Siena: Kleingruppentour nach San Gimignano, ins Chianti & nach Montalcino

The description is somewhat misleading as the “guide” is primarily a driver who gives a brief description of each place while driving. The visit to San Gimignano was just free time with no guided tour. The tastings were led by vineyard staff. There was more sitting and drinking than touring. That being said it’s an efficient way to get to a few towns in a day without a car.

Driver was very nice & knew the roads well. However … -Driver was Nigerian- had only basic English skills and minimal knowledge of Italy. It was disappointing to not get more history. -We were asked to meet at a hotel. It was a 20 minute walk for several, so prior to hour drive we wanted to use restrooms. The management of the hotel was very angry that we were using bathroom. I suggest you set a meet point where toilets are readily available. -On this topic, we were dropped at a village with most of the shops and restaurants closed. Again people from our tour needed to find bathrooms. 1 bar open -despite all purchasing drinks, owner was jerk about using bathroom. Please establish a relationship with vendor for access to toilets. -The van was old -had no shock absorbers. Ride was not comfort. -1st winery was kind of a dump! Wine was average and lunch was an additional $20/p. But no other option for meal! Scam! -2nd winery was lovely. -Pick 2 wineries close together. Too much driving.

We visited 2 lovely vineyards where we sampled 6 wines. Lunch was lovely with a small glass of wine and desert wine. MONTECINO town is very small so it’s just a walk around really. Florian, our guide was lovely and informative. My only reason for taking 1 star is the price for the children- it’s too much as they don’t sample wines and barely ate any of the Tuscany food. We had a lovely day. Would recommend as you cover some distance.

Très belle journée! Vincenzo notre chauffeur a été très attentionné et très gentil. Il nous a donné des renseignements sur la région lors des différentes portions de transport. La dégustation de Brunello était très bien, avec de bonnes explications. Nous avons moins aimé celle du Chianti, très rapide, plus ordinaire. Le dîner était excellent, quantités plus généreuses que ce que nous attendions (planche de charcuteries, plat de pâtes et biscottis accompagnés d’un petit verre d’un digestif local. Excellent rapport qualité/prix, je recommande cette excursion.

Die Abholung hat gut geklappt, der Fahrer war freundlich und gut organisiert. Die Reihenfolge war leicht geändert mit Start in Monteriggioni, was mich aber nicht gestört hat. Beim Mittagessen gab es gute lokale Vorspeisen, der Rest war m.E. eher banal, die Location nicht besonders schön, da hätte ich mir etwas anderes gewünscht. Die besuchten Orte sind hübsch, die jeweilige Einführung für meinen Geschmack aber reichlich kurz. Ein zusätzlicher Fotostop wurde auf Anfrage eingelegt, war aber nicht geplant. Punktabzug auch, weil der Ausflug statt der angegebenen 11 Stunden nur 9,5 gedauert hat. Das wäre durchaus lange genug, entspricht aber eben nicht der Beschreibung.