Sicily and Florence excursions (Italy)

[MJ22]

Hello everyone! It will be our first time in Italy and we are very excited. We hope you can help us with some advice  

For the stop in Sicily we are between:
-Taormina guided walking tour + 45 minutes to explore on our own
-Taormina explore on your own for 3 hours

And in Florence (Livorno) between:
-Florence guided walking tour for 2 hours + 3 hours to explore on our own
-Florence barchetto row boat tour + 2 hours to explore on our own

Any other different suggestion is very welcome! We will also be in Civitavecchia (Rome) and Cannes.

[ChessE4]

On 5/16/2022 at 6:05 PM, MJ22 said:

Hello everyone! It will be our first time in Italy and we are very excited. We hope you can help us with some advice  

For the stop in Sicily we are between:
-Taormina guided walking tour + 45 minutes to explore on our own
-Taormina explore on your own for 3 hours

And in Florence (Livorno) between:
-Florence guided walking tour for 2 hours + 3 hours to explore on our own
-Florence barchetto row boat tour + 2 hours to explore on our own

Any other different suggestion is very welcome! We will also be in Civitavecchia (Rome) and Cannes.

All I can tell you is from personal experience and other posts, take into consideration transportation time when you select excursions. 

In Sicily we are just going to walk on our own and use local ground transportation as needed. 

For Florence from Lavorno I would prefer a 5-6 hour excursion rather than 3-4 in case of traffic problems (as a Pisa visitor recently posted).   (We haven't made it to Florence yet, so my suggestion is general in nature.)

Rome excursions are generally 7-8 hours as the transportation time can be an hour, although some folks take an express train from Civi if they are planning on doing Rome on their own. 

If you are at a French port that has excursions to Eze, that is a trip we enjoyed (from Villefranche). 

I prefer Royal excursions when "all day" trips because of their guarantee if your return is delayed by traffic.  We have encountered accidents and such more than once on our travels.  However, other guests regularly use 3rd party operators.

[JennaRCB]

I would personally choose the ones with the most "explore on your own" time, as I prefer having flexibility and moving at my own pace. Sometimes guided tours can feel too slow, and most Italian towns are extremely walkable and easy to get around so it will be nice to have time to explore on your own.