My first trip to Euro and first Conitki tour was the Simply Italy tour just a couple weeks ago. Wonderful tour and great tour manager/driver. There were 28 people on our tour, perfect amount. It's amazing to think we saw about 14 cities in less than 2 weeks. Looking back we sure did see and do a lot. Long days and short nights of sleep, but you can always sleep when you go home.

We really got a good taste of Italy. We saw a lot, but there was still so much more that we didn't see, but not enough time. Perfect balance of free time and planned tour time, but you were never obligated to follow the tour if you wanted to persue your own interests.

There is so much more we did that was not listed online or in the brochure. The tour definitely exceeded my ecpectations and I would LOVE to go back to Italy.

Its good to hear someone enjoy the trip, anyone else been on simply italy and got a review?? Would love to read more reviews on this tour!

Just curious at the Isle of Capri did you go to the Blue Grotto?? I really want to go and would love to know how much it costs!
and if we dont have time i might plan to stay another day or two in rome and do a day trip down there, but if i could do it on the tour that would be better!

Going on Simpy Italy May 7 - May 18!!

Yes, we went to the blue grotto in the middle of our tour around the isle of Capris. The Blue Grotto was an extra 5-10 euro. It was probably one of my top 5 moments from the tour because it was so chaotic and hilarious. We waited nearly an hour to get into the grotto. There are several other tour boats waiting to see the grotto and you have to get off your boat into smaller paddle boats to fit inside the grotto. The grotto was small and you are not in there too long, maybe 10 minutes or less. But it is pretty and worth it.

thank you so much nicole! at least i know i have the opportunity to see it - even if it is just a glimpse!! and now i can spend more time in rome after the tour and not have to travel back down there to see it!

Thank you so much!


~Katrina~
Western Australia

i'm debating on doing this tour or another by another tour company (trafalgar). this will be my first time visiting italy. my thing is that i'm travelling solo and would like to be around people close to my age and not too many couples. would you recommend this one?

thanks in advance for any responses.

Lynette

I would definitely go Contiki over Trafalgar. Trafalgar caters to older people and it has activities for that audience. I did Simply Italy last summer and had the time of my life. The people are great and were all around my age (20-26) and we got along great. My boyfriend's parents went to Italy on Trafalgar and their tourmates we all about 45-60 with a couple people in their 30's. Don't get me wrong, they had a good time on their tour and went to great places but Simply Italy is fabulous and you can't really compare the 2 companies.

-katie

thanks alot for the info Katie. i think i will be using contiki.

No problem L, my pleasure. Have fun on Simply Italy. If Emma is your tour manager you'll be one lucky traveller!

Hi

Also travelling solo. Thinking of doing the European Highlights tour as it will give me a real tatse of whats out there! Although I would love to do the simply Italy tour I fear it will work out to be a bit more expensive!

It would be cool to meet up with others who might do this tour though.

Speak soon.

Tracey

Lynette

Are you talking about Trafalgar Breakaways Viva Italia. If you are I was booked on to that tour but it got cancelled so I did the Simply Italy tour with Contiki in Sept 05. I would really have loved to have gone the trafalgar way as I have now done 7 contikis, 1 trafalgar cost saver (any age) and a cosmos as well(any age).

I think you just need to look at the hotels and the price difference as the Breakaway Viva Italia age group will be 21 - 38.

Hey,
Simply Italy looks awesome!!
Im looking to go on the 9th December, might be with a friend or might be on my own!I might be abit nervous on my own... anyone else been solo??

Also, anyone else looking at going on this tour? When will they establish if it is going ahead or not??
cheers Steph

I am so glad I found this site. I plan on going to Italy in October and have been looking for a group with people more my age cause I wil be going solo more than likely. Its great to hear the good reviews for the Simply Italy trip since it is the one I am most likely to book. Just wish it was a few days longer.

Hey,
I'm planning on a Contiki trip to Italy with my friend in July and wanted some feedback on the actual trip. We were interetsed in the Simply Italy because it seems you see and do more on this one than on the Italian Espresso.
From those who have been, is a lot of time spent on the buses? Do you have a lot of free time? Im just trying to get a glimpse on how much time we'll have to spend on the bus or trains, versus how much time we'll have to ourselves sightseeing, going out, etc. Thanks so much!
-Arlene

I would highly recommend Simply Italy over the Italian Espresso. The Espresso hits the big cities, in such a short amount of time.
The Simply Italy tour was great b/c you really had options to either stay with the group and see some sites or go off on your own or with other tour mates to see things.
The hours on the bus were not bad at all; maybe 2-4 hours. Most of the transfers between cities were short. But when you get up so early to head to the next city, most everyone falls asleep on the bus. It is required that they stop every 2 hours. So you get to stretch your legs, go to the bathroom and buy some snacks at a rest stop. Some of the longer bus rides our tour manager did show a movie. The only really long bus ride was at the end of the tour from Venice to Rome. We did stop in San Marino half way, but that was pretty much a full day of driving. Like I said though, everyone sleeps on the bus b/c you have such long days and nights out...that catching a nap on the bus is welcoming.

Our tour guide pointed out all the sites we should see when arriving into a city. Some we saw togather as a group, but you had free time to wander around where ever you wanted. We would have meet up times to meet the group and get on the bus back to the hotel for dinner and then our guide would recommend places to go out after dinner or we would just wander the city sites at night ourselves.

I went on this trip 2 years ago. Loved it. The bus was really uncomfortable but i think they have new buses now. We were 50 people. We do spend lots of time on the bus but it stops for breaks.