Rome and Italy

If you'd consider a group tour, consider Amber Road Tours (www.amberroadtours.com), which has a two-week tour of Tuscany and Umbria which I did last year. It was excellent. They have three departures in May, with a few spaces available on two of them.

If you want to visit Tuscany and Umbria, trains will get you to some of the best-known cities and towns, but some of them are too small to have train service, which means relying on a train plus bus connection from your starting point. That's doable but time-consuming. And driving around Italy can be a challenge, especially when you reach your destination and need to find your hotel or even a convenient place to park. I found that this was one time when it made sense to let someone else do the driving.

As we approached each town, our guide gave us a city map, explained our walking tour, and when and where we would find the bus to depart. Almost always, we had at least several hours on our own, for lunch or wandering or both. The walking tours got me oriented and showed me the "must see" attractions, leaving me plenty of time for leisurely exploratory strolls.

It's essentially a two-person company, our tour leader as well as our local guides were fine, the itinerary was well thought-out, and we almost always had lunch or dinner at a local restaurant outside of our hotel.

It's worth considering.

Check Untours, they are for independant travelers and have apartments in Rome and Umbria along with other locations. They can assist with air and car rental as well.

http://www.untours.com/italybroker.html

See this for further information: http://www.untours.com/whatsincludedinasampler.asp?code=12UMRO