Rome Tours in September 2026

This itinerary allowed us to see all the important sites in each of the cities we visited (e.g. St. Peter's in Rome, the Grand Canal in Venice). Yet, it provided free time for us to explore on our own and find some other gems. too (e.g. the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence). It was a perfect balance of touring with the group, time on the bus and free time.

This tour included much of the highlights of Italy's culture and history. For the time we had in each location, I think we were given an excellent overview. I enjoyed all the places we visited and all the extra excursions I took. Some of the excursions made the trip even more enjoyable. There are places I would love to explore in greater depth now that I have had this experience.

The tour pace is fast and has a lot of walking up and down hills and over rough uneven terrain. There was very little time to spend relaxing in the hotels. Also, it would have been hard for people on the tour to skip parts of the tour and go back to the hotel because it would have been challenging to reconnect up with the group. None of this should be surprising when you look at a map of the number of sites and the distances we covered but being on the tour is a lot different than thinking about the tour and reality doesn't always show up on paper versus on your feet. I know when my head hit the pillow I was almost instantly sound asleep. Our tour director (Patrizia) and bus driver were excellent. I still don't understand how our bus driver managed to get into all of the extremely tight spaces that he squeezed into. Anyone who has ever organized even a small activity knows that things rarely go 100% as planned and I know there were a few things on our trip that did not go according to plan but Patrizia handled all of the issues with extremely little noticeable impact to the people on the tour. Patrizia had just the right amount of humor, organizational skills and caring for everyone on the tour to make it an outstanding trip. The food was ok but not as good as I was expecting based on other people who I had talked with who had been to Italy. The other members of our tour group were also excellent and definitely contributed to enhancing our overall experience. The sites and their history were amazing to say the least. I am still having trouble wrapping my head around seeing things that were created in 900BC. There was one email that went out one day in advance to everyone on the tour with helpful tips like bring a small fold up umbrella. Unfortunately it went out way too late to be helpful. My family and I had traveled two days early so we could adjust to the time difference and so the information in the email was useless to us. Even if we had traveled the night before the tour was to begin the email would have arrived when we were on the plane - again useless. The hotels were nice and clean. The rooms were a good size but some of the bathrooms were poorly laid out such that my knees almost touched the wall when I sat on the toilette. The tour included a breakfast at the hotel each day. The breakfast consisted most days of scrambled eggs, bacon, small hot dogs and a variety of pastries and bread/toast. Again the food was OK.

Mani our tour guide was excellent. there were 14 in the group which I think was an ideal size. Mani kept us all all updated with any changes due to disruptions etc. there was only one hotel in Pompeii which was disappointing with shower screen collapsing but it was only for a one night stay but the location was ideal for exploring. Rome was obviously very busy so I think that travelling the end of September was the best time to go and Explore!

Tour was great. Tour director was fabulous giving lots of information on the way to new places and during walk around with local guides. Wonderful way to see Italy.. Lots of fun meeting new friends from Australia, Canada and US

I enjoyed the itinerary, it covered all areas I wanted to experience. I liked that there were adequate breaks throughout the touring. A good variety of foods offered, giving the opportunity to try the different types of foods available in Italy. Was mostly a good pace, my sister had a sore foot and it made it easier for her. I look forward to travelling with Insight again.