Liverno tour guide...recent

[maja]

Thanks to all for your wonderful information regarding your tour guides in Liverno.

I'm sort of swaying to the direction of hiring Paolo (not Paola!), but most reviews I'm reading are from more than a year ago.

Can anyone give my some feedback on their tour with Paolo or with another company within the last year?

[Bababooey Land]

Hi Maja,

 

I gave a short review of Paolo on another thread last week and my wife is in the process of writing up an extended review on our entire trip.

 

we used him a couple weeks ago on our cruise. bottom line, he was very good and i would highly recommend him. extremely nice guy. he lives in Pisa and knows the area very well. If you have any specific questions, id be happy to answer them.

 

Larry

[2serendip]

Can you tell me how to reach Paolo? We're going to be in Livorno in a few weeks, and perhaps a private guide would be the best way to go. Thanks.

[Host Star]

i would also like to know how to reach him... thank you

[Bababooey Land]

http://www.unforgettabletuscany.com

 

info@unforgettabletuscany.com

 

good luck!

[maja]

Thanks for the info. It's great to hear the good review.

 

I emailed him about 3 days ago & haven't heard back yet. All of the other tour companies got back to me already. I'm hoping he gets back to me soon.

[Bababooey Land]

Let me know it goes.

[maja]

Update: Sent another e-mail to Paolo a few days ago...still no response.

[Crusier98]

Try Paola,her website is WWW.florencetour.com she and her husband are great

[Jade13]

Hi Maja,

 

I gave a short review of Paolo on another thread last week and my wife is in the process of writing up an extended review on our entire trip.

 

we used him a couple weeks ago on our cruise. bottom line, he was very good and i would highly recommend him. extremely nice guy. he lives in Pisa and knows the area very well. If you have any specific questions, id be happy to answer them.

 

Larry

 

Larry, glad to hear you had a good tour!

[Bababooey Land]

Maja,

thats too bad he hasnt e-mailed you back. I believe he is a 1 man shop and this is high season. So maybe he is backlogged with e-mails?? hopefully he will e-mail you back shortly.

 

Thanks Jade! When are you going on your cruise?

 

Larry

[glsebs]

Under no circumstances book Paola and her husband!!!

 

We booked her for a day tour of Tuscany many months in advance, and she promised in her confirmation e mail that she would be there herself to guide us. When we docked in Livorno, there was a man holding a sign with our name on it....he was just a "taxi/ driver" who said Paola could not make it, and he would be our guide. Trust me, he was not a "guide"....really just a driver! I asked him to call Paola, and when I spoke to her she was not apologetic and told me another group had called her to guide them through Florence, and since we were only driving through Tuscany she sent this other guide/driver and she disappointed us to lead the other group....she was rude and unapologetic on the phone and gave us only a $50 discount when I insisted I would not pay her very high rate for random person who she pawned us off on. This driver said she called him at midnight and begged him to pick us up and drive us through Tuscany. I would definitely steer clear of Paola....she is unscrupulous and dishonest.

[Threecharms]

Under no circumstances book Paola and her husband!!!

 

We booked her for a day tour of Tuscany many months in advance, and she promised in her confirmation e mail that she would be there herself to guide us. When we docked in Livorno, there was a man holding a sign with our name on it....he was just a "taxi/ driver" who said Paola could not make it, and he would be our guide. Trust me, he was not a "guide"....really just a driver! I asked him to call Paola, and when I spoke to her she was not apologetic and told me another group had called her to guide them through Florence, and since we were only driving through Tuscany she sent this other guide/driver and she disappointed us to lead the other group....she was rude and unapologetic on the phone and gave us only a $50 discount when I insisted I would not pay her very high rate for random person who she pawned us off on. This driver said she called him at midnight and begged him to pick us up and drive us through Tuscany. I would definitely steer clear of Paola....she is unscrupulous and dishonest.

 

 

We used her in 2005 from our ship's port to Florence. She was rude and very unfriendly - her obnoxiousness even scared my kids. She also tried to force us to go into shops which we were not interested in. When one couple split off and refused to go into her favorite shops, she got very angry. I had e-mailed her to let her know that I purchased Leaning Tower entrance tickets in advance of booking her tour - again....she chastised me for it. We hired private tours at every port and she was our only bad nightmarish experience.

[debbruce]

Just returned from the Disney Med Cruise and had wonderful tour guides thanks to this list.

 

In Florence/Pisa we used Guido from Tuscanyinmypocket. He Was wonderful, on time, spoke very good english and made sure we saw all the sites and were not rushed.

 

We had lunch at Antonella's. It was a wonderful wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese etc. tasting. Catherine is the new owner and she is great. Had a blast.

 

Feel free to contact me for our other guides. We had the most amazing time and it was worth every penny - euro to have a private guide.

 

Debbie

[england1]

We were on a cruise in early May 2007 and we used Giovanni Sirabella of Sunflower Tours. He basically let us design our own tour with some suggestions from him. He is very knowledgable and accomodating. We did 3 private tours on this trip and Giovanni was by far the best of the three. I know someone who used Paola and she referred to her as the "tour ****". She wouldn't even let them stop for lunch until 2:30PM. Don't hesitate to use Giovanni. He is excellant!

[grannynurse]

We got good reports about tuscanybytaxi, can anyone give us some feedback about them?

Thank you,

GN

[cruisinglisa]

For those of you who used TuscanyInMyPocket or Sunflower tours, approximately what was the cost of your tours, how long were they, and did the guides meet you at the port?

 

Thanks!!

[marci22]

Good thing Paola never emailed me back, she sounds mean.

[debbruce]

We used Guido, Tuscanyinmypocket. He charged us 570 euros for three people. We did not ask other people to join our group. Read some not so nice stories about that.

 

I thought he was very nice, but, we didn't get in allot of picture stops. He would drive by quickly and tell us about what we were seeing. We did stop at Antonella's (new owner Catherine is wonderful), but, there was some sort of strike that day and we never got to see David. Not his fault, but he didn't offer a backup plan.

 

Felt like we were driving around most of the time.

 

Debbie

[england1]

Hi,

In May we paid 540E for 4 people.We too did not invite anyone else because we were very definite about what we wanted to see. Yes, he picked us up as we left the ship at 8:00AM.

First stop was Pisa where he was able to park his Mercedes mini van within 100 feet of the Tower. From there we went to Florence, first to an overlook of the city and then to the old town of Florence where we had about an hour to walk around. We then left for Tuscany and the Chianti region for lunch and a wine tasting. We ate at the Leonardo DaVinci Winery and vineyard. This place was breathtakingly beautiful and entirely Giovanni's recommendation. We later visited the towns of Vinci and Leonardo, saw the birthplace of DaVinci, and visited a medieval Medici villa and town. He was a very charming and knowledgable guide. We got back to the ship by 5:00PM so the tour lasted about 9 hours. Hope this answers your questions. If you use him please say Mary Jo says hello.

[cruisinglisa]

Hi,

In May we paid 540E for 4 people.We too did not invite anyone else because we were very definite about what we wanted to see. Yes, he picked us up as we left the ship at 8:00AM.

First stop was Pisa where he was able to park his Mercedes mini van within 100 feet of the Tower....

 

Did you actually go into the Tower? If so, did he get that all set up for you? (I heard you need tickets?)

 

Thanks!

[england1]

No we didn't enter the tower but we were there very early and it wasn't crowded at all. At that time of day I don't think it would take long to get tickets. Ask Giovanni about tickets in advance. He's very accomodating.

[bobthek]

We are interested in Guido from tuscanyinmy pocket. Is he a city guide (visits sites with you) or a driver/guide (tells about sites while in the van, but does not enter the sites). In Italy, these are two different licenses.

We want to visit San Gimignano and Volterra instead of Florence. Has anyone used him for this?

I have a very attaractive quotation from ItalyCarService for this tour. Has anyone had experience with them?

Finally, PapillonService sent me a quotation for a 9 hour tour including San G./Volterra and Siena. This is the only tour operator who claims we can see all three site, and still have time for lunch and winetasting! Any comments on this?

Thanks for helping me make up my mind about this tour.

[winewanderer]

I've read these posts.

 

It's interesting about Unforgettable Tuscany. Not too long ago, maybe the past couple of months, they've gotten great reviews and been highly recommended. I wonder what's happened lately?

 

Some people on our cruise have booked them for a Tuscany tour, hopefully it turns out ok for them.

[sammiedawg]

Guido does not go into sites with you, he preps you on what you will see. He is a perfect gentleman and was very flexible with us in Florence.