Tour Suggestions for Florence, Rome, and Day Trips

I just did a Italy solo and had a great time. The Eating Europe food tours are fantastic. Did both Trastevere and Testaccio tours in 2019, and loved the Testaccio one so much, I just did it again last month. You will enjoy them. As far as museum tours, I think they add value to a visit. While I have never joined such a tour, I speak three languages, so I'm perpetually eavesdropping on tour guides to supplement the info from the Rick Steve's guidebook.

Hi Claudia, Could you please tell me which company you used for the food tour in Rome?
Thank you

The company is Eating Europe. Boun appeitito.

Here's another vote for Eating Europe's Trastevere tour. We did one a couple of weeks ago and it was excellent. Great food and lots of interesting info from our tour guide. Don't know if you can request a certain guide, but we had Roger, and he was great!

Our personal preference is for as few tours as possible. I can understand that as a single traveler, it would be a good way to meet and connect with other people. However, we did take the Eating Italy Trastevere food tour and would definitely do it again. It was fun, sociable and the food was great. In Milan, we did a cooking class that included a market tour. That was enjoyable, too. Can wait to start cooking up the recipes! We had a small-group wine tasting tour scheduled in Florence but, disappointingly, it was cancelled due to COVID. Maybe you could get one from Florence to Siena.

My husband and I did this cooking class - https://www.walkaboutflorence.com/tours/cooking-class-at-a-farmhouse-in-tuscany -
during our last trip to Florence. You visit the central market and then get taken by bus to a beautiful farmhouse - purpose built - just outside the city. The house sits among olive tress and looks out towards San Miniato al Monte - its is magical.
The class is great - you get hands on experience making - pasta, pizza, roast pork and potatoes, ragu and tia misu .
Then you get to sit down and eat - with lots of wine and beer!
One of pour best days in Italy.

I wanted to chime in on the Walks of Italy Underground Colosseum tour. I've been following posts on this pretty closely since I have reservations in Sept. The issue here seems to be with the challenge of getting Underground tickets under a new format that was implemented. They now only offer new tour reservations a few days (three or less) before the tour is scheduled when they know that they have tickets. Some people with previous reservations report a last minute cancellation because they were not able to get tickets. Others report that they were able to go on the tour as scheduled.

Another tour company that people have mentioned that they liked was Through eternity tours.
https://www.througheternity.com/en/colosseum-tours/colosseum-tour-with-gladiator-arena-floor-and-ancient-rome.html

I do think all of the tour companies are struggling with underground tickets and you will need to be flexible on that portion of your plans.

Agree with Carol—the process of getting Underground tickets for the Colosseum has changed so it’s hard to fault the third part tour companies. My WOI tour was cancelled four days before it was scheduled. I rebooked with The Roman/Tour Guy and on the morning of the tour they, too, had to change the schedule. Somehow they managed to get us into an Underground tour a few hours later. I’m glad they did—it was the highlight of the trip for my brother (who had never travelled abroad before this trip). We also did a Florence Duomo tour with them and a Vatican Museum tour. All of our experiences were excellent. Take the bad (and good) reviews of these companies with a grain of salt—often you’re only getting the tails of the experience distribution. Whatever you wind up doing, enjoy!

Thank you everyone for all the good information!!! I'll be looking up all the companies you've suggested!

smeadows1978, did you do your Florence Duomo and Vatican Museum tour with WOI or The Roman/Tour Guy?

I guess I'm just worried if I book with a company and they don't show, that'll be really tough especially in Florence where I really only have one day to see the big sights.

In Florence you should look at the small company Curious Appetite for food tours.

Also, look at the blog of Aussie transplant Emiko Davies. She’s immersed herself in Florentine food and culture. I think she has workshops. I am a big fan of her cookbooks.

I wouldn’t take a Pompeii tour. I loved bringing my own guidebook and exploring at my own pace.

We booked the early Vatican Museum tour directly through the museum website, so I would recommend doing that. We did a tour of Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius that we booked via Viator that we liked.

My ex husband and his partner are doing a cooking class in Florence when they go to Italy in early September - I will find out who they booked with for it.

Thanks for all the help!!! Here's how it shook out:

• Fri 30 Sep - Arrival in Florence from Munich; possible Santo Spirito Tour by The Tour/Roman Guy
• Sat 1 Oct - Accademia tour with The Tour/Roman Guy; Uffizi gallery tour with Through Eternity
• Sun 2 Oct - Day trip to Siena (I'm thinking I can get there on my own by train and pick up a tour there)
• Mon 3 Oct - Eating Europe/Italy Authentic Florence Home-Cooking Class
• Tue 4 Oct - Travel from Florence to Rome; St Peter's Basilica Dome climb and pick up tickets to Papal Audience
• Wed 5 Oct - Papal Audience (if it's happening); Trastevere Food Tour with Eating Europe/Italy
• Thu 6 Oct - WOI Pristine Sistine™ Early Entrance Small Group Vatican Tour; Heart of Rome walk
• Fri 7 Oct - Early train to Naples, local train to Herculaneum and then Mondo Pompeii Tour; local train back and to the Archeology Museum on my own, quick fried pizza in Naples, train back to Rome
• Sat 8 Oct - Testaccio Food Tour with Devour; Colosseum Tour with Gladiator Arena Floor, Forum and Palatine Hill with Through Eternity
• Sun 9 Oct - Papal blessing if there's no audience on Wednesday; Borghese Gallery
• Mon 10 Oct - Cooking Class with Cooking Classes in Rome
• Tue 11 Oct - Fly home

We have been to Rome and Florence twice and the only tour we took was a bike tour in Florence.

If course, now you have to sign up for the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, Coliseum and Forum tours in adance.

We did Siena on our own, including climbing up the tower on the square.

On what more to do in Rome and Florence.
Rome,
Pantheon, Capitoline Hill Museum, Trajan's Markets, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Also, Villa Borghese.

Fri 7 Oct - Early train to Naples, local train to Herculaneum and then
Mondo Pompeii Tour; local train back and to the Archeology Museum on
my own, quick fried pizza in Naples, train back to Rome

Candice, IMHO this is too much to try and fit into a day trip from Rome. Pretty sure you'll be on info overload by the time you leave Pompeii....which you'll only scratch the surface of during a 2-hour tour! It's a huge excavation. Zoom in on this map (use the + sign in the upper left corner) for an idea of how much ground it covers. You might want to just spend some more time there on your own than try to squeeze the museum in too? Or think about picking just two of the 3 attractions you've lined up for this day?

http://pompeiisites.org/en/regiones/regio-vi/

Candice, have you received your Papal audience tickets? I used snail mail and email to request, but haven't received them. We are hoping for an October 12th Audience? Thank you, Margaret Curran