City Sightseeing Florence
City Sightseeing Florence
3.5
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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

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Tours and Tickets by City Sightseeing Florence
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(44 reviews)

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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3.5
3.5 of 5 bubbles549 reviews
Excellent
178
Very good
146
Average
90
Poor
53
Terrible
82

Londongirl50423
Shanklin, UK38 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2014 • Family
We had a 48 hour ticket as part of our city break deal. So glad we chose this because we loved it. There are 3 coloured routes around the city, blue, red and yellow, you get given a map of where the routes go and all the numbered stops that you can literally hop on and hop off throughout the day. It enabled us to see all that we wanted in a way that suited and saved a lot of leg work. When you board the bus you are given a set of red ear phones that you plug into the unit in front of your seat. Select the channel you need for your language. English is channel 2, then you just sit back listening to all the history of the places you pass, when the dialog stops you get wonderful classical music to fill the gap. It gives you an oversight of Florence and one of the tours takes you up into the hills to Fiesole a small village that has a Roman amphitheatre. Well worth the money and a trip that i would recommend to all. Brilliant!
Written April 1, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sally A
Colwyn Bay, UK59 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2015
There are three lines of which we took two. Line A Blue is about an hour and covers most of the city. There is a recorded dialogue in several languages which you listen to on headphones. Worth it to get your bearings. The Red Line B took us by surprise as we hopped on it at The Roma Gate to get back to the station. It was about an hour and a half and took us out of the city and up to the little hill town of Fiesole! A pretty little town we only had 15 mins to look round the closing market before getting back on the bus as we were on the last bus, but otherwise it would have been nice to spend some time there before getting a later bus back. You get some stunning views across the Tuscan hills dropping back down to Florence and fabulous views over Florence itself. With both tours the recordrd information is limited but just to relax and be driven around whilst you orientate yourself it's fine! You hear an awful lot of Vivaldi in between the dialogue!
Written September 7, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Watty0407
Doncaster, UK1,028 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2014 • Couples
I am a great fan of open top bus tours around cities but feel it doesn't work as well here. By all means use it for a swift idea of what goes where but then ditch it after a circuit. Include Fiesole which is worth a one time visit but unless you are unable to walk or idle the beauty of Florence is walking he streets and never knowing what you are going to see around the next corner.
Watty
Written February 21, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

JDNZ
Warkworth, New Zealand605 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2014 • Couples
This was well worth the money, €25 for two days and you get to travel on the city buses as well. Florence is quite hard to find your way around and in the heat if summer, it can get very tiring. Mind you we like to sit up on the top if the open buses, great view, but you do get very hot. The commentary, in I believe 8 languages, was great and you got a real idea of the history. The one ticket allows you to ride the three routes send see all of the town. Brilliant.
Written June 24, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

brian m
Hornchurch, UK201 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
If you would to get around Florence in one day ? Jump on city sight seeing Firenze bus. It will cost €36 for two adults and for that there is no stress with parking. You can jump on and off the bus all day, and have a choose three routes yellow,red and blue which will take you round the city.
Written May 18, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Thorgils
Massachusetts, USA47 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2013 • Couples
We've found that these hop-on, hop-off bus services are often a good way to get an initial orientation to a city, and conserve energy for exploring those parts of greatest interest. We had used (and enjoyed) City Sightseeing in Genova a few days before, and so we took advantage of trading in our Genova tickets for a 10% discount in Florence.

But this was a different experience. First, the recorded commentary was the least engaging of any I've experienced for this type of service, being for the most part a long list of "This building was designed by xxxx in the year yyyy," with very little other material to vary the monotony. And the timing of the commentary was frequently out of sync with the bus location.

And, as other reviewers have observed, the drivers and conductors in Florence were often much more interested in talking with each other than paying any attention to passengers. Several times on the upper deck I witnessed passengers trying to disembark at a stop but unable to get down the stairs before the bus started up again.

There's "fatal flaw" in the design of this service, which we saw most clearly in Florence:
1) The buses don't stop at all designated stops (on the Florence Linea A, for instance, they'd frequently drive straight past stops 11, 12, 17, 18, etc. unless someone is waiting there to board);
2) Passengers are adjured not to stand up, both in the commentary and on signs at the seats;
3) There are no bell pulls or bell strips at the great majority of seats;
So, consequently, there's no way short of shouting for most passengers (particularly those at the back of the bus or on the upper deck) to signal that they wish to get off at the next stop.

In my own case, this process -- stand, shout, rapid bus deceleration -- led to a fall, a couple of badly bruised fingers, and a broken watch strap, but it could easily have been more serious. City sightseeing needs to get its act together and install the types of bell cord/strip now provided almost universally in transit buses, or failing that, institute (and enforce) a "stop at every designated stop" policy.
Written October 4, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

milesopie
Paignton, UK132 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
This is our third such tour in Italy and we felt this was the best. The cost of 15€ for the day was very good value. The two routes were more varied than other cities with an inner city tour and, our favourite, the outside city tour. The former took about an hour, the latter about two hours with stunning views of the city and a visit to Fiesole.
Written July 20, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BradyQB12
Haddington, UK46 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2018 • Couples
We booked the 48hr tour and found it a brilliant way to see the city if you don't know it. We did the 1hr tour the first day & got off at the various points we wanted to and then re-joined it again. The 2 hour tour was brilliant as it went up the Tuscany hills to the small village of Fiesole which is a place I would return to. Beautiful view over Florence. Only complaint would be that if you are doing the tours over 2 days the music can be monotonous as it's the same tunes! Otherwise brilliant 👍
Written May 2, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Barry N
4 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2017 • Couples
My wife and I have taken "hop on and hop off' tours in dozens of cities and this was one of the worst. This was expensive (23 euros) for 45 minutes much of which was music, rather than narration. The main blue route does not cover much in Florence center and probably cannot do so. The open air buses are not good in the cold (we took one in Bologna a couple days ago, for almost half the price, all around the center and in a raised- enclosed bus). This bus has inconvient hours in the winter, and their second longer (red) line only makes three runs a day and has all it's stops at inconvient points on the center's outskirts. We planned to do it, but it was too much walking to get to from our hotel in the center. Save your money and skip this one and I am saying this as a person who has enjoyed pretty much every other city bus tour of this nature.
Written December 1, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

malabarfly
Gravesend, UK1,957 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2017 • Couples
The start point of these tours is just down from the main railway station (look for a Bata shop and the bus stops are virtually outside).

The company run two routes – the Blue Route (Line A) and the Red Route (Line B). Line A takes an hour and the buses go every hour (half hourly at weekends), while the longer Line B tour, which goes further into the surrounding areas of the city and up to the village of Fiesole) takes two hours runs only three times a day at 10.35, 12.35 and 14.35 from the starting point. It costs €23 per person, which cover both lines for 24 hours.

If you have limited time and miss one of the infrequent Line B buses from the start, I would suggest asking one of the agents selling tickets the best place where you can cross the road to change from Line A to Line B with minimum waiting time when you can complete th Line B tour before going back to the more frequent Line A bus to do this circuit. This is easier at weekends when the Blue Route buses are more frequent. In our case, having missed a Red Route bus we got off a Blue Route bus at Stop 10 (Michaelangelo statue), when there was only 20 minutes to wait for a Red Route bus going the other way, although I suppose it depends on what time bus you get as to where is the best place to switch lines.

Two points to bear in mind that might be helpful. Firstly, all buses are red, so don’t jump on one assuming you are on the Red Route - it could be the Blue Route! Secondly, do be aware that the buses cover the periphery of the city and not the centre where most of the tourist sights are, as the centre is either pedestrianised or the streets too narrow for these buses. Having said that, these routes are a good way of getting a feel for the place and seeing places away from the tourist centre to which you might not otherwise go. My advice would be to use the buses for one day, trying to accommodate both routes, and spend another day walking the central tourist sights.

All in all it’s an interesting experience and worthwhile expenditure of €23.
Written February 20, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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