It's $300.00!
 

I was thinking of taking a wine tour , with a guide. The recommended guide was not available ,but he suggested we contact Natalie Pan. Her charge for the day is $300.My question is, if anyone has done this is it worthwhile or not?

I don't know about this guide, but I have seen private guides and private tour companies charge quite alot.

Is that the entire day? If so, I think it's probably going rate, but you can try a few other places:

FlorenceWeek.com This is a travel agency website that I read about in Italy. It mostly caters to people looking for apartments, but also offers help in finding tour guides, I think.

AccidentalTourist.com

ToursbyRoberto.com ( don't know if he's in business any more)

Good luck!

WOW.

Is this in Italy, France, US (Since you quote in dollars) ? It would really help the rest of us to have some information about the location of this tour.

Here's a little guide on wine.

http://www.saycheeseandwine.com/leaders.html

The wine guide is very knowledgeable. I have his book and he knew what he wrote.

The price was fairly expensive but certainly less than the $300.

Anyway, it gives a bit of comparison.

Blackduff

Hi Bailey,

I have seen your other posts on Natalie Pan, and I cannot comment on her, but I did want to let you know that for a full day, Luca from Hills and Roads (that you already tried and was booked)charges about the same thing for a full day (30E/hour for two - we were with him from 0930-1930)

I would try to do some more research and see if anyone has heard of her, or possibly email Luca for a referral.

Your question on whether she is worth it I cannot answer, but I can tell you that our day with Luca was well worth the price we paid. He was excellent, so if she is half as good I would say do it if you can.

Have a wonderful time!

The wine tour is in Tuscany. The guide would pick us up at out hotel and the cost id for 8 hours.I wrote her over the weekend and asked her where she would be taking usand the transportation she would be using but no reply as yet.Initially I told her that we'd like to do the Chianti trail skip the castles and concentrate on small out of the way places.She wrote back with the date she had open and nothing else. I don't think this person is anything like a Luca.

i find that very reasonable for all day, including $6 plus per gallon for gas.. and the interpreter.

can you split it among a few people or is that per/person?

That sounds pretty good to me. To have an expert on hand all day for $300. Sounds pretty much at the lower end of the pay scale for a skilled person to me. How much do you earn per day?

I think it is a reasonable price if it the full price for two. As with Luca of hillsandroads, this includes the vehicle and the fuel, not to mention the guide's knowledge of the area. When we spent our day with Luca, we covered much more territory than if we were trying to figure it out on our own.

Bailey333,

Don't be too upset if you only got a minimum of information from Natalie Pan. This is still the busy tourist season, and I think many of the drivers/ guides don't have the time or energy to write much of anything by the end of the day.

Good luck with Natalie Pan. And please post back when you return. I'd love to hear how it went!

Just a little perspective:

If you work 5 days/week with no holidays or vacation, then $300/day is $72000/year gross. With European taxes that's probably closer to $40000/year net. Is that so outrageous?

And that $42,000 is before subtracting any expenses...

go on to trip advisor.com and print in for a search "natintuscany"(.com) Natalie Panzanno gets good reviews. She's been doing wine tours for 2 years and speaks 8 different languages!

I can vouch for Roberto of ToursbyRoberto.com as I have used him twice, the last time last June. He is more into Etruscan history so I don't know about wine tours. He is hysterically funny besides being very knowledgeable.

I would spend another day with Roberto in a heartbeat.

on trip advisor just put natintuscany--no .com. My mistake

I just found another person who does wine tours in Tuscany -8 hours for 100 euros each for two people.Her website is angiepersonaltuscan tours.com.