13 Oct 2019
My wife and I arranged a private tour from our hotel in Florence to Volterra and San Gimignano through Chianti Drivers and Trip Advisor. We don't really like being herded around in large tour group and were basically looking for a driver who could take us to places we wanted to go and give us some useful general information about them. We could then explore in our own time and at our own pace. Our driver was Alex who was very knowledgeable, very personable did an excellent job. Volterra was a really beautiful and unspoilt town largely free of tourists. There was plenty of interest there and it was quite a relief to get away from the crowds in Florence. On the recommendation of our driver / guide we had lunch at Don Beta which was really excellent. San Gimignano was, of course, much more of a tourist destination but probably not as crowded in mid October as at other times. In spite of the bustling atmosphere it is still a remarkable place and well worth seeing. We paid over £400 for the day but we felt it was worth it as it was certainly a key highlight of our week in Tuscany and it would have been difficult to get to Volterra by other means.