Italy Tours

For some people, taking a trip to Italy is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream - so you want to be sure to do it right. Whether that means you plan the trip yourself or you hand the reigns to a capable travel agent, your goal will be the same: You don’t want to miss anything.

Booking a tour of Italy can be a good way to make sure you see the highlights in the most efficient way, but you don’t have to book a tour covering the whole country in order to take advantage of a tour guide’s local expertise. You can be on an entirely DIY trip and join a few city tours or attraction-specific tours as you travel through Italy, getting the most out of each stop without being tied to a tour’s schedule.

Here are a few of the different options available to you if you’re contemplating Italy tours - country-wide tours, city tours, day trips, or adventure trips - with some links to find out more about each one.

Italy Tours

Booking a tour of all of Italy can be a good option for anyone who’s never been to Italy before (or never traveled before), or people who don’t have much time to dedicate to researching and booking their own trips.

Not all tours are created equally, especially when it comes to a popular destination like Italy, so be sure to read about what the tour companies you’re considering are like to make sure you’ll be comfortable on any tour you book.

A few things to keep in mind when comparing Italy tours:

• How large are the tour groups?
• How much free time is allowed on a given day?
• What’s included in each city? Will admission charges, hotel taxes, guided tours, etc. cost extra?
• What level of transportation is standard? Is it all big buses or public transit?

City Tours in Italy

Rather than booking a whole Italy package trip you can plan your own trip to whatever places you want and then book guided tours in the various cities you visit - or even to specific attractions within those cities. This way you get to dictate your own pace and plan your own route, while still enhancing your knowledge of a place through the expertise of a local guide.

Nearly every city in Italy has an array of local guides who offer different kinds of tours - there are walking tours, shopping tours, bike tours, ghost tours, hiking tours, boat tours, art tours, night tours, even Segway tours. Sometimes the tours cover only certain sights in a city, other times they focus on an aspect of that city’s history. You can book these before you leave home, but you can also wait until they’ve reached a destination before they check out what’s on offer at the local tourist information office.

>> You can get a better idea of what to do in Italy to see what your options are.

>> Some of my favorite guided walks in Italy are by Context Travel - they started in Rome, and now have tours in Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and ten other places in Italy, as well as cities around the world.

Day Trips in Italy

Another way to incorporate the expertise of local guides into your Italy trip is to go on organized day trips from any of the cities you visit.

If you’re in a place long enough to see its highlights and have some time leftover, day trips are an excellent way to fill that time - especially if you’re in a central enough location that there are ample opportunities for great day trips nearby.

Here are some articles on great day trip options from some of Italy’s most popular destinations:

• Day Trips from Florence
• Day Trips from Milan
• Day Trips from Naples
• Day Trips from Rome
• Day Trips from Venice

Adventure Trips in Italy

Italy may be more commonly known for its art, history, and fashion than its status as an adventure travel destination, but this small country is packed with activities to excite any adventurous traveler.

Some of the trips calling themselves “adventure tours in Italy” are simply the kind of tours that independent travelers love - they’re the sort of small group trips they’d have organized for themselves when they had more time, but now that they have more money they’re happy to leave the logistical juggling to someone else. They’re not big bus tours, and they often allow for lots of free time in each destination, they just take care of things like accommodation, transportation, and a few guided tours of major attractions.

Other Italy adventure tours do more to live up to the word “adventure” in their name - they involve outdoor sports and activities as often as possible. Whether you’re up for this kind of tour is something you’ll need to decide - just be sure to read the descriptions of the tours you’re considering to make sure the activity level is what you want for your vacation.

photos, top to bottom, by: A.M. Kuchling, stu_dio, Jessica Spiegel (and may not be used without permission), FLORENCEandTUSCANYtours