Our tour took us to Rome, Sorrento and Capri. We were able to see the highlighted history of ancient Rome in the ruins of the city. Our students were also able to see Rome as it is today, as a major world city in art, finance and culture. We then went to the Amalfi Coast and saw a more upscale version of Italy. The island of Capri is breathtaking in it's beauty. My students found this to be the highlight of the trip. The quiet we found in our seaside hotel along the Amalfi coast was amazing and a steep contrast to the city. The experiences my students took away from this trip are ones that they will cherish for a lifetime. Many of them had traveled extensively before, however not with other students. The process of traveling as a group lends itself to making new bonds and friendships, shared experiences that only a trip like this can give. I hope all students can take at least one trip like this somewhere once in their lifetime. It is was a wonderful experience for the kids. show less

This was an excellent tour! Perfect balance of history (from Ancient Rome to the Renaissance to World War II), art (ancient, baroque, and modern), religion, and beauty. Plenty to do and see. So many new experiences. A nice look at Italian culture and city/seaside life without a lot of time spent traveling. Offers something for everyone. Students and parents alike enjoyed the adventure. show less

The trip was awesome. We saw the touristy sites in Rome and Pompeii. We had free time in Sorrento, which is a great place to walk around. Capri was beautiful. The meals were filling and very tasty. The hotel rooms were clean but small. We walked about 6 miles a day! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and caring. She was awesome! We felt very safe the entire trip. show less

There is something new to learn every minute! So many interesting things to both see and do - a total experience of both ancient and modern Italian culture and everything in between.
The highlights for me and my students were making our own pasta then enjoying it, the Vatican, Pompeii, Ostia Antica, the Colosseum, the boat trip around Capri, and climbing Vesuvius. All the guides were informative -- some more engaging than others. show less

This tour was amazing! From start to finish, my students had a great time! We were lucky to have the same tour director from my previous trip. She gets along with middle school students. You know you have a great trip when you don't realize where the time has gone. That was our experience.

When people ask me what the best thing about the trip was, I tell them its when all the students saw the ancient buildings for the first time and their jaw dropped. Seeing the children experience something brand new for the first time was the best thing about the trip.... that or the food...

If you do a tour to Italy, I highly recommend upgrading your meals. With that upgrade, we had 3-4 course meals every night at an Italian restaurant, not a hotel. show less

I absolutely loved this trip to Rome and Sorrento! The trip truly included something for everyone since Italy has such variety. The historical elements and archeological discoveries were fascinating, the Island of Capri was naturally beautiful, and the modern shopping and culture were plentiful. Traveling with EF was so easy because the planning and coordinating were taken care of by our Tour Director. I'm confident that we got the best experience possible because of her expertise and the expertise of EF overall. show less

My daughter had a wonderful time on the Italy trip. I never was worried about her safety because the group and tour company took such excellent care of all the students. We feel so fortunate that our daughter had the opportunity of a lifetime to go on such an amazing trip. Our older daughter also did a tour of Europe with her class several years ago. Each of my daughters talk about what an amazing trip they both had. Our son will go on the trip with EF Tours in the next few years, and he can't wait. :) show less

Every single day of my trip let me breathless, Italy is such a beautiful country and I am overjoyed that my school gave me the opportunity to come. I made so many friends on this trip, learned so many new things and saw some of the most gorgeous views of my life. I knew I would learn a lot, but that is an understatement, the history, the people, the country itself all told me their story and I fell in love with it all. I cannot wait to go on another trip like this one and keep growing with my friends. show less

I am a Latin teacher and we did a week tour of Rome and the Sorrento area. My students saw a ton of stuff and we had an excellent Tour Director, as well as fabulous local guides at the sites. I was one of three groups put together. We did mostly large group things but we also had some time to go off on our own and see things more specific to our interests, namely ancient sites. Everything was well planned while also allowing for flexibility for those who had airline problems and came at different times. Our Tour Director was able to work around those events. My students and I had a great experience! show less

Not worth the high cost. We saw everything we were scheduled to see, but it was so rushed, we never felt like we could ever enjoy it. We were touring all day, and then had to rush to dinner in our tour clothes, sweaty, no shower, only to be fed food that one would expect in a jail - ex. canned vegetables, stale bread, burnt pizza with one tiny slice of meat on it, no-flavor pasta, shreds of arugula with olive oil and nothing else on the plate, stale, store bought cake for dessert. This is not what you expect to be fed when in Italy. We were on our own for lunches and those were the best meals we had. Food in Italy is amazing when EF is not paying for it! Food and lodging included in the tour cost was the lowest quality possible without being in an actual hostel. I do not have a problem with finding hotels and meals within a budget-but what they arranged for us made us feel like we were being taken advantage of. There was no working wifi at the hotels until the last one and we were there less than 12 hours because we had to leave for the airport at 3:00 AM. The hotel rooms were small, sometimes squeezing 4 kids into one room, very unfair when everyone paid the same price. My daughter slept in a very old and worn metal bunk bed with the mattress on the bunk above bowing above her head. Why did we have to drive over an hour out of Rome and then Sorrento to stay at a hotel in the mountains? Obviously for EF to save money. That was an extra 2 hours each day that we could have been relaxing and regrouping at the hotel. The flights they arranged were inconvenient and poorly scheduled. We were literally running to catch our second flight to the US and then a 7 hour layover for our third flight. I was a parent on this trip and truly felt that EF cares more about their profit margin then the overall experience and the details that matter when going on a trip of this magnitude. The hotel and restaurant staff that EF paid for in every incidence were very unaccommodating and I do not blame them-it is EF's responsibility to make sure that these vendors are paid enough to make sure that the travelers are fed well and sleep in rooms that are decent and provide some level of comfort. They are only giving us what they are paid by EF - which must be very little. We saw a great deal, but we also paid a great deal. Our EF Tour director explained (when we got there) that he is not actually a certified tour guide and that he could be put in jail if someone asked us what his job was and we identified him as such. What was that about? I certainly didn't expect my child to have to be careful about what they say and being honest and then potentially putting our tour director in jail? That is not normal. He was more of a cattle herder because he provided very little to no information on what we were seeing or doing. His main job was to keep the group together and direct us when we had free time to grab lunch or take a break. He was really good at that though since no one got lost, but I would also attribute that to each group having their own leaders. He did not go into most tours with us, we were led around by actual certified tour guides and then he would meet up with us after each tour. Did not expect that and it was odd that he would leave each time. Most parents do not accompany their kids on these trips like I did, and I do not believe EF should be taking such advantage of the unaccompanied kids by cutting costs and quality. EF is getting a great deal of money from each traveler, no matter what their age. EF needs to improve the value on these trips or it is just not worth it. show less