Florence: San Gimignano & Siena Tasting Experience
Description
BusVia Firenze invites you to explore the true essence of Tuscany, blending art, history, and the pleasures of wine and food. We will accompany you to San Gimignano, often referred to as the "Manhattan of the Middle Ages" due to its numerous towers punctuating the skyline. Here, you can savor the finest Tuscan wines paired with light lunch. The journey continues through the Tuscan countryside to Siena, where your experience begins with a visit to this charming town, renowned as the capital of Gothic art. In Siena, with a skip-the-line ticket you will enter in the splendid Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, with an audio guide on your phone. The Duomo's facade is pure magnificence, but inside it houses masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Pinturicchio (possibly with a young Raphael), Nicola Pisano, and more.
Tour Options
Itinerary
San Gimignano, with its unmistakable medieval "skyscrapers," awaits your exploration. Often referred to as a medieval Manhattan, this hilltop town boasts fourteen towers.
Wine tasting of three Tuscan wines with a light lunch in San Gimignano
The journey continues to Siena, known as the capital of Gothic art. We'll stroll along the Basilica of San Domenico and explore the charming narrow streets. You'll have free time to discover the city's 17 historic districts, known as "Contrade," each with its own identity and traditions. Siena's unique cityscape features three hills connected by major streets, converging at the Piazza del Campo.
Piazza del Campo (or more simply the Campo) is the main square of the city of Siena. Unique for its particular and very original shell shape, it is renowned throughout the world for its beauty and architectural integrity, as well as for being the place where the Palio di Siena takes place twice a year!
Siena Cathedral ranks among Italy's finest examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Legend has it that this grand Cathedral replaced an earlier 9th-century church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Explore at your own pace and uncover step-by-step the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Donatello, Pinturicchio, and a young Raphael.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Sconsigliato ai viaggiatori con difficoltà motorie
- Due to uneven surfaces and long distances, we cannot accept anyone with walking difficulties or using a wheelchair.
Reviews(14)
Sarah, our guide, was excellent. She provided history of the region in three languages, was personable, helpful and accompanied us on the highlights of each destination. Giovanni, our driver, was wonderful as well. Great sense of humor, excellent driver, wonderful host. The destinations spoke for themselves, reflecting their own beauty. Would highly recommend the tour.
the most perfect experience of my entire trip to Tuscany. So nice and organized. You should definitely do it. Thanks Sara and Giovanni!
Well thought out tour. Plenty of information and time to see everything. We had the wine with meats and cheese tasting. Delicious! Siena had lots of hills! Wear good shoes for walking. A very good day.
A nice introduction to Siena and San Gimignano. We had the option to be guided around or explore on our own. We loved having free time to see what piqued our interests.
I recommend doing the full experience with the wine tour. Also doing the top of the tower in san gimignano is a must. Its 9 euros per person and the stairs are really well designed and not too hard to climb. They arrived in a van bus at about 8h45 while our tour was at 9h. So even if you are early and they are not there, do not panic.
The Cathedral in Siena both outside and inside. The marble art work on floor was amazing. A must see.
At the outset, a visible sign on the bus or held by the driver would have been very helpful. It was very difficult to determine which vehicle to board when we arrived at the bus depot. Before the "taxi" took off, we felt like ping pong balls. There was no sign or individual indicating which vehicle to take. Other bus drivers at the station attempted to help by sending us across the street and back again. Finally, by process of elimination, we encountered the vehicle and driver. The trip was very scenic and smooth; conscious and personable driver. According to the information on the ticket, we expected to recieve an "Audiguide + GPS" but non was received once we arrived at our destinations. However, we did enjoy and take advantage of having the independence to visit places and sights of our choice at our own pace. Knowing, from the get go, which bus (van in this case) to baord and some background information about the locations would have been highly appreciated and helpful.
Dear customer, not having left a contact number on the booking made by viator, we were unable to contact you by telephone, but only by email. Try looking in your received or junk mail, you will surely find our email with the location of the stop and useful links for downloading the audio guides. Thank you anyway for your review, we care a lot about the opinion of our customers
Very very reasonable prices for trip to San Gimignano and Siena. Nice comfortable minibus and professional driver. We were dropped off near but not actually in the destinations. So there was quite a bit of walking. Be prepared!!
Good morning, the stops that our driver makes are the same as other buses. Unfortunately the buses do not have direct access into the city, but rather nearby. Thanks for your review
Sienna was amazing especially the Duomo. Would love to stay in Sienna sometime. The driver was great. This is basically a driver the tour is an audio tour the driver leaves and you’re on your own with an audio tour. Some confusion finding the bus as the white bus turned into a black van. It would have been nice if they messaged me ahead of time. Anyhow overall a nice day.
The area was beautiful, churches spectacular and fabulous shopping. Our driver was pleasant but didn't speak much English and didn't do any talking on the bus - which we sort of expected to have it narrated along the way. I think you would do better off just taking a train.
good morning, our service does not include a guide on board but rather transport from Florence to the beautiful cities of San Gimignano and Siena. A geolocalized audio guide, which is included in the ticket, accompanies our customers step by step through the two cities. Our service was created to facilitate connections from Florence, given that the journey is much more complicated by train. Thanks anyway for your review
