Hi everybody.
We are planning our first trip across ITALY and are at odds as to whether we should consider doing a tour or doing it ourselves. The holiday period is for approx 5 weeks an we are fluent in the language. The cities we would like to see are Rome, Positano Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Lake Como & Milano. we are keen to learn of your experiences.. Both on tours and DYI itineraries. ie. the pros and cons of one against the other.
expected costs differences etc many thanks

My Italian is terrible and I have now gone on myself on 3 two week trips to Italy. I surf and read books before i go and make great use of Tourist Info and blackberry. What have I missed (I don't know!).

I have seen the herds moving by bus and generally find I'm just arriving as they leave (I first saw the Tower of Pisa at 10 at night)

Hi LP,

Five weeks in Italy. Lucky you.

Take a tour if you like:

Getting up very early to have your luggage ready

Changing hotels every night or two

Staying with the same people week after week

Being taken to places that someone else thinks is interesting

Staying in hotels outside the city center

Dining at places that someone else thinks are interesting

Being taken to various craft factories and shops to buy souvenirs

Paying extra for all of the above.

OR

Fly into Venice (or Milan) and out of Naples (or Rome) and visit all of the places that you want to see in between.

A car is a good idea for Tuscany.

Enjoy your visit.

I think that since you have so much time available and you speak the language, you can create your own itinerary. Also, you can contain costs more easily primarily due to the full range of accomodation to choose from.

Tours serve a purpose (we certainly enjoyed our first trip to Europe using one), but I think you could do fine on your own.

You may have difficulty finding tours for five weeks anyway - most that I've seen seem to be a couple of weeeks with one or two night stays in each place. As you have the time, and speak Italian, you should have a much better time on your own.

In your position, I'd divide the time up at:
Rome 1 week
Positano 1 week
Florence 3 nights
Somewhere in rural Tuscany (or Umbria if you aren't set on Tuscany) 1 week
Milan 2 nights
Venice 5 nights
Como 4 nights

Not necessarily in that order! With weeklong stays in most places you can really get a feel for the places you're staying and could look into apartments or villas rather than hotels if that appeals. You should have a lovely time.

I think you wil finnd that there are very few tours that would do 5 weeks in Italy. Most tours are for people who want to move quickly and just scrape the surface of a bunch of different places.

since you already speak Italian and know where you want to go I see no benefit whatever in taking a tour - unless you are unable to deal with luggage yourself.

Generally you will get more for your money on a do it yourself trip (since you're not paying for a tour guide or the tour company's profit). You also get to pick what hotels you want, see what sights you want, don;t have to get up at 6 am to wait for a lot of other people to turn up for a long bus ride, do a lot of "shopping" at places that give kickbacks to the guides - and eat in awful restaurants that are willing to take groups of 40 people.

You don;t say who/how many you are. And that may affect your desire for a tour (plus or minus). But speaking the language and knowing what you want to see I would do exactly what I wanted.

I've been to Italy about 9 times - either vacation/busines or both - and would never consider a tour.

For your itinerary I would land in Rome, spend several days there, then rent a car, drive in a large circle (south then north) and return from Milan. You can also travel by train if you prefer - but we always do road trips - since we like the greater freedom to change plans as we like and see whatever hits our fancy.

Even though I enjoy traveling independently I sometimes encourage posters here to take tours (bad me!) especially for their first trip to a country like Italy with so much to see. But you have so much time! you don't have to maximize limited days. And with good planning traveling on your own will be cheaper than a tour. Get a guide book, read thru posts here, then ask more questions to fine tune. You might want to book some site tours, like in Rome, but like another poster said, I don't think there are 5 week tours available even if you wanted one. Have a wonderful trip!

Hi everyone,
My sister and I are leaving on the 22nd of January for Rome, the fco airport, picking a car up and driving to Assisi to stay at the san francesco for three nights. We would also like to see cinque terre, portofino, san gamignano, montepuluciano, orvieto and pienza. I have never been to Italy and volunteered to drive. Is there anyone who can help with this itenerary? I hope that it is possible we have from the 23rd of Jan until the 5th of Febuary, we also want to see Rome before we fly out from there. I would appreciate any help not much time before we leave.

mrsm9211,

Probably best to post a separate question, since your question will not be seen by people bypassing a thread on tours.

Lina_Peter

I've done both types of trips, tour and independent travel and have enjoyed both. With five weeks you could do a combination of both types of travel: i.e. take a tour for one or two weeks and then travel on your own the rest of the time.

The only tour company I have used is Rick Steve's (www.ricksteves.com) and I enjoyed all three trips. His website has several tours for Italy including one that just covers southern Italy. Though it is not on your list, he also has a tour listed for Silicy only.

My parents once took a week long bus
tour of the Scottish highlands and were stuck for the week with people who wanted to know why the Scots
didn't use "real money".

They couldn't wait for it to end.

Rob

thank-you so much for taking the time to answer our question your advise was of great help, you have certainly confirmed wanted we wanted to do. there are four of us traveling and are happy to share accommodation and hire car expenses which will help with keeping the cost down. We are all open minded and looking forward with much excitement to the challenge off returning to our mother country and having a fantastic trip. you will here from us again so you can help us fine tune our trip, for you all were very helpful. thanks again

Wherever we go, we like to take short tours - walking, biking, bus, carriage, etc - in addition to doing our own thing. This allows us the flexibility to plan our trip how we want and still have a guide to show us around when we want one.

I find that a guided tour of some sort is great the first day in a new city.

And by the way - I am totally jealous of you - 5 weeks in Italy

Tour Verses, done by myself:

Oh, you may talk of package tours,
Of pre-paid meals, and a store which bores,
Of bussing on highways and repellent "thrones"
And the nitwit guide -- on he drones.

"Breakfast at seven -- and don't be late --
I've nonsense on great art to prate.
No time to stop before that view --
No matter it's one Leonardo knew."

"For we have got a schedule to keep
And a chain motel in which to sleep,
And a chain motel in which to sleep."

I like tours because everything is all set up for us. It is a major time saver. I like Rick Steves tours. www.ricksteves.com