Ride a gondola through Venice’s canals and experience the city from the water at a slower pace. Look up at bridges and canal-side buildings as a gondolier navigates the narrow waterways.

Gondolas have been part of Venetian life for centuries and remain one of its most recognisable traditions. This ride is separate from the included private boat crossing: it is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 14 Breakfast (B)

• London: A modular trip means fellow travellers will join and leave at various locations. There’ll be some goodbyes, sure, but there’ll also be plenty of hellos with new like-minded travellers.
• Rome: If you require arrangements to be made for your accessibility needs, please inform your Trip Manager as soon as possible. We try our best to contact all accommodations and secure ground floor rooms for easy wheelchair access.Please remember that Italy can be physically challenging to get around. Coaches can’t access historical centers, and there will be lots of walking (on roads that are often uneven and cobbled). Travellers with accessibility needs will find this trip challenging.
• Madrid: Yep. Usually, we arrange a buffet for all your included meals. If you’d like a vegetarian option, please inform your Trip Manager beforehand, and they’ll sort it out for you.
• Rome: This would depend on the museums & attractions you’re planning to visit. If you’d like to know the exact timings, please contact our 24×7 Helpline to access your day-to-day itineraries to check when you’ll have free time in each city.
• Madrid: Of course! Just inform your Trip Manager if you need refrigeration on the coach. Please remember that the fridge is turned off overnight, so you’ll have to take your medication with you into your accommodation. We recommend that you bring a cooler bag with you as a backup. It’s your responsibility to store your medication with care. 

• Rome: Stroll around the Italian capital, ticking off some sights on your bucket list! 
• Rome:  Kick back with your Contiki crew and feast on some yummy Italian cuisine – served at a local restaurant working to train and provide jobs for members of the community with disabilities.
   
• Siena: This medieval Tuscan city is packed with charming photo ops. From the Duomo to Piazza del Campo. 
• Florence: See the Duomo, Basilica Santa Croce, Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistery & Piazza della Signoria on a locally guided walking tour of Florence.
• Pisa: Your ultimate chance to ‘hold the tower up’ as you pose for that classic Insta snap. 
• Lucca: Ramble around the cobbled streets of this Renaissance walled city in Tuscany. It’s an Insta post waiting to happen! 
• Cinque Terre National Park: We’ll take care of your rail pass, so you can just zip around the iconic clifftop villages and focus on the Insta stories. Wanna hike around too? You’re welcome to explore on foot along the way.
• Verona: This is the address behind the legendary love story. Visit Juliet’s House and see the spot that turned Verona into a global icon.
• Venice: Speed across the lagoon to the aqueous island of Venice.
• Rome: Wander through the ruins of the ancient Roman Empire’s political heart, while our Local Guide peels back the layers of history & reconstructs the past. From the assassinations at the Forum to the bloody battles in the Colosseum, learn how the roots of Western culture started here. 
• Amalfi Coast: Definitely one for the bucket list. Your chance to view one of Europe’s active volcanoes from a distance. 
• Capri: Chill on the beaches of this Mediterranean jewel. Explore the famous boutiques then stop off for a Spritz in the sun. 
• Amalfi Coast: Live your best life like a local (on a ferry!) as you glide through azure seas, past cliffs filled with rainbow-coloured buildings. 
• Positano: Ramble through the wisteria-lined streets and past sun-bleached houses as you live La Dolce Vita. Don’t forget an iconic selfie with the village backdrop.

Explore Positano’s steep streets, winding past sun-bleached buildings, shopfronts and glimpses of the sea. Find a viewpoint for the village’s distinctive tiers of houses rising above the Amalfi Coast.

Built into a dramatic slope, Positano rewards slow exploration as lanes and stairways reveal different perspectives at each turn. This included visit centres on experiencing the village itself, with time to absorb its coastal atmosphere.

Spend time on Capri, the island known for dramatic limestone cliffs, Mediterranean views and café-lined streets. Browse its boutiques, seek out a sunny spot or take in the contrast between the island’s rugged coastline and polished resort atmosphere.

Capri has attracted visitors since Roman times and remains one of the Bay of Naples’ most recognisable destinations. The island visit is included; a cruise with swimming stops is offered separately at additional cost.

Contiki

Walk through Rome’s historic streets with your Contiki group, taking in some of the capital’s best-known sights and getting a feel for its lively piazzas.

Ancient monuments, Renaissance facades and everyday Roman life sit side by side here. This included stroll offers an introduction to the city without committing you to a museum visit or a fixed sightseeing route.

Share an included Italian dinner with your Contiki group at a local Rome restaurant. It is a chance to meet fellow travellers over a meal rather than simply pass through the city’s dining scene.

The restaurant also trains and provides work for people with disabilities, giving the evening a meaningful connection to the local community. Italian food and conversation are at the heart of the experience.

Explore Siena’s UNESCO-listed historic centre, where narrow streets open onto the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. See the exterior of Siena Cathedral, the Duomo, and take in the warm brick and stonework of this Tuscan hill city.

Siena’s medieval street plan remains strikingly intact. Its main square is also the setting for the Palio, the fiercely contested horse race that reflects the city’s enduring neighbourhood traditions.

Sit down to an included feast of local delicacies in Florence and discover a city as celebrated for its food as for its art. Share a meal with your group while tasting the flavours of Tuscan cooking.

Florentine cuisine draws on regional produce and straightforward preparations that let the ingredients speak. This group dinner offers a sociable introduction to that tradition; specific dishes may vary with the venue and menu.

Walk Florence with a Local Guide and see the Duomo, Giotto’s Bell Tower and the Baptistery. The route also takes in Basilica di Santa Croce and Piazza della Signoria, where sculptures and grand civic buildings frame the city’s public life.

These landmarks reveal Florence’s role as a centre of Renaissance art, architecture and political ambition. The tour is a street-level exploration of the historic centre; interior entry is not specified.

Ramble through Lucca’s cobbled streets, passing Renaissance buildings, welcoming piazzas and historic cafés. This Tuscan city offers a quieter urban setting, with sights close enough together to appreciate on foot.

Lucca is especially known for its remarkably preserved Renaissance walls, which still encircle the old centre. Look for the contrast between imposing fortifications and the intimate lanes within; no paid landmark entry is specified for this included visit.

Visit Pisa’s Leaning Tower and find your angle for the classic perspective photograph. The tower stands in Piazza dei Miracoli alongside the city’s cathedral and baptistery, making the square a destination in its own right.

Construction began in the 12th century, and the tower’s tilt developed as its foundations settled into soft ground. This included visit is an opportunity to see and photograph the landmark; a climb or interior ticket is not specified.

Use your included Cinque Terre rail pass to explore the five villages along this stretch of Ligurian coast. Move between colourful harbours and hillside streets by train, with the option to explore on foot as well.

Vineyard terraces, steep slopes and compact fishing settlements give this UNESCO-listed landscape its distinctive character. Walking routes vary in length and conditions, so you can shape the experience around village visits, coastal views or a more active outing.

Take in the scenery at Lake Como, where waterfront buildings meet a broad expanse of water framed by mountains. The included stop gives you time to appreciate the lakeside setting from shore.

Como has long drawn visitors for its Alpine backdrop and elegant towns. This experience focuses on seeing the lake itself; getting out on the water is a separate optional boat ride.

Visit Juliet’s House in Verona, the address associated with the city’s best-known romantic legend. See the setting that has become a focal point for visitors following the story of Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare set his tragedy in Verona, although Juliet is a fictional character and the house’s association with her is part of the city’s later storytelling. The included visit does not specify museum entry or access to the balcony.

Cross the Venetian lagoon by private boat to reach Venice’s historic heart. From the water, the city’s low skyline and waterside buildings offer a first look at a place shaped by canals rather than roads.

Venice grew across islands in a shallow lagoon, making boats integral to its identity and daily movement. This included crossing is the journey into the city; gondola rides and the Burano Island cruise are separate optional experiences.

Explore Bologna’s UNESCO-listed porticoes, the covered walkways that give much of the city centre its distinctive rhythm. Their long arcades connect streets, shops and public spaces while offering shelter from sun and rain.

Bologna is also known as La Grassa, or the Fat One, for its rich food culture. This included visit leaves room to notice both the architecture and the city’s appetite, though food purchases are not included as an organised tasting.

Explore the heart of ancient Rome with a Local Guide, hearing how the ruins around the Roman Forum relate to the empire’s political life. The guide brings stories of public debate, power struggles and everyday society into focus.

Learn about the Forum’s place in Roman history and the gladiatorial spectacles associated with the nearby Colosseum. This included guided experience does not, by itself, confirm admission to either archaeological site.

Travel by ferry along the Amalfi Coast, looking back at cliffs, waterfront settlements and brightly coloured buildings from the sea. The waterborne view reveals the steep terrain that defines this celebrated stretch of southern Italy.

For generations, coastal communities here have adapted to narrow strips of land between mountain and sea. The included ferry experience makes that geography visible, with the changing shoreline providing the main attraction.

Look out for Mount Vesuvius from a distance while travelling through the Bay of Naples and Amalfi Coast region. Its broad volcanic profile is a defining feature of this part of southern Italy.

Vesuvius is an active volcano, most famously linked to the eruption that buried Pompeii in AD 79. This included experience is a scenic view rather than a visit to the volcano or a hike to its crater.

Join a Tuscan evening in Florence featuring a risotto demonstration, local wine, antipasto and something sweet to finish. Watch how the dish is prepared while sharing regional flavours around the table.

The demonstration gives you a closer look at Italian cooking than a restaurant meal alone, pairing technique with a sociable evening. This experience is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Head to vineyards outside Lucca for the chance to try local wines in the Tuscan countryside. It is a change of setting from the city’s walled streets, with vines and rural landscapes at the centre of the experience.

Tuscany’s wine traditions are closely tied to its varied hillsides and long-established agricultural culture. This vineyard option is at additional cost and bookable on tour; the precise wines and format may vary.

Get out on Lake Como by boat for a different perspective on its shoreline and mountain backdrop. From the water, the scale of the lake and the settlements along its edge come into clearer view.

Boat travel has long connected communities around Como’s branching shores. This ride adds an on-the-water experience to the included lakeside stop and is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cruise across the Venetian lagoon to Burano, an island known for its vividly painted houses and waterside lanes. The outing offers a quieter setting beyond Venice’s busiest central streets.

Burano’s colour is part of its visual identity, while lace-making is an important strand of its local heritage. This cruise is separate from the included boat into Venice and is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Tour Rome’s Colosseum with a guide and learn about the emperors, gladiators and public spectacles associated with this vast ancient amphitheatre. A guided visit offers a closer examination than viewing its exterior alone.

Completed in the first century AD, the Colosseum remains one of the most visible expressions of Roman engineering and imperial power. This tour is an optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Walk through ancient Pompeii with a guide and discover streets and buildings preserved after Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. The archaeological site offers a close look at the layout of a Roman town.

Volcanic material buried Pompeii, leaving evidence that helps historians understand daily life in the ancient world. This guided tour is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour, rather than part of the included scenic view of Vesuvius.

Explore Naples on an optional tour focused on the city, its history and its food culture. Learn more about a place whose street life and culinary identity are central to the experience of southern Italy.

Naples has layers of Greek and Roman heritage, while its food traditions are known well beyond the city. The precise route and any tastings are not specified. This tour is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cruise around Capri’s coastline and pause for swims in turquoise coves. Seen from the water, the island’s limestone cliffs and rocky shoreline offer a striking contrast to its cafés and boutiques.

Swimming adds a hands-on way to experience Capri’s clear Mediterranean waters; conditions and stops may depend on the day. The cruise is separate from the included island visit and is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit a family-run lemon farm on the Amalfi Coast and learn about a crop deeply associated with the region. The visit brings you closer to the people and growing traditions behind the citrus seen across its steep landscape.

The host family traces its connection to the crop through earlier generations. Rather than a general sightseeing stop, this is a chance to hear a local agricultural story. It is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Make your own pasta with a local chef in Rome, working through a hands-on introduction to this familiar part of Italian cooking. Enjoy the dish you have prepared as part of the experience.

The session shifts the focus from choosing a meal to learning how one is made, with guidance from someone who cooks locally. This chef-led activity is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.