My husband and I are planning to go to London, Paris, and Rome in June 2009. We are wanting to stay for approximatley 9-12 days. My husband wants to book through an organized tour group since we have never been to Europe before. I was wondering if anyone can recommend some groups that are reputable and enjoyable. Do you think $7,000 is realistic including airfare? Or do you think it is cheaper to travel on your own? Thanks for any advice from a very excited trip planner!

It's really hard to answer this as it totally depends on people and the tour, I think (as to whether it's a good idea or that you'd enjoy it).

I've taken a couple tours, including one of England and Scotland and Ireland, and really enjoyed them, but I did a lot of homework and the one I chose was more a "budget" tour. So it was a variety of people of various income categories and ages, most of whom I enjoyed, and meals were not included, not too many side tours, and modest hotels. I did that intentionally as I wanted to go out on my own to restaurants, and choose my own activites. When I did that, the tours I took were cheaper than doing it on my own, I compared, but that often is not true for more expensive ones. It was very convenient given my itinerary involved places you couldn't get to as easily sometimes (out in the country) and I had not traveled before so was learning the ropes.

The company I used doesn't exist any more, unfortunately, as I really liked them. However, you need to get a lot of recommendations and comments to choose a good one. If you were just going to UK, I wouldn't worry about the inexperience so much as there won't be language difficulties. But to be honest, if you really want those 3 cities in only 9-12 days, and are inexperienced European travelers, I think you should do a tour.

I presume that is for two people? So $3500 for about 10 days on the ground, plus airfare? No one can say without knowing where you are flying from and the level of hotels (and if it includes meals and side trips). Airfare is expensive in June and let's say that is also transportation in Europe, I'm sure. That alone could be probably about $2000 each, if you are in the US, given current airfares. So $1500 per person for accommodations and some tours, etc. That does seem reasonable, actually, for 10 days, but not bargain basement (depends on extras beyond hotel, I'd say).

Hard to answer with the ton of variables, but my experience is that a good tour company will cost about 30% more for the same trip. I would not do those 3 major cities in less than 12 days.

Since you're just interested in seeing major cities, I would suggest this: One good compromise between tours and independent travel is a package that includes accommodation, intercity travel and a few (sometimes optional) excursions in each city. For example, Costco.com offers a 10 day London-Paris-Rome package for about $2300 per person, and includes very good hotels and first-class rail service between cities. I don't know that you could do this on your own for much less.

If you find a tour company that only does cities please let me know as I haven't found one yet. Usually a tour involves both cities and smaller towns within a certain area. I think it would be very difficult to find a tour that only goes to London, Paris, and Rome.

These are very tourist-oriented places and you will have no trouble seeing them on your own. Everyone involved with tourism in Paris and Rome will speak English.

You can book walking or bus tours in any of these cities if you feel you'd like to. I love walking tours that are usually 2 hours long and concentrate on small areas or sights. All 3 cities have these tours.

It will take more time to organize your trip w/o a tour company but it will be your trip and not the tour company's. You'll decide what you want to see and when and you'll spend less money seeing the sights.

I also think that 12 days is not enough time for these 3 fabulous cities. You'll need to spend about half a day each moving from one to another so you'll lose 1 day in traveling. I would focus on London and Paris since they're close to each other and save Rome for another time when you can devote yourselves to Italy.

You can nearly always book on your own for less. But, there are many packages and tours where hotel rates and air fares are negotiated for much lower prices you could not book directly as an individual. And, for the airport transfers, admissions and ground transportation included (and some with many meals), packages and tours can be a very good deal if you shop carefully.

For a first trip, a tour or package is a good idea, as you are relieved of the time consuming burden of doing a lot of advance planning and research, such as what's open/closed when, getting around in each city, and just the job of coming up with a good itinerary for each place. Tour groups also have appointments at major sights which precludes waiting in long lines or figuring out how/if to purchase advance tickets.

If you do a Google search for "london paris rome tours", you'll find that there are many.

With a tour, you also have a much better idea of overall cost, and can avoid expensive mistakes (due to lack of experience).

When selecting a tour, it's a good idea to check hotel reviews (on TripAdvisor, for example) and their locations. If you'll have free time or evenings in cities, you want hotels that are conveniently located (and not rely on the tour brochure's descriptions).

I totally agree with at least 12 days for three cities. But, if you want to see those three cities on one trip, you should do that.

Have you looked at www.go-today.com? They seem to have all kinds of packages.

It looks like Go Today is offering an air and hotel package of London, Paris, and Rome but no sightseeing therefore it's not a "tour." Also the price is for 6 nights not 9-12 so the extended nights would increase the price.

When booking air/hotel packages you need to examine the hotel locations as they are not always in the center of the city and may require commuting time to get to main sights.

joelst,
I am not sure any of the above really answered your question. So I will add this. For a first-time Europe traveller, I think a tour would be your best bet. I disagree that doing it yourself is going to be less expensive, unless you want to book budget hotels (lots of research needed for location, etc) and eat in cheap restaurants, etc. With the US$ so low against the Euro and English pound, a tour purchased in US$ will help keep your costs in line and you will know what they will be for the basic tour which will include some sightseeing and meals plus hotels and transportation. Of course, you will only get a overview of each destination, but I think that is all you are expecting at this point. You can always to back for a longer visit if you see something you have not seen enough of. In choosing a tour, be sure the hotels are centrally located and understand what is included for meals and sightseeing and what are "options" which means extra cost. Globus, Trafalgar, Insight are good tour companies that are not the most expensive or the most budget. Europe for Americans is expensive no matter what so use your budget well. Good luck, they are great cities to visit and one visit will not be enough. I might suggest that you do your research on what you might want to see in each city for sure rather than spend it on shopping for hotels and meals. Just my humble opinion.

joelst, I looked at the Costco website posted and found the following 10 day tour that includes London, Paris and Rome. Looks interesting.

http://www.costcotravel.com/#lp_euro...ROM20080213___

Top first-class tour companies:

Trafalgar Tours
Brendan Tours
Globus
General Tours
Abercrombie/Kent
Colette

These tour companies have websites so you can visit to see costs and what is available.

I booked General Tours for my trip to India/Nepal in 2001. It was fantastic (and expensive).

I used Trafalgar for my trip to China in 2000. Again, it was a fantastic tour.

My mother and step-father used Brendan for their trip to Turkey. They were very pleased.

And I have a good friend who has been travelling with Globus for over 15 years.

Thingorjus

Thank you all so much for the information. I will look into some of the suggested tour companies and see what I can find. And yes, I am traveling from the US. Thanks again!

For one of our first trips to Europe, we used Go Ahead Tours. I found their customer service to be good, hotels to be typical tourist class, meaning basic and clean (the only reason I wouldn't use them again as I just prefer slightly nicer accommodations), and the lack of structure to be good. Tour Director was competent, local guides were good. All inclusive, including airfare, for three cities (London, Paris, Amsterdam for us) in 10 days, it was around $2K per person and I think their prices are still about the same based on recent literature I've seen. There were half day guided tours in each city and the rest was on your own. They do have a London, Paris, Rome trip.

Hi

I have used Trafalgar (3 star), Cosmos (3 star) twice and Insight (5 star) and can recommend them all. Costwise they compare very favourably with independent travel. It boils down to whether you want to take the "hassle factor" out of travel - me, I'm on holidays, so don't want to know about problems - or you don't mind this in return for freedom.

I have been on the following two Rick Steves tours and enjoyed them immensely:

2007 - Best of France
2008 - Best of Britain

www.ricksteves.com

Trafalgar is NOT the same class as Cosmos, which is a BUDGET TOUR Co.

Cosmos is the budget "arm" of Globus.

Thin

Yeah OK more specifically Trafalgar's CostSaver Tours

I have used Tauck Tours four times (two different tours to Italy; an alps of Switzerland, Germany and Austria tour; and another tour to Germany) and am taking a tour in October to Budapest, Vienna & Prague.

They are completely first class. They stay in amazing hotels in central locations (5-star hotels that I couldn't afford if I booked myself)and have many meals included (expansive buffet breafasts each morning and usually a la carte for lunch or dinner). They never attempt to sell you "extras" or try to get you to buy things from specific shops. They also usually have at least one or two special treats arranged, like a gondola ride with music or dinner in a castle (also included). They are by far the best tour company I have used.

I am good with languages, but it is so nice, especially on a first visit, not to have to worry about transportation (other than any independent sightseeing you want to do in, for example, Rome)or transporting luggage.

Their website is extremely informative and for each tour lists prices, the hotel for each night, included meals, etc. It is www.tauck.com.

I think there are plenty of tours that do three major cities like that. However, I agree that if one can't decide between tour or totally independent, a package may be the perfect combination. Those packages may often include one day's sightseeing in each city, plus accommodations and transfers.

www.go-today.com has a package of those three cities and it's probably around $2k per person in June. gate1travel has a good reputation, I know someone who did one of those and they were very good. www.gate1travel.com They have both packages and tours. I think you'd have to combine an Italy tour with a Paris+London tour to get that with them, though, and you couldn't in only 9-12 days.

You can do this one your own!! Planning is half the fun. Maybe after your first trip with a tour, you'll venture on your own

My widowed Dad likes to go on the coach tours. Earlier this year he went to Greece, part bus tour/part cruise. I worked with Lea at Affordable Tours. She sent me out the various brochures from the different companies mentioned above. We like to look at the hard copies and spread them all out comparing the different features although you can find the websites! We booked a Globus tour through her although I did the airfare separate from the package because I found a better deal with different airlines (delta vs. virgin atlantic and olympic airlines) so keep that in mind. The featured Delta flight also left San Francisco at 6AM. Too early!

Lea was great at answering all my questions and sending me email updates.
She could direct you, too. For a previous trip for Dad, I used Pavlus Travel and found a wonderful travel agent, but she has since moved departments.

You might want to plan on arriving a day or two ahead of the tour to get settled and deal with the jet lag. Often you can book the same hotel as your first night's stay on the tour. Again talk to the booking agent. You could also arrange to stay a day or two more as my dad did in Athens.

Good to start thinking this early!