Tourist Guide when visiting Italy Thoughts?
 

We are taking our honeymoon trip to Italy and have narrowed a time down to the end of April maybe first week of May. A few people have mentioned they had a tour guide and they loved it and worked out great for them. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone gone this route? Thank you.

If I was on my honeymoon, I'm not sure I'd want the additional company. Three's a crowd and all that...

First, we need to know where you are going in Italy and what your interests are. Pop in those details and we can help a lot more.

dave

We like to do our own thing - information is so easy to come by, on the web, at your local library, books and DVDs...

But there was one instance where a guide was much appreciated: In Siena. We booked one of the many escorted buses that leave Florence every morning and are met in Siena by a guide, and not only was ours excellent, but we could hear the ones lecturing groups before and after ours and they all seemed to be excellent. We learned more in those few hours about what we were seeing than in the many hours of preparation before the trip.

When we were is Italy we had a private tour guide is Tuscany that was originally an American. It was the hilight of our trip. I wish I remembered his name. I would go again when we visit in June.

When we were in Italy, we spoiled ourselves by hiring a driver/guide. Not only did it free us from figuring out driving customs and directions, but we were both able to look out the windows at the amazing views. Our driving tour of Rome was one of the highlights of the trip; we enjoyed our driver's commentary on the city, and we covered a larger area than if we had attempted a walking tour. The vehicle was a MB Van, and was comfortable and clean. The agency we used also offered private guided tours of many places in Italy, of which we took the Tivoli day trip out of Rome. Although you may find this is a high price range, we felt the service was worth the expense. ladolcevitatours.com

We would like to see Rome, Venice, and Florence. Only 10 days with travel included. I think that Venice is a must for us. I'm not sure we will have enough time or when we would ever get the chance to go back. We love the idea of someone helping us out and guiding us through all the history of Italy. I just want to make sure that we choose the right tour company. We are actually getting married on December 4th and this would be a late honeymoon. What kind of temp would I expect late April beginning of May? We are loooking for a really nice hotel and great restaurants. Thanks to everyone who is so responsive, I really appreciate it.

I think a combination of self-guided day trips and hiring a private tour guide would be ideal. We were entirely self-guided on our 3 week trip to Italy last October. While it was great fun, I could have used an occasional break from all the driving and the decision-making on what we were going to do each day. Being able to enjoy some vino with a meal and not worrying about having to drive afterwards would have been a nice change. For a trip of that length, I would say 3 days or so of guided tours would have worked perfectly for us. YMMV.

A good guide and their connections can tell and show you things that you wouldn't otherwise hear/see, can answer questions, etc. They can give you a lot more insight into a locale than most tourists are able to obtain on their own. That said, there are certainly things you can experience while doing your own thing that can be once-in-a-lifetime events.

Of course, if using a guide the key is to find a good one. Using a forum like this is a good place to start. Good luck!