Rome
Our hotel Smeraldo is perfectly located in city center, close to all major sights. The hotel provided breakfast is delicious with varieties of food and coffee. There is a very popular bakery next door. Three right tours with tickets have been arranged, Pantheon, Vatican and Colosseum/Forum. Security door can be a hassle so bring a small bag to put everything in. Vatican and Colosseum/forum tour took only 2-3 hours each. It feels rushed with lots of art pieces and architectures unseen. We also didn’t get time to visit Vatican gift shop, or use Vatican post office to mail post cards. In Rome forum, the guide keeps us in the shade because of the heat. Since the tour ended outside the site, we couldn’t go back to explore rest of the site. If the tour ends inside the site that would be great.
When exploring on your own, I’d suggest to get up early to hit the Fountain Trevi and Spanish steps first, because there are far less people in early morning. Monument to Victor and Colosseum are beautiful at night.
Volterra
Very nice little town. The atmosphere here is totally different from Rome. Very relaxed. The Tuscany region is famous for truffle so the truffle dishes are must try here. Wild boar is another local favorite dish. There is a local family ran truffle store that our local guide referenced. The staff is very friendly taught us lots of truffle knowledge. Tour group dinner is so wonderful we actually tried to go back there again on our own time. Lot of hidden gems to explore in this little town. This town is in one of the Twlight movies. The bus terminal is a perfect location for sunset pictures.
Cinque Terre
Be prepared with big crowd. One of my group members managed to tour all five towns in one day with 9 miles hiking. For my family, we decided to explorer Monterosso where we stayed to chill off. The cemetery is a nice elevated location providing both ocean view and mountain view. The hiking trail to the cemetery is quite steep though.
Seafood here is great. Fresh anchovy and octopus are must try. Calamari here is very tender and light. We tried CIAK, Torre Arora and Belvedere all very good. Some restaurant has home made limoncello, an excellent local drink made from fresh lemon, sugar and alcohol. It’s strong but delicious.
Florence
In Florence we met Paul the best local guide of the trip. Paul can be intimidating at first, but is very knowledgeable and challenge the audiences to observer and think. His explanation of David’s posture is the best I’ve heard. Not everyone likes his style though. There are two tours for our stay in Florence, the walk of Renaissance and Uffizi gallery. Each tour takes about 2-3 hours, and leaves you time to explore by yourself inside the museum/gallery. In Uffizi gallery, there is a room for the most precious pieces Medici family collected. There is always a long line for that room so make sure to go there early to beat the crowd.
In your own exploration time, the Piazzale Michelangelo at the other side of river has excellent view of the city. Quite some steps to get there though.
Florence is famous for its steaks. Give it a try when you get the chance, the T-bone is really juicy and delicious. The city is also famous for its leather work. There are too many leather stores so it’s best to check your tour guide first on suggestions. We visited Massimo leather, a store suggested by our guide Marianna, and is very satisfied with our purchases.
The hotel we stayed is Torre Guelfa. We have mixed feelings about this one. Its top-level deck has amazing 360 degree view, a perfect place to watch sunset and night scape. At the other hand, its room needs maintenance. In our extended stay in the hotel , the air conditioner broken down with water dripping all night. Their technician would not fix it so we had to ask a bucket for the dripping water. Its online description of junior suite is also misleading. If booking hotel by ourselves, most likely we won’t consider it.
Posted by
Lynnwood
280 posts
This post and your other one were both really helpful and enjoyable. Thank you!
Posted by
Phoenix🌵
3070 posts
Thank you for your trip report. I’m considering this tour for next year. Do you have any advice or comments on the activity level? Hiking 9 miles is not on my itinerary. Activity level is noted as most activity. I’ve been on 3 RS tours and none were overly ambitious.
Posted by
OP
25 posts
Hi, the activity level is pretty comfortable actually. For each day, RS only arrange half day then leave the other half for yourself to explorer or rest. For us, the 1st day is Pantheon, Fountain Trevi and Piazza Navona in the afternoon and evening; 2nd day is Vatican city in the afternoon; 3rd day is Colosseum in the morning... you can see the pattern. The tour time each day is around 3-4 hours at most, then you can decide rest of day schedule. So it's totally depends on you to decide how much activities to fit each day. In Cinque Terre, some of our group members decided to visit all 5 towns in one day therefore 9 miles hike, while some other members decided just to chill on the beach with a good book. This tour is quite versatile. The hotel locations are quite convenient close to city center in both Rome and Florence, giving you lots of options.
For us, it's our first time to Italy so we're a little over excited. The average steps I walked during the tour is around 15,000 steps per day. But only half of them are contributed to the RS arranged activities.
One comment about Cinque Terre specifically. At tourist season, the restaurant waiting line at dinner time is very long. If you plan ahead and book reservation (via facebook, whatsapp or other social media) first, that would make your dinner much easier.