heavenly wine tasting experience - My wife and I had a tremendous visit to the Valpolicella region of Italy with our guide Chiara where we visited beautiful wineries and tasted incredible wines. Chiara handled everything and our visits were as smooth as can be. All arrangements and interactions with the estates came off perfectly. I would highly recommend this organization and Chiara in particular. Would like to do it all over again!

Excellent experience in Venice with Chiara as our tour guide - My wife and I along with my mother and a number of friends spent 4 days in Venice late last year. We learned so much about the rich history of Venice and the outlying islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello from Chiara. She is a stellar tour guide. Without question the best I've ever had experience with. The details and handling were so thorough and intimate. Our vacation was the best ever and I'm certain that is thanks in large part to how well Chiara planned and executed every meal and every tour that we took over those days. She is an encyclopedia of knowledge covering centuries of history and literally hundreds of locations. I just don't know how we could have had such a wonderful time without her. Suffice to say she has my highest recommendation if you are looking for a guide in the region.

Venice-A Delightful Stop Yet the Secret Door is Steps away with Chiara - Way beyond great recommendations for the best places to eat or sleep, Chiara had a sense of knowing that my wife and I (having visited Venice several times), were looking for something off the beaten path; away from those shuffling tourists led by flag waving leaders. After spending a few hours in the hidden parts of Venice and especially the Jewish Ghetto, where Jews were compelled to live, Chiara opened the secret door to the Veneto region including the Euganean hills with highlights like wine tasting and oil and prosciutto farm. And speaking of secrets my wife purchased 7 pairs of designer shoes at a factory outlet paying only a fraction of the price-- thanks (I think) Chiara. A wonderful hostess--now a wonderful friend.

A Truly Amazing Italian Experience! - Our family, including our 13 and 15 year old daughters traveled to Venice five days ahead of our Royal Caribbean Mediterranean cruise this past June. This was our first experience in traveling to Europe, we had little personal experience to draw from. My wife, after researching various travel agencies and directly contacting references, decided to use Chiara of My Venice Travel Guide. We couldn't have been happier with our choice! She customized an itinerary that was truly amazing and even kept our 13 year old engaged. Upon arrival, Chiara met us at the airport and started our tour. We toured the Valpolicella wine country and visited the Zyme winery. We thoroughly explored Venice and the islands of Murano and Burano. Padova, the Vinalta Winery in the Euganean Hills, and the Village of Arqua' Petrarca were next. We could never have seen and done as much as we were able to do with Chiara. The third day we ventured even farther out and visited Bassano del Grappa, Marostica, a cherry harvest, the Poli grappa distillery, Cittadella and the Brenta Riviera! Every night, Chiara would drop us back in Venice with suggestions for dinner. Chiara drove us to the cruise terminal and picked us up after our cruise for one more day in Italy! We spent the morning in Verona, then headed up to Lake Garda and the villages of Lazise and Peschiera. We felt this tour was extremely personalized and very well thought out. Chiara was extremely professional and easy going. She was very flexible (great when traveling with 2 teens!). We would recommend her highly if you are traveling in this region. We would definitely use Chiara again on our next trip back to Italy.

A VERY SPECIAL GUIDE - The owner of My Venice Travel, Chiara Ulian, is the "Un-Guide". She can take you in Venice, Padua, Verona and about a dozen other wonderful towns to see the normal sights...churches, museums, shopping, etc. But that is not her specialty. What she excels at is taking you to the hidden places that most tourists never see. We booked her for a day for a tour of Venice and Padova. We expected to see some interesting things, but we were amazed by the things she showed us in both towns, from the hidden bookshop in Venice to the wonderful food market in Paduva. We arrived home exhausted but thrilled by the day. We enjoyed her tour so much that we booked another day, this time in Verona. By now we were staying in Bologna, so we drove up and met her at the train station. From there we drove to the city center in Verona and she showed us the most amazing stuff. Not just the tourist stuff but the backround of why the ancient places were important. She also has a wonderful sense of humor and can tell you great stories about the royalty from B.C to current! Then it was off to the Valpolicecella region for lunch and a wine tasting. We had an amazing lunch at Enoteca Valpolicella. I would never have found this place, one of the best meals we've had in our two months in Italy. Then off to the wine tasting. Somehow, Chiara always knows the someone, who knows someone, and she can always make something amazing happen. She is fluent in english and has a terrific sense of adventure. And she knows hundreds of unique places to enjoy in Italy!

Lovely tour in the Prosecco Route - Chiara helped the company I work for to organize a wonderful Prosecco route tour for our Chinese clients. The clients have been amazed by the Italian beautiful landscape and the delicious wine they tasted. They were left completely speechless by the stunning old Italian villas and their cellars! The tour was perfectly organized in every single details and we really had a lot of fun! (I was so lucky to take part to this tour!) Moreover, Chiara helped also in the organization of amazing Venice and Verona tours! All our clients were super happy and satisfied of the experience! I definitely recommend her travel agency!

Perfect Personal Travel Guide for An Unforgettable Insider Look at Venice and Surrounding Areas - When I travel, I like to read reviews like this to get the most out of my trip. I want to hire the best, but I am not super rich, so I look for someone who is really good but also is a good value. After digging through web reviews for hours (I did my homework) I decided to contact Chiara. Having read so many glowing Trip Adviser reviews about Chiara, I reached out to her to see what she would recommend for us. She promptly responded with a bunch of great ideas. We have been to Italy before but never the Venice area, so my wife, teenage daughter and I arranged for several unique tours with Chiara. We only had three days to work with, so we put together an itinerary that included a foot tour of Venice and some of the surrounding islands on day one, a personal shoe shopping excursion in the Brenta area (where she found us some AMAZING deals) on the second day, and a visit to the Prosecco wine country on day three with a side trip to the beautiful mountain village of Asolo. Chiara met us at the airport and took us right to the Vaporetto boat which dropped us off at our hotel in Venice. She took us through many of the highlights of Venice without the crowds and annoyance of the typical package tour groups. Chiara is very charming, super friendly, very smart, and very reasonable for the personal attention that she provides. Like MarcyL5 said in her review, it's like having a good friend show you around. Chiara knows the Venice area very well, and has contacts and resources to get you into places that the average tourist wouldn't even hear about. In the Prosecco region, for example, we visited a winery that produces excellent wines and Prosecco on a large scale, but the winery is not open to the public, so we had a great tour, hung around for a light lunch with wine tasting, and didn't have to deal with the normal crowds that you might see with a standard tour company. We came home with a half case of excellent wine from this beautiful winery. We took a Greek cruise in the middle of our vacation, and it was very handy to have Chiara be able to drop us off right in front of our cruise ship on the day of departure (she has a special pass that allows her access to the harbor where the cruise ships dock). When we got back the following week, Chiara came and picked us up right at the boat. You don't realize what a convenience this service is until you waste time and money taking the cattle bus offered by your cruise ship, instead of getting right to your tour with Chiara. Don't waste your time with other travel companies if you are going to Venice. Hire Chiara and you will be glad you did.

Touring Padova and Venice - It was by chance that I had the exceptional experience of Touring the Colli Euganei Hills with Chiara Ulian, the manager of MyVeniceTravelGuide. My friend and I found her brochure in the hotel where we were staying in Padova. One of her guides, Sylvia, led us on an evening tour of the Scrovegni Chapel and the surrounding old inner city of Padova. Sylvia was warm, friendly, spoke excellent English and was knowledgable about art and history. Our short time with her enhanced the whole experience. The next day we went on a wine tour in the Hills outside Padova, the Colli Euganei, and spent our time with Chiara. I would use her services again in a minute, and plan on recommending her to all my friends and family. Chiara is educated, sophisticated and at the same time down to earth and friendly. We went to two wineries, had an amazing lunch on the side of a mountain over the village where Petrarch spent his final years. The only drawback was that the time went too quickly. If you are visiting this area and want to experience more of the "real" Italy, this is the company to contact. Chiara is local, practical and very easy to be with. She wanted us to enjoy the day and we did! Have children? Want to shop? Play golf? Go where the locals go? Have everything sorted out for you, so you can just enjoy your time in the area? This is the outfit for you. I fell in love with Padova. Had no idea of what was there, and then...Venice...well, that is one of the most amazing places on the planet. Chiara also knows that town. So, without reservation, I highly recommend Myvenicetravelguide!!

Wonderful, informative and friendly - I can highly recommend this service to anyone in the Venice region, a couple of hours to day trips, the guides are very friendly, excellent English and so knowledgeable about a vast array of subjects. We toured Bassano del Grappa and of course had to taste the local produce.....well, when in Rome or not as the case may be, and then followed up with a wonderful trip to Marostica, most definitely a hidden jewel in the region. I can highly recommend a guide around Venice if it's your first time there and even if it's not, the knowledge of history and enthusiasm of Chiara and the team is second to none. Next trip, I am desperate to go on a full wine tour and perhaps a culinary lesson or two with a cookery masterclass. I didn't use the personal shopper option personally but I do think it's a wonderful idea. Look forward to my next trip. Thank you Chiara for making ours a most memorable holiday.