2-Days Venice trip from Rome - private tour

This was to be the highlight of our 1st trip to Europe. However they notified us late the day before that we had to meet our driver and hour earlier than scheduled. We'd already gone to bed, so had to scramble that morning to rush to the car so we could make the train. We made it! There are several levels of train transportation service and we were at 'the back of the bus' so to speak, ie economy class. When we arrive, a college student was our guide. His major was in business. While he was conscientious and helpful, he just walked us around the city. Then it was time for our hotel. It was really a hostel up a set of dark stairways. The room was clean thankfully, but there were no blankets. We used towels to keep us warm. After another morning of roaming around with our guide, we got on our gondola. Again it was the economy version where we were in the boat with other people. Finally after the completely full back of the train return trip to Rome, we somehow found our driver to take us back to our hotel. They clearly made lots of money from our reservation, not caring about the level of service we would receive. Don't book this one!

This 2 day Private tour - Rome to Venice was a 5 star experience. We were given clear instructions from the company on pick-up, drop-off and train travel details. Julian - our guide for the 2 days in Venice really made the tour of Venice a memorable experience. He was on the train platform to greet us in Venice and the best 2 days started there. We went straight to our accommodation (which was very good and also central) where we were able to drop off our luggage and freshen up after the train trip. Then we got started seeing all the sights of Venice. Julian was the best guide ever as he was respectful, flexible, knowledgeable and fun. He showed us Venice from a local’s perspective. For example, pointing out little cafes and the Venician speciality foods they make. He timed our visit to specific attractions to maximise things like - the best light for photos, avoiding the crowds etc. we would highly recommend this tour and especially if Julian is your guide. Brilliant!

<p>This trip was amazing. We really lucked out with our tour guide Gianmarco! It was his first professional tour, but he nailed it! In our 30 hours spent in Venice, I don't think we missed a single sight. That took a lot of moving around, so don't expect to see everything if you want to take it all in at a leisurely pace or peruse some of the wonderful museums, but this tour gave us just enough time to see pretty much the entire island of Venice. Breakfast at the hotel was just some packaged breads and crackers, so don't plan on that free meal but the accommodations were nice-the only place we stayed in Italy that had a working AC unit in the room!. This tour was excellent!</p>