Walks of Italy sells something in Florence that the platforms rarely do: itineraries built by someone who decided what to leave out. A two-hour Uffizi tour costs €89 per person, the five-hour Florence in a Day €127, the guided dome climb €184.
The verdict in two sentences: delivery quality is high and the review base confirms it, but the brand has passed under the control of an American group and the contract terms have suffered for it. The 13% of bottom ratings on Trustpilot is not a detail to bury.
It suits anyone with two days who wants to understand what they are looking at and puts the guide before the price. It does not suit repeat visitors, slow lookers, or anyone who may need to change their plans.
We are not affiliated with Walks of Italy: no commission on their bookings. The products compared on this page are Tiqets and GetYourGuide products, and that affiliate relationship exists and is declared.
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | a brand of the Walks group (“Walks & Devour”), acquired by City Experiences / Hornblower Group on 8 April 2021; contract terms governed by Delaware law |
| Address | address in the footer: viale Giuseppe Mazzini 88, Rome. No Italian entity is shown: the site publishes neither a registered company name nor a VAT number for trading in Italy, and the terms point to Delaware law |
| Trading since | 2010 according to the operator’s site, founded by Stephen Oddo; the Trustpilot listing says 2009, which is when the profile was registered. A second co-founder’s name circulates online but appears in no company or press source, so we do not repeat it |
| What it sells in Florence | guided Uffizi and Accademia tours, Florence in a day, the Duomo with the dome climb, Tuscany day trips, private tours |
| Typical prices | €55 for the walking tour with the David, €89 for the Uffizi, €127 for Florence in a day, €184 for the Duomo with the dome |
| Cancellation | full refund beyond 24 hours; 7 days for private tours and groups of 10 or more; 3 days on some products; some tours non-refundable |
| Support | through the site and by email; no office in Florence |
| Scores | Trustpilot 4.3/5 from 441 reviews (72% five stars, 13% one star); TripAdvisor Florence 4.8/5 from 2,383 reviews, #100 of 1,284 |
What it sells in Florence and what it costs
Four products cover ninety per cent of the demand: the David, the Uffizi, the Duomo and the day that puts them together. Below are the stated prices next to their equivalents on the platforms and the official price, at the time of checking.
| Product | Walks of Italy | Platform or official alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Uffizi masterpieces (2 hours) | €89 | Tiqets €52 and GetYourGuide €66.43 for the guided tour; official entry €25 same day, €29 with a date booked in advance |
| Best of Florence with the David (3 hours, max 18) | €55 | Tiqets €44.37 and GetYourGuide €43.99 for the Accademia tour with ticket |
| Florence in a Day: David, Duomo, Uffizi (5 hours, max 15) | €127 | no identical package: two guided tours on the platforms add up to between €88 and €110 |
| Duomo with the dome climb (3.5 hours, max 18) | €184 | official Brunelleschi Pass €30; Tiqets €69; GetYourGuide €64.90 |
Price list compared
Live prices from our partner feeds, cheapest first. Tap a button to open the listing.
| Platform | Price | Rating | Duration | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiqets Uffizi Gallery: Guided Tour Best price | €52per person | ★ 4.3392 reviews | 2 h | Book on Tiqets |
| GetYourGuide Florence: Uffizi Gallery Small-Group Guided Tour with Ticket Top rated | €66.43per person | ★ 4.72,893 reviews | 1.5 h | Book on GetYourGuide |
The flagship product, Florence in a Day, claims 4.7 out of 5 from 1,722 ratings: it is the tour the operator’s reputation is built on, and it is also the one with the tightest group, fifteen people.
-
from €52 per person
Book on Tiqets -
from €66.43 per person
Book on GetYourGuide -
from €43.99 per person
Book on GetYourGuide
When the difference over a ticket with an audio guide is worth it
The honest comparison comes down to one number. At the Uffizi a reserved entry with an audio guide costs €25 on Tiqets and €16 on GetYourGuide at the time of checking; the official price is €25 same day and €29 with a date booked in advance according to uffizi.it, dropping to €16 or €20 from 16:00.
The jump to €89 means paying around €65 for two hours of a live guide. It is worth it in three cases: it is your first time at the Uffizi, you have less than two days in the city, or you are travelling with someone who switches off in front of a wall of altarpieces.
It is not worth it if you have seen the gallery before, if you happily spend half an hour in one room, or if there are four of you: at that point you are past €350 and a semi-private tour is the better conversation. The full set of options is on our Uffizi Gallery page.
On the Duomo the sum is different and harsher. The official Brunelleschi Pass costs €30 and lasts three days: €184 buys three and a half hours of commentary, not better access. You climb the same 463 steps in the same slot as everyone else, as our Florence Duomo page explains.
How booking works
You buy on the site by card and receive a voucher with a meeting point and a time. Guides use headsets, and several reviews report the link dropping in crowded rooms: stay near the guide, in the first ten people.
The emphasis on “early access” needs reading carefully: more than one review describes hundreds of people queueing in front. Priority entry exists, an empty museum does not.
Punctuality is contractual, not indicative: arrive late and you lose the tour with no refund, and there is at least one documented case of a guide leaving before the stated time. Turn up ten minutes early.
Cancellation, refunds and support
The base rule is standard: full refund if you cancel more than 24 hours before. The exceptions, though, are numerous and not all on the same page. Private tours and groups of ten or more need seven days; some products three days; some tours are declared entirely non-refundable.
The same policy applies to late arrivals and no-shows, with no margin. This is where most of the negative ratings cluster.
Contractually, jurisdiction matters too: the terms invoke Delaware law. For a purchase made from Italy that means the complaint route is not the ordinary one you would have with an Italian operator.
What the reviews say
On Trustpilot the score is 4.3 out of 5 from 441 reviews: 72% give five stars, but 13% give one. It is a two-peaked distribution, typical of a company that delivers well most of the time and handles the exceptions badly.
On TripAdvisor the Florence listing shows 4.8 out of 5 from 2,383 reviews, 100th of 1,284 attractions. The two sources do not contradict each other: TripAdvisor is written by people who took the tour, Trustpilot also by people who never managed to.
Three negative themes recur: crowds on tours sold as “early access”, headsets cutting out, and time changes announced with no alternative offered. On one travel forum there is a documented case of an itinerary changed after departure, settled with a credit of a few dollars against a spend of more than five hundred.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Well-edited itineraries: the guide chooses what not to show you, and that is the real value.
- Groups of fifteen on the flagship product, below the segment average.
- 2,383 reviews at 4.8 on TripAdvisor and 4.7 on the main tour.
- A brand recommended by international guidebooks and an official partner at capped-entry sites.
Cons
- Prices at the top of the market: three times an Uffizi entry with an audio guide.
- Numerous cancellation exceptions, including non-refundable products.
- Terms governed by Delaware law, with no Italian entity shown.
- 13% bottom ratings on Trustpilot, concentrated on the edge cases.
- “Early access” that does not avoid the crowds in high season.
Verdict
Walks of Italy is worth 3.5 out of 5. The half point above a plain pass is earned by the quality of the guides and the construction of the itineraries, which you can measure in the reviews of individual tours. What it loses, it loses outside the tour: an American contract, refund exceptions and a priority-access promise that does not hold up in high season.
Would you pay three times the ticket price? For a first visit with two days in the city, yes — €89 against a €25 audio guide entry buys two hours of editing you cannot do yourself. For a second visit, or for the Duomo at €184 against a €30 pass, no.
Buy it if it is your first visit, you are short of time and you want a real guide in front of Botticelli. Do not buy it to skip the queue: a timed ticket at a quarter of the price does that.
Before you confirm, look at the comparison above between the €89 tour and the entry with an audio guide: if your answer is “I just need to know where the works are”, you have already saved sixty euro a head.
Alternatives
- LivTours — if you genuinely want a small group: six people maximum, at a higher price per person.
- Context Travel — tours led by scholars, a bracket higher still, groups of up to ten or twelve.
- Tiqets and GetYourGuide — where the same guided tours cost less, with cancellation handled from your account.
- To decide before you pick a supplier: the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia and the David and our overview of walking tours and audio guides.
Compare Uffizi tours from €52 · ★ 4.3
Frequently asked questions
Is Walks of Italy legit?
It is an established brand, now part of Hornblower's City Experiences group, which acquired it on 8 April 2021. On Trustpilot it scores 4.3 out of 5 from 441 reviews at the time of checking, with 72% top ratings but also 13% bottom ratings; on TripAdvisor its Florence listing shows 4.8 out of 5 from 2,383 reviews. It is reliable in delivery, less so in handling the edge cases.
How much is a Walks of Italy Uffizi tour?
The two-hour Uffizi masterpieces tour costs €89 per person; the five-hour Florence in a Day, covering the David, the Duomo and the Uffizi, costs €127 with a maximum of fifteen participants. On the platforms a guided Uffizi tour with the ticket starts at €52 on Tiqets and €66.43 on GetYourGuide.
Are Walks of Italy groups really small?
They are contained but not tiny: fifteen people on the flagship tour, eighteen on the rest. If you want the semi-private format of six, you need operators in another bracket, at a higher price per person.
Can you cancel a Walks of Italy tour?
The general rule is a full refund for cancellations made more than 24 hours before the start. There are plenty of exceptions, though: seven days for private tours and groups of ten or more, three days on some products, and some tours declared entirely non-refundable. The same rule covers late arrivals and no-shows.
Is a guided tour better than a ticket with an audio guide?
It depends how much you want to understand and how much time you have. At the Uffizi a reserved entry with an audio guide costs €25 on Tiqets and €16 on GetYourGuide at the time of checking: the jump to €89 buys two hours of a live guide picking out forty or so works along a route that displays thousands. It makes sense on a first visit with little time; it makes less sense if you are coming back or like to linger in one room.
Is Walks of Italy an Italian company?
The site gives an address in Rome, viale Giuseppe Mazzini 88, but the contract terms invoke the law of the State of Delaware and no Italian VAT number is shown. For an online purchase that matters: the consumer protection you can call on is not automatically Italian.