Escape Venice’s busiest lanes on an optional cruise to Burano, an island in the lagoon known for its vividly painted houses and lace-making heritage. The journey offers time on the water as well as a chance to experience a different side of Venetian life.

Burano’s colourful canalside streets create a striking contrast with central Venice’s stone palaces. The precise cruise arrangements are not specified. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

• 2 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)

• 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. 

Contiki

Explore the Italian capital on an orientation walk through Rome, getting your bearings among its historic streets and celebrated sights. Your Trip Manager introduces the city and helps you spot places you may want to explore more closely.

Rome’s layers of history are visible across its streets, from ancient remains to grand piazzas. The walk offers a shared introduction to the city once called the capital of the world without tying you to a museum or monument visit.

Walk the cobbled streets of Lucca, a Tuscan city known for its broad Renaissance walls, intimate piazzas and long-established cafés. Its compact centre invites a closer look at the buildings and everyday life tucked within the fortifications.

Unlike many defensive walls, Lucca’s have survived as a defining feature of the cityscape. The combination of historic architecture and relaxed street life gives this visit a distinct character alongside Tuscany’s larger art cities.

Pause beside Lake Como to take in the water and surrounding Alpine foothills. This scenic visit gives you a taste of the lakeside setting that has drawn visitors to northern Italy for generations.

Look across the lake and soak up an atmosphere distinct from the cities on the tour: open views, waterfront scenery and mountain slopes beyond. An optional boat ride is available separately for travellers who want to experience the lake from the water.

Visit Juliet’s House in Verona, the landmark associated with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. See the setting that has made the city a destination for readers and romantics, including the house’s famous courtyard area.

The Capulet connection is part of Verona’s literary tradition, not evidence that Shakespeare’s fictional Juliet lived here. That blend of historic streets and enduring storytelling gives the stop its appeal. Interior admission is not specified.

Explore Bologna beneath its UNESCO-listed porticoes, the covered walkways that give the city’s streets their distinctive rhythm. Look beyond the shopfronts to notice how arches and columns link public spaces across the historic centre.

Built and adapted over centuries, the porticoes offer shelter while reflecting Bologna’s civic and commercial life. They make a rewarding focus for a stroll through a city also celebrated for its rich food traditions, from mortadella to ragù.

Explore the remains of ancient Rome with a Local Guide who brings the empire’s political and public life into focus. Hear the stories associated with the Roman Forum and Colosseum, from power struggles to gladiatorial spectacle.

These landmarks reveal how Rome governed, gathered and entertained on a vast scale. The itinerary describes a guided experience among the ruins but does not specify which sites include interior admission, so entry to individual monuments should not be assumed.

Opt for a vineyard wine experience outside Lucca and sample wines in their Tuscan setting. It is an opportunity to step beyond the walled city and connect a glass of local wine with the landscape where it is produced.

Tuscany’s wine traditions vary across its hills and estates; the specific vineyard and wines are not named in the itinerary. This experience is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Get out on Lake Como by boat for a different perspective on its waterfront and mountain-framed shores. From the water, the scale of the lake and the contrast between its built-up edges and steep slopes come into view.

A boat ride makes the lake itself the focus rather than a backdrop to a shore visit. The route and vessel are not specified in the itinerary. This experience is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Take an optional gondola ride through Venice and see the city from its waterways. A low vantage point brings bridges, waterside facades and the movement of canal life into view.

Gondolas are closely tied to Venice’s history as a city built around water. The itinerary does not specify a route or duration, but the ride offers a contrasting perspective to exploring on foot. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Share an included Italian feast with your Contiki group at a local Rome restaurant. It is a chance to meet fellow travellers over food and conversation rather than simply sit down to a routine hotel meal.

The restaurant also trains and provides jobs for people with disabilities, giving this welcome dinner a meaningful connection to its local community. Enjoy the flavours and convivial pace of an Italian meal while supporting the people behind it.

Explore Siena’s UNESCO-listed historic centre, where narrow lanes open onto medieval landmarks and warm brick piazzas. Look out for the striped marble of Siena Cathedral and the sweeping, shell-shaped Piazza del Campo as you take in the city on foot.

The centre preserves the character of a powerful medieval Tuscan city. Its civic buildings and closely packed streets make Siena a rewarding place to pause, photograph the architecture and appreciate a different side of Tuscany.

Join a locally guided walk through Florence to see the cathedral complex, including the Duomo, Giotto’s Bell Tower and the Baptistery. The route also takes in Basilica di Santa Croce and Piazza della Signoria, bringing the city’s great public spaces into focus.

Florence’s streets reflect the artistic ambition and civic wealth of the Renaissance. A Local Guide adds context to the facades, squares and monuments you see from outside; entry to the buildings is not specified as part of this tour.

Visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa and find your angle for the classic photograph beside its unmistakable tilt. The tower stands in Piazza dei Miracoli, where the cathedral, baptistery and open lawns create one of Italy’s most recognisable settings.

Built as a bell tower, it began leaning as its foundations settled into soft ground. This experience is a chance to view and photograph the landmark from outside; a climb or ticketed tower entry is not specified.

Use your included rail and hiking pass to explore the five villages of Cinque Terre at your own pace. Travel between settlements by train or choose a permitted walking trail for views of colourful houses above the Ligurian Sea.

These villages grew between steep hillsides and a narrow coast, with terraced landscapes shaping their setting. The pass provides flexibility rather than a guided hike; trail access and conditions can vary, so check locally before setting out on foot.

Board an included private boat across the Venetian lagoon to reach the historic heart of Venice. Approaching by water reveals the city as it was built to be seen: a cluster of islands shaped by canals rather than roads.

The crossing is an experience in its own right, with views of the lagoon and Venice’s waterside buildings. It provides a distinctive introduction to the city before you explore its lanes and bridges at your own pace.

Experience a Tuscan evening of food and wine in Florence, featuring a risotto demonstration, antipasto, local wine and a sweet finish. Watch the dish come together while sharing regional flavours with fellow travellers.

The evening offers a closer connection to Tuscany’s table traditions than an ordinary dinner, pairing a practical cooking moment with the pleasure of eating together. This experience is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.