Absolutely brilliant personal tour with Giacomo today. Easy to arrange and cover payment, great…read morecommunication before the tour and then we met up on time at the right spot. There was no communication boundary at all, Giacomo was friendly and personable. Giacomo and I spent three packed hours together touring the best spots in Milan including the Sforza Castle, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the Duomo and more. Along the way, interesting sights were pointed out that I would otherwise have completely missed. We did not stop for lunch or snacks, but the best restaurants and little grocery spots were pointed out including the gelato at Ciacco and the cheese at Peck. I had an absolutely fantastic time and rate this as five stars. [Review 10687 overall, 455 of 2019.]

My husband and I had only 2 days in Milan en-route to Cyprus and boy did we make the most of our…read moretrip! Thanks to Giacomo and his wonderful tour of the city, we felt so much more satisfied with the little time we had in Italy and enjoyed it so much more. When he first told me the WALKING tour was 3 hours, I thought, wow, is that nearly enough time to see the city on foot and thankfully it was. Just enough to see the castle, the famous Brera district, the City Center, and lastly the Duomo cathedral. Giacomo kept us highly entertained with his skillful knowledge of the city, it's rich history, it's current status and even tips on where and what to eat to get the FULL cultural experience of Milan. We were jet lagged and probably not the best guests, but he was a great communicator.... kind, friendly, great English, good listener. He even asked us which metrics we prefer for him to use! If you want to have a very PERSONAL tour experience and leave a city knowing so much more than a book or article can offer, I'd highly recommend Giacomo's Milan Tours company. We kept walking by the larger tour groups with their headphones and flags and thought, wow, why pay the same amount for such a lesser experience?!?!? I will be using Giacomo and/or his colleages again. Perhaps when we come back home through Milan to go to Lake Como.

We took a bus tour in Milan two days ago. I changed seats twice to find one where the audio track…read moreworked. I finally got a clear one. Probably 70% of the tour was devoted to scratchy music. When we did get audio guidance, it was out of sync with the tour, so we had difficulty figuring out where we were and what we were seeing. Unfortunately, there was no person handling the tour who could explain what we were seeing as we approached, and answer questions. As I expressed to my partner, I'd have gotten more joy had I simply lit a 50 euro note on fire and watched it burn.

What a complete waste of money. Today I took a ride with them on one bus that had their logo across…read morethe window making it impossible to see the city. Their audio track was not set correctly to the point it would say things like "on the left at #41" and I would look and we were at #49 and going up. So you're telling me about something we already passed. I missed it. Thanks. Switched to another bus to see a different part of the city and get a better seat to discover 1) same problem with the audio we were 2-4 min past things when the audio told us about them. 2) the bus went off the route and the guide wasn't sure why so we missed some sights. Then 3) the air conditioning didn't work. It was 34C (93F) and we were in traffic so it was a sweat box. When I complained I was told "well this bus has a problem with its system" stop talking. Do not put us on a bus in this heat that you know doesn't have working AC. Still I was told "it's not our fault it's the bus" I'm sorry whose bus is it? Oh yes yours. Am I blaming you the tour guide? No. Am I saying your company should know better and do better? Yes. Do not use this company. Absolutely a waste of money. I got out and paid for a taxi to somewhere else in the city to see sights.

Our guide Georgia was fantastic, so upbeat & knowledgeable about the deep history of Milan. Our…read moregroup of 5 age 24 - 70 had a great time. Georgia taught us first timers how to ride a Segway like a boss. Even with the crowded streets we succeeded in not crashing into anything or anyone. We took the 3 hour tour because the 2 hour was sold out. Turns out the time flew by. Thanks to Georgia I had enough info on the neighborhoods to find a great place for lunch afterwards. Imagine how tiring 3 hours of walking would have been, & we covered so much more ground on the Segways. I don't care that we looked like dorks.

I'm not sure where I found Fat Tire Tours. but it's here now on Yelp. I had a superior time on…read moretheir beer and food tasting tour. I initially booked it for Brera but they didn't have enough for that one so we switched to the Naviglio district. Several stops including the community market where we stopped at a butcher and a cheesemonger, an arancini shop, panzerotto, a bistro for apertivo and a beer bar. Along the way, a great amount of cultural information and interesting sights pointed out by the tour guide. English wasn't his first language but he was completely understandable and clearly, very passionate about Milano. They do other tours in other cities, I'll definitely be considering them for my future European travel. [Review 10681 overall, 449 of 2019.]

I was in Italy a few weeks ago with a couple of girlfriends and when we arrived at our hostel in…read moreMilan we came across the Ecco Adventures poster and immediately called. Andre answered and was extremely accommodating, he came to pick us up the next morning. We had no idea that we were in for the most amazing experience. He took us on a hike and showed us Lake Como. We went kayaking in Lake Como and he took us on a road trip of northern Italy. We saw and did things we could have never imagined doing if it weren't for Andre. He also taught us lots of Italian on the way. If you are ever in Italy, Ecco Adventures is the way to go!! Thank you Andre for the memories that will last a lifetime!

From the owner: We believe in engaging local communities, getting our hands dirty, and listening intently. Join us…read moreon a trip and you'll see how we integrate real experiences, language, landscape, culinary, and local traditions into a truly unique travel experience. We work hard to craft the type of itineraries we ourselves would want to be a part of.

We spent two great afternoons touring with Micaela on Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta. Our tours were…read moreprivate and personalized. Micaela booked our boats and amazing lunches, then led us on fun, informative tours of Isola Bella, Isola Madre, and Orta San Giulio. Micaela's knowledge of the history, art, and gardens is amazing- we definitely recommend!!

We were only visiting Stresa for two days and really wanted to make the most of our limited time…read more From several past trips to Italy, we have found hiring a local guide to be an excellent way to maximize the time and get the most of your vacation and Macaela ranks near the top of the many guides we've used in Rome, Tuscany, Positano and throughout wine regions of Italy. We found her online (here) and are so glad we did. Her English is top notch and communications with her by email for booking was very easy. She offers a number of tour options from full or half-day trips, with or without private boat transfers. We ended up booking the full day excursion with private boat transfers and were SO glad. With the private boat-there was absolutely no waiting to go from island to island as our captain Allesandro was always ready to go when we arrived (having been alerted by Michaela at just the right moment to come by for us). By the way, the typical boat seats 30 and is covered but was dedicated just for the two of us. This is an option- you can hire her without private boat but then you rely on the ferries and have to deal with the crowds. Even though the temperature was soaring into the 90s we had a wonderful day. It started with her meeting us in the lobby of our hotel that fronted the lake and we simply crossed the street to the lake where the boat was waiting and we headed out to our first island -Isola Bella. Machaela is versed in history, art and botany (some) and we spent 2 hours touring the palace and gardens-so much better than a canned audio tour. She gave us the full history of the Borromeo family, important historical events, discussed the art and identified all the interesting plants and trees throughout the day. Next we headed over to Isola Pescatori (fisherman island) for a stroll through town then a couple hours free time for lunch. She guided us past some of the more tourist spots and recommended several of the better places. We had a great lunch at Ristorante Belvedere. After lunch it was on to the third island, Isola Madre and a tour through the botanical gardens, renaissance villa and some time visiting the colorful peacocks and pheasants. We headed back to the hotel around 3:30, were dropped off in the same spot just across the street, made payment to Michaels (cash only, at the trips end) and headed in to jump in the pool. A perfect day.

Had a great tour of Lake Como. Beautiful day with beautiful views. It was booked directly by our…read morehotel. We did the hour no stops around the lake. There are different tours available. We paid with cash so we got a small discount. Captain Luca was great. He had lots of knowledge and a few jokes to throw in. He knows where the George Clooney Villa is but I'm not sure which tour takes you there ;) Would highly recommend this tour.

After arriving in Bellagio for a short stay we were looking to get out on the water. Our high-end…read morehotel recommended these guys and we booked a 1-hour, private, "highlights of the lake tour" (230€). It was a 15 minute walk down to the waters edge (look for the blue and white striped poles) where we met the Australian wife of the operation and checked in. She was warm and friendly and gave us some good tips for other sight seeing during our stay. We boarded precisely at 4:30 and headed out right away. There wasn't much in the way of narration, in fact we had to keep asking questions just to get some information in between the pre-planned sights like the villa featured in the bond film Casino Royale and one of Richard Branson's houses. Most of the tour was spent at slow wake speed going along the shore. Not really any effort to try to help you get great pictures. In the end this didn't quite live up to expectations-just someone going through the motions and collecting a big fee. While it was great being out on the water, the high sides of the boat and slow speeds did little to cool us off on the very very hot day. Luckily we had brought along our own water! For 230€ per hour you'd think they'd serve prosecco and caviar. Cannot recommend