Guided tours to Italy

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Group tours, bus tours, and guided trips to Italy

A tour guide leading his charges through the streets of Rome.
A tour guide leading his charges through the streets of Rome.I hesitate even to talk about fully escorted tours because I believe they detract from the travel experience, insulate you from the culture and people, provide only a superficial view from the deepest rut of the beaten path, and feed you the lowest common denominator vacation.

However, I also realize they help some people feel far more comfortable with the idea of visiting a foreign country, especially for the first time.

So, in the spirit of "to each his own," I have created a FAQ (on a seperate page) of just what guided tours are like, whether they are right for you, and questions you shoudyl ask a prospective tour company. Full story

I have also compiled a list of some of the best tour companies in the business you can can pick the best guided tour out there for you.

I'm going to start with the Italy specialists, but in truth, if I had to recommend the three tour companies that will give you the best Italy experience, they would be the first three listed under "generalists": Rick Steves and, for the slightly more adventurous, G.A.P. and Intrepid.

Tours to Italy—The Italy specialists

Tourcrafters (www.tourcrafters.com) - Great values on everything from fully escorted tours to simple vacation packages. Just be sure to read the fine print. The prices are great, but not awlays quite as amazing as they seem at first, since Tourcrafters often stuffs all the fees, taxes, and fuel surcharges into the fine print. Annoying.

Perillo (www.perillotours.com) - If you haven't seen their commericals you haven't been watching TV for the past 20 years. Family travel firm founded in 1945 and now in its third generation, with an enormous focus on Italy (though they've added Hawaii and Israel in reent years).

Donna Franca Tours (www.donnafranca.com) - Italy specialist, offering independent vacations, escorted tours, and he ability to put together your own, personalized touring program. Not the cheapest, but of impeccable quality. Donna Franca and her team really know their stuff.

Italiatours (www.italiatourusa.com) - Former vacations branch of Alitalia (the Italian state airline), now run by TourPackagers.com. Everything from escorted bus trips to active adventures to learning vacations to daytrips and half-day experiences.

Central Holidays (www.centralholidays.com) - Long-established tour company specializing in Europe with Italy as its signature product—nearly 50 different trips, tours, and cruises, many with made-to-order themes like "Florence Cooking" or "Honeymoon in Venice & The Amalfi Coast."

Tours to Italy - The generalists

Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) - PBS superstar Rick Steves runs a highly-successful tour company that really tries to highlight all the best of the independent travel style espoused in his guidebooks and TV show in a group format. I've bumped into several of his tour groups over the years, and the participants always gush about what a great time they're having. He also keeps his groups smaller than most (24 to 28 travelers versus the 40 to 60 many big companies cram onto the bus), and the smaller the group, the more authentic the experiences each member is going to have (to say nothing of more room on the bus).

Intrepid (www.intrepidtravel.com) - One of only two only major tour outifts I know of that makes a concerted effort to travel like real independent travelers—small groups (max of 12 people), staying in mom-and-pop accommodations and getting around by public transport (trains, local buses, bikes, feet) rather than a big tour bus. Aimed at a slightly more adventurous, slightly younger crowd than Rick Steves, and even closer to true, independent travel.

Gap Adventures 2010 Italy trips
Ultimate ItalyGAP (13 days)
Cinque Terre Coastal WalkGAP (5 days)
Venice to Rome AdventureGAP (8 days)
Sicilian Volcano TrailGAP (8 days)
Northern Italy EscapeGAP (8 days)
The Taste of TuscanyGAP (8 days)
Amalfi CoastGAP (8 days)
Italy Family AdventureGAP (10 days)
Trekking Mont BlancGAP (10 days)
Rome to Athens AdventureGAP (9 days)
Prague to Venice AdventureGAP (10 days)
France to Italy AdventureGAP (13 days)
Paris to Venice AdventureGAP (21 days)
Venice to Istanbul AdventureGAP (25 days)
Paris to Rome AdventureGAP (28 days)
Marrakech to Istanbul AdventureGAP (61 days)
Paris to Cairo AdventureGAP (65 days)
Marrakech to Cairo AdventureGAP (81 days)
G.A.P. Adventures (www.gapadventures.comGAP) - The other major outfitter with small group sizes and a devotion to seeing its destinations more like an independent traveler. G.A.P. trip range from the more tour-like Comfort and Original trips to the gnarlier Active and Overland ones. Drawbacks: no airfare (yet), and quoted prices are not as inclusive as some others (read the fine print to find out about lots of on-the-ground costs, often including most meals).

They offer between 15 and 20 Italy trips each year (see box on the right)—some focused more on sightseeing; others more physcial and active (lots of hiking and biking), and a few include Italy as part of grander overland treks across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

InfoHub (www.infohub.com) - Not a tour company, rather a kind of aggregator of trips offered by tour companies. it casts one of the largest nets over the industry, listing some 14,000 tours offered by 4,000 operators in more than 100 categories—everything from artists' workshop to llama trekking, nudist resorts to biblical tours, language schools to personal guide services.

InfoHub's search engine returns results listed by trip rather than by company (for example, it lists nearly 100 bike tours in Italy, but those are offered by just 15 companies). Still, I guess if you could care less the name of the outfitter and are just looking for a selection of 10-day bike tours across Tuscany and Umbria, this is the best way to do it. You don't book trips directly. You are essentially sending away for a brochure (or a contact) from the actual tour companies. Full story

iExplore Italy trips 2010
General/Misc
Family Amalfi Coast: Pompeii & Pizza (8 days)
Amalfi Coast & Bay Of Naples (8 days)
Luxury Wine Tour of Apulia (9 days)
Italy Experience (9 days)
Luxury Wine Tour of Umbria (9 days)
Italy Select (9 days)
Southern Italy Experience (9 days)
Switzerland & Italy Experience (13 days)

Biking
Italy Active—Tuscany (6 days)
Cycle Through Siena & Chianti (8 days)
Dolomites to Venice Ride (8 days)
Tuscany Singletrack (8 days)
Puglia: Cycle The Heel Of Italy (8 days)
Cycling Venice And Veneto (8 days)

Walking
Chianti: Walking & Wine (8 days)
Tuscan Delights (8 days)
The Amalfi Coast (8 days)
Walking in Tuscany (8 days)
Walking In The Western Dolomites (8 days)
Walking In Sardinia (8 days)
Walking the Italian Lakes (9 days)

Hiking/Trekking
Hiking in Piemonte (8 days)
Classic Dolomites (8 days)
Hiking in Ticino (8 days)
Hiking Monte Rosa (8 days)
Tour Du Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) (8 days)
Mont Blanc Highlights (8 days)
Introduction to Via Ferrata (8 days)
Via Ferrata Tour (8 days)
Via Ferrata In The Northern Dolomites (8 days)
The Matterhorn Circuit (9 days)
Trekking Mt. Blanc (12 days)
Mont Blanc Hotel Trek (15 days)
Mont Blanc Circuit (15 days)
Cilento & Amalfi Trek (15 days)

Skiing & Snow Sports
Cross-country Skiing: Asiago (8 days)
Cross-country Skiing: Dobbiaco (8 days)
Snowshoeing In The Dolomites (8 days)
Mont Blanc Winter Activity Week (8 days)
Cross-country Skiing: Versciaco Skating Course (8 days)
iExplore (www.iExplore.com) - The number one–ranked website for adventure and experiential travel—and it provides the adventure tour booking engine for everyone from Expedia to the Travel Channel to Frommer's and Lonely Planet's websites. (Given its excellent catalog, it's also a ReidsItaly.com partner.)

It's been around for more than a decade now and was recently acquired by TUI, which owns more than 30 major travel brands. That means iExplore incorporates all the tours from sister company Adventure Center, a major player able to maintain low prices on hundreds of adventures on all seven continents by contracting with expert local outfitters and other specialist operators.

Around 40 Italy trips each year, with a nice spread of styles. There are more traditional tours that emphasize cultural experiences, upscale trips (luxury wine tours of Apulia or Umbria, including gourmet meals), moderate walking vacations (the Italian lakes, Chianti Walking & Wine), and gnarly physical adventures (trekking Mt. Blanc).

Interestingly, unlike most tour companies, which stick to cookie-cutter chain hotels, iExplore's city trips tend to use trendy boutique hotels. Not included: Airfare, meals in cities (except on wine trips).

Go-Today.com (www.go-today.com) - The price champ on air-hotel packages also sells escorted tours. They seem to operate under a "we will not be undersold" attitude on such packges. Tour prices are also very competitive—though I've never heard any feedback about quality, so I can't speak to it.

Sceptre Tours (www.sceptretours.com) - Famous for its package vacations, Sceptre also now runs nearly a dozen escorted motorcoach tours of Italy at amazingly low prices.

Brendan (www.brendanvacations.com) - Well-established and highly regarded general tour company with loads and loads of Italy trips lasting from 6 to 16 days. There are 43 itineraries of just Italy alone, and another 25 European ones that include Italy as part of a wider-ranging trip. Note that tours listed as "Escorted" are just that—fully escorted bus tours. Those listed as "Locally Guided" are more of air-hotel-transport packages with a local tour in each city—though these are the generic kind of city tours you could book on your own.

Friendly Planet Travel (www.friendlyplanet.com) - Popular low-cost tour company Stronger in exotic locales (Asia, Africa, etc.), but there is usually an Italy itinerary in there as well.

Grand Circle (www.gct.com) - Top tour company for the senior set, aimed squarely at the over-50 market (though skewing older than that—and no, I'm not implying that over 50s are seniors; I'm just trying to provide a sense of the typical tour participants). Usually the full soup-to-nuts tours, inclusing nearly nealry all meals, sightseeing, etc., and paced reasonably—you see a lot, but not a a whirlwind clip. Prices are guaranteed (no surprise fuel surcharges or anything). Usually a hanfdul (3–4) Italy tours, plus another handful of cruises that include Italy.

Liberty Travel (ww2.libertytravel.com) - One of the biggest old school travel agencies, with offices across the country. The kind of place where you still call up and arrange everything in person. May not be the cheapest, but impeccable quality and pretty much guaranteed to run smoothly.

Gate1 Travel (www.gate1travel.com) - One of the consistently cheapest tour providers around. They cover the entire world and offer a range of travel "products" from about a dozen escorted tours of Italy to several air-hotel packages. Also, they're based in Glenside, PA, a little over a mile from where I grew up (that's just a coincidence, but I think it's cool).

Globus/Cosmos (www.globusandcosmos.com) - The kings of the escorted bus tour (generally, Cosmos is the cheaper option, Globus aims for "first-class" travel).

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This material was last updated March 2010. All information was accurate at the time.

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