Best Tuscany wine experience/day tour

There are many options for this in the RS Florence GuideBooks. Also, do search for this in the search bar. We did 2 tours with WalkAboutFlorence - but they were not small group - it was a bus-full, but done very well. We did their BEST OF TUSCANY TOUR and the CHIANTI WINE & FOOD SAFARI TOUR.

You will eventually find what you are looking for, you'll get lots of suggestions here.

Thank you! I’ve seen a lot of the larger tours, I’m just hoping to find something a bit more intimate but will definitely search.

Thank you!

My boyfriend and I also did the Chinati Safari tour with WalkAboutFlorence: https://walkaboutflorence.com/tours/chianti-safari-off-road-tuscany-wine-tour-with-lunch-from-florence

Honestly it was one of our favorite days of our 3-week Italy trip in late April to early May 2022. Honestly, I always think that people who go on wine tours are social and fun (or maybe I have just gotten lucky everytime!). I feel like you make new "friends" for the day which, to me, is fun. But I know that's not what everyone wants.

Good luck finding the right tour for you and your husband!

hey hey aplatt405
so many tours to the tuscany region, many on bus full of people. did a private tour doesn't matter who, went to private winery but the rest was siena (crowded & busy), san gimignano was so so packed with 8 bus load, 6 vans and private drivers. couldn't hardly walk down the shops area, like a herd of cattle, lines so long to walk in shops and wait in long lines to pay, gelato shop/cafe with the line around the shop with long waits. it's your decision what's important to you.
tuscan-wine-tours.com
super chianti tour, maximum 8 people, read about tour, visit the famous butcher dario cecchini (4th generation butcher), visiting wineries to taste, lunch at his restaurant or wine time tour. take your pick
if your gonna be in rome, check out oldfrascati.com take a 30 minute train to frascati, see the villa and gardens in castelli romani where the pope spends his summers, check the tours out. stop in the ceralli bakery/pizza oven well known for pastries and "best" porchetta and sandwiches. countryside well know for their white wine. read about us and email for tour availabilty. not only tuscany has wine but many people all want to see the same thing, get out of hustle bustle
educated-traveller.com/wine windows
take a walk through this area with windows from the walls of the buildings. our pedicab driver took us by this but they were still remodeling.
fattoriaaldotto.com
take the train to lucca and a cab to this family owned winery. check the hours/days open. no crowds for you to enjoy what others farmers on their vineyards to offer.
streaty.com/florence
check the couple tours, go check out a market available to investigate. one of my favorite things to do. markets have so much to look at, i walk down the aisles and bring home small packets of sauces, pasta and whatever else i see. been to many churches/museums, statues that i want to see local stuff'
mercatocentrale.com
in florence so much there, restaurants, shops, cafes, buy lunch and eat there
tasteatlas.com/bomboloni
well know street pastry to try in florence and list of patisseries that have many pastries to try (check where to eat)
atlasabscura.com/florence\30 cool and unusual things to do in florence
get outta the crowds and see what else florence offers
there is so much to see and do without enought time. do enjoy the activities/attractions you can accomplish and have fun. hope this gives you things to research that may "wet your whistle"
aloha

Thank you so much! I’ve actually been looking at the grape tours super Chianti tour you mentioned and I will check out the rest of your recommendations! I really appreciate it!

Thank you for the safari tour recommendations too! It also looks amazing - is there a lot of “off roading”? I have 5 ruptured discs that are easily irritated so try to avoid being tossed around if possible 😅

What’s your budget. I suggest you check out private. We hired a driver in Jan this year. Cost was 350-400. He took us to 3 wineries near Greve. And we had lunch in a nice restaurant in Greve.

We like you checked out tours and the cost got close to hiring a driver so went for that instead

We also stopped at a famous butchery and a couple of other areas.

On the whole you will only be able to visit 3/4 wineries due to the way they run tastings

We loved having a driver. Allowed us to choose the wineries.

I've never been on an organized wine tour. We had a prepaid reservation for a fancy lunch at three wineries, which we got to by our own car. (Then we just had bar snacks at the hotel for dinner.) It was our experience that the wineries we went to required advance, paid tour tickets, aside from the lunch. We went to Poggio Antico Winery, Marchesi Antinori, and Avignonesi. Antinori was our least favorite, despite their lavish James Bond villain architecture, our favorite was Avignonesi, and they had the best lunch and wines. I refused some wine, or spit out, and we shopped after lunch, that's how I drove the car safely. I was 65 at the time.

Having been to Florence on another trip, "just for Florence", I can see why you might want the time and coverage of a wine tour, but that's not our idea of a good time. (The worst thing about Antinori was the three deep crowd of Financial Services jerks at the tasting counter.) We were staying outside Sinalunga for three nights, but that's not an important location, we chose it for easy driving and parking. Keep in mind how hot it may be in the summer. We're not pool people, but we used the pool every day after touring. And our room had thankfully icy air conditioning.

I have taken many small-group wine tours- and this may very well have been the best:

https://tuscantrails.com/

We love toursbyroberto

We would second Donna’s post….we absolutely loved the day we spent with Tours by Roberto.

Another vote for Tuscan Trails. Todd was fabulous when we took the Chianti tour. Limited to 8 people.

https://tuscantrails.com/daily-chianti-tours

We used Prestige Rent for an all day wineries tour and it included lunch. They are top rated on TripAdvisor and sell out fast. Not super small groups but intimate enough.

We did two fabulous Grape Tours trips. The Super Chianti and the Montepulciano ones. Our guide, Gabriele, is an expert and shared information on Tuscan wines as well as wines from around the world. He also recommend a great restaurant. I was not a fan of the lunch at the butcher shop on the Chianti tour because I’m not a huge beef eater and it was so much food, but I loved the wineries we visited. All four wineries from the two days were great. I did a lot of research and I’m confident that they are the best. Rebecca, the co-owner, is very professional and a class act. We were there in March and she let the one tour run with only two people! Another tour company I considered picks people up in Florence and then Siena. That seemed like time wasted. Grape Tours is a fabulous choice. We also got a discount for booking early in January.