Small Group Tours

tours which we did in Rome and Florence had small groups with less than 15, if any group goes over 15 I dont think its worth it.

My tour company of choice is Context Tours - their city walking tours are a maximum of 6 people, and they range from $50 - $150 per person, depending on where and how long the tour is. I have not used them in Italy yet (I have 4 booked for my trip there next month), but I have used them in Japan, and they were terrific. Guides are often trained and working in the area of focus (for instance, gallery tours are often led by art historians, food tours by cooking instructors or cultural food historians, etc).

For Florence, Tuscan Trails is a bit over your price range; BUT, the maximum group size is 8, and the price includes multi-course lunch with wine.

https://tuscantrails.com/?cli_action=1568292230.093

This may be a little above your price range, but we use Walks of Italy. The tours we took in Florence and Rome were superb. They limit their groups to 10-12. Our Uffizi tour had only 6 members. Our guide Marco didn't have to use his headset.

Hey Darren,

This is a little past your $100 price point for a Tuscan Wine Tour, but check out The Roman Guy

How to visit Vineyards in Tuscany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkhThkNIJIw

Wine Day Trips -- Taste local wines and delicious Tuscan cuisine: https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/florence-tuscany/chianti-wine-tour-from-florence (about $123 USD).) Ask if they offer a Rick Steves' discount.

They are offering 20% discount on most tours if you are traveling/booking in the months of November and December.

Or, if you book more than one tour with The Roman Guy, you can save about 5%.

If you want, scroll or browse their other informative videos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCobaqk2JEYLiBJAhJZG0Oiw

They get a lot of very good to excellent reviews. They appear very down-to-Earth, helpful, funny and have a good selection of tours, dates, and times. Sean, one of the leads in the company, narrates most of the videos.

We have been on several Walks of Italy tours and found them to be very good.
I would differ with DougMac’s above posting regarding group size of 10-12.
Depending on the tour, their group size can go up to 20. Three tours we took this past April all had 16 people on them.
Their website lists maximum number of people on each tour.

Thanks Wendy for correcting and clarifying Walks of Italy tours. I remembered our Best of Florence walking tour was limited to 15, but there were only 12 of us. The Rome evening stroll was limited to 15 and there was 10 of us.

How many are in your party?

You can hire a private guide for around 60 Euro an hour for a 3 hour minimum so 180 Euro for 3 hours. If you have at least 2 people you are within budget, and if you have more than 2, you will be significantly under budget.

These are my favorite tours. You can personalize it and do exactly what you want to do.

We have hired Marta Marsili in Rome on 2 different trips and the experience was wonderful. We have toured the Colosseum/Roman Forum, and the Vatican with her.

https://www.guidedtourofrome.com/

Also, if you like food tours, Eating Europe is awesome and within your budget.

www.eatingeurope.com

I went to Tivoli/Hadrian's Villa on a tour booked through Viatour two years ago. It was excellent. Viatour is a consolidator but you can see the tour operator before you book and you can check with them directly. Sometimes Viatour is cheaper, sometimes not. I also booked an evening food tour through theromanguy.com, which was operated by someone else. It was also excellent and the Roman Guy gives a discount to RS people. Both were under $100.