Top Italy Bus Tours - page 291

Viator uses a third-party LivTours. We got to the café meeting spot early, almost 15 minutes earlier than we were supposed to even try to be there. We looked and looked and looked for a sign couldn’t find anything. Finally we found someone and there was a huge line of people already standing in line waiting to get checked in with LivTours. I had no idea there would be so many people there that early in the morning for the tour. Had I known where we needed to be we would’ve been at the front of the line because we were looking and looking and looking and couldn’t find this little sign for the Tour company. Then we had to stand in a long line of about 200 people for the “first entry” access. We were starting to wonder why we paid over $200 for this tour. The line for regular entry was probably at least twice as long as our line. However, we were let in at the same time as all of the regular people. They don’t tell you that when you buy the tickets. When we got in our Guide Zenda, who was fabulous by the way, took us to a few places where there weren’t very many people. She started giving us information, which was very important and very good. And we went through saw the most important things in the museum. Then we went in the Sistine Chapel and got to sit and look at the ceiling and the walls, then she took us to Saint Peter’s Basilica and talked to us about that for a while. The tour ended at 11 AM. After we left Saint Peter’s Basilica, we saw a huge line of people waiting to get into the Basilica. There was at least 500 people. And we started to understand why we paid $200 to get in early in the morning. It is worth the price it just doesn’t seem like it when you’re there in the morning and there’s hundreds and hundreds of people waiting to get in at the same time as you and you think that you’re never going to be able to see everything because too many people will be there. It is crowded. There are lots of people, but we went during a time that it wasn’t so crowded and there was still many many people there. I do recommend paying the money to get in because after you’re done with all three of those you have the rest of the day to do other things. If you hadn’t done that, you’d spend the entire day standing in lines in the sun waiting to get in.

Absolutely fabulous tour. Just enough time to give you a sample of each town should you wish to revisit them. (Which you will). Everything ran seamlessly and the driver and guide were 10/10. We were offered a surprise extra boat tour for €15 each, which I’m glad we did.

Solid tour with just the right amount of free time added in. The guide, Lorenzo, moved the tour along well and was knowledgeable and entertaining without making the tour feel rushed. It helped that we got to Sienna early in the day and beat the worst of the crowds. I can’t judge the wine tasting since we’re non-drinkers but the rest of the group seemed to enjoy it. The vineyard lunch was fairly mediocre though. The vineyard itself was worth a visit just for the scenery. San Gimignano was gorgeous but crowded (as expected.) The bus seats were a touch tight for my 6 ft frame. I couldn’t recommend it for a very large person. Overall, worth the price we paid for it and I can recommend the tour, guide and driver.