Extra tours in free time

Sherley

A friend and I leave for the CLASSIC ITALY tour in a few weeks.

I am interested in knowing how you booked "extra tours" in free time. Did you do it through the hotel?

smarks50

I booked an afternoon tour of the Borghese Museum in Rome through Viator.com (website that sells tours in all major cities of the world) before I left home. However, be aware that the evening at the Vatican Museum can change from the printed program; your tour director will let you know because they coordinate this with all Tauck groups in Rome at a given time. Therefore, be careful about booking anything late afternoon in Rome until you are sure about the schedule. I don't remember any schedule changes in Florence or Venice so you should be ok booking tours for the stated free time there. You can use Viator or send an email ahead of time to the hotel concierges asking for assistance (or talk to them when you arrive although sites in Italy are very busy in the summer and early fall and the most popular sites might be fully booked when you arrive).

British

I think it is good to never underestimate how much information and suggestions your tour director will give you for pretty much anything you want to see and do when you get on the tour. I have only been to Rome twice which is plenty for me, it's certainly not my favorite part of Italy. I remember everything extra we wanted to see was within walking distance, Tauck generally has their hotel right in the heart of things. Or a taxi ride away. Do some research before you go, see what might be of interest, take notes or a guide book with you so you can point to where you want to go, No need to speak the language and the tour director or concierge should be able to give you guidelines on taxi prices so you don't get ripped off. Whatever you do, heed the warnings about not wearing expensive jewelry or not wearing a bag that goes across your body or have a money belt, I've seen and heard about too much snatching and pick pocketing first hand. I dread being caught out. But several experienced traveling friends report incidences in Rome and Paris.
We certainly made our own arrangements for the Borghese museum and transportation without going through a tour company like Viator, which appears to be expensive once you start probing into it. I feel Florence is much more relaxing and felt safer. Anyone who reads my posts will know I do not spend a lot of time shopping on tours, but one thing we found ourselves do in Florence was stroll along the bridge where all the jewelers were and we bought my husband a gorgeous New Florentine wedding ring to replace the wide plain typical seventies ring he had. The price was pretty good, though we were so romantic it did not matter, the exchange rate was very favorable oat the time, there were no diamonds just lovely Florentine patterns, he routinely gets compliments. Venice, it's a long long time since I was there, so no tips but once again the director should give you plenty of ideas and let's face it, once you have been to Italy, it's like a drug and you just have to go back for more, so no need to see everywhere on your first trip. Chill and experience Italy like an Italian!