Italian Indulgence

The tour director and driver were excellent, highly professional and knowledgeable. They went out of their way to make the trip comfortable and enjoyable. Places on the itinerary were wonderful and left us wanting more time there. The overall trip was great and having a small group approach makes it much more personal and friendly. The only thing preventing a 5 star review is some inconsistency in quality of hotels. All were clean and comfortable but quality of service and amenities was more varied than anticipated on a trip at this price point.

The tour leader did a very good job. Being fluent in both English and Italian meant that we always understood what was required of us.
Our driver was excellent. He negotiated the difficult driving conditions,(narrow roads with frequent U bends) excellently. He was by far the best tour driver I have ever travelled with.

The Italian Indulgence tour with Backroads Touring was, overall, a truly memorable experience. Our tour leader was exceptional—an Italian who spent her school years in Australia, she spoke both English and Italian fluently and had an intuitive understanding of both cultures. Her commentary on landmarks, local cuisine, and daily life added real depth to the tour. Our driver was equally outstanding: cheerful, professional, and highly skilled at navigating narrow streets and tight schedules, all while handling luggage without complaint.

The itinerary was rich and well-paced, covering over 2,000 km in 13 days from Rome to Venice. We enjoyed a diverse range of activities including a truffle hunt, a pasta-making class with a head chef, scenic ferry rides, and visits to castles, cathedrals, and stunning rural and coastal landscapes. Each day brought new flavors and beautiful locations, and I was genuinely sad when the tour ended.

However, the reason I am giving this tour four stars instead of five is due to Backroads Touring's lack of communication. During registration, their online chat support was helpful, but persistent issues—such as our profiles showing as incomplete despite being assured they were fine—remained unresolved. More concerning was the total lack of communication after final payment. While they were quick to remind us when the balance was due, we received no further updates—not even a welcome message, itinerary confirmation, or meeting instructions. This was particularly stressful: we arrived in Rome still uncertain about when or where we were supposed to meet the group. The silence raised serious doubts and even made me question whether the tour was real, especially since the final payment deadline (60 days out) coincided with the end of the window to dispute a credit card charge.

Backroads Touring delivers an exceptional tour on the ground, but the pre-trip experience needs significant improvement. A simple confirmation email in the final week with basic arrival instructions would have prevented a great deal of unnecessary stress. I would recommend the tour—but with the caveat that travelers may need to be patient and persistent in the lead-up.

Wonderful trip, very capably hosted by Danila and Fabio. We could not have asked for better service from our hosts; friendly, informative, nothing was too much trouble for them in their quest to provide the best service possible for us all. We made lasting friendships amongst the tour group and could not fault the tour at any time. Sights and highlights non stop. Sensational!

Our Italian Indulgence Tour with Back Roads in Oct 24 was an outstanding trip and a wonderful experience. We travelled with a likeminded group and two outstanding guides who enjoyed many of the same things we did (Italian food, wine, culture and scenery) and we stayed in some amazing places including a castle and a grand hotel right on the water at Lake Maggiore. The tour was just the right amount of travelling, exploring, culture (highlight was the truffle hunting) and practical immersion in Italian culture (another highlight the cooking class). It was not too taxing, and the hotels were well located for our own exploration in the evenings. I would thoroughly recommend this tour for an introduction or a more in-depth experience of all things Italian.

Great tour, the staff was outstanding. We went places in Italy were would never go on our own. Very interesting sites!
Some of the hotels we stayed at were not "4-star" facilities!

Fulfilled all my expectations.

This was a wonderful tour giving us the opportunity to see so many beautiful places, particularly smaller towns and many regions of Italy. Beatrice was an absolutely fabulous tour leader and really made the tour special for us. She was informative, well organised, vivacious and took every opportunity to look after us and make our time in Italy so enjoyable. All the included lunches and dinners were high quality, much more than I expected and had experienced in group dining situations before. All accommodation was also high quality, comfortable and conveniently situated. The tour's itinerary was quite full, without a lot of downtime. But having said that, it allowed us to make the most of our time in Italy and meant that we never had more than two hours on the bus at one stretch. I would highly recommend this tour to others looking for an in depth experience of Italy.

Tour leader Saverio Ranieri very informative,We left our Ipad behind in the hotel much to our surprise 3days later we receive our Ipad Nothing was to much trouble for Saverio Our driver Farvio was also very helpful. The tour was very interesting taking us to places that big buses couldn't were foodwas supplied it was very good never left hungry Summing-up a good tour we were a little tired at the end maybe one more 2 day stop would have helped

I would thoroughly recommend this tour .
It was very professionally run with quality accommodation, great vehicle and knowledgeable guide.
It was well planned and the group of 16 was perfect as I prefer smaller groups on a tour of this kind . Thank you for a great experience.

The small group touring allowed all of us to get to know each other very well and we had a fabulous group. Our coach was comfortable. Our tour guide, Hello and our bus driver, Fabio, were fantastic. Both had a wonderful sense of humour which elevated our experience. Fabio is an amazing driver easily negotiating the Italian backroads. Our accommodation was interesting and as I discovered they always provide one outstanding place each tour. This one was an incredible Tuscan villa which was hundreds of years old. I was a solo traveller and always well accommodated to on the whole tour. The one negative is if one person is sick, they should wear a mask so it doesn't spread to the rest of the tour group.

My wife and I had a most wonderful time on this tour 13/10 to 24/10. Beatrice our Tour Leader (TL) was absolutely brilliant! She's knowledgeable, funny, always approachable and available to answer any questions or concerns. She genuinely cares, loves her job and is meticulously organized and well prepared which helped make our experience what it was. Gaetano, our driver, was outstanding and we always felt safe. The bus was clean and spacious enough for the 17 in our group to travel comfortably. The destinations visited were well paced, beautiful and we had enough free time at each for shopping and a bite to eat. The experiences (truffle hunt, wine and grappa tastings) along the way were also well planned and fun. It's called backroads for a reason becaus we got to see more of Italy this way. The accommodation was fantastic although some of us found that at this time off year (out of peak season) Some hotels had shut down their air-conditioning (cool function) and we had to leave our windows open for some reprieve. I must stress that this seems to be a common and standard thing in Italy as I also experienced this outside of the Tour.
We thoroughly enjoyed this Tour made extra special by out TL, Driver and friends made along the way within our little group.
Nick and Gail

We enjoyed seeing so many large cities, small villages and the beautiful Italian countryside. Highlights were Assisi, boat ride on The lakes, Maggiori, Como, Pescatori, the Borromeo Islands, Portafino, the Dolomites, and Verona. We also enjoyed our stay in Tuscany in Villa Pitiana. While we were on the go nearly everyday, we did have the opportunity to see and understand Italian culture and the pride of each city and village. The architecture and art are magnificent!

A whole new experience for me with group touring. Thoroughly enjoyable it was and Back Road Tours can be applauded for the tour itinerary.

Fantastic tour. Well paced. You need a moderate level of fitness as some of the walks were challenging. Would highly recommend for anyone wanting a taste of Italy.

It was an amazing experience, although not everyone's hotel rooms were equal, in any given hotel which was not particularly fair given we all paid the same for our tour.
In saying that, the Hotel's were all lovely our tour guides, were amazing and our bus driver was lovely too.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and Bea our Guide was fabulous

Helio was an amazing tour guide. He was friendly, kind and funny. He gave us the history of the area and recommendations for food and activities during our free time. He kept us on schedule and gave us options.
Fabio was a great driver. He is very kind and friendly. He made us feel very safe when he was driving and took great care of our luggage.
They both made our tour experience so enjoyable and relaxing.

Absolutely fantastic. We had the best guide and driver in Danella and Fabio.
The others in our tour were like-minded and it felt like we were travelling with friends.

Can't fault our outback experience, the friendly guide, driver and fellow traveller's combined with the daily adventures and experiences made our holiday feel complete. We would definitely book another

Fabulous - great places to visit - beautiful scenery, interesting architecture and history.
Extremely well lead by our tour guide, and brilliant and friendly people to travel with.

Must make people with colds or flu wear a mask, a woman on our bus infected the entire bus including the driver. Other than that the tour was very good couple of below standard hotels and maybe a rest day is needed with a tour that long.

The Back Roads tour of Northern Italy was outstanding. The guides were exceptional and made special arrangements for me that made my tour very comfortable. Nothing was too much trouble for them. The sites we visited and hotels were excellent and the group was like minded travellers. The off the beaten tourist routes activities gave us a true sense of life in Italy. Thank you Chiara and Angela for a most memorable journey through Italy.

Everything was fabulous although we could have spent longer in some locations and less in others. Some accomodation needed repairs in rooms and wifi

Our tour guide Danila Checchin did an outstanding job! Danila looked after us very well and she was patient and understanding.

Danila showed us some very lovely places and she was able to relate to our demographic as she has spent time living in Australia.

Our bus driver Fabio did an excellent job of driving us around Italy. We felt safe and well looked after.

I would recommend this tour to other people.

A thoroughly enjoyable tour.
Louise, our tour leader, was excellent.
The only areas for improvement were:
1. We need to arrive at our accommodation earlier in most cases. If this means cutting stuff during the day, so be it.
2. We need to have earlier dinners for the ones planned as part of the tour. Early starts the following day, should allow for earlier meals to be digested.

The tour was most enjoyable and gave a wonderful glimpse of Italy north of Rome.

Thoroughly enjoyed trip an amazing experience. Silvia our tour guide was beautiful and very informative and caring about all the people in the bus.

Tour leader Francesca was excellent as was our driver Gaetano. Locations were great and free time is well appreciated to explore on our own

My husband and myself loved the Italian trip. Lovely company on the bus and our tour guide was excellent.

Travelled through the north of Italy seeing the main sights very comfortable ride with a great driver Giatano and our tour leader Francesca was the best done the trip solo with no regrets recommended highly!

We thought the tour was excellent. It encompassed regions and cities that are not typically visited. The small size of the group made the pace enjoyable and enabled plenty of free time to explore without being part of a mass group. The ability to chose most of our meals was also a bonus and part of experience.
Hotels selected were value for money with several stand outs. All breakfasts were good and self service.
Tour guide and driver were organised and we were not rushed.

Fantastic tour. Our tour leader Silvia Bee went above and beyond; was very engaging; very knowledgeable and was an awesome tour leader.
With only a couple of exceptions, the places we visited were great.
However some of the accommodation ( Villa Pitiana which was old, run down & very dirty, the shower wouldn’t drain & we told reception who said they would send a plumber to check who never came) was dreadful and should not be used. The accomodation across our group was wide ranging across all tour stops. Some people got the rooms with chandeliers and we got the rooms with old dusty lampshades in the corner. Someone at Backroads should be checking the suitability of accomodation & doing quality control.

Best tour guide I have ever had amazing trip great country

Excellent tour but staying in lovely places two nights would be appreciated.

The tour was fantastic! Lead by Francesca our excellent guide, who showed a thorough knowledge and a brilliant manner to keep us informed and organised. Accomodation was very good and activities were both varied and interesting. Our driver Guydamo was very good too.

Tour and guide was fantastic, the only reason I’m not 5 stars, was drop off in Venice was a disaster.

Could not have ask for a better tour & to top it off we had the most amazing driver-Fabio & tour guide- Helio. They both are masters.

We had the best guide and driver both very knowledgeable and helpful. I think that if I did it again I would like to have a couple of free afternoons just for personal care. This would possibly be because my daughter and I did three backroads back to back. Otherwise I would highly recommend this tour.

Fantastic from whoa to go, our guide Danielle was brilliant, and the itinerary was varied, and took us to loads of places bigger vehicles wouldn't access.
Driver Roberto kept us safe and our mini bus was super comfortable, and nothing was too much trouble.

Our guide Daniele was exceptional.

Great tour with a small group of 16 people.

A great scenic trip enhanced by our guide Nico and superb driver Fabio

Tour was beyond all our expectations. Tour leader ( Beatrice Balducci ) made the tour, with her excellent interaction with all tour members , her organizational skills with tours, accommodation details, local sights , shopping, restaurants, etc. The tour was exactly what we wanted, back road villages, country side views , historical sites and more. Accommodation was of good standard, Ample time to stroll around sites and villages.
Would recommend tour, and do another Back Road tour sometime.

Wonderful trip.Very well organised and informative .Top marks to our guide Danilla.Very helpful and patient

This was so well organized and a perfectly curated trip. It starts with my trip advisor, rachel hoeing’s skilled ability to listen to your needs and tailor make your trip. Every detail was attended to which made it stress free. The group was small, accommodation superior, driver and mercedes bus were safe and clean, tour leader is my new best friend. This was my first Back roads tour but not my last!!

Italian Indulgence was well worth the cost. The group size was perfect, the tour leader - Beatrice Balducci, was amazing - very personable, fun, knowledgeable, passionate about Italy and making everything special for each person. She took the time to get to know each of us and provide us with experiences from very local cultures that without her, we may not have gotten. Many of the places we visited were off the beaten trail, but really gave us an opportunity to experience the real italian culture - not just the tourist world. This trip also incorportated local activities including cooking class, truffle hunting, and wine tastings. Bea also arranged for one of our group to go horseback riding and helped me find a salon to get my hair cut, colored, and styled. She went above and beyond to make this trip special. We truly came together as a family!

Enjoyed the backroads experience. First time to Italy and was pleasantly surprised with the accomodation and destinations.
The small tour group made it easy to get to our destinations easily.
Would have liked the tour to have included time in Rome before heading off and would have liked more time in Verona on the final day.

Our Tour Leader Beatrice was fantastic and went beyond expectations. She was knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, professional and so much fun to be with. Thank you Bea for making my first trip to Italy so memorable.

Amazing tour that totally exceeded my expectations. The places we visited and activities were all fabulous. Our tour leader, Danila was lots of fun and really knowledgeable. I would highly recommend this tour.

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip
Flavio was great
All stops and experiences were also well planed
Hotels were good except for our Tuscany stop
This old Place was good and we had fun there but it was a bit run down it needed some tlc
Overall a great experience

An amazing experience with a great guide to show the best of Northern Italy, can highly recommend Backroads for small mature age travellers

The tour was a wonderful journey through places not easily visited without a tour ( especially for Australians not comfortable driving in Italy and with limited language skills!) Visited a lot of places not previously visited! Our tour guide Daniele was exceptional along with our driver Fabio. Everything went smoothly despite the hot weather in Italy in August! Personally ( for an August trip) I would gave preferred an earlier arrival into cities and towns with more free time for shopping and exploring the city! Our guide always took us on an orientation/ information walking tour in each place but would like a little more time between arriving and going walking/eating comparatively late each night! As a single traveller I accept paying a single supplement for single use of a double room, what I don’t expect is to be shoved into a tiny room I could barely move or use the facilities in ( as I and another single traveller experienced on our first stop after Rome( as I had paid extra again for an upgraded room in Rome). If I am charged a single supplement I expect tbe same facilities as a couple ( including 2 sets of towels etc) in a room! I raised this with the tour leader ( though not his fault ) after the first night and had more suitable accommodation thereafter. When I book accommodation in Australia I always book for 2 eventhough I am travelling alone … so the hotels set up for two people as they are charging me the same price whether it is for 1 or 2 people. If you are going to put me in a tiny room .. don’t charge me a single supplement!!!

Our Italian Indulgence tour surpassed our expectations. The term 'Back Roads' is so apt for the companies name. Each day provided a new landscape and wonderful experiences, yet the pace was relaxed.

We had 16 on our tour and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.

We can't fault the comfortable bus, our friendly and professional bus driver Fabio and our kind, supportive guide Nico.

Accommodation, meals and experiences were of a high standard. We'd highly recommend the tour company and look forward to choosing a different itinerary with them in future.

This Tour was Absolutely fantastic. I went to see so many places and experienced so many wonderful things. I loved Tuscany and Truffle hunting with the farmer and her dog, Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Verona and So many other places. Way too many fantastic places and experiences to mention. Cooking classes, wine tasting, Grappa tasting and cheese tastings. Absolutely fantastic holiday. Can't recommend Back-Roads highly enough.

We loved our first tour with Back Roads our tour guide Davide and driver Fabio were great, very organised we visited a lot more places than we would have on our own with no stress even a few surprises which were not on Itinerary accommodation was a good standard

Our 1st Bus tour anywhere in the world, and I believe we picked the BEST. I did lots of research about many good companies, but the Backroads reviews were among the best. Friends had rave about Backroads, and they were not wrong. The tour director, Daniele, was amazing - and Fabio, our Driver was just incredible. His ability around some of the most difficult roads through the Alps was just amazing. Communication with the Company, pre-holiday, was easy & helpful.When we get home in October, I'll be planning some Switzerland & Austria Backroads tours.
ITALIAN INDULGENCE WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.

We had high expectations and the tour didn’t disappoint. It was everything we had hoped for and more. Our tour guide, Claudia, was knowledgeable and helpful in every way. She really enhanced our Italian adventure.

As it says back roads in a small bus maximum 18 . and covers a lot of area with a great driver and informative guide . Stay in original buildings close to town centres with perfect amenities. A mixed array or activities as well . Could not recommend it highly enough .

I had the best time of my life. Enjoyed every aspect of the activities.
Daniele was very knowledgeable in the rich history of Italy and was very accommodating.
Our driver Fabio was very pleasant and helpful.
I highly recommend this tour, great experience!

Daniele was a fantastic tour guide.He had lots of knowledge about the different areas we went to. Also he looked after us if we needed support with language or anything else.Farbio was a great driver ,I felt safe at all times. The boys worked well together.

Excellent tour. Fantastic engaging knowledgeable tour guide. Beautiful comfortable bus with an experienced driver. Highly recommend the schedule was perfect.

The Italian Indulgence tour was first class. Our guide Michele was extremely knowledgeable and nothing was too much trouble for him and our driver Romunos was fantastic. It is a great mix of holiday touring in a small group and having time to explore by yourself. The hotels were great and having our bags delivered and picked up from your room makes your life easy. The bus was ideal for the countryside we travelled through and very comfortable. Could not really fault anything, highly recommended

Our tour guide Daniele was a wealth of knowledge about all things Italian and his support to ensure the best experience was fantastic.

The Italian indulgence tour is a well planned and executed tour of
Northern Italy. Most of the journey was taken on back roads with only necessary exceptions on motorways.
It was a beautiful way to experience the best of Italy's countryside in all its uniqueness from Tuscany to the Dolomites. Spectacular!
Chiara was a genuine and considerate host well familiar with the areas and the individual persons needs.

The Italian Indulgence tour way exceeded my expectations. Starting with Chiara, our guide, and Roberto, our driver, who were both superb. Chiara repeatedly went the extra mile to make sure we all had the most wonderful of experiences. The tour content was definitely "backroads", regularly going off the beaten track to enjoy the very best of these parts of Italy. We had a huge variety of experiences from the classic Siena, Florence, Lucca and Verona, to the fabulous beaches and coastline of the Ligurian Riviera (especially Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands, just magical), to the spectacular vineyards of Tuscany, Piedmont, Barola and Sondrio regions, and finally the magnificent Lakes Orta, Como and Molveno, finishing with the magnificent Brenta Dolomites. This tour would be hard to beat in anyone's book. And I haven't even mentioned the great accommodation or the food!! Honestly, there were just too many positives.

We had a great time, saw lots of amazing countryside and places. Our tour leader seemed so happy to share her country with us in a way that we loved it as much as she did. We also enjoyed that we could get away from the tourist locations at times and visit smaller out of the way towns that larger coach tours couldn’t access. Lots of great food and wine for the whole tour. We had great experiences and made some wonderful friends thanks to Backroads tours.

This was an exceptional tour from the moment we booked until we were farewelled at the conclusion of the trip. We were looked after from start to finish with expert communication and an expert tour leader, who was kind, knowledgeable, entertaining and ensured every member of our group was enjoying their trip. The experiences we had were amazing and it was especially rewarding to be on the “back roads”. We did not miss the major attractions but the off the beaten track experiences were fabulous. The sites, the scenery, the regular photo opportunities and the unique italian experiences such as winery tours and truffle hunts were all highlights. Would have no hesitation in recommending Back Roads.

The Italian Indulgence Tour was a fantastic experience wonderful tour guide who was very well informed. We made great friends and saw some amazing sights. We cannot wait to return

Excellent organisation fantastic experience and would highly recommend to everyone. Use really local experiences and eating venues.
Very professional guides with wonderful abilities to be happy and accomodate all requests from all types of travellers.

Had a great time. Well organised, well managed, excellent driver & guide, great locations, great accommodations. What more can I say….

Really enjoyed our recent tour - our guide Davide was knowledgeable and always helpful. The tour driver Fabio did an excellent job driving-always smiling and bus was very clean and comfortable. Great variety of accommodation and activities. Lots of toilet and coffee stops plus photo opportunities.

Great look around Italy north of Rome. Kept away from the tourist traps where possible. Very good and passionate guide.

It was an adequate tour, thought the commentary could've been better.

Our tour was fantastic. Our leader,
Danila was really good. She was Italian/Australian, so we could understand her completely and she understood us. She was very caring and went out of her way to make our trip the best it could possibly be
The places went, the scenery, the people and the food were incredible
Would recommend this tour to anyone.

Great your lovely places and fabulous tour guide and bus driver

When a meal provided it needs vegetables, as we stayed at a place you couldn't eat it chill and tomato and another all sliced meat and cheese.

Our tour guides English was not good enough and the driver couldn’t speak English at all We had 13 Australians and 3 New Zealand

We thoroughly enjoyed our Italian Indulgence Tour of Italy especially because our warm & friendly tour guide Linnea and also our bus driver Fabio. Both experts in their roles.
Unfortunately our bed at the Grand Majestic Lake Maggoire was extremely uncomfortable " like sleeping on a block of cement " and I prefer a firm bed!
My only other comment would be to include some more free time to shop even 30 minutes would be wonderful.
If time and cash flow enables us we would definitely take another Back Roads Tour and will recommend this company to friends & family.

Lived the places we were able to see. Our guide Linnea was fabulous, and felt very safe with our driver. Fabio

I would 100% recommend the backroads tour through Italy. Our guide Claudia was extremely organised.
Everyday went so smoothly.
Her history and knowledge was amazing and her ability to make us all feel like one big family, comforting.
Our bus was an 18 seater which was perfect. Any more and our experience could have been totally different.
Every day was an adventure.

The food could have more variety of the meals provided with more vegetables and salads. We were let down by the Tuscan experience not spending our time in the Villa as advertised due to unforeseen circumstances. The Villa we stayed in did not the facilities such as pool and library and games room as they weren't open. The Villa looked like it needed a lot of work to bring it up to standard. In some areas we had as a lunch stop did not offer much variety. We enjoyed the backroads experience but consider a different method of touring next time.

This tour was all we expected
We had a great group of people on the tour who complimented the great sites we went to
Our tour leader was great and fussed over everyone.
It was great to get away from the crowds of Rome.

Brilliant and full of amazing experiences every day.
We had our incredible BRT guide (Nico) who gave each of us (15 in our group) special consideration to make sure we enjoyed every minute.
We had equal amount of time to ourselves but had opportunities to go out in the evening as a group as well.
The Italian Indulgence tour was money well spent and good amount of diversity in the places we visited.
5 Stars 🌟
Mid May 2024

Overall a great experience which allowed us to see so much of Italy which would not have been possible without the tour.
Claudia was a great tour guide with lots of local knowledge and a sense of humour to boot!!
The only negative aspects were that some of the accommodation was sub standard for what was rated as 4 star.
The tour could also have been bettter if, on some days we weren’t dropped off at lunchtime in towns where there were no shops or restaurants open and nothing to see. It would have been better if we had made it to our destination earlier and had time to relax before dinner and enjoy the surroundings there.

It is a great tour which showed us the "real" Italy including wonderful scenery, and major historical sites. The group size of 17 was good, with the advantage of all being Australian/New Zealanders. We sampled much local cuisine, plus visited 2 wineries. The tour leader did an excellent job providing background information. Only criticism would be it was very full on and we would have liked more relax time (being over 75 and the oldest couple in the group).

What a wonderful way to see rural Italy. We saw the big ticket items but also got to experience out of the way places and mostly stay in the historical centre of each stop. Our tour guide Claudia cheerfully shared interesting facts and stories about her country, and our driver Gaetano showed skill and high levels of competence in getting us safely to each destination. Thanks so much!!

Great tour. Well organised..

enjoyable. Great accommodation. Bus very comfortable and guide very good. Perhaps more 2day stays instead of one.

Your was well organised & guide knowledgeable & obliging. Accommodation good but the food was not up to the standard of the tour apart from breakfast.

Was an excellent tour. A great mix of places to visit and out of the way experiences. Guide and driver were the beat

Italian Indulgence. Outstanding tour leader Danila & bus driver Fabio. Accommodated every need of all participants. Great sense of humour. Great group dynamics mix of Americans & Australians. Well coordinated. Great locations in less busy areas due to back roads. Loved the whole experience. Taken to where the locals are. Real feel of Italy.

Excellent itinerary and brilliant tour leader.

Beautiful locations and engaging experiences.

First time travellers with Back Roads and cannot fault the trip! Loved the small group. Would certainly consider further tours!

We had an exceptional trip. Our guide, Sylvia very much appreciated. She was well versed on the area we were travelling. She guided us through restaurants, laundry facilities and place to spend our free time. Antonio our coach driver was also very good

Best trip ever!!! And we’ve done a few. Beautiful bus, amazing tour leader and awesome driver. They looked after us so well and were such fun. We also had plenty of free time to explore the beautiful places they took us.

The tour guide was informative, engaging and fun. The bus driver took very good care of us and insured our safety. The sites that we visited were interesting, gorgeous, and historic. The group got along so welll that we’ve become long term friends.

We were very pleased with our backroads tour. We had an excellent coach and Massimiliano was an exceptional
driver.
Robbie was our tour guide and he was excellent.

Loved travelling to some smaller places as well as the larger cities, enjoyed the signature experiences such as the cooking class and truffle hunting.

The tour was fantastic. Our guide Robby was helpful, good fun, and knowledgeable.
The driver (Massi) was exceptional. He navigated narrow windy roads, traffic jams and crowds with real skill. .

Fantastic tour and Silvia our guide was extremely knowledgeable and made the tour very enjoyable!

What a great way to see Italy.
We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this trip and can't thank our wonderful tour guide, Isobelle enough for her knowledge and help throughout the tour and our fabulous safe driver Fabio, always there to greet you with a big smile.
We are left with wonderful memories and can highly recommend this tour.

Great tour, exceeded my expectations

hit the highlights , well planed, stayed busy not too much down time

Italian Indulgence is an amazing small bus tour. Our tour guide was friendly, informative and very caring. The tour experiences were different and interesting as well as fun and gave us a chance to do things we didn’t think we would ever do like truffle hunting. The hotel accommodation was top class and all breakfasts were delicious. Our small group all got on very well with each other. Partly this was due to the relationship Elena, the our guide had with us. A fabulous experience I would highly recommend.

Exceptional tour. Great accommodation, well organised and hosted by a friendly, professional guide. The itinerary covered the most beautiful parts of northern Italy visiting some fascinating cities and beautiful rural scenery.
This tour exceeded our expectations and was a delightful experience.

Great guide in Martina who was very knowledgeable, sincere and friendly.
Also excellent driver - Ivan.
Hotel rooms were a bit variable and not as nice as Italian indulgence trip.
Caves were a little under whelming for most Australians who have seen it all before at home.
Generally great itinerary and organisation

The Italian Indulgence tour, with a maximum of 18 people, goes to some great places. Our tour was led by a lovely, lively lady, Lori. But, the overall experience was similar to a previous tour we did with a different company a few years ago, with a whole coach full of people, so paying extra for a smaller group seems unnecessary. Some of the hotels used on the tour were lacking basic comforts such as a kettle, decent water pressure and temperature, ability to adjust heating. One hotel had several stairs to get to the bed, making it dangerous at night, with one person falling and possibly breaking a finger. There was no time or facility offered in the 13 days for washing clothes, so some people were washing clothes in bathroom basins and hoping to get things dry overnight, or having to hunt down a laundrette in a strange city, when they should have been enjoying themselves. Back Roads included a few meals as part of the package, but only one of these meals allowed us to make a food selection, and what we were given was a bit disappointing. There was also one night in a hotel where we were unable to get a meal, at our own cost this time, outside of the establishment due its distance from other places, and the hotel's selections on offer were either a pizza or a salami selection, both way overpriced at 20 euro each, and needed to be pre-ordered at lunchtime. Prior to the trip the communications with Back Roads became non-existent, with several emails not responded to. At the end of the trip Back Roads changed the drop off point in Venice without telling the passengers, leaving about half the group worried and wondering how to get to their accommodations. This was eventually sorted out when Back Roads agreed to get us all to the stated drop-off point by water taxi, as they should. I'd recommend that all passengers be given sturdy baggage tags, as the flimsy paper ones currently issued come off regularly. Also, issuing each person a re-usable water bottle would really cut down on the many disposable plastic bottles used each day. Additionally, I suggest that all passengers, or at least one person per couple, are advised to have an internet enabled phone when touring (perhaps Back Roads could recommend a SIM or a provider, but we got ours prior to joining the tour with heaps of data and calls, plus EU and UK roaming, for only a small price). Having all people able to communicate would have been great for when poor weather, or some other event, interrupts the day.

An absolutely wonderful introduction to Italy my first ever trip to Europe and my first tour with Back-Roads Touring. I found this company has selected the most interesting activities in each Region to enjoy, a lovely varied selection of food s to sample and our accommodation was top notch where friendly staff catered for my needs. I loved the professional tour guide Isabelle, her subject knowledge was a living history lesson, her spontaneity , smile and caring nature ably assisted by her driver whose knowledge of every nook, cranny, narrow road driven with care and precision was a highlight.

ap0logies for not answering sooner. I loved the tour and Isabella was magnificent as tour leader. She is so knowledgeable on Italian history etc. Unfortunately I had pneumonia by the time I got home and one eardrum burst after landing hence my late report. I would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see the real Italy.

Isabelle is an extraordinary tour guide. Nothing was too much for her and she made the experience so easy for us. We were first time travellers to Europe, and we found her to be extremely helpful. We loved stopping at the out of the way places. We also felt extremely safe with Fabio at the wheel.

We were very lucky and also had Robbie along for the tour to learn from Isabelle. . We think that he is going to do very well as a tour guide.

The only suggestion we would have is that we could finish the day a little earlier to give us time for more exploration of the towns. We understand that we would need to sacrifice other stops, so we’re not sure how that would work.

Overall we absolutely loved our holiday!

We have done 3 previous Back Road trips and have been pleased with all. Good planning good range of different hotels all excellent good tour guide and driver It has been nice for us in our late seventies to be looked after by such nice people Small numbers also are a good idea

The best tour I have ever taken. Accommodation was first class, Planned events and travel was excellent. Tour Leader's attention to details, enthusiasm and professionalism was the best

Value for money Tour guide Flavio was great .He had so much knowledge about everything,and such a gentleman.our bus drive was a good drive .Felt safe,such a gentleman.The placed we went to were great.The whole trip was fabulous.

The tour exceeded our expectations with its attention to detail and thorough planning. The key to this was our fantastic tour leader Flavio Lazzaretto, who constantly created pleasant surprises on our journey to the delight of our touring party.

We enjoyed the pace of the tour, the backroads, lesser known places and exposure to the real everyday Italy!

The tour was good value and lived up to what was promised. It took us to the parts of Italy that we wanted to see and there was no wasted, irrelevant, badly chosen stops. I am glad we bought the tour rather than trying to organize it ourselves.

All in all a well organised tour

Not as safe as we thought.(see above).
Reached places that were otherwise inaccessible to me.
Great historical perspective.
Fine driver and guide

The accommodations were good and I would have been prepared to pay a little more for a few more evenings meals added. We had 2 evenings that was difficult to eat.

Professional and dedicated tour leader and driver, nothing was too much trouble for either of them.
We visited so many interesting , out of the way places that the average tourist doesn’t see.. The quality of the accommodation was also excellent.

Loved the experience, the place we visited and historical knowledge of our guide.

I liked the places we visited. Accomodation was excellent and all rooms were well appointed. We stayed 2 nights at Vill Pitiana and I felt that the meal choices..2 were very limited and not great value for the price. ( perhaps a pasta option as well!) .As I previously stated this was my first tour and I had a lot of questions, that Helio dealt with very patiently. We appreciated all the work that he put for all of us on the tour…..from sightseeing and many restaurant suggestions to much information about every place we visited. I cannot praise Helio enough. Our bags were left at the hotel on the first night and Helio sorted it out promptly with much apologies. We did not consider this as a big deal as it was sorted and these things happen.

One other suggestion is that you make it very clear on your brochures that not everyone will have exactly the same views as everyone elseevery night. This may seem obvious, but we had a couple complaining on the bus to Helio and everyone else felt a bit awkward. I understand that you can’t have 9 rooms with the same view and we thought all the views were great. Helio dealt with it very professionally.

I liked the mix of sightseeing as a group and them being able to go off on our own.

Excellent trip overall. Well worth doing.

I loved the free time in different cities to explore by ourselves. There was a good balance of sightseeing and free time too - that was why we chose this tour. The accommodation was great with Tuscan villa winning by far.. Our tour guide would point out all the food and wine specialities of each region and bought local pastries for us to try for morning tea! Yummy!
This tour was exactly what we were expecting and we loved it. The only constructive criticism would be that it would have been helpful to have a map or instructions on places to see in each city when we had free time, so we could maximise our time there.
Make no mistake we will be back. 😁

The tour guide and driver made for a seamless experience, any issues were solved without fuss.

It was easy to book tour.

The bus air conditioner stopped working. We got another bus which was not as comfortable and it had a problem with the back suspension, very rough and very noisy.

Great itinerary. Excellent accommodations.
Fantastic Tour Director (Helio Dacosta) and Driver (Fabio).

Great, good variety of experiences

Beautiful country, especially the back roads.

The quality of the hotels was very good. Our luggage was transferred from the bus by hotel staff and we never had lug our bags anywhere which was appreciated. The group size (18) was great and allowed everyone to get acquainted. The tour guide had an excellent knowledge and was patient and helpful. The bus driver was skilled and careful.

I think I’ve Told you thought it was all good the rest of the travelers were friendly and helpful as was our guide and driver who we r out of there way to make sure we saw and understood the history of the different cultures within Italy.
All in all a great experience.

We thought the choice of hotels needs to improve

See above for my response

Great taste of the variety Italy offers

Covered a lot of regions.

I loved the variety - from the historical cities, to the small towns , right up to the countryside and the Alps and Dolomites. The hotels (and breakfasts) were great and our luggage was all taken care of. The bus was always clean and our driver was friendly as well as being skilled as a driver.

Loved all of the locations we stopped, however I was worried after the first few days it was going to be all churches and castles. Especially enjoyed cooking class and truffle hunt. Daniele knowledge was incredible, it gave us an insight in Italian traditions and more.

The trip,was fantastic, the accommodation was great. There was nothing really that I woulld change.

I had a wonderful experience touring Italy, this July 2023, with Backroads. Our tour leader was exceptional in her knowledge of all things around us. Our driver did an amazing job under VERY difficult circumstances. Bravo Luciano.
The accommodations were fantastic. The provided meals were delicious.(not to mention the wine tasting🍷 or the ‘two a day’ gelato rule🍦, so we won’t)😁
The scenery as we passed through was astounding, particularly Tuscany and then up into the northern mountains. Breathtaking.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Roger.

Way too much travelling on the bus. Tour Leader spoke to the group like we were children at times which was rather irritating but overall a taste of Italy that makes me want to come back and explore more.

It was absolutely brilliant, but felt it was a little rushed, but totally understand its only a taste of Italy. Would be lovely to do 2 days at ea spot, but then cost etc accumulates. But overall it will be an experience we will treasure. Thank you all and got a taste of some wonderful places of Italy. Fantastico

Loved everything on this tour. Fantastic experience.
Our tour. guide Annalisa was exceptional.

good overall view of Italy, but didn't cover Rome which we had to do on our own.

Great accommodation meals transport and tour leader

Very happy with tour itinerary & destinations. Well presented with good tours at various locations.

An overall good tour but too long spent in some places but not enough in places we were staying

Enjoyed it all,exited one star as a few places we visited too long and could have got to our destination earlier ECT santa Marqueritas Ligure

Just loved seeing Italy country side. Townships Guide was warm approachable, enjoyed fellow people on tour friendship , whole tour was excellent. Would do tour with Back Roads again to Different Country most certainly highly recommend to friends.

Places visited were amazing, varied and beautiful. Bit too much time spent on bus.

A great tour taking us through many wonderful sites and areas in northern Italy, however, throughout the entire trip, there was only one licensed guided tour and based on my previous four trips with Backroads this was woefully inadequate. There were many sites that demanded an informed guide to take the group, I think this was a great failing. In addition, the ferry trips from Camoglio to San Fruttuoso to Portofino to St Margherita on the one day was very inefficient and a wasted day. It would have been best to have gone straight to Santa Margherita which is a lovely town, or to have stayed Portofino.

A tour that captured the essence of Italy

Some places the stopped was a little to long,

For the reasons above. Exceeded expectations.

Would highly recommend Back Roads as we saw the most incredible cities and countryside in the comfort of our bus, with a very experienced guide and driver with so much local knowledge.

We loved our tour. There were no early starts, 8am bag drop was the earliest, the bus driver was friendly and kept the bus immaculate as well as being a great driver, we went to places I had never heard of and loved them the most and the tour gave us ample time to explore on our own. The only disappointing aspect was the knowledge of our tour leader. I know there is a difference betwen tour guide and leader but thought he would have known more of the history and given more commentary as we were driving. Saying that he was very organised and friendly.

great service from the tour guide and driver.

Great choice of activities and places to visit on the tour. Details of each day provided on the day, which created an element of surprise. Tour leader was people focused.

The towns and villages we visited were lovely, very picturesque.

The tour was very fast- paced. Too many places in one day in some cases. Eg, the visits from Lake Maggiore were too rushed. Everything up until Lucca was great!

Would have liked to have more tour guides rather than just a tour leader

The Italian Indulgence tour was great from start to finish.

Sites visited, boutique hotels and tour guide all excellent.

Off the beaten track, amazing experiences with our fellow travellers, tour guide and driver.

Great Tour Guide, variety in places we visited, really good accommodation, our bus ws newish and very comforatble.

Small tour group allowed for a relaxed trip

Good choice of destinations and accommodation. The tour leader put in some real effort to make it all special for us.

This rating is for the day were we endured of 3 stops from public ferries long the coast. There was very little of interest at each stop and packed with people trying to 'push' their way on board. I would much rather have travelled to the next overnight stop and wandered around the town.

Itinerary was almost perfect. Places visited were representative.

I WAS NOT HAPPY WITH THE CHANGE OF HOTELS. WERE NOT "SIMILAR " TO THE ONES LISTED ON THE ITINAERARY.
AS A TRAVEL AGENT MY CLIENTS WOULD BE EXTREMELY UPSET WITH ME.

We loved the experience of the smaller less known towns and cities . It reflected what smaller towns were like and met our expectations. The hotels were all very good except for the Hotel in Trento called the American which was not as good as other hotels on the tour. The dinner in Trento at the restaurant was also not great. Probably the worst food of the tour .

great pace - we not rushed at all and had plenty of time juts to wander and relax. We did not spend too much time on the bus which was excellent but when we did our tour guide was so informative that it made the time go quickly.

So many different experiences from cooking wine tasting truffle hunting as well as amazing sights

Huge variety of things to see and do, tastes, cooking day was good fun.

This was the perfect balance of on and off bus time as well as group time and solo time. The backroads experience was wonderful. We saw places we never would have gone to. Scenery was incredible!

Easy booking and reasonably priced.

The cost for the experience was excellent.

Good price for the experience.