Disappointed in Florence guides

Why get one at all? Do some research, decide what it is you would like to see and do.

"Blue Guides" are excellent.

Yes, I have a suggestion. Dropkick the idea of a private guide.

That you were disappointed with these private guides, why continue wasting money on them only to make you even more disappointed or even angry?

I’ve been traveling on my own since I was in my 20s and had travel guide books with me and went sightseeing on my own in major cities across Europe. I am now in my 50s and continue to travel on my own when my husband is not able to come with me. We never hire private guides.

If you would like tour guides, you can have them. Museums, churches, galleries, historic sites....all of them have tours you can take. Just look at the calendar and at the times they begin.

Are you using the latest RS Florence and Tuscany guide? It was just released last month. Some guides in older editions might not be in business. Get the newest edition, contact the recommended guides. If they don’t get back to you I would contact RS tours. As for the value of guides: sure, with a book, some research, maybe a docent here and there in a museum you can see a lot. But we found out over the years that our enjoyment of a site, city, museum, etc. is enhanced by a knowledgeable personable guide. It may have to do with our learning style-people are different. One of the major reasons we are RS tours frequent flyers is the quality of the guides, both the tour guides and the local guides.

Check out Context Travel - you can book a private tour for a day or half-day, by certain sites or particular themes. I have not taken a private tour with them, but I have used them for several group tours in several cities, and their guides have always been very good to excellent.

yes I am using the last edition. Since we don't speak the language, have never been, and more than likely never go back, we feel like we need to get the most out of our visit. We believe this would be better with an accomplished guide. Plus we are limited on time so some of the traditional routes for tours are not feasible time wise.
Thanks for the replies

How far in the future is your trip? Is it possible that guides don't want to commit their time too far in the future? I have no idea whether that's the case, just asking.

I was going to ask the same question that Dick did. I also suggest either emailing or calling the RS office. If you emailed guides in November, you may be hitting the end of their busy season and they maybe taking a break.

www.toursbylocals.com worked wonderfully for us

Search for other guides- do not give up.
The key is finding a High Quality guide; they can simply add so much to the trip and experience. Do not believe those who say no guide needed. Their knowledge of history, art, architecture, and their interrelationship with one another is not what they think it is. A great guide is more than a guide but a teacher.. They can and should provide you with an experience well beyond that found in a common guide book or audio guide.

Of course a crappy guide is worthless. Keep digging through the books, referrals.

Lastly, everyone emails... not the best shot. Many (me) get buried in them. If the guide lists a phone number - call! Just be aware of the time difference. Have your exact dates in hand when you call and be prepared to explain exactly the time of experience you are looking for. You will be surprised how far direct one on one contact can go.

We have used both Context and Tours by Local. Both have provided excellent service. They are not the least expensive but reliable. I emailed a private guide highly recommended on trip advisor in Palermo. She was booked but provided me with several suggestions for Palermo and other areas we were visiting in Sicily. They were all excellent and very affordable. Private tours do give you an efficient way to see large cities and provide great recommendations for areas to explore on your own. We do a mix of private/small group and personal exploration depending on the area we are visiting.

The trip is May 2020.

I'm a forum member who loves using private guides. For me, they greatly enhance travel. In Florence, I used Laura from Florence for You for a day-long tour of Florence that included Mercato Centrale, Medici sites, and artisan workshops. She is a native of Florence and can give insight into how it has changed during her lifetime. Her tour was excellent. Her company's 60 euro/hour rate is substantially cheaper than a private Context Travel tour. It looks like Laura is still getting great reviews on TripAdvisor.

I did a couple of group Context Travel tours in Florence. They were also quite good. Groups are limited to no more than 6 people.

Tours by Locals is helpful, but prices for any given guide on the site are generally 20-25% higher than if you can find the guide's private site (to cover the Tours by Locals "finder's fee"). For some guides, it is easy to find their private website -- if they have a unique first name that you can google or if they sneak enough info onto the Tours by Locals website that you can figure out who they are.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Yesterday I emailed a private guide in Venice and received a reply today!. Now that's what I'm talking about.

The trip is in May. Even if it is too early to book for them, they should at least respond to let me know that they would like my business. That is poor practice.

I do want a guide. I'm a teacher therefore I want the best experience and information that I can get about the place.

I have a meeting with the wedding planner from Florence next Friday here in the states. So hopefully she will be able to give me some direction.

Appreciate all the insights. Thanks

We have only taken one guided tour in many trips and it was with ToursByLocals.com. in St.Petersburg, Russia. I saw the recommendation here, and it worked very well for us. I spoke at length with the company and then communicated via email with the guide. Good luck, and congratulations on the wedding.

I understand you want a private guide, but we have used Walks of Italy in both Florence and Rome and were very pleased. They limit the size of their groups to around 12. We went in December and while it is unlikely for May, our Uffizi tour was just 6 of us. We didn't have to use our listening devices.

Marco, our Florence guide, has a masters in art history and was very knowledgeable. I have an art degree and art history was part of my curriculum so I have a point of reference for his ability.

I'm just throwing this out in case you can't find a private guide who you feel meets your needs.

Wow, using the current book and not getting responses. I’m going to speculate: Rick has a new tour Best of Tuscany kicking off spring 2020. Starts in Florence and is booked for May. I wonder if the guides he suggests in the book are committed? Try calling RS tours for insight and maybe some good phone numbers.

I'll second what dougmac said. I'd spent time in Florence but my husband hadn't, so to compact as much as possible on a day trip from Bologna, we did both a morning and an afternoon tour with Walks of Italy: overview and Uffizi. One thing I noticed from researching guides and companies is that they all know each other and freelance with all the different companies. This is because it's a closely regulated circle of (mostly excellent) qualified people.

cajun,

One other possibility occurred to me. At this time of year, many guides may be busy with Christmas preparations and that sort of thing. This is typically a "slow time" for them, so they may not be checking E-mail on a regular basis. The guides listed in the RS guidebooks are all vetted carefully, so they are reputable. I'd probably try and contact them again after Christmas or early in the New Year.

The guides listed in the RS guidebooks are all vetted carefully, so
they are reputable.

I've used guides recommended by Rick Steves in his books three times. Two were awesome... enthusiastic locals sharing what was cool about their cities (Vienna, Leipzig). The third gave a "just the facts" tour -- no color commentary, no warmth, no insights into everyday life, no enthusiasm for the topic (which was central to her town). I was very disappointed.

I had a lot of success finding guides on Trip Advisor until that site became so consumed with selling tours that it became hard to find the reviews on individual guides. I've given up on TA at this point. I use Tours by Locals a lot, but, again, usually try to figure out how to find the guide's personal/private tour site to save money. On a recent trip to Slovenia, I had much success with calling the family-owned places where I stayed well before the trip and asking them if they could recommend someone -- all three of those guides were excellent.

I love having a private guide in certain places. I love this because I

-- don't speak the local language well enough to do more than ask for a table or tickets
-- want to maximize my $$/time in a place where I'm language challenged
-- want to help contribute to the local economy where I'm traveling

And probably more, but that works for a start.

In Italy, guides must be licensed. One way I have found excellent guides around the world is to look at tours published by tour-oriented businesses (like Context, for example) which offers private tours in several European locations, including Florence. Sometimes I've used tour groups like this one to find a private guide in another location.

One thing that I keep in mind is that not everyone is as online/connected as I am. I try to allow for a reasonable period to allow the other party to respond. For me, if I haven't heard from someone within 5 business days, I assume they're not available or not as responsive as I'd prefer. That's just a me thing. That doesn't make them bad or me good. Again, that's just a me thing. But if I haven't heard from someone in that length of time, I assume they might not be actively pursuing business at that moment.

Try sending an e-mail to Grifo Tour: https://www.grifotour.com/default.asp .
Is a group of Guides and Tour Leaders based in Tuscany and Umbria. They are all much skilled guides and you can decide on which topic base you tour.
About writing or calling: in my opinion for the guide job is much better write an e-mail. If a guide is working probably cannot (or wont) answer to a phone call. In general a phone call is quite annoying for a guide. And for the timeshift think what you think when you are on sofa at 11pm and the phone is ringing for a job call. On the other side a guide should answer to a e-mail within few hours (even only to say "sorry, I'm too busy now: I will send you a better answer as soon as possible"). To excuse some colleagues, is even true that often real e-mail are directly crunched by anti-spam filters, so never received by receiver...
In any case, working as a guide I always prefer a guided tour when I am in a new place, because a guide can tell you a lot more than what can be found on a guidebook.

Thanks everyone, I'm meeting with the Italian wedding planner Friday in Houston, so hopefully she can offer suggestions. If I learn anything I'll pass on the info.