Which tour to choose, in one line
- First time, one free day in Florence: a half-day group tour in Chianti.
- You want to talk to the people who make the wine, not sit on a coach: a small group or a tasting booked directly with a winery.
- There are four or more of you, or you want to choose the wineries: a private tour with a driver.
- The wine you care about is Brunello: stay in Siena or the Val d'Orcia and start from there.
- You also want to get moving: e-bike, Vespa or horseback with a tasting.
- You have a car and a driver who doesn't drink: do it yourself, booking the wineries.
The area, villages and wineries of Chianti are described on the page about Chianti; Montalcino, Montepulciano and the landscape around them on the page about the Val d'Orcia. This page deals only with how to organise the tasting.
The formats compared
| Format | Duration | Indicative price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half day in Chianti, group | 4.5–6 hours | €45–90 | first-timers, tighter budgets |
| Full day with lunch | a full day | €90–160 | those who also want to see villages |
| Small group | half or full day | €120–250 (from €89 on GetYourGuide) | those who want to ask questions and avoid crowds |
| Private with driver | your choice | €300–600 and more per person | demanding couples, families, groups |
| Brunello di Montalcino from Florence | 10–11 hours | €250–700 per person | enthusiasts with a full day |
| E-bike, Vespa or horse with wine | 3–7 hours | €99–165 | those who want the experience too |
| Do it yourself at the winery | flexible | €20–60 per tasting | those with a car and a sober driver |
The price bands come from the offers published by platforms and operators; the "from" prices quoted below are those of Tiqets and GetYourGuide. Partner prices change often and we check them regularly.
Tuscany wine tour from Florence: the half day in Chianti
This is the format with the widest choice, and for many people the best fit. You leave in the morning or early afternoon, visit one or two Chianti wineries and are back in time for dinner. Tiqets has a guided visit with tasting from €45 and a short day with a visit and tastings from €55. On GetYourGuide the lowest price is €38.25 for a half day in the hills; the most-reviewed tour, with more than 11,000 reviews, starts from €49.50, and there is an option with two wineries and food from €48.40.
What to know before you book:
- the operator chooses the wineries, and they are often estates set up for groups;
- on a coach, the time at the winery shrinks: check how many hours are really left for the vineyard and the tasting;
- if "lunch" is included, check whether it is a sit-down meal or a board of snacks during the tasting.
| No. | Option | Platform | Rating | Duration | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | From Florence: Chianti Hills Half-Day Tour with Wine Tasting cheapest | GetYourGuide | 4.5 (856) | 5 hours | €38.25 |
| 02 | Chianti: Guided Wine Tour from Florence + Tasting | Tiqets | 4.4 (28) | 05:00 | €45 |
| 03 | From Florence: Chianti Wine & Food Tour with 2 Wineries | GetYourGuide | 4.5 (3,353) | 6 hours | €48.40 |
| 04 | Florence: Chianti Wineries Tour with Wine Tasting | GetYourGuide | 4.5 (11,658) | 5 - 6.5 hours | €49.50 |
| 05 | Chianti: Day Trip from Florence + Wine Tour & Tasting | Tiqets | 4.7 (3) | 05:30 | €55 |
| 06 | From Siena: Chianti and Castles Tour with Wine Tastings | GetYourGuide | 4.5 (796) | 5 hours | €85 |
| 07 | Chianti Region: Day Trip from Florence + Wine Estate Visit | Tiqets | 5.0 (9) | 05:00 | €89 |
| 08 | From Florence: Small Group Wine Tasting Tour to Tuscany | GetYourGuide | 4.9 (4,594) | 4.5 hours | €89 |
There is also an option from Siena, with the Chianti castles and tastings, from €85 on GetYourGuide: useful if you are staying in Siena and don't want to head back towards Florence.
All wine tours from Florence on Tiqets
Full-day and combined trips
If you need a single trip that does "a bit of everything", many day tours combine Siena, San Gimignano and sometimes Pisa with a stop at a winery: on Tiqets prices start from €64 for Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano with a tasting. Here the wine is a stop, not the reason for the trip; the alternatives are compared on the page about day trips from Florence. Days devoted entirely to wine, with lunch at an estate, generally cost between €90 and €160.
Small-group and private tours
A small group is the best compromise between price and quality: few participants, usually a minivan instead of a coach, more time for questions. On GetYourGuide the most-reviewed tour of this kind, with very high ratings, starts from €89 for about four and a half hours. The richer formats, with lunch or better-known wineries, reach €120–250.
A private tour with a driver usually costs €300–600 and more per person, and the price per person falls as the group grows. It gives you an advantage no group tour can: you choose the wineries, the times and the pace. One published price as an example: Walkabout Tours sells the private version of its off-road Chianti tour from €490. If you are considering a private tour for two, always compare it with a good small-group tour: the price difference is often large, the difference in experience less so.
A day for Brunello
After Chianti, the wine many people want to taste is Brunello di Montalcino. Montalcino, however, is more than 100 km from Florence. Dedicated day tours last 10–11 hours, are almost always private or small-group, and cost roughly between €250 and €700 per person.
The most rational solution is to start from Siena: Tiqets has a Brunello tour from €119, lasting about five hours, and GetYourGuide a guided day with lunch from €190, about nine hours. If you are already in the area with a car, short winery visits in Montalcino can be booked from €29.
From Siena: Brunello di Montalcino Guided Wine Tour W/ Lunch
(441 reviews) from €190
Book on GetYourGuide
Montalcino: Brunello Wine Tasting & Lunch in a Tuscan Castle
(508 reviews) from €61.90
Book on GetYourGuideThe Brunello rules, and the underground Vino Nobile cellars in Montepulciano, are explained on the page about the Val d'Orcia.
Bike, Vespa and horseback with a tasting
If you want an experience as well as a glass, there are three formats.
- E-bike in Chianti. Tiqets sells a day on an e-bike with lunch and tasting from €99, with no reviews yet; GetYourGuide a seven-hour ride with lunch and a winery from €149. Pedal assistance makes the climbs manageable even if you are not in training.
- Vespa. Group tours usually cost €110–160. To ride you need a car driving licence, not a motorbike one: at Walkabout Tours, for example, you must also be 18 or over, and children cannot ride as passengers. Check the wine policy: whoever rides tastes little or nothing. Details and operators are on the page about bike and Vespa tours.
- Horseback. GetYourGuide has a three-hour horse ride with tasting and transfer from Florence, from €165.
Florence: Chianti E-Bike Tour with Tuscan Lunch & Winery
(54 reviews) from €149
Book on GetYourGuide
Florence: Horseback Riding Tour with Wine Tasting & Transfer
(150 reviews) from €165
Book on GetYourGuideTuscany wine tasting: what it includes and what it costs
A winery tasting almost always follows the same pattern: a walk through the vineyard or the cellar, with the casks and the barrel room, and then 3–4 wines. In Chianti these are usually a Chianti Classico annata and a Riserva, a red IGT (the so-called Super Tuscan) and sometimes Vin Santo. With the wines come bruschetta with extra virgin olive oil, pecorino and cured meats. Some options add lunch.
Three examples with prices and durations published by the wineries:
| Winery | What it includes | Duration | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antinori nel Chianti Classico | visit and 3 wines | about an hour and a half | €50, non-refundable |
| Contucci, Montepulciano | cellar, one Rosso and 3 Nobile, cheese and cold-cut board | about 2 hours | €40, €25 with snacks only |
| Castello di Verrazzano | gardens, cellars, 4 wines, Vin Santo, lunch | about 3 hours | ask the winery |
In general a tasting booked direct costs €20–60 per person; with lunch, or at the best-known estates, €60–150 and more.
Do it yourself: booking wineries directly
It costs less and you choose, but you have two problems to solve.
Transport. You need a car, and whoever drives must stay under 0.5 g/l; for new drivers and under-21s the limit is zero. The rules and the alternatives are on the page about Chianti. Without a car, bus 365 runs from Florence to Greve and Panzano.
Booking. At the big wineries visits are always booked online, and from April to October the best slots go days or weeks in advance. The Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico gathers experiences at many estates on the Chianti Classico Card platform. Small wineries sometimes accept a phone call the same morning, but it is not the rule.
Read the cancellation terms before paying: Antinori does not refund, while Verrazzano lets you cancel free of charge up to the day before and charges 20% for same-day cancellations or no-shows. On the platforms, too, the rules vary from one offer to the next: some can be cancelled up to the day before, others up to the departure time, others are non-refundable.
Cantine Aperte and the wine calendar
Every year the Movimento Turismo del Vino organises Cantine Aperte (open cellars), normally on the last weekend of May. Participating wineries open with tastings, visits and events; in Tuscany the programme is run by the regional branch. Don't expect everything to be free: these days many wineries ask you to book or charge for a kit with a glass, and the arrangements vary from estate to estate. It is a good weekend to tour, as long as you have a driver and start early.
For the rest of the year, spring and early autumn are the most pleasant seasons for vineyard visits. In summer it is hot among the vines at midday: morning or late-afternoon visits are better.
Common mistakes
- Three wineries in one day. Two are enough; you won't remember much of the third.
- Driving after "just a taste". With 3–4 wines per winery the total adds up quickly, and for many drivers the limit is zero.
- Choosing on price alone. Between a €38 tour and an €89 one, the group size, the wineries and the actual time spent tasting all change.
- Doing Brunello as a day trip from Florence without allowing for it. A good part of the 10–11 hours is spent travelling.
- Not checking the cancellation terms. Several tastings are non-refundable.
Other experiences to combine
Wine goes well with olive oil, which in autumn you can taste freshly pressed, and with truffle hunting. If you want to see the vineyards from above, look at the hot air balloon flights, and if you prefer food, the cooking classes. If you are starting from Rome, the options are on the page about day trips from Rome. To choose a platform, read our reviews of Tiqets and GetYourGuide.