Italy 3 week Trafalgar vs Cosmos: Trip planning

This is the third in the series of comparing tours for my Italy trip, 3 weeks next year with a A$5000 budget. This time I'm comparing Trafalgar and Cosmos.

Cosmos and Trafalgar are budget style tours aimed at a wider age range than Contiki and Topdeck. And cheaper than Intrepid and G Adventures.

Cosmos 13 Day Italy's best: from A$1925 per person, $187 per day.

Pros:

• Within budget, cheaper than Topdeck, on par with Contiki, Intrepid, G Adventures
• Heaps of options, geared towards independent traveller
• Includes budget hotel accommodation
• Guaranteed departures 
• Many standard inclusions
• Start and finish in Rome
• Get to see a bit of switzerland
• Seems to have fans who are motivated enough to post good reviews on Tripadvisor

Cons:

• Due to the options, heaps of planning still needed
• dates and prices not out for 2014 yet which makes planning difficult. 

Trafalgar  13 day Splendours of Italy: from A$2450 per person, A$188 a day.

Pros:

• really good reviews on their own website.
• Dates of travel already available and fits with my schedule. 
• also get to see a bit of Switzerland 

Cons:

• Reviews on Tripadvisor and others sites suggested really questionnable accommodation and food options. Pages and pages of angry rants about poor quality service. 
• Some reviewers suggested that some sights were mere pass-by and not really stops

Direct comparison

	Trafalgar	Cosmos
Arrive in Rome	Free time Meet & Greet at 4pm	Free time Meet & Greet at 4pm
Rome	Walking tour Free time Includes: Breakfast	Walking tour Free time Includes: Breakfast
Bay of Naples	Bus to Bay of Naples Free time: optional Pompeii visit Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner	Bus to Bay of Naples Pompeii tour Free time Sorrento Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner
Capri	Sorrento Free time EXTRA: optional Amalfi Coast excursion Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner	Boat trip to Capri Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner EXTRA: island tour
Assisi	Bus to Assisi Walking tour Free time Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner	Drive to Assisi Overnight in beautiful nearby Perugia, capital of Umbria. Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner
Italian Lakes	Italian Lakes Free time Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner	Italian Lakes Free time Lugano Includes: Breakfast
Verona	Verona Free time Milan, brief stop Lugano Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner	Drive to Verona Free time Includes: Breakfast
Pisa	Pisa Florence Includes: Breakfast	Pisa Florence Includes: Breakfast
Florence	Walking tour Florence Free time Includes: Breakfast	Walking tour Florence Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner
Transit	Drive through mountains to Venice Includes: Breakfast/ Dinner	Milan Overnight in Baveno in the Lake Maggiore area.  Includes: Breakfast
Venice	Free time Cruise EXTRA: Gondola Includes: Breakfast	Free time Cruise EXTRA: Gondola Includes: Breakfast
Transit	Siena walking tour Free time in Rome Includes: Breakfast	Bus to Rome Free time Includes: Breakfast
Departure	DEPART ROME Includes: Breakfast	DEPART ROME Includes: Breakfast

Useful resources:

• My local travel agent, an older lady was really enthusiastic about Italy. She had always wanted to go and had spent some time there. She recommended the Cosmos tours for the budget minded.
• Reviewers on Tripadvisor suggested Indepedent travel is the best option given the large amount of free time anyway.  

Tips:

• Don't pay full price. If you book and pay 6 months in advance you can save 5-10%.
• If you had time to plan, going independently can be better, but if you don't, these aren't bad options. 

 If I had to choose Trafalgar or Cosmos for Italy?

• Cosmos appears to be the better choice for me, more standard inclusions for the things I wanted to experience.
• There were a few negative reviews for Trafalgar Italy, and most people won't have these negative experiences, but my track records suggests that whatever will go wrong will definitely go wrong for me, I think I'll steer clear. 
• But given that Cosmos hasn't released travel dates and prices for 2014 yet, it's really hard to compare. 

What about you, Trafalgar or Cosmos for Italy?

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