Tuscan Treats

Traveler Reviews

• JB

  Jean5.0•October 2024
  My husband and I totally enjoyed TuscanTreats! It was our first tour as well as our first trip to Italy and did not...
  My husband and I totally enjoyed TuscanTreats! It was our first tour as well as our first trip to Italy and did not disappoint! The countryside, the villages we visited, the accommodations, and the food were wonderful! Max did a great job guiding us with his knowledge and great sense of humor- we would definitely tour again with him!Show more
  Traveled in September 2024
• 

  Douglas5.0•September 2024
  Our tour was fantastic. The tour was planned very well, giving us a great introduction to Tuscany. The pace of the...
  Our tour was fantastic. The tour was planned very well, giving us a great introduction to Tuscany. The pace of the tour was great, leaving us plenty of time to do things on our own. The time we spent with our tour guide Madeleine was superb. I can't imagine a better guide. She was knowlegeable, able to answer our questions and to do so in a charming way. The anecdotes she shared brought extra insight to the things we saw and experienced. We never traveled as part of a tour group before. Our experience made us eager to do more tours with tourradar again. Our bus was comfortable and our driver was very professional. My wife and I highly recommend tourradar.Show more
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  Traveled in August 2024
• ES

  Elaine4.0•July 2023
  Very good tour. Good value for the money. Loved all the sights and off the beaten path adventures.
  Traveled in June 2023
• KJ

  Kenneth5.0•July 2019
  A great tour leader, supported by a reliable driver and an great effort to meet the needs of the group. A very...
  A great tour leader, supported by a reliable driver and an great effort to meet the needs of the group. A very rewarding experience.Show more
  Traveled in July 2019
• YS

  Yaron5.0•July 2019
  The tour was great! The guide and the driver were fantastic! "Tuscan Treats" was indeed a treat!
  Traveled in June 2019
• RK

  Rhona4.5•July 2019
  I think less time in Chianti countryside accommodation- air conditioning not very good, outdated and nothing to do
  Traveled in June 2019
• JK

  Jerry4.5•May 2019
  Flavio, our guide, made the trip special - more so than anything we saw or did along the way. Very knowledgeable....
  Flavio, our guide, made the trip special - more so than anything we saw or did along the way. Very knowledgeable. Moved his “ducklings” along efficiently from site to site, while giving us freedom to explore on our own. Propped the group up whenever our energy was lagging with stories, jokes, local knowledge, singing, or even dancing the twist at the front of the bus. I have celiac disease (and also other health issues) and required gluten free meals. Flavio did a fantastic job looking out for me at every meal along the way, including both stops on our formal itinerary and unscripted stops. As for Italy, some of the sites were overcrowded and felt a bit too Disney for my tastes (Pisa, Cinque Terra, Florence, San Gimignano) while the quieter stops made the trip worthwhile (Lucca, Volterra, Pienza etc). Tour Radar’s communication with me was poor, with details of the trip starting and finishing times coming in too late causing me to miss most of the first day of the trip in Florence and have to make my own way by bus from the Florence airport to Lucca to join the group. Backroads is clear with this information in their material, but it does not come through on a timely basis through Tour Radar.Show more
  Traveled in May 2019
• 

  Julie5.0•October 2018
  Wish I could enter in my guide, Flavio Lazzaretto, in the last screen because our Guide was #1! This is almost a...
  Wish I could enter in my guide, Flavio Lazzaretto, in the last screen because our Guide was #1! This is almost a carbon copy of the review I left on Backroads Tours' Facebook page, and I wanted to share it here as well. I’ve never done a tour before, and both my brother and I are very glad we chose Tuscan Treats by Backroads Tours as our first! It was by chance that I Googled Tuscany, Italy, Vacation one night last year and this tour through tourradar.com came up and had a tour that peaked my interest. Our guide Flavio Lazzaretto was warm, empathetic, cheerful, and clearly passionate about his country, heritage, and career! Our driver, Francesco, was consistent, timely, and very experienced driving through the region for which I was grateful, as it was clear that driving experience on the back roads of Tuscany is essential. Because of the smaller sized vehicle, we travelled extremely narrow back roads of the rolling hills of Tuscany and rocky coastline of Cinque Terre taking in the incredible scenery between towns and cities. We had an ecclectic mix of age groups between mid 30’s to mid 70’s, which enhanced the tour tremendously! One of the first things Flavio said to all of us at the beginning was, “we may all be strangers now, but by the end of the tour we would all feel like family”. He was not wrong! We were an even mix of Canadians, Americans, Australians and New Zealanders who bonded very quickly, and there has been talk of a reunion tour already. Nearly a dozen of us who remained in Florence after the tour was over got together voluntarily for one last meal together. This group created amazing memories together, and intends to keep in touch. There was a healthy amount of walking on this tour through narrow cobblestone streets with relatively steep inclines, averaging between 8 and 15 kilometres per day. Some days were spent within a single location site or city, but on the longest day we visited three cities, stopping for three to four hours at each stop. It was never too much or too little, and the days were rich with activities and things to see. Flavio organized a variety of guided tours of sites and buildings including rich historical narratives of the Medici, roman and papal influences of the region, an award winning gelato establishment and winery in San Gimignano, a cheese farm in Pienza, and an olive oil production near Florence. All food and wine establishments we visited included professional tasting, followed by fresh meals prepared for us including the samples we tasted. In city centres and finally at the resort, meals were planned and organized for us in the Italian tradition with typical food and drink of the region. While a few lunches and dinners that were not included, Flavio recommended and joined us at quality eateries within each region, and none of them were disappointing! Breakfasts were included and prepared by each of the warm, quaint and immersive establishments we stayed at with typical Italian breakfast fare. Flavio was very thorough in providing essential tutoring of specific customs, practices and key phrases and gestures of the Italian people, enhancing our immersive experience. These were subtle things you don’t get from Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, such as asking how much something costs, ordering a proper "cafe latte" instead of a “latte” and making it “to go", understanding how things like public toilets are accessed through a code printed on a receipt, what tipping expectations were, and interpreting oral and body language of residents of the region. I can’t choose a single highlight of this tour to choose as a favourite because the entire trip was incredible, but one unexpected, pleasant surprise was how Flavio and the entire group made a point to celebrate my brother’s birthday during the tour. Flavio played a few birthday oriented songs on the bus by the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and another hilarious selection, and everyone sang along! Flavio also organized a wonderful mille feuille cake to be prepared for the group’s dinner dessert that night, and filmed the delivery while I Facetimed my parents in for the “Happy Birthday” cake procession and candle blowing. The food everywhere was amazing, and nothing was processed. Each meal followed the typical Italian traditions and courses including apertivo, antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno, dolce and on occasion, when we weren’t too stuffed or rosy from fabulous wines, we enjoyed formagii e frusta and a digestivo of grappa, vin santo or limoncello after the meal. This trip was so incredible that I’m already planning another trip with other family members in a year or two with this company! See you again soon Flavio, Backroads, and Italy!Show more
  Traveled in October 2018
• LN

  Lin5.0•September 2018
  This was everything I wanted in a smalller, localized tour. Shopping was available, but definitely not the main...
  This was everything I wanted in a smalller, localized tour. Shopping was available, but definitely not the main focus of this tour. Absolutely satisfied with the included tours, the local highlights, the accommodations, upbeat enthusiastic guide and driver. If you want to experience Italy with a degree of safety and comfort, but don't want to remain in cities, this is a realistic way to do that. Cannot praise our guide and driver enough.Show more
  Traveled in September 2018
• T

  TracySkinns4.5•September 2018
  We had a terrific time on our Tuscany Treats tour. Our guide and driver were exceptional - they went well above what...
  We had a terrific time on our Tuscany Treats tour. Our guide and driver were exceptional - they went well above what we expected. I would definitely recommend Back Road tours. Suitable for people over 50.Show more
  Traveled in August 2018