From Florence: Pisa & Lucca Day Tour with Buccellato Tasting

Jacopo was onze gids. Ik heb zelden een gids gehad in het buitenland die zo vlot, correct en duidelijk Engels sprak. Daarenboven vertelde hij perfect wat nodig was, niet teveel en niet te weinig. De indeling van tijd was goed. In Piza deden we de rondleiding niet, in Lucca wel maar ik vond het geen echte meerwaarde. De proeverij is nogal flauwtjes.

We did the lower cost option with just the bus ride and time to explore on our own. The information provided for the meeting points and times were very clear. The host/guide was very nice and gave good information on the bus ride. We did not do the guided tours in Pisa or Lucca, but had time to explore on our own. In Lucca we rented bikes and rode them around the top of the wall of the city and still had time to do a little shopping. In Pisa we had time to take pictures and have a nice lunch and do a little shopping. To us the transportation was worth the cost so we didn’t have to worry about navigating the local trains etc.

Was unaware this was a bilingual tour. John, our host and Sara our guide in Pisa took extra effort to address both the English and Spanish speaking tourists. The guide in Lucca spent 75 percent of his time speaking in Spanish with little regard for the English speaking group. I would have canceled this trip if I had known the outcome. Lucca guide was also very abrupt, continuingly kept moving like he wanted the tour to end. Very dissappointed.

Three stars. Realize that you will be in a multilingual group of around 40 persons. The bus guide will repeat the “mostly” clear information in three languages. So variously you will spend two thirds of the PA system drone unintelligibly. The ride time was almost 2 hours to Pisa not closer to the listed one hour plus. Many of the folks on the local guide tours were disappointed and left the guide to view on their own. The Lucca portion is absent mention in Rick Steves for good reason. I will not be returning. The drive back approach Florence near rush hour and is even longer than the first one. Note: time ticket needed to go up tower but church is free but still needs a time ticket which is available at the ticket kiosk.