Italy Tours Provide a Great Opportunity
See many sights and learn a lot about this great country
While much of this website is dedicated to exploring one specific town, we also want to cover the alternative way to visit this great country and that is through Italy tours. If you and/or your family likes to a have many adventures and see a wide variety of sites, then Italy tours may be a great choice. Of course our preference is that people include Vieste as part of their choice of Italy tours, but this page will explore those choices with and without a stop in our favorite Italian town.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Italy Tours:
The advantages of Italy tours are simple, and involve the variety and fun they provide, as follows:
1. Italy tours often give you the opportunity to meet new people who could become lifelong friends. Those who are on the same tour as you may be quite fun to be with, and you may even choose to go on another trip with them a some point. If you are a person or couple who likes meeting new people, or a family wanting the kids to meet other kids, Italy tours provide that type of opportunity. Even if you do your trip by yourself – choosing an path and then going in your own car, you still might meet some of the same people doing the same thing!
2. Italy tours often ensure that you see all the best sights, go to all the fun places, and learn all the important facts. A guided tour is put together carefully and thoughtfully to ensure that you see and hear the important and interesting things. And again, even if you are choosing one of the Italy tours that you will do in your own car, you can be certain that thought has gone into its preparation. In a related way, Italy tours allow you to try out a bunch of different places, and maybe next time you’ll choose to go to just one, your favorite along the way. (Maybe Vieste!)
3. Italy tours can avoid weather and other obstacles. Depending on how set in stone the itinerary is for your trip, you may be able to optimize where you are at any given time with regard to weather, crowds, or other factors that you might want to either enjoy or stay away from. Italy tours that you do yourself are a great way to accomplish this, and you should do your homework ahead of time to know how you might change things to optimize your trip.
Disadvantages of Italy Tours
1. Of course the main disadvantage of Italy tours is that you spend more time traveling than you would if you just chose one place to stay. For those who like to maximize relaxation on their trip, Italy tours may not be the best choice. This is particularly true of organized Italy tours where you can’t just change your mind when you find a great place you’d like to just stay.
2. Another disadvantage of Italy tours is that a lot might depend on who you are with, the group of people who’ve chosen the same trip as you. Now of course this can also be an advantage, but for those who like to travel alone or with only their own family, Italy tours may not be attractive since a lot of your time will be spent with the same people (unless, of course, you choose to do a tour yourself.)
3. Finally, a disadvantage of Italy tours is that you get a lit of a little as opposed to a smaller amount of something bigger. In other words, if you just went to Vieste you could spend a week really learning about its people, culture, and history, and come back with an in-depth knowledge. On the other hand, with Italy tours you may learn a little about a lot of different places. For some the latter is a more attractive option.
Sample Italy Tours
There are several paths you can take if you are looking to book the perfect trip. These Italy tours take advantage of geography and also common interests between many destinations that you can enjoy. Here are just two examples of potential Italy tours, one for those who want to see as much as possible, and the other for those who want to concentrate in one region:
Rome to Milan: This route is perfect for the person, family, or couple looking to see all the major sights there are to see in this wonderful country. In Rome you can visit the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s, and all of the other wonderful historical sights there are to see. On your way to Milan you can stop in Assisi to visit St. Francis’ Basilica. From there you might go to Florence to see the incredible art including of course Michelangelo’s David. And then for a wonderful change you can head to Venice to of course ride a boat and see the Bridge of Sighs. You could go to Milan from there but if you have the time you could stop in Verona. Your stop in Milan provides a perfect ending to your trip for the fun and excitement to be found there.
Northern Italy: In this more focused trip you could visit the northern cities of Milan, Parma, and Turin. You could concentrate on food which could tie the trip together, with visits to the very best restaurants in each s=city you choose to visit. Or you could focus in the rich history of the area, taking in the culture and historical sights along the way. This trip would not have as much travel as a country-wide trip, allowing you to spend a little longer in each destination. You could also do this one on your own, leaving a little extra time to stay in one place or another where you’d like extra time.
Packing for Italy Tours
One aspect of choosing Italy tours instead of a simple trip to a town like Vieste that is often overlooked is the difference in preparing. While it can be quite easy to pack for a stay in a town like Vieste, given that you have more control over when you stay in, when you go out, and where you go depending on the weather and what is going on. But with Italy tours you often have less control over your activities and what you do during the day. Of course this is not necessarily a bad thing, given that there is a benefit to seeing many places and enjoying the variety of what this wonderful country has to offer. But it does mean that you could miss out if you are not prepared.
Interestingly, choosing Italy tours presents a paradox when it comes to packing. Because you will be moving around a lot you will want to pack relatively light and in ways that make it easy to go from one place to another. Yet on the other hand you will want to make sure that you are well-prepared for any types of weather you will hit along the way, from rain to particularly hot days to particularly cool days. You may only be staying in one place for a few days and you don;t want to miss out in exploring that area just because you are not prepared. Thus packing for Italy tours does take some effort and thoughtfulness, but you will find that it can be done and done well, and the balance between packing light and having everything you need reached.
Other ways you need to prepare differently for Italy tours as compared to a simple trip to a place like Vieste is to pack the variety of supplies you need to cover all of the various activities there are to enjoy. You may need hiking boots for one area and a bathing suit for the next. You may want to bring a nice set of clothing to go to a play in one city, and clothes you can wear on a boat for another.
If you want a longer list, Lonely Planet does a nice job listing some potential tours of Italy