Venice City sightseeing Tours 2018/2019

“We loved this tour of the secret passages of the Doge palace where we saw the Wells, the torture room and the cell from which Casanova escaped. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we learnt about the excellent judicial system in the Republic of Venice. We saw all the fabulous paintings in the Doge’s palace and then went into the beautiful St Marks Basilica. I would highly recommend this tour, but it’s not suitable for young children or anyone with walking difficulties as there are lots of stairs and you walk through confined spaces.”

“A great trip for anyone who wants a "taster" of different cities and areas of Italy. Not relaxing as a lot of travelling between destinations but well worth it. Plenty of free time if you like to get out of the group. We saw so much and having an Italian leader meant we were lucky to have insider knowledge .”

“A two week hectic but interesting visit to Italy, streching from Venice right down to Naples. Totally and utterly enjoyable. Meticulously organised, as always, by Exodus!”

“What a fantastic way to see some of the highlights of Italy! The accommodation was more than adequate throughout the trip, particularly surprising were the size of the rooms in the hotels we stayed in while in the main cities as i had expected little more than a shoe box, I was surprised to see another reviewer liken them to hostels as that was not my perception at all. The food was absolutely wonderful everywhere that we went and not nearly as expensive as I had imagined, mainly i think because our guide cleverly took us to places off the main squares/streets and advised us to order at the bar as it is cheaper than waiter service. Like any city break style holiday there was a lot of walking involved and the limited time in each major city meant we covered a lot of ground in a short space of time, because of this i would say this is a reasonably fast paced tour unless you just want to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by. The Cinque Terre walk was beautiful but fairly demanding due to the easier coastal paths having been closed for a number of years due to unsafe ground, however there is also a train which runs between each village that was very simple to navigate and included in your entrance ticket. My least enjoyable days were in Naples at the end of the tour. It was the one place where I didn't feel particularly safe and it is quite a grubby city. Definitely watch out for the pickpockets there!”

“I had an enjoyable holiday but the holiday was spoilt by the poor accommodation used on this trip. The holiday was expensive and you do wonder what Exodus spent the money on. The hotel in Naples was more a hostel and one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in. Some of the other hotels were not much better.

You also need to pay for a lot of extras as the Trip doesn't include much. Although you have orientation walks in Florence and Rome, your tour leader is not allowed to act as a guide therefore you end up paying for a tour guide, which was not cheap. However, the guides our tour leader arranged were excellent and I am glad that I paid extra for them.

If the tour leader was not so good I would have been very disappointed with this holiday. Cecilia made this holiday and she went the extra mile to ensure we had a great holiday.”

“We enjoyed this self guided cycle trip.The first 3 days are totally flat with the hills starting after Trieste. The hotel in Mestre was not great, the room was small and stuffy room with ineffective air-conditioning. We agree with previous comments about the written instructions, they are too wordy and therefore difficult to follow. We gave up on them after the first day and used the maps provided and followed the arrows placed along the route.When that failed we backed up with the map app on the smartphone.
I disagree with a previous review that said don't start in Mestre, as the ride across to to Venice is dangerous. For us it was a Sunday morning( little traffic) and on a cycle path most of the way, the view of the city is great and the only downside were the swarms of flies so essential to keep your mouth closed. Lido di Jesolo was fine (big resort) but Caorle is a much smaller, prettier town and we would have preferred to stay there. Portogruaro, nice hotel and small town. Alquilea , hotel not so great but fantastic Basilica with mosaic floors. Trieste is an interesting city but busy traffic. The route out is hilly but actually takes small backroads so wasn't as bad as expected.Into Slovenia, lovely lush farmland often on dedicated cycle track but with a few more hills ( some steep but short) we stayed in Portoroz which is a large resort, the hotel was fine but for us Piran would have been a much nicer place to spend the night as prettier and smaller. On into Croatia where the route is on a busier road at times but the coastal scenery was beautiful and the hotel in Porec was the most comfortable of the whole trip. We averaged about 40 miles a day so had usually arrived at the destination by mid afternoon giving us time to explore.”

“Generally good trip. Scenery worth cycling through and routes good. Distances easily achieved. We found towns and villages along the way, so coffee and food was not a problem. Routes often used good quality cycle paths. Previous comments about unclean hotels not experienced. Most hotels excellent, although a couple were a bit old and cramped.
We would recommend this trip.”

“Four days of flat cycling through Italy followed by more hilly terrain on the final two through Slovenia/Croatia. The scenery and little towns we passed through were delightful - we saw many areas you perhaps wouldn't ever have visited in isolation unless touring. Bikes and equipment provided were solid and in good condition.”

“I'd consider myself an avid cyclist.  This is my 3rd cycle tour and the 1st time I've booked through Exodus.  The route selected for the trip allowed us to cycle through some beautiful countryside and see some stunning scenery!!  I loved the opportunity to cycle through 3 different countries.  I was suprised and pleased to see so many nice, paved bicyle paths for us to cycle across.I will say that we struggled, almost daily, to follow the route directions given to us.  Some of the directions were more vague than I would have like.  The very first day we cycled, it took us almost 20 minutes to find the streets that were named in the route guide, in order for us to get out of the plaza.  In all fairness, there was some construction in the plaza that might not have been there when the directions were written, but unfortunately, we experienced this same frustration almost daily.  It seemed to be worse when leaving town.  After we got out of town, things were better.  The tour company had posted their "orange arrow" along the route to let us know we were going in the right direction.  I SO appreciated seeing those and wish there were more.  The hotels booked for us along the way were very disappointing!  They were at best, in my opinion, 2-3 star hotels.  For the most part, they were clean, but very old, offered little in the way of ammenties, and were not in prime locations.  The last hotel we were booked in, Hotel Pical, didn't even have air conditioning.  After cycling for 6 days in 95 degree weather, this was a HUGE disappointment.  We stayed in a couple of beach villages.  I would have LOVED to have been booked in a hotel on the beach, rather than in a quiet corner of town. ”