Tour Il meglio dell'Italia in 5 giorni

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 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.

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 tour was amazing!

A great experience! We could not have had a better tour and tour guide. Stephano was fun, helpful, and patient with our diverse group.

Antonio driver and Clara tour guide are great people. Very organized with lots of information of top things to see and do. What makes this tour great, is you dont have to worry about driving yourself and possibly getting lost to find your destinations. You will visit approximately 13 cities in 5 days and four nights. Clara always has a time and a meeting spot for those of us that want to venture off away from the big group. With a group of 43 people, you may not get to see everything you want if you stay with the group. Lots of talking and history which is good for people that want to listen. For us, we can google the information as we venture off and see the beauties of Italy. If you have a good sense of direction, you wont get lost! The only complaint is the hotel location in Florence is approximately a 2 mile walk away from everything. For those of you that are not in shape or cant walk long distance, understand that not all locations are close to everything. This is a heavy waking tour which we walked about 4-8 miles daily. Helpful tips for you to prepare ahead of time: - Best time to visit Italy in the Fall would be October. The weather is perfect, not many kids and your not sweaty. When we travel North to Venice, a light jacket will be needed for the day/night. Dont wear skirts and then complain your cold in Venice when your on an Island. Its October and the north is a little chilly. - There are cold water bottles on the bus that cost 1 Euro each. We would buy a 12 pack of small water bottles from the supermarket and bring with us. Cost is 2 Euros which makes more sense. - Have plenty of small Euros/change on hand. Some places may charge for using the bathroom. - Optional extra excursions will be offered on the bus for Venice. Venice by Night Tour and Gondola Ride. This costs anywhere from 23-45 Euros extra and no credit cards can be used to pay for the optional excursions. - Venice by Night is worth the tour because its less crowded and you will be more familiar with the area for the next day when you get to venture off after your local tour guide finishes the tour. - To enter the many churches/cathedrals there is a church code policy meaning that shoulders and knees must be covered. Ensure you dress appropriately. - Our bus did not have phone charging outlets, so bring extra power charging sources to allow your phone to keep charged all day. The bus does offer free WiFi. - Meals provided are all buffet but they will happily accommodate any special diet needs. In Maestre if not staying in Venice hotel, the hotel food is horrible. Dont waste your time with the buffet. Also, the internet is really bad even if you pay the extra Euros. If you are on the first floor, then there are no issues. - Dinners are late, not until typically 7pm-8pm.

This was an amazing way to see Italy! We had such a great trip with a group of awesome people. Nicole, our guide, was fantastic! We had one couple that were a little difficult being nice but we didn't let them ruin our trip. DO THE EXTRAS!!! Pisa was amazing as was the Gondola ride. In Venice, if you have the option, upgrade your stay to the Hotel on Venice Island. There were a handful of guest who were very bummed that they didn't do this. If you are looking for a way to see many sites in a short time, this is the trip. Note, there is a lot of walking everyday and the surfaces are not always flat. We traveled with my dad who is 70 so I was always having to watch for uneven surfaces, odd steps, just something to keep in mind.