Can anyone recommend a private tour guide that they have used or offer their experience with guided tours (best tour and what ones you recommend). I will do Academia by myself. I am traveling with 5 other women so we could get our own guide as a possibility.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
IMO you really don't need a tourguide in Florence. It is very compact and walkable. Just bring the RS guidebook plus the DK guidebook for Florence and Tuscany (www.dk.com or amazon.com) and you won't miss a thing.
I like the DK books because they're full of very helpful color photos.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23642 posts
We were very pleased with Walking Tours of Florence. We always try to have at least one guided tour. While self guided tours have their place, we think a live person can add so much more than a printed page.
Posted by
Connecticut, USA
114 posts
http://www.contexttravel.com/florence/
Hi! My husband and I have had several tours (Rome & Venice) with Context. They are awesome especially if you are looking for a small tour and a more personalized way to get to know the city. The tour guides are often college professors, architects, college interns, etc. who are very knowledgeable.
Last March we took a Context tour from Venice out to Murano, Burano, and Torcello. It was wonderful. I am an art teacher and my math teacher husband loves art too. We both love old churches and on this trip we got to see some really old ones with amazing and unusual mosaics. The tour guide easily handled our groups' various and miscellaneous questions. There were 6 of us in the group--3 couples and it was interesting to get to meet the other folks. Some of them even went off to eat together afterwards.
So, if you are up for a more personal and detailed tour, Context is super. They are not a discount type tour group, but with 5 or 6 of you, you could split the cost.
Have fun! Cheryl