How to explore Italy like a local
20/06/2025 · By Tim Hall
Expert Great Rail Journeys Tour Manager and blogger Tim Hall discusses how to explore Italy with his top tips and advice about food, drink and culture.
Read moreSave up to £300pp on Europe 2026 holidays, when you book by 31st October 2025.
A family-run hotel in the lakeside town of Desenzano is our charming base. With a panoramic terrace providing beautiful views of the lake, the hotel is perfectly positioned near to the characterful Old Town and train station.
This holiday includes a cruise to enchanting Isola del Garda to explore the renowned Venetian Villa Borghese-Cavazza and its magnificent hanging gardens. This is our only tour to visit the island and we also enjoy a drink in the grounds with a member of the Cavazza family. After a short boat trip to the medieval lakeside town of Sirmione, there's time to explore, before a day trip to soak up the magical ambience of wondrous Venice.
Unforgettable experiences
What’s included on the tour?
Itinerary
Your holiday begins at London St Pancras where we meet the Tour Manager and our group of co-travellers before boarding the Eurostar service to Paris. From the French capital, we continue by rail across France, passing the Italian Alps as we travel to Turin.
In the alpine foothills, this city is a modern centre of business and technology, but boasts a history blending Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
After checking in to our hotel in the city's historic centre, we join our group for our first dinner together in a traditional restaurant nearby.
Additional information
Hotel
More information on the different trains that are used on this tour.
The high-speed Eurostar trains link St Pancras International in London with Paris and Lille in France as well as Brussels in Belgium.
Introduced in 1981, France's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) was the original European high-speed train. Linking Paris with Lyon, the new service revolutionised train travel and meant that travelling by air over medium and short distances was no longer seen as the best option, even for business travel.
Enhance your holiday
Your holiday begins the moment you meet your Tour Manager at St Pancras International and board the Eurostar train for mainland Europe. If you wish to get your holiday off to an extra special start, why not consider upgrading your on-board accommodation from Standard Class to Plus Class?
As well as all the amenities enjoyed in Standard Class, Plus Class travellers benefit from extra spacious, comfortable seats, complimentary newspapers and magazines and a light snack with drinks served at your seat during the journey. Before 11am, the light snack comprises breakfast pastries, yoghurt, fruit juice and tea or coffee. After 11am there is a choice of 2 main dishes and a dessert, accompanied by soft drinks, wine or beer and tea or coffee.
Prices for an upgrade from £95 each way. Please call us for more details.
Spending a night in London before your tour can make such a difference to the first day of your holiday - you can arrive in the capital in good time, relaxed and ready to join your Tour Manager the next morning. You may even want to take in a show on the West End or dine in one of London's famous restaurants. Perhaps on your return to London, you would like to break your journey with an overnight stay before continuing home.
We can book a wide range of hotels in central London or, for our holidays beginning with a flight, at Heathrow, Gatwick, or Manchester Airport for the night before or after your holiday. If you require a quote for single occupancy at any of the hotels, please contact us on 01904 734 805.
Buying tickets for UK train services can be a tricky business - there are so many fares to choose from, each with different rules and restrictions. As you are connecting with an international departure, we strongly recommend that you book a fully flexible ticket to ensure that should the departure times for your holiday change, your rail ticket can allow for these changes.
We can book fully-flexible UK rail tickets from your local station to join your holiday whether this be a European holiday from St Pancras or a UK holiday. The prices are competitive and tickets are not restricted to a particular train or time of day, and in most cases offer you a free choice of routes.
For an up to date quote from your local station, please ask one of our Tour Advisors.
Reviews
4.2 / 5 · 328 reviews
Carolyn Bradburn
Submitted 6/Oct
Excellent.Tour manager took everything in hand worked very hard looking after us .
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Jenny Brown
Submitted 5/Oct
Good variety on day trips and activities. Very helpful tour manager
Collected by Trustpilot
Ged Murphy
Submitted 27/Sep
It was an excellent trip. Cherry was a superb leader and brought the group together. Everything well organised including when trip to Venice affected by train cancellations. Would highly recommend and will be booking again.
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Sandra
Submitted 20/Sep
Nice hotels, good food , a good tour manager and interesting places to visit
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Mr Peter J Rudd
Submitted 18/Sep
Lots to see and beautiful location
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Griswold
Submitted 16/Sep
A Truly Great Holiday with an ideal mix of guided tours and free time to explore. Lots of fabulous and interesting places visited and an excellent tour guide. All the hotels we stayed in were in ideal locations and all were very good with friendly and helpful staff. The way Great Rail Journeys handled the cancellation of EuroStar trains, (due to technical difficulties on the French side), was exemplary - arranging flights at extremely short notice for the whole group. Top class customer service. Highly Recommended.
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