mdguy83

Hey! My soon to be husband and I are going to Italy for our honeymoon and visiting Venice, Florence, and Rome. We have flights and accommodations taken care of and now we are looking at what to do while there. Obviously some of the time we want to just spend leisurely exploring but also want to try to hit some of the big sites. Any recommendations for good tours or companies? Open to creative and fun ideas!

mdguy83

Oh we are in our early thirties. I visited Italy from a cruise ship before. Will be finance's first visit.

fmpden

Over the years we have generally found tours offered through the local TI are good to very, very good at decent prices. That is where I would start when I arrive.

Blueeyedcod

How many days in each place? What time of year? Budget in euro?

I highly recommend Context Tours but they might be above your budget - or not.

https://www.contexttravel.com/city/rome

nytraveler

Strongly urge you to avoid the least common denominator tours that tell you no more than in the basic guidebook.

Agree that depending on your interests you should look at specialty tours lead by experts or small walking tours (often available from the tourist office) that give in-depth info on your interests.

mdguy83

After travel is factored in we basically have 2 1/2 day in each place. I know that is not lot of time but we are also not expecting to see/do everything. That is why I am hoping for some recommendations. Things we have already been thinking about are definitely a tour at the Vatican (he is Catholic and I have never been in the museum). Also thinking about a day in Florence heading out to see Pisa and see some of the Tuscan countryside. Other than that we are pretty open.

HappyTrvlr

We had good experiences in Florence with Artviva tours.

TrendGirl2

YEARS AGO I took a CONTEXT ROME TOUR (Used to be Scala Real-- spelling??) it was absolutely Fantastic. It was a walking tour of Rome that was great for my very first Rome Visit.
It was a well run company that conducted a tour that was perfect for me....The people in the group were sophisticated & easy to be with on the tour.


What I liked about it was: small group of only about 6-8 people. The tour guides were graduate students with fabulous information about art, architecture, NO CHILDREN.
They had many options for exploring different neighborhoods, etc.

It was fantastic, & after 3 additional trips to Rome since I still remember the wonderful special information I learned from the guide. It was such a better experience for me being with a small group of people on the walking tour.

TrendGirl2.

Blueeyedcod

TrendGirl2 - why the capitalised NO CHILDREN? Context don't ban kids and why would they want to?

TrendGirl2

Hi Blueeyedcod,

Context Did not "ban kids" officially, but the tour I took (several years ago) they did have options for many walking tours that excluded young children.

That was appealing for those people that did not want a tour with children included.


TrendGirl2

frugaltraveler

I recommend Walks of Italy ... I have used them in Rome, Florence and Venice... each one I booked was wonderful.

frugaltraveler

A Cooking Day in Rome - highly recommend... check the sunrise time for Venice and make the effort to see it ( a great freebie ).. From Florence take public transportation to Fiesole ... In Florence walk up to Piazza Michaelangelo and walk up to Basilica San Miniato from there...its beautiful overlooking Florence...

topeater

I second Walks of Italy, highly!!! We were in Rome and Florence last year and booked tours with them in both cities. We only had 2 days in Florence, so we did the 1 day tour "Best of Florence: David and Duomo". I had been to Florence a couple of times before, but my husband had never been, so I thought it would be a good introduction for him. It also ended up being a really good introduction for me!

The tours are small with a maximum of 10 people. They use headphones, so you don't need to be in the front to hear the guide, you are really free to just listen and observe what they are describing. Plus, they have all the entrance tickets, so you never have to stand in those horribly long lines.

I was overwhelmed with all the things there are to see and learn about in Rome, so I booked Walks of Italy again. I would highly recommend. We did the complete Vatican tour and although it starts early, you are the first people allowed into the Sistine Chapel. That experience alone is worth the price. We also booked the VIP Colosseum Underground Tour with Roman Forum & Palatine Hill. We also did the Catacombs tour which was good, but just not my thing. My husband enjoyed it more.

We had a great time and all our guides were just incredibly friendly and knowledgable .