My husband and I have been researching various tour companies to travel to Italy with this Fall. The 14 day itinerary offered by Tauk includes more than enough places we would love to visit, and it also appears to allow for sufficient "on your own" time. Needless to say, this tour is very expensive, probably double of all other tours, and we are not sure how much more money we will need along the way.

My questions are: (1) do any of you travelers know of a less expensive tour company which offers nearly as good of an experience as Tauk and (2) if Tauk is above all comparison, do we need to bring a lot of additional monies for extra events which may not be included?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

ag

I am also interested in a tour of Italy this Fall but am unsure which one to take. Have you also looked into Collette or Parillo? This has been a rather complicated procedure. Based on the feedback noted on the message boards, Tauck seems to have the best overall comments but the costs are SO MUCH HIGHER! I would be interested in which you one choose. GOOD LUCK!

We looked at Perillo tours. While their Aristocrat soemthing or other tour looked really good, it came out to about $4,500 per person for 12 days, or roughly $1,000 per day. We gave up on such mark-ups all together and are planning our own trip.

Good Luck with your planning, Barbara.

We looked at Perillo tours. While their Aristocrat something or other tour looked really good, it came out to about $4,500 per person for 12 days, or roughly $1,000 per day. We gave up on such mark-ups all together and are planning our own trip.

Good Luck with your planning, Barbara.

[quote="ag"]My husband and I have been researching various tour companies to travel to Italy with this Fall. The 14 day itinerary offered by Tauk includes more than enough places we would love to visit, and it also appears to allow for sufficient "on your own" time. Needless to say, this tour is very expensive, probably double of all other tours, and we are not sure how much more money we will need along the way.

My questions are: (1) do any of you travelers know of a less expensive tour company which offers nearly as good of an experience as Tauk and (2) if Tauk is above all comparison, do we need to bring a lot of additional monies for extra events which may not be included?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

ag[/quote]

I believe that you get what you pay for.. ..I don't think there are any cheaper trips that are almost as good as Tauck. It's like any other industry with pricing, etc. If another tour group were "almost as good" they would charge "almost as much." I have travelled with Grand European, Globus, Grand Circle and Tauck. Of these, I would only go with Tauck in the future. Our trip last Sept. with them was simply divine, luxury all the way from start to finish. We had wonderful hotels and fabulous meals.. ..you can order anything you want from the regular menu. Everything is included in the price.. ..with the other groups we were constantly having to pay for things along the way. It was inconvenient and sometimes costly. The optionals were hundreds of dollars extra totalled up in the end. If money were an issue I would travel less often and economize some other way, but I would still try to travel with Tauck. That is my opinion and I understand that other oeople obviously disagree since there are many happy repeat customers on the tour groups I rejected. I must admit there were some positive aspects to them all. They were all honest and reputable tour groups and we met some wonderful people, especially with Grand Circle.

I have taken two tours with Tauck. They seem to be more expensive, but there are no extra costs. The tour guides were very nice. I'm planning a trip to France this year and will definitely be going Tauck.

Try Globus Tours. They have First Class Tours affordably priced. Tauk is a bit expensive.

My husband and I traveled to Italy with Perillo and thought they did a fantastic tour. We enjoyed traveling with them so much we also went to Hawaii and Spain with them. We traveled to Scandanivia with Tauck and enjoyed it also. I feel that both Tauck and Perillo give their travelers excellent tours. wonderful hotels and good food. We are planning to go to Eastern Europe and are investigating Touck's tour there. I know that if Perillo went to Eastern Europe, my husband would book them in a blink of an eye. One big differene is Tauck offers 3 meals a day, which is as lot of eating. Perillo offers 2 meals a day which allows more time for seeing the sights.
Good luck with your planning!

Try Insight Vacations. They include a lot and one of their claim to fame is the coach is limited to 38 people and the rest of the seats are removed for additional leg room. Insight is a subsidiary of Trafalgar and is their premier tour company. We went to Italy with them in 2005 and were extremely pleased.

Look into Insight (high end subsidiary of Trafalgar). . Went on the Best of Italy Tour last summer and had a better than fantastic time. Insight is considered High end (More leg room on the Coach, Better hotels in more convenient locations, more inclusions). . Tauk is extremely High End. It is the Lambourghini of tour companies. Avoid Perillo (more expensive and you don't get as much as insight). . You see many Insight and Globus buses in Italy and very few Perillo.

Check out Maupintour. The difference between it and Tauk is reputed to be:

Maupintour = better hotels
Tauk = better restaurants

Maupintour has excellent local guides and tour group guides, and includes a number of very fine meals.