Requesting Tips from Travelers who have taken the Bellissima Northern Italy Tour
We're taking this small group tour in May 2026. I'm looking for tips from other travelers who have taken this tour. What do you wish you knew before you took this tour? What do you wish you'd packed or left at home? Restaurants/Historic Site recommendations for free time? Many thanks for sharing your time and experiences.
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Hi Gilpin, we took this trip last September. Our tour director was Scott Bishop and was great! We arrived a day early and caught up on jet lag that day, resting and walking. The next day before the welcome dinner we bought tickets to ride the elevator to the Duomo rooftop and that was really good. Near the Duomo is the Rinascente department store that is interesting to window shop and at the top are some good restaurants. A place called DeSantis has tasty panini sandwiches that we liked so much that we ate there twice. The cappuccino drinks we had (everywhere) were so good, but no flavor options or non dairy alternatives. Usually dairy bothers me here in the USA, but I had no problems with lattes, gelato, fresh mozzarella, etc. in Italy. Our hotels were wonderful, but the only thing we were not crazy about was the deep narrow bath tubs. Breakfast at the hotels was usually cured meats, fruit, undercooked scrambled eggs (at least to me), sweet treats. I guess that is part of travel - to experience different things than you have at home. If you eat breakfast outside, like in Stresa, the birds will land on your table and just wait for you to leave so they can eat your leftovers. On the day that we went to Isola Bella, there were a lot of street vendors and I bought a silky scarf for only 5 euros. I did not realize until later that it was made in China. Back in Stresa, there was a lovely scarf shop and we chatted with the owner. Her items are made in Italy and I should have bought a scarf there. She recommended a store called Pirovano, since I wanted to get a new nightgown made by Calida which is a Swiss owned company. The nights were a little warm and rather than wash the one nightgown I brought, why not buy a new one? My husband loved the Ferrari Simulator at the Ferrari museum. We let Scott know ahead of time that he really wanted to do this and there was enough time for the guys that wanted to participate. Scott arranged for those interested, a murano glass demonstration in Venice and we ended up buying glasses and a pitcher. Overall it did not seem like we had much free time and with all the walking every day, we could eat well and not worry about gaining pounds. I think we packed well so there was nothing we brought and did not need. I hope you love your trip and if you are lucky, like we were, Air Lingus offered us an upgrade for business class, only $700 each, each way which was luxurious.
I am considering this trip as a solo. How do they arrange the dinners for solos ? Are the included diners always group events ?
Included dinners are handled many different ways. Sometimes they are group events, sometimes you are on your own, and sometimes the TD will make reservations for small parties based on times available for reservations.
And sometimes you are on your own but Tauck pays for your dinner (I think Goddess alluded to this.) From past experience the tour director will ask if you would like to dine with other travelers. As many here have commented, “You will never be alone unless you want to be alone.”
Thanks