The last time I was in Europe was when my father took the whole family, and we weren't on any type of package tour. Just the six of us. My sister and brother-in-law have gone on a bunch of tours through Rick Steves. They're not a discount travel package, other than the hotels and most meals are included in the price. They've enjoyed them very much and do recommend them.

I have used escorted tours, and I think they vary a bit but overall they are very efficient ways of travel. I think each tour is different, and each guide and group is also very variable.

Overall I am very receptive to doing it again. We used GATE ! and that was actually our favorite, followed by close second Trafalgar. We also did a tour with CIE and that was not bad, but not as well done as the others.

I would definitely use Gate 1 again, and it is a good idea to add on extra days in beginning or end or another city on your own.

Last year we and another couple did a special private tour to several cities in a country, and although it was highly rated and got good reviews, we were kind of disappointed with it. We expected this to be so much better than the group tours, and it wasn't. Sad to find that out.

We have also traveled on our own in some countries (England, Israel, Argentina) and that was totally fine for those countries and our comfort level.

Salonva, I have traveled completely on my own to Britain; in the Netherlands it was a cycling tour through the VVV, and when I went to Israel a few years ago it was as a combination of a full guided/bus tour (with a particular focus) and about 5 days on my own - where I joined walking tours in Jerusalem and Yafo, and also one day bus tour to other sites ( Caesarea, Haifa and Acre), arranged by my hotel. So I am comfortable with that! But the full tour was quite pricey and I don't want to spend like that again.

I'm glad to hear that you were satisfied with Gate1 and Trafalgar!

I went to Greece in October on my first tour. I usually make my own arrangements and often travel solo, but I got the tour from Groupon for a deal. The tour company was Affordable World. My rating is I got what I paid for. Not great, not bad just middling. I wouldn't hesitate in just making my own arrangements but if a tour is cheaper I would do it. You can opt out of any part of the sightseeing stuff you don't want to do and just use the transport and hotel part.

I think what you have to look at when looking at discount travel tours is are you happy staying in whatever #of stars the accommodation is on offer, are you happy with only 1 or 2 meals a day and having to buy the rest, are you happy with not seeing everything that a city has to offer. That's the kind of research and analyzing that you have to do.

The other thing is that if you know the accommodation that is being used you can google it separately and see what the reviews say.

We've done two tours both in Europe. The first one was just the two of us, we were short of time and a tour was so much more efficient for us. This was a tour for the under 30 group. It turned out to be more fun that we thought it would be.

The second one was with our kids and we had our plane tickets booked and there was a change of plans in Europe that left us with a week that was sort of awkward timing . We were able to find a bus tour that catered to families and did the capitols of Europe with the exact dates for our week and it worked out really well.

Neither of them were discount companies, but that aside, doing them in our specific circumstances at the time worked out well.

I’ve traveled with Road Scholar and Overseas Adventure Travel. Both were small groups and I enjoyed it. I like that they take care of hotels, transportation, shuffling bags. They both gave us plenty of free time to see what we wanted or try restaurants. They also have local guides and access to places you might not have as an individual. For instance, we got to see the inside of a contrade clubhouse for the Palio in Siena ( famous horse race). I feel like I have more time to enjoy what’s there and less time figuring out logistics.

imknow some people who have used Travelzoo and were very happy with their trip. I believe one went to Africa!

When my friend and I went to Paris in 2001 over New Year's, we used this travel company back when I used to get the Frommer's newsletter, https://www.go-today.com/. They did the travel and we did our own sightseeing to the Louvre, etc.

When I went to China, I used a tour guide service, Catherine Lu tours, which was great. This is super important when you don't speak the language or are a solo traveler. She arranged all the itineraries, bought the tickets for the attractions, got the Didi (Uber), etc. to pick me up and drop me off at the hotel each day and even take me to the airport. It was not cheap but it was wonderful. I had also arranged a car service from the Beijing airport to the Grand Hyatt. It was $100 US and money well spent! They met me at the gate, had a car waiting, and even express checked me in at my hotel room. I think I got the recommendation for Catherine Lu here but also check TripAdvisor.

We have a friend who has done several tours with Gate 1 and has nothing but good things to say about them. We have not used a tour company ourselves.

A widowed friend took a trip with friends to Ireland with GoAhead tours and enjoyed it very much. She said it was reasonably priced. https://www.goaheadtours.com/search?emailCTA&utm_source=promo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pr_01202019_ind_pricelockextend_lastday_B_notours&utm_content=&cid=0031Y00005e8vQPQAY

I ended up booking with another company (Insight Travel) for our trip to Ireland and Scotland. It was a bit more expensive, included hotel breakfast and a few dinners. They allowed me to book my own air and to extend the hotel on either end, which gave us flexibility to enjoy the cities on our own. The Insight hotels were all 4-5 star hotels and the tours excellent. We even went several out of the way places for short visits that were not on the advertised itinerary.

For the eastern Europe country I am definitely looking for a guide and driver!

I appreciate the feedback on the package companies -- zeroing in on Italy as that is his #1 choice, but hoping to find a 2 city package for myself.

We were in Eastern Europe in 2017 and used My Day Trip ( English speaking driver) to go from Krakow to Prague with stops for sightseeing. We used the same service when leaving Prague and going to Vienna. From Vienna we flew to London on EZ Jet ( flights within Europe are very reasonable.) I highly recommend the car service. Once you are in Europe flying to Paris, Rome and/or Barcelona on either EZJet or Ryan Air are good options. We have combined Paris and Rome.

I would say if you are looking for a guide/driver in Eastern Europe, definitely look at Tripadvisor. We did that for Romania, as it's not such a popular destination and we also had some specific (as in obscure) places to visit. To be honest, we did a lot of research on the different guides /tours, programs, and we were actually a bit disappointed. I think we did not fully "get" just how much time in the car between places it would be, and thought that using a guide/tour they would have either alerted us to that or, planned a touch differently. It was still a very good trip and no big issues, but that was something we realized after.

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