Italy Tourism: Escorted & Package Tours

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Escorted & Package Tours

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Package Tours for the Independent Traveler

Before you start your search for the lowest airfare, you may want to consider booking your flight as part of a travel package such as an escorted tour or a package tour. What you lose in adventure, you'll gain in time and money saved on accommodations, and maybe even food and entertainment, along with your flight.

Package tours are not the same thing as escorted tours. With a package tour, you travel independently but pay a group rate. Packages usually include airfare, a choice of hotels, and car rentals, and packagers often offer several options at different prices. In many cases, a package that includes airfare, hotel, and transportation to and from the airport will cost you less than just the hotel alone would have, had you booked it yourself. That's because packages are sold in bulk to tour operators -- who resell them to the public at a cost that drastically undercuts standard rates.

One good source of package deals is the airlines themselves. Most major airlines offer air/land packages, including American Airlines Vacations (tel. 800/321-2121; www.aavacations.com), Delta Vacations (tel. 800/221-6666; www.deltavacations.com), US Airways Vacations (tel. 800/455-0123; www.usairwaysvacations.com), Continental Airlines Vacations (tel. 800/301-3800; www.covacations.com), and United Vacations (tel. 888/854-3899; www.unitedvacations.com).

Vacation Together (tel. 877/444-4547; www.vacationtogether.com) allows you to search for and book packages offered by a number of tour operators and airlines. The United States Tour Operators Association (tel. 212/599-6599; www.ustoa.com) has a search engine that allows you to look for operators that offer packages to a specific destination. Travel packages are also listed in the travel section of your local Sunday newspaper. Liberty Travel (tel. 888/271-1584; www.libertytravel.com), one of the biggest packagers in the Northeast, often runs full-page ads in Sunday papers. Or check ads in the national travel magazines such as Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, and Condé Nast Traveler.

Package tours can vary by leaps and bounds. Some offer a better class of hotels than others. Some offer the same hotels for lower prices. Some offer flights on scheduled airlines, while others book charters. Some limit your choice of accommodations and travel days. You are often required to make a large payment up front. On the plus side, packages can save you money, offering group prices but allowing for independent travel. Some even let you to add on a few guided excursions or escorted day trips (also at prices lower than if you booked them yourself) without booking an entirely escorted tour.

Before you invest in a package tour, get some answers. Ask about the accommodations choices and prices for each. Then look up the hotels' reviews in a Frommer's guide and check their rates online for your specific dates of travel. You'll also want to find out what type of room you get. If you need a certain type of room, ask for it; don't take whatever is thrown your way. Request a nonsmoking room, a room with a view, or whatever you fancy.

Finally, look for hidden expenses. Ask whether airport departure fees and taxes, for example, are included in the total cost.

Escorted General Interest Tours

Escorted tours are structured group tours, with a group leader. The price usually includes everything from airfare to hotels, meals, tours, admission costs, and local transportation.

The biggest operator of escorted tours is Perillo Tours (tel. 800/431-1515; www.perillotours.com), family operated for three generations -- perhaps you've seen the TV commercials featuring the "King of Italy," Mario Perillo, and his son, Steve. Since it was founded in 1945, it has sent more than a million travelers to Italy on guided tours. Perillo's tours cost much less than you'd spend if you arranged a comparable trip yourself. Accommodations are in first-class hotels, and guides tend to be well qualified and well informed.

Trafalgar Tours (www.trafalgartours.com) is one of Europe's largest tour operators, offering affordable guided tours with lodgings in unpretentious hotels. Check with your travel agent for more information on these tours (Trafalgar takes calls only from agents).

One of Trafalgar's leading competitors is Globus+Cosmos Tours (tel. 800/276-1241; www.globusandcosmos.com). Globus has first-class escorted coach tours of various regions lasting from 8 to 16 days (for a more in-depth review of a Globus tour in Italy, check our website, Frommers.com). Cosmos, a budget branch of Globus, sells escorted tours of about the same length. Tours must be booked through a travel agent, but you can call the 800 number for brochures. Another competitor is Insight Vacations (tel. 800/582-8380; www.insightvacations.com), which books superior first-class, fully escorted motor-coach tours lasting from 1 week to a 36-day grand tour.

Finally, Abercrombie & Kent (tel. 800/554-7016 in the U.S., or 01242/547-700 in the U.K.) offers a variety of luxurious premium packages. Your overnight stays will be in meticulously restored castles and exquisite Italian villas, most of which are government-rated four- and five-star accommodations. Several trips are offered, including tours of the Lake Garda region and the southern territory of Calabria. The company's website is www.abercrombiekent.com.

The oldest travel agency in Britain, Cox & Kings (tel. 020/7873-5000; www.coxandkings.co.uk), specializes in unusual, if pricey, holidays. Their Italy offerings include organized tours through the country's gardens and sites of historic or aesthetic interest, opera tours, pilgrimage-style visits to sites of religious interest, and food- and wine-tasting tours. The staff is noted for their focus on tours of ecological and environmental interest.

Special-Interest Tours

If you're interested in a wide range of special tours, and it's in Italy, chances are there is a tour of it. Take tennis, for example.

Tennis fans set their calendars by the events that transpire every year within the Italian Open, which is conducted in mid-May at the Foro Italica, near Mussolini's Olympic site. A California-based company, Advantage Tennis Tours, 33 White Sail Dr., Suite 100, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 (tel. 800/341-8687 or 949/661-7331; fax 949/489-2837; www.advantagetennistours.com), conducts tours to the Open. The tours include 6 nights' accommodations in a deluxe Roman hotel, Center Court seats at three sessions of the tournament, city tours of ancient Rome, a farewell dinner, the organizational and communications skill of a tour hostess, and the opportunity to play tennis.

For travelers who want to experience and explore the homeland of Verdi, Toscanini, and Pavarotti, VBT Bicycling Vacations (tel. 800/BIKE-TOUR; www.vbt.com) offers 10-day vacations through the relatively flat terrain of the Parma and Po Valley region of Italy. Accommodations are included in the overall package deal.

The best mountain adventure tours are offered by Mountain Travel-Sobek, 1266 66 St., Emeryville, CA 94608 (tel. 888/687-6235 or 510/594-6000; fax 510/594-6001; www.mtsobek.com). For both art and architecture and food and wine tours, Amelia Tours International, 176 Woodbury Rd., Hicksville, NY 11801 (tel. 800/742-4591 or 516/433-0696; fax 516/822-6220; www.ameliainternational.com), is the leader of the pack. The best hiking tours of Italy are a feature of Above the Clouds Trekking, P.O. Box 388, Hinesburg, VT 05461 (tel. 802/482-4848; fax 802/482-5011; www.aboveclouds.com).

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Italy Tourism: Escorted & Package Tours

Escorted & Package Tours

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