Tour or no tour?

April 2, 2007 9:03 AM

I’m hoping to go to Italy for a week in June with two of my friends. Should I go as part of a tour, or “a la cart”?

I’ve been to Europe before, but always as part of a tour or for work, so everything was taken care of with little input from me. This time, I’m just not sure how to go about things. We’re looking at tours, but they all seem really expensive (over $2000 bucks a person). We could probably get the flight tickets for around $1000-1200 a pop, so should we just build our own trip? We’d like to hit two cities, preferably Rome and Venice. We could take a train between the two. Would need two separate hotel rooms wherever we go. Any advice?

posted by silverstatue to travel & transportation (15 comments total)

It's all dependant on what you want. Want it easy and not have to worry, do the tour. Want flexibility, with a little uncertainty? Go solo. Solo has more opportunity for greatness, but also for suckiness, if things go bad you don't have a big immediate safety net.
This is a question that only you can answer because it depends on your level of activity, adventuresomeness, flexibility etc.
Ask yourself: did you enjoy the tours you took before? Are you willing to do all the initial set up work of planning your trip, renting cars, buying train tickets, booking hotels ... etc?

Myself? I eschew whole scale tours, at the most, I like finding local individuals who can show me around a specific area for a few bucks.
posted by edgeways at 9:26 AM on April 2, 2007

Italy is a pretty easy place to get around under your own steam. I've managed several times, going back 15+ years. Nowadays, with the ever-present 'net to fall back on for accommodation recommendations and reservations, there's no reason to worry. Go for it - you'll see more and enjoy more doing it your own way.
posted by Jakey at 9:32 AM on April 2, 2007

I don't know about Rome, but after traveling for 4 months in a fairly seat-of-the-pants fashion I don't think you'll have too much to worry about besides your comfort. With a guide book, only English fluency, and a willingness to sleep just about anywhere we had no trouble finding accommodations. We had a Eurail pass and arrived in the Venice train station around 9am. There were at least 10 guys waiting for anyone with a backpack to offer rooms for rent fairly cheap. We walked a few blocks, dumped off our stuff and in 20 minutes we were exploring the city.

That said, when we got back to the "hotel" that night and took a closer look at the room we found the sheets were kinda filthy, the room was full of mosquitos (and the wall spattered with squashed mosquitos) and we didn't want to sleep there. Even then, we were able to get out and find another (much cleaner) place to spend the night. In the morning I went back to the first place, paid the guy and left.
posted by roue at 9:40 AM on April 2, 2007

If you've done the tour thing already, and you're not afraid of Europe, this sounds like a wonderful opportunity to try a DIY trip. Then you'll *know* for the future if you want to do it again, and Italy's at least well-traveled enough that it won't be as much a nightmare to do yourself as some other places would be...

If you do it yourself, things you might want to consider:

Not renting a car unless you want to see the countryside (and maybe not even then) - it's expensive, they're manual only (unless you want to $PAY$), and you have to worry about parking. bummer.

Use Rick Steve's guidebooks. I haven't used the one for Italy, but he writes for DIY people that want an interesting, not-too-touisty experience but aren't in the Lonely Planet demographic. I've been happy with every one of the books I've used (except Portugal), and he very much specializes in Europe. At the very least, check out the forums on his webpage. There are a lot of great comments and recommendations that didn't make it into the guidebook, with recent feedback from travelers.

Go halfway: Find an Italian or someone who has visited before and truly loved it, and get their help on pulling things together. Some people like doing stuff like that. Heck, if I knew Italy, I would! ;-)

Don't go with a tight schedule. The most fun to be had is when you don't know where you're going and don't have every minute booked. Let things happen as they will, get lost, don't book every hour or every night. This is when your best memories of the trip will happen.

Don't worry much about language, but do try to pick up some friendly greeting and enough numbers to haggle on things. People everywhere in the world really appreciate if you try a little instead of launching into English...

Have fun. (Me, I also avoid the tour thing, and wish everyone the chance to make their own plans at least once.)

posted by whatzit at 9:44 AM on April 2, 2007

The decision really comes down to how much time and effort you want to put into planning your trip.

Money wise, the cost difference between solo and tour is probably going to be negligible (unless you were going to do the backpacker/hosteling thing)... Italy's a little cheaper overall, but you have realize the USD>Euro exchange rate sucks right now, and looks to get even worse.

I'm in the middle of planning a 2wk trip to Europe myself, and while it does take some significant time to plan, the planning process is a lot of fun itself. I've done the tour thing (in Italy, actually), and they can really maximize your sightseeing, but they can get irritating if you're the independent type.

I *highly* recommend picking up a current copy of Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door... its full of very solid and helpful travel advice. Also, if you're planning on going this June, decide relatively soon what you want to do, because its prime travel season and the popular tours/hotels/B&Bs fill up quick.
posted by dicaxpuella at 9:47 AM on April 2, 2007

If you're only doing two cities, don't take a tour. You only need to find two hotels/hostels, and you can pre-plan everything with no real effort.

Plus tours that go to Venice don't stay in Venice. They stay in Mestre, which is the closest mainland town and where they could fit big generic hotels. It's not great.
posted by smackfu at 9:55 AM on April 2, 2007

To reinforce some a couple things dicaxpuella said above:
> tours can... maximize your sightseeing
They can, if what you want is to see the major sights, take pictures, listen to the guide summarize the history, and move on the next scheduled destination. On your own, you get small restaurants, tucked away alleys, quiet moments in world heritage sites, local life, and sometimes lost. Depends what you're into.
> exchange rate sucks right now
boy, does it.
> prime travel season
seconded.
posted by whatzit at 10:00 AM on April 2, 2007

Unless you're very uncomfortable, don't take a tour! It's much more fun to do your own schedule, see the things you want to see, and spend the time where you want to spend the time, not get hustled around with some tour group. Explore the cities, the back alleys. You'll have a blast.

In terms of planning, it depends on what your goals are. I always have the most fun picking a couple of cities, having a few things 'on the list' and then talking to other tourists there, see what they have discovered, and explore your options like that. Once you've seen what you want to see, time to head to the next place! :)
posted by defcom1 at 10:04 AM on April 2, 2007

Eh, crappy cheap tours with 45 people are crappy. No shocker.

Good tours with 10 people or less in a minibus are great, but cost twice as much.
posted by smackfu at 10:06 AM on April 2, 2007

Similar question asked here.

The Rick Steves seven-day Rome itinerary is worth a look, with the trip to Venice as a substitution for the excursions he suggests. If you want to see Venice, you'll need a hotel in the centro storico: the advantage is that you'll be able to appreciate the city after dark and early in the morning, before the tour buses and day-trippers arrive.
posted by holgate at 10:06 AM on April 2, 2007

Thirding Rick Steves. The man is a genius. RICK STEVES I KISS YOU!!!1!
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:14 AM on April 2, 2007

build your own trip, there's no need for tours. just try to make a clear picture of what you're interested in (architecture? music? sculpture? paintings? nature? etc) and create your own itinerary. in the age of the Internet it's shockingly easy. if you need specific info just email me, I'll be happy to help if I can.
posted by matteo at 10:20 AM on April 2, 2007

I answered a question like this before. Verdict: no tour.

Cliffs Notes version:

- Your profile says you're in New York, which is great because there's more competition on the New York-Europe route than most other air routes in the world. Save money by flying to Dublin or London or Paris and then taking a low-cost airline to/from Venice/Rome - here's a round-trip ticket on Aer Lingus for a two-week trip in June from JFK to Dublin that's $400 less than your estimated cost of airfare - you should easily be able to find something less than $400 per person from Dublin to Rome, especially this far away.

- Don't be shy about flying lesser-known airlines flying these routes, like Air India (EWR-Paris, JFK-Heathrow), Kuwait Airways (JFK-Heathrow) or Pakistan International (JFK-Manchester). Often good deals can be found with travel agents catering to the South Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

- Look for hotels not just on online travel agencies like Travelocity or Expedia (which have all the big ones) but also on a hotel's own website/e-mail address. Almost all hotels, even the tiniest, will have somewhere you can e-mail for reservations.

- Check TripAdvisor.com's ratings for Rome and Venice hotels: they're sorted by how positively they've been reviewed by people who've actually stayed there.

- Guidebooks for places like Rome and Venice (ie, heavliy visited) are probably going to be fine for things like sights and museums, but talking with your hotel's owners/concierges might turn up some hidden gems.

- Italy's national train-ticket website is here: you can pick up online-booked tickets in the station (I think).

I haven't been to Venice, and if it's your lifelong dream or whatever to go there, then do it, but I wonder if it'll be a teeming mass of humanity in June. Have a great trip!
posted by mdonley at 11:06 AM on April 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

thanks for all the advice so far! i think we're definitely gonna go with building our own vacation. Actually, mdonley, we JUST discovered Aer Lingus an hour or so ago, and they look like our best bet so far.

i really want to see venice cuz i've never been there before, and i'd love to hit naples again because the blue grotto and pompeii were literally the most amazing places i've ever been in my entire life.

i dont mind things being loose and unplanned. i'm just worried about the monetary side of things. we are hoping to book our flights tonight or tomorrow. the hotel part scares me more. i'm not looking forward to calling random places in italy!
posted by silverstatue at 12:15 PM on April 2, 2007

Do it yourself. I did a week and a half with a friend, for $2500 total (transport, board, food, and shopping). Did Venice, Rome, and Florence. It was fun and easy. Tours suck.
posted by greta simone at 7:25 AM on April 3, 2007