Approaching the inn where we had lunch
My husband and I are normally independent travelers who do not like group tours. But the Best of Tuscany tour was so well managed that we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Our tour guide for the day was Becky, a young English woman who married an Italian. She was perfectly fluent in both English and Italian (at least to our ears) and gave us many interesting insights about life in Italy. Becky was also very hard-working and professional: being a tour guide for 40+ people is a demanding task, but she never wavered in her warmth and courtesy for the entire day.
Other highlights of the day included a tour by an excellent local guide in Siena, a bountiful lunch and wine tasting at an organic farm inn, and seeing the leaning tower of Pisa in the moonlight (we were there in November, hence the shorter daylight).
Charming dining room where we had lunch
This tour is excellent and very good value. My only caution would be that it is a long day (about 12 hours starting at 8:30 a.m.), so depending on your age and stamina you might be quite tired towards the end. Although there is opportunity to snooze on the bus between stops, it is a long day with a fair amount of walking. There was one family with small children on our tour and although the kids were real little troopers, they found it too much.
We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun, informative and high quality tour. It is a great choice particularly if you have limited days in Tuscany and wish to see Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa in one day.
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IMHO, that’s too much to do in one day. Siena alone deserves a full day, if not longer. After all, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A couple of hours just can’t do it justice. Just saying.