Enogastronomic Tour from Siena: Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano

What was an OK trip could have been a great trip if there hadn't been so much wasted time. The 3 towns we visited were worth seeing and the Montalcino wine tasting was fun, with Mario the passionate winery owner proudly showing off his wines. Pienza was small and I could have missed that in exchange for more time in one of the other two towns. Our issue was with all the wasted time. We were asked to arrive at 9am for a 9:15am tour start, but at 9:15am, there was no tour guide there. A gentleman showed up to meet us and walk us to the bus. We boarded the bus well after 9:30 and drove to a mini-mart/gas station on the highway, where were we told we were waiting for the tour guide who would arrive in 5-10 minutes. When the tour guide and another bus of people arrived 45 minutes later, that group was allowed to get off the bus to use the restrooms. By the time both groups were ready and our group had boarded the second bus, it was close to 11am. So the 9am start was now 11am and the 6-7pm conclusion of the tour turned out to be almost 8:30pm. All in all, nice towns but a lot of wasted time and miscommunication. We had a similar experience with a Viator tour in Greece, so I think we are done with Viator.

The sites were exactly what we wanted. The wine tasting was absolutely wonderful. The tour guides are not guides. They give you information on the bus then abandon you. We expected a guided tour of the most interesting sites then some free time instead of all free time when off the bus. All in all it was good but not great.

The tour was okay but not what I expected. First the bus was late picking us up and then we had to meet another bus at a gas station with more people. The bus was dirty and was not it great shape. The first winery was nice and it is what I expected for the rest of the tour. I loved seeing the beautiful towns of Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano and appreciated that we had time to spend in those towns. However, the last winery at Montepulciano was small and crowded. We had plenty of time there and it would have been much better if we'd split into 3 groups. The Spanish speaking group came later but we had enough time to split into another group. If I had to do it again, I would look for a smaller tour that went to more wineries. The place in Montepulciano seemed more like a store that the actual winery. I guess I was expecting to see a Tuscany estate, surrounded by vineyards and we did not see that. If I had seen a review like this, I would have gone on another tour. I have to say that the guide was very good and spoke English, Spanish and French in addition to his native Italian.

This tour was like the curate's egg- good in parts! Booked through Viator it was run by My Tour SLR who were very disorganised at the start. Participants were advised to meet at 9.00 for 9.15 but were not advised of the following: 11 of us waiting at the meeting place were collected by one taxi and taken to a bus i.e. 3 separate trips and then driven to a gas station to wait for the actual bus with other participants coming from Florence. We waited at the gas station for an hour and when the bus arrived and when we finally set off it was well afer 10 am . So an hour was totally lost. The bus was in poor condition and during our entire tour through small Tuscan villages we had the loud banging of the broken emergency escape hatch overhead. Our guide was delightful - friendly, ran the bi-lingual commentary well, but the tour did not visit wineries but cellars. In Montefalco it was a tiny winery but the pecorino tasting was a manufacturer's shop in Pienza and the final wine tasting was in a beautiful cellar in Montepuciano. We were left to wander both latter towns fir over 1.5 hours each but it was siesta time in Pienza and almost everything was closed. Pity if you did not want a restaurant meal as there was only a tiny bakery open! If only time had been spent in many of the wineries rather than cellars, it would have been better. After many complaints from the Siena participants worried about where and when we would be returned our guide funally contacted the company which sent a minivan to transport us to the initial meeting place. I hope Viator sorts this company out - or finds another! Yet despite the criticisms the Tiscan scenery was beautiful and it was a pity the disorganisation coloured what should have been an excellent day. Oh, and note that this tour does have some stairs to climb especially from the bus stop to the town of Montepulciano - but there are elevators although none in the depths of the cellar visited. '

I definitely recommend this tour. It is a great value for the money and we had a great tour guide, Stefan. It is a comfortable way to see a good amount of the Tuscany region.