From Siena: Pienza and Montepulciano Wine Tour

We had a great day in Val d'Orcia. Our trip started from Siena, a car driven by a kind man brought us to a meeting point along the road to Montepulciano, where we got onto a van from Florence, with the guide and other tourists. The three places are wonderful, we saw stunning landscapes and tested different kinds of excellent wines inside two ancient canteens, They also offered us cheese, salame, bread.The only negative aspect was the weather, foggy and rainy, but it was not their fault!!

A tour from hell. Meet near Siena wall. Going to get guide and start from there. Yeah, right...us and too many other people are then walked about 1/2 mile to a bus that we boarded. Only to be taken many miles outside city to travel plaza where we were grouped with another group who had came from Florence onto a double decker bus--ugh. They were off using bathrooms as we were told to board and find any available seats. problem? there were single seats here and there and we were a traveling party of 4. we had to wait for two passengers and started to the villages way later... the group is way too large --wineries couldn't handle us and we were broken into two groups and still crowded way thru wineries. the area is beautiful , great little towns but descriptions don't tell the honest truth about the cattle call that this tour truly is. don't do this tour!

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.

We enjoyed the day and the beautiful countryside. We visited an amazing vineyard and had excellent wine tasting experiences. The guide was very good. The only glitch on this tour was the transportation for us family of 3 to and from Siena where we were staying. We had a taxi take us from Siena to a gas station that was located on a highway and then we waited approximately 30 minutes for a tour bus to pick us up and it was the same scenario on the way back except a taxi was at the gas station, so no waiting. This was a bit concerning for us as there was no indication/explanation that this would be the plan. I thought we would be picked up and dropped off in Siena. It was a well worth it tour but there should be some explanation of the pick up/drop off for Siena guests.

This area of Tuscany is really beautiful, we've had wonderful wine tasting time with Mario the first vineyard in Montalcino and his cat.

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.

This was a waste of a day. We were delayed by 90 minutes, due to an accident on the expressway and then were expected to join a large tour bus, rather than the smaller van that we were anticipating. The first winery in Montalcino was FANTASTIC, but was the only redeeming part of the day. As wine drinkers, we appreciated the attention to detail by the vineyard owner, Mario, so much so that we even shipped his reserve wine back to the USA, which was not part of the tasting. This was in contrast to the later Nobel wine tasting, which was served in cheap plastic shot glasses, as we all crammed to stand at a bar. Not only was the wine horrific, but the guide changed the plans and never waited for us to let us know those details. Despite his encouragement to go to the underground cellars, when we came upstairs he had left. Since we could not find him, we followed his earlier instructions and returned to the bus at the agreed upon time. No other guests were there and we ended up losing an additional 45 minutes in Montepulciano before they all arrived at the bus. In between both wine tastings, Pienza was rushed, barely with enough time for a few photos and to find a place to buy Pecorino cheese. No recommendations were offered by the guide and looking back, cheese tasting would have been a welcomed addition to that stop. Overall, it was a long day that could have been both cheaper and more enjoyable if we have hired a driver to take us to Montalcino!