Artist’s Dream Northern Italy Tour

1) Small group size – 8-10 people, is a fraction of the size of many tour company tours, but is designed to feel like a family vacation and allow you to truly experience the Italian culture.

2) Guides – Full-Time service of Adventure On Tour guide and local experts.

3) All tours and admission at no extra cost – more than 15 activities

Monterosso walk, Boat tour, Portovenere, Vernazza walk, Manarola walk, Riomaggiore walk, Corniglia walk, Florence walk, Uffizi Gallery, Gallaria Accadamia, Fiesole, Private hill town tour, Climb duomo, Visit duomo, Climb Pisa Tower, Visit Pisa Cathedral

4) Group transportation – train, bus, boat, private car tour

5) 11 nights accommodations – in memorable small hotels and B&B’s located in the heart of each town. These locations make it easy to step out your door and into a walkable city of adventure, culture and fun!

6) Most Meals – Meal time is a very important time in Italy, for conversation, pleasure and culinary delights. Although we offer most meals, there are times when we are not together as a group during meal time. We did this to minimize interruption to your free time and maximize your time to see the amazing sites you don’t want to miss, so we leave these few meals up to you (with recommendations of course).

7) Tips and Gratuities – All of our tours include tips and gratuities for drivers and other activities. This is done on purpose to remove any conflict of interest for our local guides so they don’t feel compelled to take you to shops where they may get a kick back.  This happens quite often on many tours, so we hire only the best to avoid the problem.

8 ) Free Gifts – Each tour participant will receive a European power converter and group luncheon before the trip date. Power converters are a necessary part of travel in Italy because they use a different electrical system than in the U.S., so just for signing up for our trips we give you one for free to take on the tour. Also, because there are many details to go over before the trip, we provide the opportunity to get together for a group lunch for anyone who is able to attend.  Past tour attendees have found this lunch a great way to get personal questions answered, hear additional details about the tour and get to know others going on the trip including your guide.

9) Tour Price – You will have a guaranteed tour price as soon as you have placed your deposit. Even if the tour price goes up, you will not have to pay the additional amount.

10) Single Supplement – For some of the tours, a single supplement is offered. If you would like to make sure you have a room all to yourself, you can pay an additional fee.

11) Travel Agent Referral – Because you may want to extend your vacation on either end of the tour we will offer you a discount on a consulting appointment to put this together. OR we will get you in contact with a AAA travel agent to help with flights and accommodations before or after the tour.

12) You are responsible for your drinks and free time sightseeing. Please see our terms and conditions for important details about the above information.

Day 1: Welcome to Italy

At 4pm we will meet as a group at our hotel, which is centrally located in the small town of Monterosso Al Mare. With a wonderful room for painting, outdoor sitting areas and great location.  This is the perfect hub for painting the Cinque Terre. Our first adventure as a group will be a walking orientation of the town and a beautiful group dinner. Sleep in Monterosso 6 nights. Activity level – Light.

Day 2: Boat Tour of Liguirian Sea

After breakfast  we will travel up and down the awe inspiring coast of Cinque Terre by boat! Stopping at Portovenere and touring around two nearby islands will provide years of painting material to get started on back at the hotel or by Plein Aire while out. Once we arrive back, the remainder of the day is yours to paint, relax or explore on your own. Activity Level – Light

Day 3: Town Visit

The cliff side towns of Vernazza and Manarola are on the list today. Spending a couple hours in each town we will go on a town orientation walk and have time to sketch, take pictures, do some painting before we head back to Monterosso for the evening. Activity Level – Moderate

Day 4) Free Day

This day is entirely yours. You can spend the day out at the beach, painting outside or in the dedicated painting room. Feel free to travel to nearby places by train or boat, the entire day belongs to you. You can plan this day in advance of the trip using our suggestions or your own research. Activity Level – Up to you

Day 5) Town Visit

We will visit the remaining two towns of the Cinque Terre today. Riomaggiore and Corniglia are our destinations. By train we will visit each of these towns for a few hours, which includes a town orientation tour and free sketch time, take pictures or paint. Activity level – Moderate

Day 6) Free Day

Your second entire free day to do as you please. Again you spend the entire day painting in our painting room, or off in another town. Or split up your day and paint only part of it then visit your favorite town or hike the Cinque Terre trails the rest. Activity level – Up to you.

Day 7) Depart Cinque Terre

By train we will leave Monterosso for the historic town of Florence. We start our stay in Florence with a town orientation walk and a group dinner at a friend’s restaurant around the corner from our perfect B&B just a few minute walk from the Ponte Vecchio! Sleep 5 nights in Florence. Activity level – Light

Day 8 ) Uffizi and Fiesole

After breakfast we have reservations for a tour of the Uffizi Gallery. Don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to explore as much or as little as you’d like before we meet for the next activity today. After the Uffizi Gallery we will hop on a bus and head to Fiesole, a town on a hill overlooking Florence, for sketching, taking pictures and more. We will have a picnic as a group overlooking the breathtaking views of Florence. When we return from Fiesole, you will have the remainder of the day free. Activity level – Light

Day 9) Hill Town Tour

Today will be a long day. So be ready. We will be picked up at our hotel by two private vans that will be driving us around the hill towns of Tuscany for the entire day. Stopping at a couple of wine tastings as well as a picnic and time to sketch, take pictures or paint overlooking Tuscany’s famous hills criss-crossed with vineyards. Activity level – Moderate

Day 10) The David and Brunelleschi’s Dome

First thing in the morning we will be touring the Gallaria Del Accademia, the home of the famous statue by Michelangelo “The David” as well as many other amazing art. After the Accadamia we head to the Duomo to climb the stairs to the top and see the entire town of Florence. An awe-inspiring site. Activity Level – Heavy

Day 11) The Leaning Tower

Our group activities start midday today. Early in the afternoon we head off to the train station departing for Pisa. We will spend the afternoon in Pisa climbing the tower, walking the cathedral and watching the color of the tower change with the setting sun. We finish this day with a group farewell dinner in Pisa before heading back to Florence to pack and get ready for departures. Activity Level – Heavy

Day 12) Depart Italy

After breakfast we bid our final farewells and head back to the United States or go on to visit other places in Italy!  Arrivederci!

An important part of traveling and having a true Italian experience is getting around the towns, activities and hotels. On this trip you will need to be able to handle the following things, with a smile.

1) Attend to your own luggage in all aspects of the trip. For example, lifting your suitcase onto trains, buses or boats, carrying it up stairs in hotels, and pulling it down streets, sometimes on uneven ground for several blocks at a time. (Hint: Pack light with a small suitcase)

2) Be able to be on your feet for hours at a time. This can mean walking through towns or museums, both moving and standing still. There will, of course, be breaks, but there is a lot of walking in Italy.

3) Sleeping accommodations will always be clean and comfortable with appropriate amenities. Some places will have no (or weak) air conditioning as well as street noise since we are centrally located in each town.  Be prepared for shared room accommodations.  Earplugs may prove to be helpful.

4) For each tour we will be giving a transportation and town orientation after which is it expected you will be able to navigate the city on your own.

Before you go on your tour, here are some things to think about:

1) Sightseeing on Your own

If you are arriving early, use a guide book or an information booth to get acquainted with the town. Try using public transportation and a few words of Italian. You will receive some suggestions when you register for the tour.

You will have plenty of free time on this Tour. Having a plan in advance of what you want to see or do during your free time will help you get the most out of it. Before you leave on your trip either use the suggestions we’ve sent you, head to your local library or search the internet to find out what other things you would like to see while you are in Italy.

2) Transportation

Flying in to Italy for our tours often has you starting in one town and finishing in a another town quite a distance away. The best way to handle this is to talk to your travel agent about an “open-jaw” flight. All this means is flying into one town and out of another. Or if you are purchasing your own flight, you can do this with multi-destination on a travel booking site like Kayak.com. The hassle of having to catch extra trains is not worth the few dollars you might save.

Prior to your departure, you will be receiving detailed directions to the hotel from the airport as well as contact information for the hotel and the guide. This information can also be used for pre or post tour accommodations.

3) Weather

We work very hard to schedule our tours during the most comfortable times of year, but weather in the spring and fall can be somewhat unpredictable. Make sure to pack appropriate clothing and shoes.

For more specific weather information and an expected forecast go to weather.com a few days before your departure.

4) Packing

For ideas on what to pack, check out these downloads (coming soon)

Travel Insurance
The time and expense that you have put into planning and paying for your trip warrant protection through the purchase of travel insurance. Look for a company that has “emergency medical transportation” – this is important when traveling and preparing for the unexpected. Emergency services are very costly. This coverage is very inexpensive in comparison. Nowadays with homeland and foreign security issues, flight cancellations, baggage handling, medical emergencies and other unexpected interruptions, it is wise to purchase travel coverage.

Passports
Learn about the process for obtaining passports from the US Postal Service: Passport Application Information

Visas
Learn about the process for obtaining visas at the US Department of State.

If you prefer to use a visa service to handle your visa applications,
we recommend CIBT Global Visa and Passport Professionals.

Embassies
Get the official list of US Embassies.

Center for Disease Control
Learn what immunizations are needed and how to prepare for travel to specific regions at the CDC Website.