Looking for Sunshine Posted November 8, 2005 #1 Share Posted November 8, 2005 We'd love to spend a great day enjoying Tuscany. Would love to visit some hilltowns, see the countryside, visit some wineries and have lunch. Know any tour operators or private guides that can show us around? Do you have any favorite places that you can recommend as a do not miss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjbelen Posted November 8, 2005 #2 Share Posted November 8, 2005 We have booked just that type of tour with Papillon Service for our cruise in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joan24 Posted November 8, 2005 #3 Share Posted November 8, 2005 Pauline Priore is wonderful. You can email her at paulinep@tin.it. She's an American and has lived in Florence for about 25 years. Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smooth Sailing Posted November 8, 2005 #4 Share Posted November 8, 2005 We have booked Danielle of Driver in Rome for a tour just like you want next Jun - He always gets great reviews on these boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmjh Posted November 8, 2005 #5 Share Posted November 8, 2005 We had a wonderful day in the area with Guido Sarzani ... a natice of Florence ... speaks good English ... knows the area thoroughly and can drive into places where others cannot (some kind of special permit for residents) ... his email is pierguido.sarzani(at)email.it ... replace (at) with @ ... we couldn't have asked for a better guide / driver. If you contact him ... tell him Maurice & Madeleine said "Hi" ... thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadreamer Posted November 14, 2005 #6 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Bigmjf,and joan24 - -I would be very interested in hearing more specifics of how you spent your day in Tuscany and what the price was. Did you visit wineries? Was there an extra charge for wine tasting? Which hill towns were you able to visit? Thanks very much for any info you share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmjh Posted November 14, 2005 #7 Share Posted November 14, 2005 cadreamer - We did the Florence & Pisa day as we have never been in the area before. Guido does do tours all over that area of Italy. For the day we spent with him ... about 9 hours ... we had a party of 7 ... a nice new, A/C van ... he was waiting at the dock with a sign with our name when we disembarked ... and the price was ~480 euros (+ a nice tip for Guido). We put together our party from people we met here on CC. I would suggest that you email him ... outline what you'd like to do and ask for a quote. His email is pierguido.sarzani(at)email.it ... (replace the (at) with @ ... I post it this way to foil bots that search for email addresses to sell to spammers). If you contact him ... tell him Maurice & Madeleine Hermeyer said "Hi" ... thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacationhappy Posted November 14, 2005 #8 Share Posted November 14, 2005 We hired an English-speaking taxi driver right off the ship. We went to Volterra, San G. as well as Pisa - we had four people and it was 400E. We found that the tour operators would not take us to both the Tuscan Villages and Pisa - only one or the other. The taxi driver was terrific and took us to wherever we wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNITWITS Posted November 18, 2005 #9 Share Posted November 18, 2005 We booked late for our drivers last Oct and missed out on all of the "best recommended" drivers on the boards. I have to say I wasn't disappointed at all with the alternate drivers! All of them were wonderful, funny, spoke excellent English and really knew the areas because they live there and make a point of knowing where to go and more importantly WHEN! From Liviorno we were met by Davide Leo (Lay-oh) referred from Bob's Limo service I think. He is an independent driver and has worked for most of the Limos Services listed on the boards. He was waiting when the ship docked earlier than our arranged time of 8:30A, his Mercedes limo van held all seven of us comfortably. He was very friendly, helpful and funny. We had arranged ahead for reservations at museums and at Pisa but he showed us several places of interest not on the regular ship tours, including the "other leaning tower of Pisa". He also told us it was a real shame that we didn't have enough time to tour the country side of Tuscany becauser we were really missing the best part of Italy- (which is the reason I thought you might benefit from his services) We paid him 475 euros for six of us for 10 hours and enjoyed every minute. He not only entertained us and showed us all the sites, he kept us on track for time (we have several members who are late for everything!!!) He also took us to a wonderful, modestly priced place for lunch close but not in Piazza St Croce. I think we were the only tourists there and the pizza and calzones were wonderful, served with the best Tuscan red wine. You can contact him at diautonolegio@tiscali.it phone (+39) 328 4880494 Davide Leo tours and Transfers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
State fans Posted January 27, 2006 #10 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I just received a quote from Guido for 8 passengers on a Florence/Pisa tour for 720 euros. Talk about inflation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstducky Posted January 28, 2006 #11 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Try Driver in Rome at http://www.driverinrome.com their website quotes Florence/Pisa for 8 pax at 650 Euro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoohUnderstands Posted January 28, 2006 #12 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Also very good for Livorno area is Claudio of www.limoinrome.com and his email is claudio @limoinrome.com Pooh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MVPinBoynton Posted January 28, 2006 #13 Share Posted January 28, 2006 The Tuscan coutryside is just so beautiful. We can't wait to go back and spend several weeks there, rather than just quick tour. We went to San G and Siena. Two wonderful towns, that in my opinion should not be missed. However, if we had gone to others, we probably would have felt the same way about them. Italy is the best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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