First, a tour is made or broken by its tour guide, and luckily for us, Julio was fantastic. We are new to these type of tours, so as you read the description, when you are warned the tour guide might be speaking in different languages, be aware that you may be listening to everything twice, in two languages. For us, it was English and French, and while that became tiring, I can't imagine how Julio felt at the end of the day.
The tour guide in Siena wasn't fantastic, but she gave us the bare highlights of the cathedral there. We talked to another couple and they also felt as if it was a little abrupt. Honestly, Julio probably would have done as good of a job, but everyone needs a break! We had very little on our own time there. San Gimignano was was the highlight of the tour for us, wish we had more time there. The lunch was adequate but not quite as good as it could have been. We had little interaction or information from the winery staff itself, and service was sort of slow, although we had quite a large group - 70?
Pisa was a disappointment, although I'm glad we went, so we can check that box. Because it was almost dark when we arrived, I think we probably had too much time there. Too late to get tickets to climb the tower or tour the cathedral (not included), and honestly, there was really nothing else to do, or eat, really. Due to the short daylight hours in December, we arrived at sunset. The timing of this tour should be adjusted to accommodate it, or just leave out Pisa in the winter. Be warned, the walk from the place the buses are required to park is a 15 minute walk to the attraction of Pisa. Through a busy, modern city at rush hour. And back. In the dark.
This tour covers so many must dos, but be warned, you are on the road longer than the cities you are visiting. Also, while you are going to all of these places on a great coach bus (with a great driver!), there is a lot of walking up and down hills and stairs. The bus cannot just pull up curbside to these amazing attractions. We had one or two people on our tour that had a difficult time keeping up. Overall, a great tour to get just a taste.
