How to Tour Italy in Deluxe Style for $276 a Day

Baby boomers, brush off that passport now and say "Ciao!" to Italy. Even the most dedicated armchair traveler will find that Insight Vacations' escorted tours of Italy are as comfortable as a La-Z-Boy recliner and a whole lot more fun. As the average Insight Vacations guest is aged 55-plus, you're in the best of hands, going at a easy pace and making friends along the way. And for less than $300 a day, what's included are airport transfers, deluxe central hotels with full breakfast, transportation, tour director, local guides, admissions, gratuities, food and wine at plenty of scheduled meals and dine-around nights out on the town. Escorted beats independent travel Escorted tours (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escorted_tour) save travelers many hours of surfing online, planning and booking hotel stays, car rentals, mapping out routes, currency matters, timetables and more. Plus, you must schlep your own suitcases everywhere, find your own way, budget for tips and taxis, pay for parking, gas, insurance, stand in long lines and either pay for a guide or wonder about the significance of what you're only able to glance at as you drive by. Doing the math With the very best escorted touring company, everything's included besides your leisure time choices from the moment your flight lands. Traveling independently, just the hotel accommodation alone could easily cost more. Leave the driving to them The carefree pleasure of relaxing onboard a deluxe Mercedes Benz coach while your driver and tour director take over certainly beats struggling with foreign road maps, directions, and signs. Insight Vacations' coaches are specially reconfigured with several rows of seats removed for extra spacious seating and reclining, allowing no more than 40 guests in a group. You can send photos of fabulous sights back home as you go, since free Wi-Fi is installed. Your tour director keeps you informed, makes photo stops and rest stops at the nicest places, and provides personal radio headsets for commentary when the group wanders through famous hillside villages and top attractions. Signature experiences Discovering Italy intimately through the eyes of a local makes all the difference. Insight Vacations signature experiences deliver priceless encounters on the theme of authenticity that's a hallmark of their small size tours. You could meet a gondola maker in Venice, tour the vineyards with a Chianti maker in Tuscany, watch an olive crush in operation before sampling the first cold press of the season, make pasta with a chef, see Steve McQueen's Ferrari, and meet a local expert to explain the relics of Assisi or the hidden stairways of historic hilltop villages. Pick your favorite spots This top destination never runs out of surprises and delights, from the peaks of her snowy Alpine mountains to the black sand beaches of Sicily. Focus on imperial Roman ruins, explore Italy's back country roads, get to know the incredible floating city of Venice, be charmed by Pisa and Lake Como or awed by Medieval Siena and Florence's Renaissance art treasures. Insight Vacations offers Sicily and various Italy itinerary options for nine days or longer from $242 per day, plus flights.