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Tours, to be guided or not to be guided, that is the question!

Posted by (USA) on

I would liket to utilize your advice on the topic of Guided tours, private or small group(8 people), and Of course the other option is to do it on our own, and I am certainly not opposed to this. We are great hikers and can walk all day. Advice on buying tickets for each town, on line or at the location? So far I have only looked at Viator and Walks inside Italy for the 3 towns I will be going to. Good bad and the ugly about these tour providers? Any other highly recommended tour guides? Our plan below, and don’t laugh, we can always shortening it if needed and if something is closed, on to the next. I still need to make sure the places are open on the dates I am there. I grouped them into close areas each day. A work in progress!
Venice
Day 1, Sat Aug 15
1. Palazzo Paruta Hotel
2. Ca' d'Oro 1 hour, 30 mins
3. Santa Maria dei Miracoli 30 mins
4. Ponte di Rialto 30 mins
5. San Salvador 30 mins
6. Piazza San Marco 1 hour (St. Mark’s Square)
7. Campanile di San Marco 30 mins
8. Basilica di San Marco 45 mins (St. Mark’s Basilica)
9. Palazzo Ducale 45 mins (Doge’s Palace)
10. Ponte dei Sospiri 15 mins
11. San Zaccaria 45 mins
12. Torre dell'Orologio 30 mins
13. Palazzo Paruta Hotel

Day 2, Sun Aug 16
1. Palazzo Paruta Hotel
2. Arsenale di Venezia 1 hour
3. Museo Storico Navale 1 hour
4. Riva degli Schiavoni 1 hour
5. Dogana da Mar 1 hour
6. Santa Maria della Salute 1 hour
7. Collezione Peggy Guggenheim 1 hour
8. Galleria dell’Accademia 1 hour (Accademia)
9. Squero di San Trovaso 30 mins
10. Palazzo Paruta Hotel

Day 3, Mon Aug 17
1. Palazzo Paruta Hotel
2. I Gesuati 45 mins
3. San Sebastiano 45 mins
4. Ca' Rezzonico 45 mins
5. Scuola Grande di San Rocco 45 mins
6. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari 45 mins
7. Ca' Pesaro 45 mins
8. Il Ghetto 1 hour
9. Museo Communità Ebraica 1 hour, 30 mins
10. Palazzo Paruta Hotel

Day 4, Mon Aug 18
No plans

Florence

Day 1, Wed Aug 19
1. Cerretani Firenze - MGallery Collection Hotel
2. La SS. Annunziata di Firenze 30 mins
3. Galleria dell'Accademia 1 hour, 30 mins
4. Florence Cathedral 1 hour
5. Battistero 1 hour
6. Campanile di Giotto 1 hour
7. Orsanmichele 1 hour
8. Piazza della Signoria 30 mins
9. Mercato Nuovo 1 hour, 30 mins
10. Santa Trínita 30 mins
11. Cerretani Firenze - MGallery Collection Hotel

Day 2, Thu Aug 20
1. Cerretani Firenze - MGallery Collection Hotel
2. Palazzo Vecchio 1 hour
3. Loggia dei Lanzi 30 mins
4. Gallerie degli Uffizi 1 hour, 30 mins
5. Ponte Vecchio 30 mins
6. Palazzo Pitti 1 hour
7. Giardino Boboli 1 hour
8. Santo Spirito 30 mins
9. Santa Maria della Carmine 1 hour
10. Cerretani Firenze - MGallery Collection Hotel

Day 3, Fri Aug 21
1. Cerretani Firenze - MGallery Collection Hotel
2. San Miniato al Monte 1 hour
3. Piazzale Michelangiolo 1 hour
4. Museo Galileo 1 hour, 30 mins
5. Museo Nazionale del Bargello 1 hour, 30 mins
6. Santa Croce 1 hour
7. Piazza della Repubblica 1 hour, 30 mins
8. Palazzo Medici-Riccardi 30 mins
9. Cerretani Firenze - MGalleryCollection Hotel

Posted by
118 posts

Cinque Terre
Sat Aug 22-25
1. Casa Palasgio Apartment - Monterosso al Mare
2. No plans yet, still working on it

Rome
Day 1, Wen Aug 26
1. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel
2. Vatican Museums 2 hours
3. Vatican Gardens 1 hour
4. The Sistine Chapel 1 hour
5. St. Peter's Basilica 1 hour, 15 mins
6. St. Peter's Square 15 mins
7. Castel Sant'Angelo 45 mins
8. Palazzo Altemps 45 mins
9. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel

Day 2, Thu Aug 27
1. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel
2. The Pantheon 1 hour
3. Piazza Venezia 45 mins
4. Roman Forum 1 hour, 30 mins
5. The Colosseum 1 hour, 30 mins
6. Palatine Hill and Palatine Museum 2 hours
7. Imperial Forums 1 hour
8. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel

Day 3, Fri Aug 28
1. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel
2. Galleria Borghese 1 hour
3. Villa Borghese 1 hour
4. National Gallery of Ancient Art 1 hour, 30 mins
5. Spanish Steps 30 mins
6. Piazza di Spagna 30 mins
7. Trevi Fountain 45 mins
8. Piazza Navona 45 mins
9. San Luigi dei Francesi 1 hour
10. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel

Day 4, Sat Aug 29
1. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel
2. Victor Emmanuel Monument 30 mins
3. Capitoline Hill 1 hour
4. Circus Maximus 1 hour
5. Giardino degli Aranci 1 hour
6. Santa Sabina 30 mins
7. Pyramid of Caius Cestius 30 mins
8. Baths of Caracalla 1 hour
9. Basilica di San Clemente 1 hour
10. Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo Hotel

Posted by
67 posts

I personally love guided tours. We have also used Gray Line in the past. We have booking mainly Viator and Gray Line this summer for our trip.

Posted by
663 posts

It seems to me that you have a fairly good idea of what you want to see, so you're not likely to need a tour guide for most of this. Obviously some things on your list will take longer or shorter than you have planned... just go with the flow. Like the Sistine chapel you likely wont stay in there for an entire hour, your neck would become quite strained from looking up that long! The Spanish steps aren't worth 30 minutes unless you plan to lounge on them for a while... they are just stairs! Trevi fountain maybe 20 minutes. The Doges Palace you will likely spend 1.5-2 hours. Pitti Palace will also need more time, although I cant say Boboli gardens are worth an hour (Its large enough but not really all that impressive).

A tour I do recommend in Venice is the cicchetti bar tour by Alessandro, and also his offbeat Venice walk. It was the highlight of my trip last November! You see a side to Venice you wouldn't see otherwise, plus the food and drink provided on the bar tour make that one completely worth the money.

Posted by
1054 posts

Use a mix of tours. Like in Rome you can use Rick Book and Audio app at the Coloseum and Roman Forum and stay as long as you want or quickly. I used Walks of Italy at the Vatican and loved them. We started real early and was one of the first groups in the place. Our guide told us somet hings to take pictures of as we walked past on the way into the sistine chapel and I was glad he did. When we returned later to tell us about some pieces there was tons of people in front of them. earlier there was no body. We also were able to enjoy the Sistine Chapel before the big crowds came in.

Venice I used Rick's book and self guided papers from the Museum like Ca Renzonnico for and found that to be adequate. I did do the Back Lanes Tour with Allesando from Rick's book and the Chichetti tour he does that someone mentioned above. Same comment here, that was the highlight of our stay in Venice. the back lanes was great going to places I wouldn't have found just wandering around .

Posted by
118 posts

A tour I do recommend in Venice is the cicchetti bar tour by Alessandro, and also his offbeat Venice walk.

Just emailed him, thanks for the tip, sounds like a great time, and who doesn't like to eat and drink. Big thanks Angela!!

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