To Tour or Not to Tour Part 2
 

A few of you may remember the trip I was planning for May of 2012. I got some amazing help and motivation from all of you and I am still so thankful for that! Unfortunately, I am sorry to say the trip did not take place. Life happened and put it on hold. So here I am, back at it again! I did so much research two years ago we have an amazing start.
These were my original threads if you are interested. I still like my itinerary from two years ago but I am playing with a couple changes and of course have a couple questions.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-419917-2.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-questions.cfm

I am now looking at the same trip but two years later (almost exactly) May 2014 is the goal. Originally I planned 2 weeks but after waiting two more years for this trip I am now thinking 2.5-3 weeks.
The reason this thread is called "to tour or not to tour part 2" is I have not ruled out the touring option. I have revised it. I don't feel the need for a tour in Venice, 5 Terre, Siena, rural Tuscany etc. It is Rome and Florence that intimidate me. I don't want to miss anything that is right in front of my face and I don't want to get lost. I want this to be fun for my husband and I and the last two years have solidified our "country mouse" status. I think a tour would relieve some unwelcome stress.
So new plan: Start in Rome. If I can find a tour that hits Rome and Florence with Pisa and a few of the gems in the middle wonderful. Any suggestions? If not I could do a Rome tour. Train to Florence, have another tour planned there for the city sight-seeing. After that take it on our own. I would like to spend some time in Tuscany or the Hill Towns and then move on to 5 Terre. We would end in Venice flying home to Seattle from there. This is my new plan. I would love advice. I have checked out a few smaller tours like www.romedrivingtours.com and www.italyourway.com They have great reviews but I am still exploring my options.

Thank you for taking me back. Your wonderful advice from two years ago was not wasted!I am enjoying it all over again.

Forgive my typos I wrote this is a hurry before work :)

HI Charlotte,

honestly, I do not think that you need a tour to see Rome and Florence. My advice would be to turn your trip round, and START in Venice, [just like you planned first time round] which is a wonderful introduction to Italy and helps to "gentle" you into the atmosphere and italian way of life. Then pick up a car and tour gently over to Pisa, where you could dump the car and go to the CT, then get the train to Florence [one day bus trip to Siena and possibly San Gim] and finally get the train to Rome. That way you should have your Rome "legs" when you get there - arriving there straight from the US could be somewhat of a shock! [in the same way that an italian from a small village arriving in NYC might have a shock].

Actually your trip is very similar to one that DH and i did when we were similar ages to you and your DH, though this was 30+ years ago. We too were country mice and Italy came as a bit of a shock to us then. but if you take it slowly, resist the temptation to try to drive in any big cities, and do your planning, you should be fine. My friend who has barely been out of Cornwall is in Rome with her husband now for the third time - they love it.

Rather that pay a lot of money for driving tours [who needs a car in Rome] I would suggest using one of the walking tour operators, possibly both for Rome and Florence; they will make you feel more comfortable and bring the cities and sights alive as well. Context Roma gets very good reviews, but I'm sure that there are others.

I agree that you do not need a tour to see just about any city in Italy.

You already said you did all kinds of research. You can do all kinds of research about Florence and Rome so you won't feel "intimidated." And I am not sure what the "intimidation" thing is about anyway so perhaps you could explain that a bit more.

Intimidated due to the size of the places? You are NOT going to be in every part of either one of those cities so who cares how BIG they are? The parts you are probably going to BE in and the things I suspect you are most likely to want to see are often within walking distance, especially in a city like Florence.

OK, so one day you actually DO get lost...that's why you are going to have a MAP with you.

Tours are great there is no question and they "handle" a lot of details. And not every tour is the nightmare a lot of people here would like you to think they are. They can make your time in a place very efficient but you have to COOPERATE and for some folks, THAT is what makes a tour "bad."

<< I don't want to get lost >>

I agree that city tours/walking tours are the way to go in Rome and Florence. You can either take a prearranged tour or hire a private guide for part of the time and have a custom itinerary.

The I don't want to get lost part is something that you should not worry about. So what if you get lost. Haven't you ever been lost at home? You're not the only person to have this worry and yet I don't understand it. You're not out in the wilds, walking the Pacific Crest Trail where there is not another person in sight. You're in major cities where there are people, shops, hotels, restaurants, etc. - many places you can ask people for directions.

Have you ever considered the serendipitous things you could experience if you get lost? I once didn't realize that I had to change trains, wound up at the last stop, and had the most delightful afternoon on Lake Constance while waiting for the next train. I still remember the experience. I would never have seen Lake Constance except for "getting lost."

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-list.cfm?135
http://www.italy.artviva.com/
http://www.contexttravel.com/
http://www.romanodyssey.com/
http://www.icontours.com/HOME.html
http://www.enjoyrome.com/walking/index.html
http://www.vaticantoursinc.com/

I highly recommend Artviva; we took two of their walking tours on our first visit to Florence. Context Tours in Rome is very well regarded.

Florence is really quite easy to navigate as the major sights are within walking distance. I know many people on this board are not fans, but Rick Steves books are a great place to start for the novice traveler. That being said, I have seen many of the tours listed above in Adrienne's thread mentioned positively on this website for visiting Rome.

I agree with others that Florence really isn't intimidating. Most of the sights are located within the compact historic center, which is largely pedestrianized and very walkable between sights. Rome I can understand more, as it can be a bit overwhelming. How about doing the rest of Italy on your own, and seeing just Rome with a tour? Rick Steves offers a 7 day tour of Rome that might be just the ticket. He allows a fair amount of free time to complement the structured part of the trip, so you'd have a bit of the best of both worlds.

Thanks again. I do like the walking tour idea. Thank your for having confidence in me to do it in my own. If it was just me I wouldn't be afraid of getting lost. I am the one doing most of the planning of this trip though and I don't want 100% of the responsibility of knowing where I am all the time haha. I like to just discover things as they come! I will take your advice on Florence and try it alone.
Another Rome worry is the booking of all the sites correctly. Again I don't want my mistake to be the reason we don't get to see the Sistine Chapel!

I didn't feel the need for a tour in either Rome or Florence. I did not get lost in either city. Just be sure you have a guidebook that gives accurate maps. (I've always found The Rough Guide particularly useful in part because it has very good maps.)

I have been on several tours, but truly feel you do not need a tour in order to visit these particular locations. They are easy to navigate. If you decide you want to do a tour, I highly recommend Rick Steves. I have been on four trips. Another suggestion would be to look at an INDEPENDENT trip with http://www.gate1travel.com. They book the travel and make the arrangements, but there is not a tour. I recently did this type of trip, and it was very reasonably priced. They offer optional excursions that you might be interested in.

Costco Travel also does amazing independent trips; we did Rome/Florence/Venice/Paris by train 2 years ago, and booked individual walking tours and "skip-the-line" admissions as needed. The accommodations, in particular, were wonderful.

you don't need to worry about not seeing the Sistine chapel - just book your entry to the vatican museums through the vatican website:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

[you might also be interested in the tour of the excavations under St Peter's - known as the Scavi tour]

for the colosseum and forum you have a choice - either buy a Roma pass and use it to get in as one of your first 2 sights [the first 2 are free with the pass] or book direct with the colosseum:

http://www.ticketclic.it/Gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

[you can also book a tour of the dungeons and upper levels of the colosseum].

in Florence, there is a relatively new florence pass which gives you free access to virtually all the museums and monuments.

http://www.firenzecard.it/?lang=en

no way you can possibly miss anything then!

Thank you all again!
I am researching the walking tour suggestions from Adrienne and I like what I see!
Annhig if I book entry to the Vatican/colosseum through their websites does that allow me to "skip the line"? Also thank so much for the info on the Firenze card!
Great advice everyone!

Hi Charlotte,

yes, those with tickets go straight in. ditto if you've got a Firenze card, except that at the Uffizi, sometimes ticket holders have an inexplicable wait.

Bookmarking