Perillo Tours? Would love to hear any suggestions on what to pack. This is the first time I will be travelling out of the US.

My wife & I ,brother & wife and my parents used Perillo in November of 2000. It was great!! I never thought I would like to travel like this but is was very good.Traveling with 6 people you never had to make any plans ,just follow the tour guide, The guide we had was as good as you could ask for. For someone who has not been overseas before you will see so much and learn about what you see. Have a great time . What tour are you taking?

We're taking the 10 day Vesuvius tour. My grandparents immigrated from Italy, so it's been a dream of mine to visit the "home land".

The parents of a friend of mine took a Perillo tour last year and were very dissatisfied. They said the food was mediocre at best - and after the second awful dinner always went out for their own dinners. Also, two of the hotels were substituted by places far outside the town - making them very inconvenient to see naything on your own.

Have used other tour companies before - I think Tauk (sp?) and liked it but said would never do Perillo again.

I would try to do it without a tour...who wants to spend their honeymoon with a group of people.

My friend's mother took her and a sister when they were in their 20's and they felt that everyone was much older than them and it was very scheduled. They also said the food was not great as with any place serving 20-30 people at once is not easy at the best of times and food quality can go down. For her mom it was great but I would travel over on your own and maybe book tours when they if you feel more comfortable with a guide. I personally think tours are expensive for what you get unless you have special needs or like my own parents are older and like to see a lot in a short space of time while having people around in case they need assistance.

I have no personal experience (we travel independently), but I remember visiting with a couple from Chicago in Rome's Piazza Navona. They had just completed a Perillo Tour and were spending a few days on their own in Rome. They were very dissatisfied and felt for what they got the tour was overpriced. As others have noted, they felt the hotels and the food were not up to the standard they paid for.

Agree that honeymooners should have this wonderful, romantic time together, without a busload of strangers. Do a little research here about planning your own trip to Italy. I think you will be surprised how easy it is, and how helpful Fodorites can be.

On your screen, do you see a box entitled "search this forum"? I typed in Honeymoon and Italy and got back A LOT of "hits". This one was a review:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34531421

But just for your added data and information ... lots of lovely people have gotten lovely recommendations and help planning their honeymoons in Italy.

I submit this for balance - so that you have all the information, a formal tour or planning it just you and your beloved! ... Best wishes for your wedding, the honeymoon and a long happy healthy life!

Also, go to the Group Travel or Tours message board. The people on these boards abviously do tours all the time and you will probably get some additional information from experienced tour takers and then compare that to the great advice you will get for independent travel and hopefully help you make an informed decision about what you want and what will best work for you. I have done both..tour and independent and they both have their pros and cons. I personally don't know anyone who has done Perillo. I did a Globus Tour in 1999..I thought it was very good...it's like medium price range and was a good value. We had a very diverse age group. The higher end tours will usually get an older group. You need more input than what you have gotten so far to make an informed decision. Everyone in our group thought the tour was great with the exception of two couples and they would not have been happy if you hung 'em with a new rope. So you need to get more respnses to whether the tour company is good or not. I hope what ever your decision, that your honeymoon is just fabulous and congratulations.

thank you for all your insights and recommendations. I failed to tell you that this is not my first marriage but second and we are in our late 40's. I will take all of your suggestions and hope to make the best decision.

My husband and I are doing the Perillo Vesuvius tour on May 22, 2005. I am so looking forward to it. We did the Perillo Hawaii tour in 2001 and it was fabulous. (There were some honeymooners on that trip!). I like the idea of meeting lots of other people on a tour and having everything planned.

I looked at other tours, but decided to stay with Perillo because I know they are good. To the other responses that said the food was mediocre, I thought the food on the Hawaii trip was great - so I would think the Italy trip would be comparable.

I, too am looking for suggestions on what to pack. I know there is a "gala night" which requires "dress up clothes", but I don't know about the other nights.

When is your trip scheduled?

It looks like annamarie51 and bisabella may be on the same tour.
Annamarie, my wife and I have used Trafalgar twice and enjoyed both trips. Tours are not very popular on this site, but tolerated. I assumed Perillo would be very nice since they are more expensive than most tours. We are going on a Globus tour in June.
We added time after our tours to travel on our own and this was very nice also. Our tours were both 'at leisure' and we stayed in one area for 5-6 days on each tour and then back to our point of origin. I don't like all the moving from hotel to hotel which is necessary on the 'whirlwind' tours.
If you still have family in Italy you should contact them if you are going to be able to visit, "and" they are receptive to the idea.
There will be things on the tour that will drive you crazy (other passengers, time constraints, etc.) and you will probably meet very nice people on the tour who will make this a memorable "Honeymoon".
I don't think anyone has answered your original question about packing but if you search "packing" on this site and 'slowtrav.com' you will find plenty of info on packing. "Half the clothes and twice the money"- seems to be a consensus of opinion.

annamarie, before you book any tour, take a look at the particulars.

I happened to read up on that tour recently and found that depending on what type of trip you are looking for, you will either be thrilled or very disappointed.

For instance, if you just want an overview of Italy, then read no further because that is what that tour is--and overview.

First, it is advertised as a 10-day tour, but in reality, Days 1 and 10 are travel days...so it is really an 8-day tour.

Second, the plan is to visit 5 cities (as well as Pompeii) in 8 days with just one day in Florence and Venice is a day trip, which means spending four hours on a train that day.

Many people enjoy these tours and you may also enjoy it, but know full well what it is exactly and what you want from this trip.

Good Luck!

bissabella - we are going the following week. Our wedding is on 5/21 and we leave for Italy on 5/29. I hope you enjoy your trip - we'll have to compare notes upon our return! We received the DVD that Perillo just did and I paid close attention to what everyone was wearing. Seems the women wore dresses and gowns at the formal night. I'm going to pack a little black dress. Can't go wrong with that!

My husband and I took a 10-day Italian tour with Perillo in May/June 2001. We would not do it again. But I will start with the positives.

1. You are forced to see a lot in a short amount of time. If seeing a lot of stuff and roadside is important to you.

2. Nice if you are fearful about not knowing the language, and want someone to be in charge.

3. We had a very convivial group, and made some some good friends.

4. My husband had just had major back surgery 8 weeks before, and couldn't lift anything. It is nice to have someone schlep your bags for you. This also means you can take as much as you want to.

5. If you really want nice hotels, and are on a budget, this is a nice way to go.

OK, now the negatives.

1. WAY too much time on a PACKED bus, too little time on your own, too little time to spend the way you really want to.

2. Meals were included, and they were terrible, boring, Americanized. If we hadn't made friends with a fun couple, who didn't want to waste money, we would've gone out on our own and not eaten the dinner meals provided by Perillo. It was same-o, same-o every single night. This is almost sinful--to go to Italy and not enjoy the food.

3. The hotels could have been anywhere in the world. We have been back twice since the Perillo trip, and really do like to stay at smaller hotels, owned by Italian families. This makes us feel like we have really been with the people in Italy.

4. We had several major bus breakdowns. So...we were already being bused too much, and then wasted hours on the roadside to get the bus fixed.

5. MAJOR dislike: they will force the whole group to stop at factories that make various things, depending on the area you are in (cameos, wood art, etc.) and tell you they have great prices. Wrong! The prices were terrible, the tour guide gets a kick-back, and you waste precious time while 45 other people shop and shop and shop.


I would encourage you not to take a tour. But if you must, shop around. If we were to do a tour, we would take advantage of the airfare, lodging rates, but would forego meals and would try to find a tour that doesn't go to too many places. The bus rides are deadly. Our busrides were hot, crowded, and then again, there were those *&^#@ engine problems.

We will go on our 4th trip in two months. I use the Internet to do find everything. We feel very comfortable in Italy. You should try it!

I should've said, "In two months, we will go to Italy for our 4th trip."

Four trips in 2 months would be crazy! (But.....I'd do it! ;-)

Sicily/S, Italy/Rome - September, 2005

My dream trip was unsatisfactory due to uncomfortable hotel rooms (no hot water/no air-conditioning/flat,lumpy mattresses and pillows/noisy locations) and repetitive, mediocre meals --- all chosen by Perillo Tours. To that, add an overcrowded bus and no tour guides provided at some major Greek/Roman sites.

The hotel at Taormina (three nights) had a train rumbling past every 25 minutes from approximately 6AM until after midnight --- just between the property and the sea.

I had to change rooms a total of 6 times and what added insult to injury was that I paid Perillo a single-supplement fee over over $600, in addition to the high cost of the tour.

I wrote a letter to Steve Perillo expressing my legitimate complaints and received, in my opinion, a response from Customer Service that was dismissive and offered no remedy for my inconvenience and disappointment.

If you wish to have details, please write and I will be happy to provide them to you.