Wife and I celebrating our 30th this year. Looking at the 14-Day Classics of Italy and it's about $9k per person, flights not included. Wife loves the idea of a tour and has always sacrificed to my preference for travel freedom. She deserves a nice tour but, wow, didn't expect this price.

There might be some other vendors that have some better rates. I have a list of tour companies on my laptop I can provide tomorrow. Avanti, Collette, Cosmos, Contiki, Gate 1, Globus, Monograms are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

RAB87 said:

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Wife and I celebrating our 30th this year. Looking at the 14-Day Classics of Italy and it's about $9k per person, flights not included. Wife loves the idea of a tour and has always sacrificed to my preference for travel freedom. She deserves a nice tour but, wow, didn't expect this price.

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That sounds really expensive to me. If it lists all the places you're going, plan your own tour and save

a few thousand. Where is it Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice, Verona?

As JMac03 wrote, I'd definitely check other sites. It seems way too expensive.

We love Tauck and have done a couple of tours with them.
We liked the Italian Lakes (or whatever the tour is called that includes Lake Como) tour better then the Classic Italy tour although both were great. The Florence, Venice, Rome part of both tours was very similar and would not choose one tour over the other for these 3 cities. Although the hotels for the Lake Como tour were much much nicer. For example the Italian Lakes tour used the St Regis in several cities and the Classic Italian tour used the Westin Excelsior line. Simply different levels of accommodations. The Westin Excelsior in both Rome and Venice are seriously in need of renovations. The hotel in Venice was so bad we complained, so maybe they switched hotels now (the only truly bad hotel we have every stayed at on a Tauck tour). Highly recommend the Hotel Danieli in Venice.

With Italian Lakes really liked Sienna and Bellagio. With the classic Italian tour really liked Sorrento, Pompei, the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre. The hilltop towns (Assisi and San Gimignano) in the classic Italy tour are really beautiful but very very touristy. The hotel in Montrepetriolo was an old castle transformed into a hotel and was fantastic.

We have always enjoyed the friends we make with Tauck and keep in touch with several people across the country. It is nice never having to deal with your luggage as they handle your luggage from airport pick-up until airport drop off. Your luggage will be waiting in your room when you arrive at each hotel and they will pick it up to transport it to the next place. The meals they provide are first class with wine included and when they send you to a restaurant you order whatever you want on the menu (no choices to choose from) including alcohol.

Sorry this is rambling...but we just did this tour this past summer. We took the four adult children with us and would do it again in a heartbeat.

We've done a couple of Adventures By Disney tours, and I'm doing my research, Tauck offers a comparable product. I wouldn't hesitate to book a tour with them. I heard recently that they are offering a promotion of $750 flat rate airfare from the US to Europe. Based on my experiences the last few years, that's a pretty good deal.

The Classic Italy with Tauck includes Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Pompeii, Rome, Orvieto, Perugla, Assisi, San Gimigoano, Viareggio, Cinque Tierre, Florence, and Venice. So very thorough but, at ~9000 per person, substantially more expensive than similar tours with other companies. One good thing is they are offering the flat rate $750 flights.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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No they aren't worth the price, next question.

In all seriousness these tours are designed for people who don't want to plan anything and don't care how much they spend. My brother did a family one to Italy for 4 people for like $40K for 2 weeks. My wife and I did 2 weeks for about $5K.

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Wow, can't imagine having that kind of money and/or not caring enough to spend $40k for a trip like that. My wife and I just did our honeymoon in Europe in Sept/October. We did Munich (Oktoberfest), Prague, Tuscany and Rome for under 5K.

my mom and step dad love Tauck Tours.

Pricing is probably similar to a Traveling Aggies trip, I'd look one of theirs up so at least you can travel with some fellow Ags.

I have not done Tauk but have done Far Horizons several times which I really like from a scholastic aspect. Seems more acedemic than a traveling Aggies which actually has good value in my opinion.

We are doing the TA to the Arctic in June. This is a joint University trip meaning albeit a small boat, has quite a few colleges joining the cruise with some bringing their researchers for discussion and lecture.

My wife and I have had great luck going on the internet and finding a tour guide who can drive us anywhere we want to go. The guide can help you find good hotels and restaurants and can get you tickets for museums, tours, etc. They can take you to some wonderful places off the beaten path, and help you avoid tourist traps. Interestingly, the cost for a guide including your hotel and meals is about the same as a packaged tour. If you have another couple or kids with you, then the cost per person is even less.