Small-Group Tour of Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este from Rome

First, I want to say that our tour guide Lucy was excellent. She did a great job of communicating and keeping our group on track. The problem was with all the other aspects of the trip. I booked a small group tour with a maximum of 14 people. I paid extra for this. There were 25 people in just our group and another group of 25 traveling with us. My group of 4 were picked up at our hotel. I was expecting to be driven to the tour location. Instead we were dropped off at a metro stop and told to wait for our guide. We were dropped off at the wrong location. Luckily someone from another group noticed that we were supposed to be across the street. We were then loaded into a motor coach with about 50 people. Nothing about this situation was a small group experience. The tour itself was amazing and I was very satisfied. Upon our return we were dropped off at the metro station and there was not a car waiting to take us back to our hotel. We had to pay extra for an Uber. The tour details stated that we would be picked up at our hotel and returned to the original departure point. I assumed that was our hotel. There was no indication that I would be expected to arrange my own transport to the hotel. I felt that there was very poor communication about the details of this trip. I feel that I was sold a small group tour, but that is not what I received. I have been using Viator for years, and I am extremely disappointed with the level of service I received. I will consider this experience when booking in the future.

Great trip and so interesting! Our tour guide changed the order of the tour to maximize the cool weather and minimize the crowds. The entire trip was amazing. Just be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes. Driver was great as well!

We had no idea that Villa d'Este would be so outstanding-Our tour guide was great and very informative and we spent most of our time there; a moderately strenuous walking experience after an overnight flight from the US. Hadrian's Villa was outstanding as well and our tour guide again showed us ALL of the site with excellent descriptions. Our driver was very careful and considerate and promptly arrived at our hotel 15 minutes early with our most excellent tour guide

While the villa was beautiful, the tour was not enjoyable. At the last minute they asked if we would be able to change the time to afternoon but we replied we had another tour. They said it was either that time or not at all and changed the time of the tour from morning to late afternoon..we had cancel another tour to make the new time...The guide was not engaging and seemed disinterested in being there. At the beginning of the tour we were informed that Hadrians villa was closed to the public for renovations so the tour would only be of the Villa d"este and possibly a medieval castle instead of Hadrian's villa.. We boarded the transportation...which arrived late and was very unprofessional .. and were then rushed at breakneck speed (over twice the posted speed limit) to the site with not a word from the guide along the way. However the driver and the guide must have been great friends as their loud conversation in Italian was nonstop the entire ride. Any questions we asked seemed to be an interruption and was answered with one or two word replies On arrival the guide proceeded to rush through the Villa d'Este with us struggling to keep up and when she got ahead she proceeded to wait impatiently intently staring at her cell phone. She then dumped us off in the city center for an hour to "shop" even though most of the shops were closed (either due to the lateness of the hour or boarded up permanently). The Medieval castle they promised is occupied and not ever available to the public...But if we wanted we could "walk over" to the fence that surrounded and blocked the view of it. We were rushed back to town and were dropped off a couple of blocks from the hotel. We completed the five hour tour in just under 3 hours. We would not have booked the tour had we known in advance that Hadrians Villa would not be available and they were not forthcoming on this point until she arrived to pick us up and it was too late to make alternate plans.

This tour was one of the absolute highlights of our two weeks in Europe. Our guide and her driver were wonderful, incredibly knowledgeable and just plain fun, nice people. This was a top choice for our history major college freshman and we loved it. I knew little about the history and was overwhelmed with knowledge and appreciation at the end of the day. There were five us ages 50,45, 22, 22, 18. Perfect day - worth every dime.

Laura was a wonderful tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and explained the history of Villa D’Este and Rome in an engaging way. I would have given five stars for this tour; however, when we arrived at Hadrian’s Villa the staff there unfortunately did not let us enter. Otherwise, I would have given five stars. I definitely recommend Laura as a tour guide!

The pick-up was on time and the travel was fine. However, the guide, while nice, knew shockingly little about the sites we visited. I had read the small section in my tour book and done a tiny bit of reading online, and she knew even less than I did. I feel like we would have been better off traveling on our own and reading the published plaques than we were spending $200 per person for a guide who could not even simple questions on the sites and who actively got us lost within them more than once, causing us to double back and walk through areas we had already seen in the rain, and missing other areas entirely. She rushed us through some areas we wanted to stop and take photos, making us trot behind her to catch up. In one area, she stopped to speak to another couple in Italian for nearly 10 minutes while we waited for her to continue while standing in the cold rain. The actual sites we visited were lovely. but, especially having paid a premium rate for the tour, I was very disappointed with the quality of the guide and the tour as experienced.

I cant recall our guides name but she was fantastic. This place is full of history and considering its age is very well preserved.

My 2 adult children and I had a wonderful experience walking the grounds of both estates. Our tour guide, Julia, was wonderful, and made the experience fun and enjoyable for us.

We were driven very comfortably in a private sedan to the most beautiful and historic settings in Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. Our guide, Julia, was amazing with sharing her most extensive knowledge, taking photos, and accommodating the pace to suit my seniorness. It was a most memorable day, Our driver, Leonardo, was also wonderful, which made for a great tour.