Day Tours

Hotel Berna in Milan (Via Napo Torriani 18) is very close to the train station (easy walking distance) and is rated #11 out of 431 hotels in Milan. My husband and I stayed there for three nights in 2015 and were treated very well. The staff was wonderful and very friendly. They recommended two restaurants nearby that were also great. If we return to Milan, we will definitely stay there again. Look up their reviews and photos on Trip Advisor.

For Rome, I would advise you get a Roma Pass to see the Colosseum. This pass can be for 48 hours (28 euros with one free admission) or 72 hours (38.50 euros with two free admissions). This pass allows unlimited use of public transportation (does not include the Leonardo Express to airport). The pass allows you to take a separate entrance into the Colosseum, by-passing the long line for general admission. We used this pass for the Borghese Gallery also.

Hello again,
I forgot to add that we have used Viator twice when we stayed two different times in Siena. We booked the tours through our hotel and they were very reasonably priced. Both trips were in a small van (5-7 passengers). The guides were excellent (one was a history professor and gave great insights about the region and its history)
The two tours were:
Chianti Wine Tasting and San Gimignano
Montepulciano, Montalcino, Pienza

Viator is a tour consolidator and is owned by Trip Advisor. They do not, themselves, provide the tours. In some instances it is less expensive to go directly with the tour company providing the actual tour rather then the 3rd party booker. If it's not less expensive it means the small tour company is having to pay XX per person to Viator for the booking, thereby losing money. With some work you should be able to figure out which companies offer these day trips and book directly.

I'm not an expert on this but Milan to Cinque Terre seems like a heckuva long way for a day trip.

To book a tour or not is really a personal preference. We tend to book tours - often through the local TI -- because I like having a live person who can answer questions that I might have. A live person always adds an extra element that is not present with self-guided tours, etc. We rarely book tours in advance unless it is a very special tour. We especially the show and go (or sometimes called walk-up) tours. The Rick Steves' guide books often list excellent tour guides for many areas.

Viator is a re-seller of tours so you never know who is doing the tour. But many of their tours are good, I am sure.

We have also used Hotel Berna. We were in the annex across the street from the main hotel and it was fine.

We’ve used Viator and have been satisfied. They have good customer support and a low price guarantee. I’m not sure how they select the tours they vendor, but their satisfaction ratings are high so they must be doing something right. We’ve only used them in Europe but a colleague who travels more widely has used them in Asia repeatedly with great success.

I have often taken day tours, either to visit particular sites, or to take a day trip to a town at a modest distance from where I am staying. I generally try to book directly with the tour company itself, but sometimes when I can’t figure out who that is, or how to contact them, I will just book with Viator. I have never had a bad experience booking with Viator.

We used Viator in Milan as it was the only way we could find a Last Supper visit on the one day we had there (we'd missed it the last two times). It was a Leonardo tour, the guide was excellent, and it was worth the money for the background she gave us before getting our few minutes to actually see the Last Supper. Was it a bit expensive, yes, but for a one time chance, it was worth it.

Hotel Berna is also recommended. We stayed at the annex across the street, and it was fine. Breakfast is enough to keep you sustained for most of the day. Staff is excellent, very helpful and friendly. Location is great for Milano Centrale

Again, Viator is selling other peoples tours and charging them a 25% commission to do so. If you look on Trip Advisor you can find the same tours that Viator is selling. Deal with the tour companies themselves.

I will use Viator to find out what day tours are available, and then find a way to book directly with the tour operator. I would rather be dealing directly with the tour operator in the event of any problems or (more likely) questions. I would book with Viator in a pinch, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

In 2015, we spent one night at the Starhotels Anderson - a short walk from the Milan central train station. The hotel offers a great value for money, but it is the opposite of a "small family-owned" hotel. Excellent service and breakfast.

https://www.starhotels.com/en/our-hotels/anderson-milan/

In hindsight, I wish I had booked guides for the Colosseum and the Forum in Rome. We enjoyed them on our own, but I found myself eavesdropping whenever I could.

We did a guided tour of the Forum and Colosseum and I was very glad we did! It was several years ago and I don't remember who the tour operator was, but it was one that was recommended in the RS book at the time.