Should get a tour guide for our trip to Italy.?

Question

My husband and i are thinking of going to Italy, I was looking into perillo tours. Has anyone used them before, and do they recommend them, or do we even need a tour guide. I want to see the best of Italy and do not know if just a guide book and a map will do.

Answer 1

Hi I live in Italy and work in a hotel.  I can tell you it's best to do the trip on your own. I've seen some of these so-called Italy package deals and they seem so ****.ty.....stay in Verona for 1/2 a day, Pisa for 2 hours, etc.  At the end, what will you see?  Nothing!   Also, if you are on your own you can see what you want to see and for how long you want to see it, eat where you please, do what you want, etc.  So yes, a guide book and map will do just fine.  Enjoy your trip to Italy.

Answer 2

You want to see the best of Italy....How days to you want to be in Italy? Tours are great. I have never used  Perillo Tours, but other friends have. They like them.

Let us know a little bit more of what your desires are reguarding your travels in Italy.  With more specific information, we may be able to assist you better.

Rick Steves' has  great guide books  for Italy:  Rick Steves' Italy; and books on Rome, Venice, Florence.  DK Books, Frommer's and Lonely Planet have great  books on Italy and the major cities too. Check them out

Answer 3

I can't imagine any benefits of going on an organized tour (unless you are mobility impaired).  Italy was practically invented for tourists.  It's that easy to get around, find hotel, discover off-the-beaten-track attractions and see the major sights.  Tourism is such a major industry there that you'll always be able to find someone to help you (in English!) if you're lost or confused.  

I MOVED to Italy with three days' notice (for work).  I survived the move without speaking a word of Italian.  It was really easy for me to travel all over the country, to major tourist centres (Amalfi, Venice, Milan) and small, untouristy towns (Bra, Paestum, Avigilano).  Most of the time I didn't even have a map!  

I think taking a tour would be like throwing your money in a hole.  Get the Rick Steve's "Italy 2007" book and guide yourselves.  If you want to go somewhere that isn't in the book... just go!  It'll work out!

Answer 4

i've been to italy before, but we survived with just a map.  however, a couple of weeks before we went there, i had to learn how to speak basic italian.  that is important when you're getting around (and if you get lost like we did).  we didn't want to go with a tour guide because that would hinder us to go to places, especially if you want to stay and look around.  a map can even lead you to places to beautiful places that is not part of the tour.

Answer 5

No its funner to explore on your own

Answer 6

I am not cheap by any means, but I am budget minded.  Italy was one of my dreams and I just returned on 3/15 and we had a fabulous time for under $5000 total.  I did search Perillo tours, I believe they are local to us we see commercials for them.  But I used Gate 1.  March is not the tourist season, so it was a little chilly.  The warmest it reached was 70 degrees fahrenheit in Rome.  I have to say it was perfect walking weather and sunny the whole time.

Gate 1 provided us with the basics: air, hotels and transfers for less than $2200 for my fiancee and I.  I will give you a candid experience of what I had.  The good and the bad.

We flew out of JFK on 3/4 on Alitalia.  I don't know what to say about this airline.  The seats are tiny, comparable to Southwest or other budget airlines.  It is fine when you are flying from NY to Orlando, but it was a really long flight for these small seats.  But they do have free unlimited cheap wine.  I just decided that I would drink myself into a sleep.  Once we landed in Rome, we were supposed to have a 1 hour layover into Venice, but it ended up being almost 4 hours.  They also changed the gate.  I am not sure if they made announcements or not, sometimes they were in English, and sometimes they weren't.  I expected that though.  Afterall English is not their national language.  If you smoke there is an indoor smoking lounge in the Rome airport.  We had prearranged with Gate 1 to take the water taxi from the airport to the hotel in Venice.  It is necessary - absolutely not!  I believe it was about $40.  There was a woman after we found our baggage right outside with a Gate 1 sign who gathered our group together.  The water taxi does nothing that a taxi in the US doesn't do.  Don't expect anyone to do anything with your bags other than to flop them on and throw them off the water taxi.  Don't get me wrong, it was a really nice ride through some of the smaller canals, but you can catch the waterbus at the same location for 1 Euro.  It will take you to all the major stops.  Depending on the number of bags you have would depend on if I recommend the bus or the taxi.  We had a lot considering we were going to be in Italy for 10 days.  So would I take the taxi again, yes!

Gate 1 set us up in Hotel Abbazia.  I could go on forever about how much I love this hotel.  My fiancee ended up in the hosital (Or as I like to call it Ospidale de Rwanda) our whole time in Venice.  I can't tell you how kind and helpful they were.  Because much of the staff at the hospital didn't speak English we were both having difficulty.  They called even when I didn't ask to check in on him.  The room was small and well appointed with a large armoir, double bed and flatscreen TV, and the bathroom was fabulous!  Oh, and the breakfast.  Croissants filled with hot, oozy chocolate!  YUM!

Despite my love for my fiancee I refused to spend my time time in Venice at Ospidale de Rwanda.  I didn't get to have the gondola ride, but I did the rest of Venice on foot.  It is a really small city, as most of the cities in Italy are.  I think the most important thing in Venice is to make sure you get lost!  It is so much fun.  And eat off the beaten path.  Our hotel was really close to the Termini so there were a ton of panini places close by.  I bought a panini both nights with a bottle of wine for less than 10 Euro and ate them next to the canal.  It was fabulous!

Gate 1 also arranged our transport from Venice to Florence.  We ended up on a local train.  If you take the Eurostar it is a lot quicker.  Once we arrived in Florence we took a taxi to the hotel for 15 Euro including tip, again you don't have to do this.  Right outside there is a bus station.  We stayed at the Hotel Meridiana which was right off the #1 bus.  This hotel was not the best.  Very outdated with lots of faux painting, but the staff was wonderful.  Like I said the #1 bus was less than a block away so we took this to the Duomo.  A couple of words about the Duomo, they have an English guide you can take for free for all the artwork, and I only made it to the cupola.  Again, I smoke, but geeze Louise it was quite a hike.  From there we saw open top red bus.  After some questions we finally ended back up at the Termini to catch it.  It cost 20 Euro for two days.  Totally worth it!  Line A stops at the Accademia, Duomo (although we had already been there), the outside statue of David (you can't miss this!), Ponto Vecchio, among other sites.  They give you earphones so the tour can be in any language you like.  Also, most of the sites on this tour had some type of English version.  We also took like B to a small town outside of Florence.  To be honest, I wasn't totally thrilled with this since it took so long to find the bus stop.  It is on the side of the Duomo.  But still worth the ride through the vineyards of Tuscany.

We opted for the hotel only package in Rome.  We probably could have found a cheaper hotel room, but it was convenient to have it all in one package.  We were also on our own from Florence to Rome.  Don't be daunted by this.  Italy has one of the best transportation systems I have ever encountered.  We took the Eurostar for 66 Euro total.  It took us just about an hour and was a piece of cake to negotiate.  

Gate 1 arranged our stay at the Hotel Mariano.  This was only about 3 blocks from the Termini so we walked.  This was by far the largest hotel room that we stayed in.  They were updating the rooms while we were there and on our floor.  I have to say though they did not interrrupt our sleep in the least.  In Rome we took the 110 Trambus.  It was the same style bus that was in Florence, but it was run by the city.  It cost 13Euro.  The bigger difference was that the maps weren't as well put together as the bus in Florence.  Again the city is pretty small, so you can get anywhere from these busses on foot pretty quickly, but since the map isn't as cohesive it is more difficult to decipher.  We also spent one day exploring Testavere.  What a wonderful little neighborhood.  There is also a great flea market there.  You can buy everything from plyers to knock off bags!

Gate 1 also arranged our transfer from the hotel to the Airport in Rome.  I hear that it is quicker to take the train from the Termini to the airport, but I was really tired and would not have wanted to negotiate the bags on the subway.

So after all of that, do I recommend Gate 1, yes, if you are trying to spend less than $5000.  I have no experience with thieir guided travel though.  Do you need a travel guide?  Absolutely not!  Despite what most people say, you can find someone who speaks enough English just about everywhere to figure things out.  Also, I did not encounter one hotel employee who did not speak at least rudimentary English.

I would also get "Let's Go" Italy.  This book was a godsend!  Especially if you are on  a budget.  It's gives you a ton of information about regular touristy stuff as well as things that are not so touristy.

All right I left this for last.  I checked out Perillo tours when I was planning my Italian vacation, and they were guided, for the same time period and the same number of days in all of the cities we went to, and they were charging about $2000 more.  And remember that every hotel has breakfast.  This should not be considered a benefit in your plans!

Answer 7

I personally don't like organized tours.  We went to Italy for 14 days on a tour.  Very structured, like being in school.  You were told when to get up, when to eat,  and when to do everything.   Plus, the other travelers  we were with, all divided up into cliques.  Very confining.  

     I enjoyed the trip we took to England much better, because we stayed in London for the 9 days, and took day trips out to places we were interested in.  If we wanted to stay in London for the day, we could.  Much less restricted and free time to browse at our own leisure.  We decided we would never go on another completely supervised trip.  But then everyone is different.

Answer 8

I don't know anything about Perillo tours.  Generally tours have very tight itineraries to see as much as possible, but don't give you much time at the places you see.  I personally don't like tours.  A private tour guide could be a good solution, they would take you where you want to go.  You can travel with a book and map, which is what we generally do, as long as you are a bit flexible and allow time for getting lost, etc.