Tours/Attractions in Venice, Florence, Rome

We tend to do a lot of tours that we arrange through the local TI. We always think it is good value and like the idea of having a live person to answer questions. For us, it is worth the additional cost even when we have done a lot of research on the area we are touring. Others will prefer to save the money and get by with a podcast or a written walking tour. It is mostly personal choice.

We enjoyed a tour of Ufizzi-I don't remember the provider.

Here are our host's recommendations for sights to see in Italy, organized by city and the priority he would give them. I don't know any that require a tour guide, but some tours get you quicker and/or early entry to popular sights like San Marco and the Uffizi. A good guide with a small group can make any visit more informative and meaningful, but it's often more time-efficient, and always less expensive, to see places on your own timetable. One good investment might be a tour through the Colosseum and Forum in Rome, where a guide can provide a lot of context for the jumble of ruins that meets the eye.

You can download Rick Steves audio walks and listen to them as you tour some places, a good compromise between a live guide and your own senses.

Hi Sharon,

Sounds like a great trip. Here are some recommendations for each of your locations. Like you, I like to mix tours with traveling on my own, especially in Venice where exploring (aka getting lost) is a wonderful experience.
Venice
- Bar Tour with Alessandro: this is more of drinking then chichetti, but it is fun. You learn a lot about the city, food, and drink. This tour is very popular with RS travelers and in our trip, we had about 20 RS tour folks in our group. His email address is alessandro@schezzini.it.
- Skye McAlpine’s blog is a great resource for good eats: http://www.frommydiningtable.com.
- Other food ideas: watch Feed Phil on NetFlix’s Venice episode.
Florence:
- We took only one tour in Florence and that was the Sunset Food Tour: https://www.eatingeurope.com/florence-food-tours/florence-sunset-food-tour/. It was a great way to learn about the food and drink of Italy and was one of our favorite tours of the trip. Come hungry, because you start with a traditional appertivo, then move onto small bites at different local restaurants and shops and finish with a Florentine Steak. These are small tours (about 8-10 people) and provide a great introduction into the cuisine.
- For the Uffizi, we bought our tickets for when it opened and then used the RS audio guide (which was excellent). He recommends taking a coffee break on the rooftop cafe. It is nice, especially if you get the early morning entrance and hit it before it is too warm and too bright for photos.
Rome:
- Borghese Gallery has a wonderful English led tour (can be purchased with tickets on the site). This was the favorite art museum for our friends. If you go the Borghese, they have a lovely park to picnic or just explore.
- Eating Italy Trastevere sunset tour is amazing. I would recommend taking this tour early in the trip as we took it two days before we left and our girls wanted to go back to eat at a few places that were closed on the Sunday. The only negative about this tour is it is really too much food, so go hungry and pace yourself. Here is the link: https://www.eatingeurope.com/rome/.

Have a great trip,
Sandy