Jul 25, 2024
Excellent guide & very interesting - This is the second time we have taken this trip. The first was last year & just me and my husband. We enjoyed it so much that we did it again although this time with our daughter. We had hoped that we would get the same guide again & we were really pleased that we did.
The trip itself was well thought out and well paced & the guide, Christy was fantastic once again. He’s such a fountain of knowledge and is clearly passionate about his work. He effortlessly switched between English, French & Italian languages and was keen to answer any questions any of the group had. It was really hot when we went so he minimised the time we spent outside in the sun & also split the group with the local guide Santo when in Syracuse which was helpful in the heat. If you enjoy Ancient Greek & Roman history and also enjoy finding out more about Sicily I would highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 30, 2023
Top tour for Syracuse and Noto - Wonderful tour to Syracuse and Noto. Christie was a very knowledgeable tour guide who provided a wealth of information during the journey to both Syracuse and Noto and providing an interesting insight to the Greek Theatre and cave at Syracuse and the island of Ortigia - giving a deep background into the history of the locations we visited. Would recommend this tour as Christie's knowledge was invaluable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 27, 2023
Brilliant - Christian was a brilliant guide. We loved the well planned itinerary and the interesting sites and history behind each one of them.
Review provided by Viator
Oct 5, 2023
Great day in Syracuse and Noto - Tour was excellent - locations were fantastic and our guide was extremely well versed and passionate.
Tour had participants from four different language group which required our guide to repeat his message four times at every stop. I can see how this benefits the tour operator but makes for a very slow moving tour.
Other area for improvement - bus would get super hot (it was a 30 degree day) when we were touring various sites…would be good if air conditioning could be turned on shortly before we return to the tour bus.
Definitely recommend this tour…but ideally with not more than two languages covered.
Review provided by Viator
Jun 20, 2024
Very Long day lots of walking - We found this trip extremely long and tiring. It took nearly an hour to do all the pick ups but we were grateful of our hotel pickup so not complaint about that just wanted to let people know. The ride to syracuse was totally filled with the guide explaining all we were seeing in four languages. This got very wearing then at the archaeological site again a queue to pay for our tickets and then the guides split us into two groups so only two languages but still took ages standing in 35 degree heat waiting for our explanation. In The end we broke away and just read the information by each part by ourselves. Back on the bus for more talking to ortigia. Very long walk onto and around the island and far too long explanations. Glad of our hour free time. More explanations again in four languages in the way back to the bus. Then onto noto with talking all the way. Noto was lovely town and so pleased we went there but also that we were left to ourselves to wander. 3 more hours on the bus until we were dropped off and he only talked for 1/2 hour much to our relief . I’m not complaining about the guide as he was passionate about his island I just want you all to know just how it is. It was 13 hours we walked over 6 miles in very high heat and was exhausting .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 29, 2024
Very rushed - This was an excellent day out but because we didn't start with the Parco Archeologico Neapolis it was tracked on the end and was very rushed. Half of our group had had enough by then and refused to pay to go in so our tour guide rushed us round and as he had to say everything in German, English and French, some descriptions we more detailed than others. It would definitely have been better to come here first as there is so much to see and we didn't get to see it all.
You only get an hour in Noto which again felt a bit rushed as it is a beautiful town.
Ortigia was the most relaxed bit of the trip but even then we had a whistle stop tour. We had a delicious lunch overlooking the cathedral before a local guide showed us round the cathedral and then whizzed us around a couple of other sites.
Overall it was a great day out as Christie and Santos were very knowledgeable but it was too rushed for me especially as the tour was £95 + €4 for the cathedral and €33 for the archeological site.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 21, 2023
Too slow - The elderly guide was too slow walking and stopped too frequently to engage with locals, children etc.
Review provided by Viator
May 30, 2024
Long day - felt at times we were being herded - We booked this trip in the UK before arriving in Sicily. We rang the number as requested on ticket to confirm time and pick up. After several calls someone got back and said pick up would be 8.05am. I then got a WhatsApp saying pick up 7.20am. Confused but got to pick up point by 7.20 and yes coach was there.we would have missed it had we listened to phone information. On the coach were several nationalities and the older guide (never got his name) was fluent in all languages. However his information on where we were going, how long etc. left a bit to be desired. We went to Noto first which wasn’t as itinerary said and were allowed an hour. The guide liked the sound of his voice and bellowed when some older customers couldn’t keep up. We then went onto Syracuse where he took off at such a pace some had trouble keeping up - no information on what we were going to do. After a route march of about 20 minutes we got to the square where guide informed us we had an hour for lunch before meeting a local guide. This local guide Santos took us into church gave us a 5 minute talk and we were then route marched to the natural spring and then back to coach, our guide again bellowed when people didn’t keep up. On the coach there was no indication given we were stopping again (most of us thought we were going back to Taormina). We stopped and guide said get off and guess what Santos popped up again to take us to the ruins. By this time many of us were exhausted and hot after the route march through Syracuse so didn’t pay the 16.5€ to get in. After an hour Santos took us back to coach where our guide was and we finally started 75 mile journey back. We both felt the lack of communication, warmth and personality of the guide had a downer on the day.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 29, 2024
Check the details including cost of entry to sites, how many people on the tour, how many languages are spoken by guide - To start we got caught up in traffic due to roadworks which probably could have been checked, if at least let the passengers know what was happening. We were 1/5 hours late to the first site. The guide was cranky and edgy, telling people to shut up and hurry up.
It was not particularly enjoyable to have to kidding to monologues on the bus in 4 different languages with no way to escape, and inability to chat with other passengers family or friends.
One lady fell on the bus and it took the passengers yelling out for the bus to stop for her to get up before it was even noticed by the guide or driver.
We were told to hurry up at every site because we were running late - people were scrambling to take pictures and racing back so as not to be snapped at by the guide.
This is the tour company’s responsibility for putting him under that sort of pressure.
After 3 hours he said his voice was going, he was tired and stressed, and smoking while talking to the group which was also completely inappropriate and there were children on the tour as well. All in all the beauty of the sites was fully devalued by the unprofessionally organised trip and the guide under so much pressure
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 9, 2023
THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY AND DON'T RESPOND WHEN YOU NEED THEM - I will NOT recommend this tour. I have done many tours with different companies and I have never had an issue missing a tour. The communication with this company was terrible. On the date of the tour, my family and I waited for 25 min at the meeting point and the tour bus was not there. What is WORSE, no body answered my calls. The agency Viator tried to help me getting a refund from the operator but they declined. Don't go with this company, they take your money then they leave hanging in there when you need them. BAD BUSINESS.
Review provided by Viator