9 reviews of 5-Day Italy Trip: Florence, Pisa and Venice
Read what other Viator.com travelers think about the 5-Day Italy Trip: Florence, Pisa and Venice. What they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved, it's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
You went above and beyond for our trip. This included getting us to and from accomodations. This would have incurred the other costs that would have made this trip unaffordable. The hotels on the three star were super. Why pay for four star.
Although it was 5 days, 2 days were free / some travelling, so i felt we missed a little. After saying that, the hotels were all good and we were looked after - it was nice that al the planning was done for us using local knowledge.
Good tour: customers need further user-friendly information about train tickets: the fact that the voucher IS a train ticket (no need to collect them at station) and that seats have been reserved on the train.
The trip was great and satisfactory.
The choice of hotels was excellent i.e. close to other attractions. Impressed with the pick up services at hotels and stations, regardless of the short distance to the next destinations (which could be done independently).
Nevertheless, we are unhappy with the tourist guide's service for the Pisa trip (depart from Florence). The service was first handled by a trainee (who basically not ready for the job) but always interrupted by the other guide. Due to this, some information was repeated. Unpleasant and unprofessional. Should avoid training a trainee in a trip like this. Also, we'd like to advise trips to be planed in the morning and not in the afternoon.
Very Good.
First know this you won't be with the same group of people for 5 days on this tour. For us, this was a plus. You go to Florence with a busload of people that are daytripping there from Rome, stay in Florence and go to to Pisa the next day again, with a day trip group. You then take the train from Florence to Venice on your own as well transfers provided from Hotel in Florence to Hotel in Venice. Then, you take a 2 hour tour of St. Marks Square in Venice. You need to book some other tours in Venice as just seeing St. Marks Square doesn't cover that amazing city by far. We flew into Rome, stayed there for 5 days and then took this tour so it worked out very well. The hotels are basic -- clean, friendly staffs and in good neighborhoods - don't expect anything fancy. This is a very easy way to see these cities and I would highly recommend taking this tour!
The food included in the tour was disappointed. The restaurants you choose could be the best complement to the guided tours trough the cities. And it is Italy, Italian food is one of the best in the world.
The tour guide up to Florence and the local Florence guide were hard to understand and we felt rushed. The area around the statue of David was so crowded, we could not hear or understand most of what the guide was saying. Our lunch was pleasant and the shopping is great. The hotel in Florence and Venice were clean, comfortable, and the staff pleasant and helpful. Our local guide in Pisa was young and fun and shared many interesting "curiosities" and fun stories. If you want to go up in the Leaning Tower, you have to book that ahead of time. We were not told this until we were there. Though trains/stations in Italy are easy enough to get around, you will have to figure out what you are doing on your own as no one from the tour is there to help you. The itinerary said someone would meet us at the Venice train station, but there was no one. Luckily we were very near the hotel and locals were nice enough to point us in the right direction. Our local gude in Venice was interesting. It was definitely worth going in the morning as it is very crowded by around noon. A free trip to the Murano glass factory was included and definitely worth the trip. Excellent show of working with glass by master George and our guide was fun and shared many interesting things with our group.
The Good:Got a free transfer from our hotel in Rome to get to the meeting point to go to Florence (not part of the tour, but a nice surprise)
Great hotel in Venice. Were met at the Venice Train Station and taken to our hotel (a short ways away)
Great organized transportation
Good Day tours for each city with educated, professional guides
Skip the line entrance for the tours was great
The Bad: Very poor communication when starting the tour (no one knew what hotel we were staying in, in Florence when we departed Rome...made enjoying day one of the tour a little hard). The hotel in Florence was terrible (despite selecting the 4 star option)
The descriptions of your day to day activities needs refining (schedules were not kept and things were included that were not described...so I wasted some money pre booking some museum entrances). 2 of 3 Tours in English and Spanish...took a long time to learn about what we were looking at.
Overall a good tour package, but I am sure you could arrange this yourself with a better hotel in Florence and less worry about where you are going to sleep at night.
