Easy Pace Italy

walking hills uneven steps need some stamina

Loved that it hit all the highlighted tourist area, but lots of walking. This was our second Insight tour and again it did not disappoint on our first trip to Italy! Travel director was knowledgeable and lots of fun. Highly recommend Margaret Stefanski!

A great variety of sites to see, during free time though it would be nice for the tour guide to hand out a list of suggestions. And eliminate the shopping tour… we had plenty of time for this. ( leather and gold), obvious for kick backs. Also… the Bargello museum in Florence is wonderful, never crowded, no lines… and adding another cultural opportunity that is not crowded, would be great. Definitely look for that since so much of the tour is in crowded areas… maybe a different hill town also since San Gimingano sp? Is now so crowded, during the busy months. Hotels and meals were very good. Especially Maccavellis home! Some of the extra extensions were a little too expensive for some people. Tour guide should learn a little more about Art history if she is bringing people thru Florence. The “just pictures” comment about the Uffizi gallery was awful. Instead… she should be saying… there are so many wonderful Bernini sculptures/ fountains… here are a few you can see in your free time. Helpful comments and suggestions. It is the Art capitol of the Renaissance, however the coach was very comfortable, driver did a great job, and tour guide friendly.

This itinerary hit major tourist sites with good local guide tours. Lots of walking.

There is a lot of walking and the only reason it’s called easy pace it’s because you stay 3 days in each region. Also, the walking tours take you to places not full of tourists. Therefor not the touristic places you think about. The not inclusive tours were more often than I imagined. So, take sufficient money for those extras.

We loved that we got to spend 3 days in each city. Our Travel Director, Margaret, was very knowledgeable and added a lot of interesting details during our walking tours. We loved the VOX system because we didn't miss a thing. We also loved having a lot of our dinners included and the choice to have optional experiences. We felt that we got so much more of our visit to Italy having this tour rather than trying to do it by ourselves. It was recommended to us by a family member and we would also recommend it! Also, we loved Margaret Stefanski. She was wonderful

Yes, we had a great trip, which we attribute to our fabulous tour guide Margaret. She was wonderfully informative, extremely helpful and took us to some out-of-the way interesting places. We did not love the crowds in Rome and Venice and plan to take future vacations during the off season, but that’s not your fault.

It was a good tour for your first time in Italy. But would go back to see the things we missed

When you add all the excursions (as we did), I don’t know that I would call it so much easy pace, but we saw and did some wonderful things. We really enjoyed not packing our suitcases every day. Three days per location was great.

It was wonderful being able to spend 3 days in each location. It gave us time to really enjoy each place and take great pictures.

It hit the highlights, and was generally organised very well. Guides were knowledgeable and informative. The excursions for meals in Tuscany and Bologna were good - we would never have managed to do those on our own. My only gripe was with our 1st day - going to the Colosseum AND the Vatican on one day was exhausting! Other days were more manageable. We appreciated the 'time off', which allowed us to rest and relax if we wanted to.

Some of the days were over scheduled, with no time or little time for lunch. The group dinner venues varied from excellent to just soso for food and ambiance.

We thoroughly enjoyed Rome, Florence and Venice our tour guide Philip was amazing he made sure we got to see things that we would’ve never done on our on. He kept us informed and updated on any changes that were happening Our bus driver Luigi was phenomenal as well and we felt safe at all times on the coach… the restaurants that we went to as a group were wonderful,The food was delicious and of course, plenty of wine wine wine. The local tour guides that Philip had assigned us to were very knowledgeable & informative we learned an amazing amount of history. Well worth it. We would definitely use insight again the hotels were in great locations as well. Phillip was able to get our tour group to bond and made the experience even more pleasurable & exciting

Rome (and Pompeii - a must see), Florence and Pisa, Venice - local guides were outstanding - bought to life the traditional sites and not so traditional Our tour director was great (as was our bus driver) - he was very knowledgeable and entertaining

BE PREPARED TO DO A LOT OF WALKING. BUT THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO SEE THE AMOUNT OF THINGS WE SAW ON OUR VACATION WITHOUT THE INSIGHT TOUR. THE PHOTO IS THE 8 NEW YORKERS WITH OUR TOUR DIRECTOR PHILIP.

I would change the name to reflect that this tour allows members to customize their experience with planned sites and events and optional events or open time. Easy Pace tends to infer a lower activity or walking pace which it isn’t. Individuals with mobility issues may struggle to keep up with some of the walks, sidewalks and stairs. Overall we had a great time but noted the above.

It was nice to stay in each city for 3 nights. (We have taken many tours that change hotels and cities every night.). That’s the part that made it Easy pace. The days were full of activity which were more moderate pace. Which we like. Our tour director, Philip, was excellent. He did a wonderful job “herding the cats” since we were a big group of 40. That was not my favorite part. Way too many people at different fitness levels. Frequently we were broken up into two groups with the local guides which made it more manageable.

This is the best way to enjoy Rome, Florence and Venice in a relaxed and well thought out way. I learned so much more about each city than I did when I cruised to Italy years earlier. The hotels are in great locations, and our Tour Director made our trip so special. It's a wonderful vacation, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Ciao Bella!

With the added experiences, Rome was NOT easy pace but we loved it. Very busy for the first three days. We were surprised. We loved staying in one hotel for 3 nights. That’s really the “easy” of this tour, not the itinerary. We thought we would have a little more down time. Florence and especially Venice was nice to have time to wander on our own. Great way to wind the trip down before traveling home.

Great itinerary as far as seeing so many sights but some days were too busy, the Vatican and Colosseum on one day was very tiring.

The title of the trip, "Easy Pace Italy," is misleading. Yes, we stayed 3 nights in each location, so we didn't have to put luggage out every day, and that makes travel more leisurely. However, the pace of each individual day was not easy, especially on extremely uneven walking surfaces in incredible heat and throngs of people while trying to follow local guides who walked and talked at a very fast pace. Staying with the group under these conditions was unbelievably difficult.

Day two (day after arriving) was a lot, especially for the older people in the group. The rest of the itinerary was good

made this trip perfect in every way! So happy I was fortunate enough to experience this trip with her as travel guide.

The hotel in Rome was very small! Otherwise our rooms were great! Liked our excursions, and our tour guide was amazing, funny and knowledgeable! The bus driver was skilled and made us fell safe ...his 360 circle turns were memorable!

There is flexibility. You don't have to be with the group for every single excursion and meal. We skipped a few things and went off on our own.

Great trip with a fabulous tour guide and excellent bus driver. Tours were very informative and the group traveling with us were a lot of fun.

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.

There was a great balance of directed tour time and time to explore on our own. Both the Tour Director and all the local guides were well informed and interesting, and fun too. We took all of the optional experiences and we're glad we did as they were fabulous! Even with that we had time to sit in cafes or wander and experience Italy on our own.

It was everything we were hoping for, and more. In addition to the main destination stops, we saw so much of the country side and explanations and history. The bus rides from one major city to the next were therefore never just a boring ride. Well done!!

E advised a lot of walking especially for older crowd