Traveling to Florence, looking for Tuscany Tour

I know, I know, I agree, tours are weak. I will be traveling to Florence with my wife and her parents for a her sisters wedding and will be staying in Florence for a few days. My wife and I enjoy visiting tasting and have both been to many tastings throughout the US and France. We will not have a car and would like to partake in a private tour of a few people say ~8 our less.

Haven’t had the time I usually have for research and planning.

Can anyone suggest a good tour company?

Rob: PM me - I have the tour person I think you asked me for on “the other forum” but couldn’t answer you.
Glad to see you here.
Ted

Rob - One man’s opinion but a tour can be a good idea, especially for bypassing lines for “major” attractions. I found in Florence that by using a tour we bypassed a huge line to see the David. And in Rome, the Vatican queue - especially the Sistine Chapel - would have been heinous if we had just walked up.

Best, John

La Dolce Vita Wine Tours - I have no affiliation with this company other than being a satisfied client. The principals are a married couple and the man is an Italian from Piedmont. They are a completely legitimate operation so no worries there. We’ve been on three different tours with them - twice to Piedmont and once to Tuscany. These are not five star tours but they definitely nail some exclusive tastings and restaurants. They specialize in small tours usually under 12 people total. Depending on your timing they can also do a custom tour to your specifications.

Good luck with your planning!

Back in 2000 we paid for an English language tour of the Uffizi.

We jumped an enormous line, I was able to impress the guide with intelligent questions and comments about Savonarola and Sandro Botticelli – and we met friendly Americans that looked SO familiar. I kept trying to figure out where I had seen these people. It was months after our return that it hit me.

John and Patsy Ramsey. Parents of JonBenet. Along with her brother (tall young man in 2000) and other family members…

Aren’t you already in the line when you are with the tour?

Barry, the guides have a “relationship” of some sort with the museum or site, and they can take a small group and enter via a different entrance or get in with a nod to the ticket taker. I don’t know just WHY this is allowed, probably the guides give a cut to the museum. And of course you are paying way more than the usual ticket price.

Looking for current recommendations for day tours out of Florence to visit Tuscany wineries. Not sure I have a preference of Chianti v. Montalcino v. Montepulicano. I scoured the pages and pages of posts on Italy (lots of good info!) but have not seen any recent posts on wine tours or guides.

Would anyone be able to make a recommendation for a tour guide or company?

Thanks in advance!

I was just doing some research on this.

the major decider between the cities seems to be threefold: which wine do you prefer, and how much money are you willing to part with for the tour, and how many wineries do you wanna see? Leaving from Florence, in general you are gonna pay more for a Montalcino tour than a Chianti tour, but its also about 45 minutes further away from Florence. About the cheapest I found for a small group tour from Florence to Montalcino to see three wineries was about 275 per person. Private tours, add another 75 ish per. there seemed to be some really fun options though. I got a ton of really fast informative responses by emailing after i found them on Tripadviser.

I ended up choosing Tuscan Wine Tours/Grape Tours, which is associated with the Tuscan Wine School.

Thanks, Matt! I’m checking them out now! Cheers!

Bump, I’m in the same boat as Sally S.

Will be in Florence for a few days in February and have one day allocated for wine. Instead of renting a car and doing the whole thing, just looking to take it easy and be driven around. Does anyone have any recommendations for day trip tour operators based out of Florence?

I would absolutely recommend Wine Tours in Tuscany. Ask for Donatella. I have sent numerous people her way in the past. She does day long tastings in Chianti and Montalcino, typically of smaller family run wineries.

I think the tours typically leave out of Siena but you can get there easily from Florence via bus. They may even do pickups from Florence as well but you would need to coordinate. These are small, private tours. Typically 8 people or less. For more money, you can request completely private if you just wanted to go with your group.

I have her direct email if you need it but you should be able to find their website and IG page.

I am also considering a June visit therefore keep the suggestions coming. Thank you.

I don’t know anything about tours, but we ate at the Locanda La Mandragola in San Gimignano last November and it was wonderful.

Neither a winery nor private tour but on Ramon’s recommendation we went on the Walkabout Best of Tuscany Tour and enjoyed it very much. While I was left wanting more time in most locations it was a good overview and introduction.

https://www.walkaboutflorence.com/tours/best-tuscany-tour

Sent you a PM. Nothing wrong with a tour in the big cities so long as the guide knows their stuff.

Totally agree. Donatella is awesome. We had her give four of us a private tour. For lunch she brought us to a friends house in Tuscany and they made us a fabulous meal. We also used her service to arrange a private tour of Montalcino to taste BdM all day and it was equally fabulous.

We did not use these folks for a tour but used them to go from Florence to SML and then from Pienza to Florence airport. https://deluxelimoitaly.com/

Their pricing was very fair and they way over delivered with the service and vehicles. You can plan your own wineries and use them for car service. Montelcino is about 2 hours from Florence so Chianti region is closer. I would suggest a winery before lunch, lunch and another winery.

We loved our visit to Col D’Orca and meals at Home - Osteria Perillà and our friends raved about https://www.cumquibus.it/en/home-en/ in San Gimigiano( we split up and did a day in Siena)

Cheers

We did Angela’s wine tasting tour of Chianti two years ago and I highly recommend it.