Santa Croce Basilica

My husband and I only had one day in Florence. We took the full day tour with lunch. It was amazing. We pretty much covered everything: Il Duomo, the Baptistery, the Accademia, the Uffizi, and Santa Croce, as well as a bus tour through Fiesole. Lunch was great because we met so many wonderful people. I would definitely recommend this tour.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

This was a really good tour. We opted for the full day. The Churches, Galleries, and sites were amazing. The tour guides were very informative and knowledgeable. the headsets the guides give you for your chosen language are very clear so you never miss out on anything. The guides bring you in so you are never caught up in long queues.
What did let down the full day tour for us was the lunch, it was a cheap and basic, we were given 45 mins to eat and had to remind the waiter of this several times as the service was slow, needless to say we had to take our dessert with us to eat on the coach!. I suggest you do this trip in two halfs and exclude the lunch. You are not given access to the Sante Croce Cathedral you only see the facade.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

The guides knowledge of art was superb, she really brought the Uffizi Gallery to life and exceeded my expectations. Would be nice to see inside Santa Croce as well as just the outside. Although this may extend the tour by half an hour I think it would prove worthwhile.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

The tours were great, although the website needs to be updated. Our afternoon tour stated that we would be visiting the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce interior. This was not the case and we had to pay an extra 10 euro to go into the interior. Many in the group planned on going in and were unhappy when they found out that the website was wrong, therefore we agreed to pay the extra to go in.

On the other hand the lunch was outstanding and even included both red and white wine which was not stated on the website. Our afternoon tour guide was very passionate about the paintings in the Galleria del Uffizi and went into a bit too much detail.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

Great tour! Wish we had more time up on the hill and to enter the basilica.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

very disappointing.

the tour of florence hills was a brief bus drive to the top of a hill, view and drive back.
no real content.
viewing exterior of santa croce - what a laugh.
guide did his best with the Piazza Signoria, which was occupied by dancing flag throwers as it was May 1.
But we were in florence for one night only. not until we got on the bus on our last afternoon were we told that May 1 was considered a Monday and the Uffizi was closed. The interior tour of the Palazzio Vecchio was not a great alternative.

I should have been informed of the iterinerary variation when I was booking or as part of the buying process. I felt blackmailed into taking the Palace tour instead.

Most of the bus got off except two couples (inc US!)

If this happens every year, why do tour companies like Viator not take proper responsibility for customer care?
Looks to me like a bank holiday scam to squeeze money from a limited and in my case trapped market.

Guide quite knowledgable but repetitious and superficial, especially about pallazio vecchio and Santa Croce.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

Overall we enjoyed the tour but were disapointed in the bus trip as we didn't stop for a photo oportunity at the top nor on the way down. It would have been good to have visited Piazzale Michelangelo and Santa Croce Basilica. We seem to have enough time. Overall I was dis apointed in you Florence Tours and guides.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

We chosen the afternoon tour. First part was in a coach and it wasn't too bad, the views were stunning and one of the guides gave us an interesting talk about architecture and culture of Tuscany. Although, we didn't visit the Church of Santa Croce, we barely seen it in the distance and we were only allowed to get off the coach literally for 2 min to take a picture of the panorama. Second part was a walking tour and they split all people in two groups. We were unlucky, our guide turned out to be terrible, she was more interested in telling unfunny jokes and anegdotes about Italian government than interesting facts about things we could see. Quite few people decided to quit as they found some mistakes in what the guide was talking about. When we got to Uffizi Gallery things got even worse, the guide was repetitive and sound like she's really making things up, we decided to continue on our own.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

The description stated that you would not wait on a line at the museum. We waited for over 25 minutes. We couldn't hear the tour guide very well. Also, it was advertised that we were to see the tombs at the Church of Santa Croce, but we were told that the website hadn't been updated and the tombs weren't part of the tour anymore. They were the reason we booked the trip.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

In the morning seeing the David was fantastic, and we had a great guide. The afternoon was a complete waste. We spent two hours eating a so-so meal. Taking the bus to Fiesole, then not getting out and being told to take a city bus up on our own later if we wanted to see it was terrible and a rip-off. We had a guide who walked very slowly, and we saw places from the outside and were told we should go into them on our own someday. He waited for us to take photos of the outside of Santa Croce church for a long time. Then we finally went to the Uffizi, and we did not get in until 5 p.m. The guide disappeared and later returned with the tickets after we had let two more groups go ahead of us in line. Once in, we waited again for everyone to go to the bathroom. My boys and I just could not wait any longer for the slow guide and the group. We did not understand the guide's English very well, either. We decided to break off from the group and see the museum on our own because he was so bad. It was a waste of an afternoon in Florence because when it was finally time to see a museum in the late afternoon, we were exhausted and tired of not knowing what and when things would happen.

Doing what: Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour