My teen daughter and I are taking the Italian Escapade tour at the end of September. We are incredibly excited, and have been poring over the guide books to plan the maximum use of our limited time. This will be our first visit to Italy.

We will be at the Grand Beverly Hills for the first 2 nights, and are thinking about heading over to the Spanish Steps on our first afternoon and from there to walk a 2-hour circuit shown in Eyewitness Travel that highlights several of Bernini's works as well as the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. I'm afraid we might not see these otherwise, as we won't know which optionals will be available to us until after our first free afternoon.

I'll have to check my paperwork, but not sure what time the first meeting with our TD will be. We won't want to lose track of time in our wanderings! And considering the jet lag factor from Alberta, we may be dead on our feet!

I didn't even realize the Pantheon was part of an optional. Now I see all that is "Introduction to Rome". I think based on the tour tales this was always offered at the end. That is a great idea to do it first thing, then at the end you don't need to take this one, instead more free time. Maybe we'll have time to do what you suggest on arrival too. We'll also be in the hotel Grand Beverly Hills. The only hotel I was disappointed about was the one for Sorrento, it sounds kind of far away from things (Hotel Parco Del Sole Santagnello Di Sorrento). I'd also read so many that said they had amazing views and this one doesn't look like its near anything. But maybe I'm wrong . I also really wonder where our Highlight Dinner will be. This seems to have changed through time based on tour tales.

I checked all of the hotels out on Tripadvisor. There are two hotels shown for some of the stops on our tour, so we won't know for sure which we'll be staying at. I agree with you, it would be nice to be located within walking distance of things. Our hotel in Florence looks to be very conveniently located.

I'm working my way through all of the Italian tour tales - there's great information to be had from posters! Have been making notes about things I wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Hi Natalie

I did this tour with my daughter last year. It was wonderful. I often thing about it and wish I was still in Italy.

Your free time in Rome, I would explore the Forum and just walk around Rome. there is so much to see. Delightful cobblestone alleys, beautiful churches. Just watching the people go about their daily tasks is great.

We walked and walked and loved it all. We saw so much. The forum we spent over 2hours there - it was wonderful.

You are going to love this tour. The hotels were great and our TD Debra was wonderful.

In Siena - we only had one hour to explore. We ran up the hill, saw church (line was to long to go inside) I wish we had just roamed the streets instead of rushing to the church. I missed out on enjoying Siena.

San Gimignano is amazing. I could stay there for a week or two. I loved exploring that town. It was one of the many highlights of my tour.

You will have a wonderful time. I wish I was going.
Maureen

travelbug - I think about 5 weeks prior to our trip I went ahead and e-mailed Insight and asked if they had our hotel list. They did! They e-mailed me everything and fast too, I think it was within 24 hours of my e-mail. You might give it a try if you are as obsessed with researching as I am :P . They also told me our tour guide is Anne Kennedy so I was able to look her up on this forum too.

The hotels on our trip are:
Grand Hotel Beverly Hills
Hotel Londra Florence
Hotel Simplon Baveno
Continental Hotel Venice
Grand Hotel Assisi
Hotel Parco Del Sole Santagnello Di Sorrento
Grand Hotel Tiberio Rome

Maureen - I'm a bit sad to hear that the lines were long for the cathedral. I was really hoping to see the inside.