Italy tours for mature travelers
Sometimes you just want the comfort, ease, and companionship that an escorted tour can offer—and the companies listed in the "Links" section cater specifically to folks over 50 or 60 (though, frankly, most escorted tours that aren't specifically aimed at younger travelers tend to skew older).
The escorted tour
Some people love escorted tours. They free you from figuring out complicated train schedules or spending lots of time behind the wheel; they take care of all the details of booking hotels, (often) choosing restaurants, and deciding where to go and how long to stay, and they walk you through—or bus you past—every attraction with an accompanying monologue on its history and importance.
You know your costs up front, and there aren't many surprises. Escorted tours take you to the maximum number of sights in the minimum amount of time with the least amount of hassle.
Other people need more freedom and spontaneity; they can't stand escorted tours. They prefer to discover a destination by themselves, and don't mind getting caught in a thunderstorm without an umbrella or finding that a recommended restaurant in the guidebook is no longer in business. For them, that's just the adventure of travel.
Escorted tours tend to ride comfortably and unimaginatively in the deepest ruts of the beaten path, eschewing anything novel and treating the bulk of Europe like so many living postcards to be ogled from the tinted windows of an air-conditioned bus. Big bus tours tend to write off even the most interesting sights if a big parking lot is not nearby.
- Roadscholar.org - Road Scholar—the tour company formerly known as Elderhostels (and, briefly, Exploritas)—is devoted to "Adventures in lifelong learning." These are educational trips, often coordinated by universities. Your days are packed with seminars, lectures, field trips, and sightseeing, all led by academics or expert tour guides. Programs range from one to four weeks. They also offer cruises, intergenerational trips (i.e.: bring the grand kids), and outdoors adventures.
- Oattravel.com - Overseas Adventure Travel is devoted to budget-priced, small group adventures with a focus on mature solo travelers.
- Gct.com - Grand Circle Travel is a top tour company for the senior set, aimed squarely at the over-50 market (though skewing older than that—and no, I'm not implying that over 50s are seniors; I'm just trying to provide a sense of the typical tour participants). Usually the full soup-to-nuts tours, including nearly nearly all meals, sightseeing, etc., and paced reasonably—you see a lot, but not a a whirlwind clip. Prices are guaranteed (no surprise fuel surcharges or anything).
- Travel50andbeyond.com - A quarterly magazine devoted to mature travel.
- Aarp.org - The famed AARP discounts won't count for much in France, but the magazine comes with great general travel tips and articles. (Disclosure: I sometimes write travel pieces for AARP The Magazine.)
- Travelwithachallenge.com - A Web magazine of challenging, adventurous, and intriguing cultural trips and volunteer vacations for mature travelers.
- Viator.com - Offers a multitude of multi-day trips.Partner
- intrepidtravel.com - Intrepid Travel is one of only two only major tour outfits I know (along with G Adventures) of that makes a concerted effort to travel like real independent travelers—small groups (usually a max of 8 or 12 people), staying in mom-and-pop accommodations and getting around by public transport rather than a big tour bus. This fantastic Australian company marries an independent travel style with the expertise of truly knowledgeable guides and a focus on the cultural experience of travel. Intrepid really does run a different breed of group tour. Let me put it this way: When my parents—who travel widely and on their own and normally would never have even considered taking a group tour—suddenly found themselves with airfare to Japan but no time to plan a trip, I suggested they try booking with Intrepid. They did—and they've raved about it ever since. (They stayed in touch with their guide via email for years.)Partner
- Gadventures.com - G Adventures boasts 1,000 trips in 100 countries, from the more tour-like Comfort and Original trips to the gnarlier Active and Overland ones. No airfare (yet), and quoted prices are not as inclusive as some others (read the fine print to find out about on-the-ground costs, often including most meals). Partner
- Realadventures.com - This is not a tour operator or travel agency, but rather a clearing house for independent tour operators, local adventure outfitters, and vacation agencies to offer their trips and tours direct to consumers. As such, it offers a potpourri of trips around the world, from single-day experiences to two-week tours, and they run the gamut from ballooning or biking to dude ranches, snow-shoeing, sailing, cooking schools, eco-tours, and much, much more.Partner
- Ricksteves.com - PBS superstar Rick Steves runs a highly successful tour company that really tries to highlight all the best of the independent travel style espoused in his books and TV show in a group format. I've bumped into several of his tour groups in Europe over the years, and the participants always gush about what a great time they're having. He also keeps his groups smaller than most (24 to 28 travelers versus the 40 to 60 many big companies cram onto the bus), and the smaller the group, the more authentic the experiences each member is going to have (to say nothing of more room on the bus). (Disclosure: I know Rick, but have recommended his product long before that, even if we were once guidebook competitors!)
- Friendlyplanet.com - Excellent company offering inexpensive group tours to destinations around world, from Europe and cruises to exotic locales and safaris. If you want to sample some place like China, Peru, Morocco, the Galapagos, Kenya, or Southeast Asia while someone else takes care of all the planning, logistics, transport, meals, and local guides, this is probably the best place to go for the best prices on escorted tours. (In the Small World department, after recommending them for years, I discovered that Friendly Planet is based in tiny Jenkintown, PA, one town over from the equally tiny town where I grew up.)
- Gate1travel.com - Another of the best-priced general tour operators out there, offering escorted tours, group tours, and vacation packages to just about every popular country around the world. Like Friendly Planet, it is a generalist agency, geared to people who want to see foreign destinations but do so in comfort and with a guided tour experience. Also like Friendly Planet, the company turns out to have a personal connection I feel compelled to point out, but you should not feel compelled to read, so feel free to skip the next bit in parentheses. (In yet another quirk of fate, Gate 1 used to be from Glenside, PA—which was on the other side of the town where I grew up—and it is now based in Fort Washington, which is next to the town where I currently live. However, as with Friendly Planet, I was recommending Gate 1 long before I had any idea it was a neighbor—in fact, I discovered both companies while I was living in New York. None of this has anything to do with booking your trip, but it makes me wonder what was in the water in Montgomery County that made so many of us locals go into the travel business.)
- Sceptrevacations.com - Escorted and custom group tours in many parts of Europe, plus many great vacation packages (their self-guided air-car-and-B&B deals are hard to beat).
- Roadscholar.org - The travel company formerly known as Elderhostels (and, briefly, Exploritas) is devoted to "Adventures in lifelong learning," and aimed at travelers 50 and over. These are educational trips, often coordinated by universities, and your days are packed with seminars, lectures, field trips, and sightseeing, all led by academics or expert tour guides. Programs range from one to four weeks. They also offer cruises, intergenerational trips (i.e.: bring the grand kids), and outdoors adventures.
- Abercrombiekent.com - One of the best tour companies in the world—with prices to match! If you can afford it, you will love it.
- Oattravel.com - This soft adventure tour operator hits all the exotic hotspots, but without as many hard-core activities. Aimed at a slightly older (40s-60s) crowd (their sister company, Grand Circle Travel, specializes in standard tours for mature travelers). Bonus: GET $50 OFF your trip if, when you book, you give them my name and customer number: Reid Bramblett, customer #1545945.
- Contiki.com - Tours aimed at younger travelers.
- STA Travel - Tours aimed at students and other young travelers.
- Backroadstouring.com - British-based tour company devoted to getting off the beaten path and avoiding the highways.
- Tripmasters.com - Another good generalist tour and package company.
- Smartours.com - Good, basic tour company with a smaller roster of carefully crafted tours at decent prices.
Tips
Before you sign up for an escorted tour, you need to ask some questions.
- What is the cancellation policy? Do you have to put a deposit down? Can the company cancel the trip if they don't get enough people? How late can you cancel if you are unable to go? When do you pay? Do you get a refund if you cancel? How about if they cancel?
- How jam-packed is the schedule? Do they try to fit 25 hours' worth of activities into one day, or is there ample time for relaxing by the pool or shopping? If you don't enjoy getting up at 7am every day and not returning to your hotel until 6 or 7pm at night, certain whirlwind escorted tours may not be for you.
- How big is the group? The smaller the group, the more flexible the schedule, and the less time you'll spend waiting for people to get on and off the bus. Also, the larger the group, the more some quaint little village will treat you like an invading barbarian horde to be fended off by throwing large amounts of overpriced souvenirs in your general direction. Tour operators may be evasive about group size until they know how many people have signed on, but they should be able to give you a rough estimate. Some tours have a minimum group size and may cancel the tour if they come up short.
- What is included in the tour? Don't assume anything. You may have to pay to get yourself to and from the airport. A box lunch may be included in an excursion, but drinks might cost extra. Beer might be included but not wine. How much choice do you have? Can you opt out of certain activities, or are you committed for a full day? Are all your meals planned in advance? Can you choose your entree at dinner, or does everybody get the same chicken cutlet?
- How much is "optional?" Many tours look cheap but are larded with the phrases "optional excursion" and "optional tour." That's brochure-speak for "you have to pay more if you want to do this."
Do you like to let your bus driver worry about traffic while you sit in comfort and listen to a tour guide explain everything you see? Or do you prefer to rent a car and follow your nose, even if you don't catch all the highlights? Do you like to have lots of events planned for each day, or would you rather improvise as you go along?
Or do you like it somewhere in between, with some of the travel details planned for you so you can devote your energies to planning your daily sightseeing? The answers to these questions will determine whether you should choose a guided tour or a vacation package or travel à la carte under your own steam and ambition.
Even if you're on a fully escorted tour with a live guide, invest in a good guidebook. It will give you more background on and insight into your sightseeing beyond the pat infonuggets dispensed by the tour guide.
Plus, it will serve as a trusted companion for the time you spend away from the group and will help you discover off-the-beaten-path sights, go shopping, or pick a restaurant.
If you do choose an escorted tour, think strongly about purchasing travel insurance, especially if the tour operator asks to you pay up front.
Important: Do not buy travel insurance from the tour operator! If the operator doesn't fulfill its obligation to provide you with the vacation you've paid for, there's no reason to think it will honor the insurance either. Also, one of the things travel insurance protects you against is the bankrucptcy of the company providing the travel (and if they're bankrupt, they can't very well pay your insurance claim).
Get travel insurance through an independent agency. » more
