Is going solo in an unknown area the right way to go, or do you want a tour guide to show you the highlights? I think that you can combine the two ways in one trip and have the best of both worlds. One trip we recently took was to Washington D.C. The best purchase we made was for a bus tour that would take us around the capital and point out all the main sites. Then allow us the next day to travel by foot to the ones we especially wanted to see. We knew ahead of time which Smithsonian building we wanted to see, if the Washington Monument was open to visitors and if you needed to get an advance ticket to take a tour of the White House or visit the Capital Building. It allowed us to plan our three days in the city and see all that we wanted to see. Individual tours to such landmarks as Fords Theater and Arlington Cemetery were tours we were glad we bought. The tour guides for these locations knew tidbits and items of interest that we would never have found out on our own.
Lets look at the San Francisco Bay Area which is another one of my favorite vacation spots and my family has many pleasant and happy memories of our visits to that area. Some areas are so...