Get Your Guide tours in Florence

Get Your Guide is a third party reseller that doesn’t actually operate any tours

So no, not the best choice

Booking with the actual tour company eliminates those issues

Welcome to the forum, tcshome -
Yes, April 25 is Liberation Day, a national holiday, in Italy. As is customary, attractions which are free on national holidays generally don't allow timed-entry reservations or priority entrance. Lines on other days can be avoided simply by purchasing tickets/making advance reservations at attractions which tend to have the longest of them. That can be done via the official ticketing websites for those attractions. Tours not offered by the attractions themselves are best booked directly with the companies which offer them; the better of those have been recommended many, many times by helpful forum contributors.

As Christine said, Get Your Guide, like Viator, is a 3rd party reseller and doesn't operate their own tours. Most of us don't recommend using 3rd parties for booking as you can get caught in a finger-pointing battle between the 3rd party booker and the actual tour company when there's a problem.

That said, advance research before a trip is advised as 4/25 is not the only national holiday or special "free" day in Italy, and museum entries may not be the only sightseeing factor affected. These forums are great resources for questions/research before the trip to help avoid potential missteps so make good use of it before your next adventure? 😉

Aside from that snag with queues, hope you enjoyed lovely, fascinating Florence!

I sent you a PM.

I very much appreciate the expert input and have learned my lesson. I’ll do more research and avail myself of this forum before my next adventure! Thank you.

sorry the experience was bad

times 3

I had great Get Your Guide experiences on the Best of Europe 14 days last summer - a street food tour in Rome, a boat tour to Burano and Murano, and a cicchetti tour in Venice. I got to Rome late at night the night before our tour started and woke up bright and early to walk to the meeting point. We walked to various areas, including an outdoor market where we got different samples of vinegars and olive oils, then to a deli where we had a little antipasto sampling, then to a pizza place for beer and pizza, the Jewish quarter for fried artichokes (possibly the best thing I ate on the tour), then a gelato stop. It was a great way to see Rome by myself before the tour started. In Venice, after our morning group tour ended around 12p, I headed to the vaporetto area to wait for the guide at the meeting point. The group was fairly small, less than 10 people, and our guide was wonderful. She had a private vaporetto scheduled that took us over to a glass museum on Murano. We had a guided tour of the factory, watched a demonstration and then got to spend time in the factory shop. We could have walked around Murano after we were done at the factory, but it was so hot when we were there that I chose to sit outside in the factory garden and relax. We then caught the vaporetto over to Burano. This was one of the most picturesque places I've ever been! We went to a lace factory, then had a few hours to wander around. I wandered up and down streets, found a bakery that sold cookies that were a specialty of the island, then sat by the water and watched all the boats come in. We then caught the vaporetto back to Venice, where I had time to go back to the hotel to cool off before I set off again for the cicchetti tour. We visited 3 or 4 different bars, got appetizers and a glass of wine at each. The food and drinks were delicious and I zig zagged back to the hotel that night! I had great experiences with Get Your Guide, especially the street food tour in Rome and boat trip to Burano/Murano. The only bad experience I had was in Paris, where no one showed up for a food tour and when I called the customer service person said that tour hadn't been scheduled for years (????? why have it listed??) I would take your time and read through all the reviews really carefully. I also like that you can reserve your spot and not pay until the day before, so plenty of time to change plans. I have a bunch more tours set up for my Best of Scandinavia tour next month!

Get Your Guide is a third party reseller, but sometimes the actual tour operator is not listed and the only way for a particular tour is through the reseller. Using Viator and Get Your Guide as research for tours is very helpful as you get a good idea as to what is being offered.
I do try to book with the actual tour operator, but have also used both resellers when I couldn’t find any other info. I’ve not had a problem with either but I do read reviews and pay attention to the star rating.

LOL, no "lesson" here, tcshome, just a friendly invite to c'mon back when next you plan on going adventuring. I learn something interesting or helpful from the gang here almost every day, and the more the merrier, as they say! :O

There can also be more than one right answer to a question or solution to a problem, the trick being to decide the one that's best for YOU.

Question? You mentioned that you'd purchased 3 tours; as there was no priority entrance due to the holiday, did your guide stand in line with you? Or were the tickets you purchased not for guided tours but simply priority entrance?

hey hey tcshome
sorry about your experiences, some can be really good and others can drive us bananas. we just learn for next time, come back and ask questions on next trip. these posters are here to give you good bad and ugly. then your decision what you do. don't let it hold you back. we all have different ideas and neither is right or wrong
we have used get your guide 4 times in different cities with never a problem, except in paris, but was a good thing. october 2019 was jammed packed, president cheraq passed away, fashionista week, paparazzi every where, all political heads of state from around the world, sirens/ambulances blaring, techno music parade, people paying respect, tourists all over along with the police, guns/tanks every street corner, traffic and nobody moving an inch an hour. get your guide called to cancel until next day, he was stuck in the mess!!
so much better the next day, we just sat at a cafe for glass of wine or two, cheese/meat/baguette and people watched.
of all the days you choose was a national holiday and free. what did you expect, when there is free days to museum/arts it will be mobbed, plus many people on spring breaks, there was field trips for school kids. no control over that situation except don't book, go another day.
as SJS mentions, the tour operator not mentioned so that's why we went with GYG.
YEAH WARRIORS!!!
aloha

Hi all - newbie here, first post. Taking my family to Paris/Rome/Florence in mid-June. Using a private guide in Rome but don't know about these tour operators you reference. I thought GYG was endorsed by RickSteves.com but it doesn't sound like it is as much a slam dunk as I thought.

Where can I find actual tour operators for Paris/Florence if you would be so kind?

TYIA! Jason

Welcome Jason
You’ll get more replies if you post your question in your own new thread

A search will turn up many tour companies that are recommended here

Walks of Italy
Through Eternity
The Roman Guy

Are just a few