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From the pomp and ceremony of Vatican City to the placing monuments of historical Rome and the rustic attraction of these well-known aromatic olive groves, Italy has by no means struggled to maintain its standing as Europe’s golden little one. Tourists from throughout the globe landing to rise up near big-name websites, go to the Renaissance powerhouse of Florence and ramble the streets of a Cinque Terre village with a gelato in hand. Try the boot on for measurement with a guided tour — we’ve cherry-picked some of the best for you.
Main picture: Torbole on Lake Garda (Getty Images)
Times Travel has partnered with Tourhub to convey our readers a big selection of escorted tours from trusted journey companions. Here, we’ve chosen the very best tours that showcase Italy. For a much bigger choice, go to Tourhub*.
*This article accommodates affiliate hyperlinks.
Our journey journalism is written and edited by unbiased consultants to tell, encourage and advise our readers about the best decisions on your holidays. We additionally characteristic properties and itineraries from a specifically chosen listing of trusted operators. These buttons and adverts are clearly signposted, and supply direct hyperlinks via to exterior websites. If you click on and purchase a product, we might earn income.
1. Amalfi coast strolling tour, Exodus
This eight-day tour encompasses one of Italy’s most good-looking stretches: the Amalfi coast. Come to be charmed by its medieval cities and villages, cutesy coves and rugged cliffs — and intention to see all of it on foot. Tick off these postcard regulars: Positano, Ravello and Amalfi, wander the well-known ruins of Pompeii, embark on the “Walk of the Gods” previous shepherds’ huts and historical stone homes, and absorb these coast-curving panoramic views alongside the manner. Price contains flights and transfers, lodging, most meals (together with packed lunches) and the providers of a tour chief.
Group measurement 4-16
Price ££
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2. Northern Sardinia windsurfing, Planet Windsurf
The pin-up island of Sardinia has a lot to impress you with, not least unbelievable trekking alternatives, Bronze Age archaeological websites, and a few of the world’s best water sports activities. Book a seven-day journey with the watersports specialist Planet Windsurf, which can fortunately organise an itinerary based mostly round the bay of Porto Pollo on the island’s north coast. It’s the good spot for kitesurfing and windsurfing — whether or not you’re an skilled or newbie — and doubles up as an excellent base for exploring the goosebump-inducing La Maddalena archipelago. Tours are tailormade, and may embrace flights, lodging, gear rent and classes.
Group measurement non-public tour
Price ££
planetwindsurfholidays.com
3. Undiscovered Italy, Riviera Travel
This is your probability to see one of Italy’s less-visited spots: Puglia, deep in the south of the nation. This fairly area has been coveted by rulers all through historical past and has a captivating vary of cultural influences, from Spanish castles to Norman church buildings and Romanesque cathedrals. See the best of them on this seven-day vacation, throughout which you’ll absorb loads of tradition with escorted tours of Lecce’s medieval streets and the Unesco-listed troglodyte cave dwellings at Matera. There’s additionally time to walk round the city of Alberobello, with its intriguing cone-roofed huts, and cease at the pilgrimage web site of Monte Sant’Angelo; tucking into top-quality meals and wine comes as a given. The worth contains flights, four-star lodging and a few meals. There are a number of departures between August and October.
Group measurement Maximum of 25
Price ££
4. Florence and Tuscany tour, Riviera Travel
Tuscany is Italy’s heart-throb area, and this tour takes in some of its most soul-stirring spots — in addition to smaller, extra rustic corners. Start in Florence, with its fabulous cathedral and Uffizi gallery, holding masterpieces by Michelangelo, Raphael and lots of extra. Next, it’s squinting at the Leaning Tower of Pisa earlier than transferring to Siena, whose central sq. hosts world-renowned horse races, and swinging by San Gimignano, a beautiful medieval village. String all this along with some traditional Italian dishes and also you’re certain to have a hard-to-forget vacation. Prices for this eight-day tour embrace return flights, some meals and all excursions and tours.
Group measurement Maximum of 25
Price ££
5. Walk the Amalfi coast, Explore
This week-long laid-back strolling vacation is your probability to hint the trails of the Amalfi coast, certainly Italy’s most memorable stretch. The walks are graded simple to average and embrace the traditional “Walk of the Gods”. You can wander round the tumbling cities of Amalfi and Positano, discover the modern island of Capri, and be a part of elective excursions to Pompeii and Ravello. Each evening you’ll mattress down at a neighborhood family-run farm overlooking the sea, and replenish on do-it-yourself meals and wine. The journey runs between April and November and contains lodging, some meals, and the providers of a tour chief and driver. The worth excludes flights.
Group measurement 10-16 (common 12)
Price ££
6. The Apennines tour to Italy’s Abruzzo National Park, Naturetrek
This tour is your ticket to discover the magical National Park of Abruzzo in the central Apennines. You’ll be a part of pure historical past guides on scenic walks and soak up the area’s alpine and Mediterranean crops, birds, butterflies and mammals. Up on the mountain slopes you’ll spot purple deer, chamois, golden eagles, wolves, choughs — and, best of all, critically endangered Marsican brown bears. Walks shall be damaged for lengthy lunches crammed with native produce — assume stuffed mussels and straight-out-the-oven bruschetta. The eight-day journey runs in May, which is prime time to view the bears, and the worth contains flights, lodging in a rural family-run lodge, guides and all meals.
Group measurement 4-16
Price ££
naturetrek.co.uk
7. Lake Como, St Moritz and the Bernina Express, Riviera Travel
Incorporating some of the choicest components of northern Italy and Switzerland, this eight-day vacation pairs stop-in-your-tracks mountain surroundings with charming old-world cities. This is traditional territory that appeared on the itinerary of these younger aristocrats taking the Grand Tour in the 18th century — and it’s nonetheless as fascinating right this moment. You’ll be based mostly in a luxurious lodge on the shore of Lake Como, the good spot for boat journeys to lakeside cities comparable to Bellagio. Daily excursions will whisk you to classy St Moritz, the Bergamo, Lake Maggiore, and to unforgettable landscapes alongside the Bernina Express railway route. The worth contains flights, four-star lodging, and breakfast and dinner day by day.
Group measurement Maximum of 25
Price £
8. Treasures of Sicily, Esplora Travel
Yes, this luxury 12-day tour of Sicily options the most important websites and cities, however what makes it sing are the visits to these off-the-beaten-track corners. Expect to see the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, Monreale Cathedral, the Greek temples of Agrigento, and Taormina, in addition to a vineyard go to and cookery class — all in firm of a neighborhood information. The tour departs at numerous dates in spring and autumn, and the worth contains all lodging, most meals (together with wine and beer), entrance prices and guides. Flights are excluded.
Group measurement 5-12
Price £££
esplora.co.uk
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9. Calabria & Basilicata tour, Esplora Travel
Calabria, tucked in the heel of southern Italy, tends to be missed by most. Don’t be so silly: this itinerary contains visits to the Bronzes of Riace, the hilltop cities of the Aspromonte mountains, the castles of the Sila, and the fascinating Greek temples at Paestum. You’ll be taught all about the area with a completely licensed native information, and the worth contains lodging — in boutique motels and agriturismi — all meals (with wine and beer) and entrance charges. Flights aren’t included and there are annual departures, often in September.
Group measurement 5-12
Price ££
esplora.co.uk
10. Treasures of Florence tour, Jules Verne
This five-night small-group tour takes in some of the main artwork and structure of fabulous Florence. You’ll get precedence entrance to the Uffizi, Accademia and extra, and see its standout points of interest: the Basilica di San Lorenzo; Rucellai Palace; Palazzo Strozzi; Santa Croce church; the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli; Palazzo Vecchio; Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. Tours depart from February to May, and from September to November. The tour is geared toward mature travellers and the worth contains four-star lodging in the centre of the metropolis, flights, transfers, excursions and guides. There’s no single complement to pay on some tour dates.
Group measurement 8-18
Price £
vjv.com
11. Trulli and Sassi tour, Jules Verne
Get to know the areas of Puglia and Basilicata on a seven-night small-group tour. You’ll make tracks for its historic ports, snap pictures of its baroque structure and discover Norman castles in addition to go to the quirky Trulli of Puglia — mysterious historical dwellings with conical roofs — and Sassi of Basilicata, constructed into the rock. You’ll even enterprise to the splendid Lecce Palazzo and converse to a member of the household about the palazzo’s historical past earlier than strolling round the gardens and rounding issues off with appetisers and an aperitif. This journey is geared toward mature grownup travellers, and the worth contains flights, 4 and five-star lodging in Bari, Lecce, Matera and Alberobello, transfers, excursions and guides. Tours depart between May and October.
Group measurement 8-22
Price ££
vjv.com
12. Flowers of Italy’s Gargano Peninsula, Naturetrek
Lace up your boots for a collection of enjoyable walks in the flower-filled Gargano Peninsula in southeast Italy, the place the orchids are amongst the most placing in Europe. On the itinerary is the medieval city of Monte Sant’Angelo, its terraces dotted with asphodels and rockroses. After that it’s off to Peschici, a conventional fishing village that’s an excellent base for locating the botany of the peninsula’s north coast. Each stroll is damaged with lunchtime picnics, so you may get a style of the lip-smacking native produce. Price contains flights, lodging in family-run motels, all meals and the providers of skilled guides.
Group measurement 5-16
Price ££
naturetrek.co.uk
13. Explore Italy’s Lake Garda tour, TD energetic Holidays
It’s onerous to not fall head over heels for Lake Garda, however you may attempt your hardest on this tour. What will make issues tough is a keep in the soul-stirring lakeside city of Torbole — your base for a full day’s tour round the lake by bike. Two wheels apart, you’ll additionally hike Monte Baldo in the Italian Alps and re-energise with lunch at a mountain hut restaurant and trek via pungent vineyards, adopted by the probability to toast the day and style the wine itself. Happily, between the excursions, you’ll have time to laze by the lake and stroll round the native cities. The worth of this five-day tour contains lodge lodging, some meals, excursions and the providers of a neighborhood information, however not flights.
Group measurement 16
Price ££
tdactiveholidays.co.uk
14. Rome, Ninfa and Castel Gandolfo, Brightwater Holidays
There are loads of gardens you’d like to peek in, however these at Ninfa and Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer time residence, are certainly in direction of the prime of your listing. Just to the south of Rome, the medieval ruins at Ninfa are festooned with curtains of flowers and permit for splendidly scented walks beside the river. Castel Gandolfo, whose gardens Pope Francis has declared must be open to the public, is a sight you’ll need to snap a photograph or three at — notably the Giardino del Belvedere, with its cypresses and umbrella pines. The itinerary additionally options Sixteenth-century Villa Lante and Villa D’Este, the walled city of Viterbo, and a tour of Rome itself, together with highlights comparable to the Colosseum, St Peter’s Square and the Trevi fountain. This four-day tour runs in May and September. The worth contains flights, lodging, coach journey, tours and a few meals.
Group measurement 6-25
Price ££
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