5-Day Best of Italy Trip

I really enjoyed this trip, it gives you an all around with all these different stops. Our tour guide Clara and driver Gigi were awesome, they our life easier and took care of our group all the time.

Following my sister's wedding in Sardinia, Italy this September (hotel Su Gologne is highly recommended, BTW!), I found myself with some (albeit not a lot of) extra time on my hands and a hankering to see more of Italy...What to do? Though I didn't have enough time (or cardiovascular endurance) to take a cycling tour of Italy like I wanted to, I was fortunate to stumble onto this 5-day tour of Italy, which fit my schedule almost perfectly. The tour offers visits to many of the major sites of Northern Italy in the comfort of an air-conditioned bus, albeit one with shaky wi-fi at times (I'd recommend getting SIM card through Orange - only $65 Canadian for a ridiculous 20GB of Data). Sure, with such a short timeframe, it's not easy to fully enjoy all the sites on offer (especially Rome and Venice - well worth a repeat visit, despite being overcrowded with tourists like us), but this is where a good tour guide comes in - and boy did we get a good one! Sabrina, our chief tour guide was instrumental in not only smoothly coordinating the tour - no mean feat given the number of tour options, passenger requests, wandering/lost passengers, inevitable miscommunications, etc. etc.) but also in helping us to extract the maximum value out of our experiences - with helpful recommendations and tips for obtaining the best experiences given time and budget constraints (e.g., best restaurants, can't-miss sights and unique shopping experiences) at each stop. To be sure, this is what one would expect from a good tour guide, but Sabrina's knowledge and experience went beyond those of a typical guide's to include suggestions for less touristy experiences (especially in Venice), that was a welcome relief for me, at least! Sabrina and her team coordinated all this in 3 languages (and counting!) whilst remaining light, fun and accessible while calmly dealing with hair-raising events (e.g., missing, lost or late passengers; "pressing" passenger requests). This serene attitude fostered a sense of community among the passengers on our bus and helped us to bond and make friends with each other. As a solo traveler, I really appreciated this. Lastly, I loved the fact that Sabrina and Co. remained so knowledgeable about current/trends events in Italy (e.g., the impact of increased tourism on the lives of native Venetians). So, for you Reddit fans out there: TLDR: Great overview tour of Northern Italy. Ask for Sabrina!

I loved this. I never would have been able to see and do all the wonderful things if I planned this on my own. The accommodations and selected restaurants were great choices with good food. Bus driver (Antonio) was awesome and our guide made sure we knew exactly where to be when. I highly recommend if you want to see a lot in a short period of time.

I recently completed this tour with Carrani Tours (English languages) on 11th September 2019. Our tour guide, Patrizia was professional, lovely and funny. She is an experienced tour guide and took care of us well. Antonio, the bus driver was nice and worked very hard to get all of our luggages in and out from the bus. The itinerary is good overall for first timers especially to get the best of the places in Northern Italy. The only one big comment I want to emphasize here is Viator DID NOT state clearly that some of the tours to places have additional costs. Here's the options that you will need to pay extra, if you decide to join, which I believe, most of us will: 1) Florentine Museum - Academy Galley - guided tour - EUR 34 2) Pisa - to see the Leaning Tower - EUR 45 3) Venice tour at night - EUR 25 4) Venice - Gondola ride - EUR 35 I took all the options and Gondola ride is the best highlight. Totally worth the experience! Please be advised that most of us were staying in Mestre, rather than in Venice itself (if you book via Viator here). However, the hotel was nice and the dinner was delicious.

We were very happy with our 5-Day Italy tour! We saw so many places that we never would have been able to see on our own in such a short amount of time! Our guide, Carlos, was amazing! He was very accommodating to each individual in the group. He was informative and knew a lot about the places we visited. We had plenty of time to explore, but he helped guide us into places where he thought we would get the most out of our free time. The meals were great. Our hotels were nice. We would definitely recommend paying for the highest category for the hotels; it is worth it. This tour is not for the weak! And it is a tour with a group! It is a busy tour which explores a lot of area in a short amount of time. Please take that into consideration when booking. You have to be flexible and able to keep up with a group.

We took this tour because it was our first trip to Italy and included a lot of the places we were told to visit by friends who were familiar with Italy. Our tour guide was Mirjam and she was great! She was cheerful, knowledgeable and able to communicate clearly with us.Our tour was in English but she also spoke other languages . We especially enjoyed walking through the towns of Assisi and Montepulciano, where the buildings are hundreds of years old and built on hills. In Venice we went to a glass making factory, took an optional gondola ride and optional Venice by Night tour - all great!!. Everywhere you went there was something to see and appreciate the buildings, sculptures, paintings, churches, culture and food. We enjoyed everyday on tour and looked forward to what we would see and experience the next day. We booked our tour for the last week of April and 1st week of May. We didn't know May 1 was a holiday in Italy (labour day) so in some places it had a lot of people. We highly recommend this tour as a great introduction to Italy.

We have used Viator previously for European tours and have been very happy with them. This trip was no exception. Let me begin by saying our tour guide, Clara from Rome was outstanding and everyone on the trip loved her. She was like a mother hen to all of us, making sure every detail was covered in such a warm caring way. We got to see a lot in 5 days and one suggestion I would make is if they offer an upgrade package for hotels, I would definitely take it. The hotels are all nice but we took the upgrade based on other reviews and it was so worth it. Part of our group was housed in a hotel on the mainland in Venice and the upgraded group was housed on a beautiful hotel right on the island that was located directly on the canal. We could walk to everything and were in the center of the activated whereas the other group had to take a bus and then a boat to get to the island. Thank you Viator for the option, we would definitely do it again! We continue to trust in Viator for a wonderful vacation experience!

We were 4 adults and very happy we took the tour, covered a lot without hassle to move from one city to the other. Our guide Sabrina was amazing. She was very friendly and knowledgeable of all the history as well of local shops/restaurants that allow us to taste all local cuisine. I had a mobility limitation and before every stop she always come and talk to me, give me details of the activity and make sure I will be able to make it back to the buss, including arranging taxi for us. This tour is also perfect for people never been to Italy and want to make a quick visit then decide what region they will like to come back and explore in more details.

Highly recommend taking this tour. Clara our guide was amazing and very friendly. Thanks to Stephano who is a great driver brought us safely back to Rome. The best part of this tour was that we met so many friendly people from Australia, Canada, Lebanon and US. You require good walking / comfy shoes as there is plenty of walking to do. All the cities were just beautiful and quaint especially Assisi and Montepulciano. 'The only downside was the cost of the Gondola ride which was a rip off for Euros 35 pp. 4 of us went locally and joined 2 students on the Gondola and we ended paying Euros 88 for 6 of us. I would recommend anyone going on this tour, to do the Gondola ride on your own.

This was such an amazing trip! Would highly recommend for those wanting to explore as much in a short time.