San Luca Experience Tour Skip The Line And Food Tasting

A good way to travel to San Luca - but don’t waste your money on the “food tastings”: the pasta outlet was closed!

This was a beautiful basilica to visit. We were lucky enough to catch a mass while we were there. The views from the basilica are stunning.

The female assistant called me because we couldn’t find the sign in for the train to san Luca. We were running to different spots at piazza Galvani. Next time, you should have a guide with a sign. However, she called us. Wonderful, she found us!

Pros: The service provided by the tour operator was as promised with outstanding communication. They met us promptly and made sure we understood where to meet. The ride up to San Luca went well, and the site was beautiful. Fantastic views, lovely basilica. Cons: the “tour” on the ride had silly narration that could have provided much more information. It was also difficult to hear over the engine struggling up the hill. The drive down was rough because the driver continually swerved back and forth for most of the ride, despite complaints from many riders. I’m glad we made the journey to San Luca, definitely a must-see, but it wasn’t a pleasant ride.

Too much different the rates payed through Viator and the rates direct payable to the service provider. In the first case the rate is pretty much overestimating the value of the trip. Crowded train, bad audio quality, poor audio guide.

We had a great time on the little train learning about the area and arrived at the top of the hill to an Amazing church and view of the city.

Very enjoyable trip and a good start to a stay in Bolognaa. Don't worry if you can't hear the audio on the speakers on the way up because you get headphones on the way down. The food vouchers are good.

Trip was amazing, our guide Alessandro was a wealth of knowledge on the history of Tuscany. Lots of beautiful sites to see, the highlight for me was the farm tasting amount the beautiful Tuscan hills and Siena. Only 2 negative was there was no toilet facilities on the bus so free time exploring was taken up finding toilets, it was a long day and this would have helped. The other thing was I was told drop off and pick up would be the same point, which it wasn’t. We had to walk back to the main train station which as a solo traveler was disappointing. Everything else was 5* and well worth the money. Defiantly would book again on my next visit to Tuscany

If I could request a refund I would. We were a group of five thinking we should pay extra to get reserved seats and some typical food. We did not get reserved seats we were squashed into a place where they put the wheel chair. The typical food was vouchers which could be redeemed at various establishments! Visiting San Luca was good but the price we paid was far too much for what we received. Our advice to other people is to simply purchase the 13 Euro train ticket.

The Sanctuary of San Luca is beautiful and well worth the visit. The transportation was a bit uncomfortable however. You are packed into the little train like sardines. I would recommend going early to avoid the crowds so that you can ride more comfortably.

Good fun, the weather was perfect as we were shaded from the sun but not the views as we went through the city and up the hill to the church. The speakers were difficult to hear instead of the usual headphones but against the constant traffic noise of Bologna this was hardly surprising. For those unable or unwilling g to climb the near 700 steps to the top of the colonnade it was a good idea to provide this.

Good little trip to the main attractions & the food vouchers are very helpful and they don’t expire which is great, means you can use them whenever around Bologna!

Misleading experience. The tickets can easily be purchased at the booth yourself for €13. The guide simply walks you to the train—nothing more. The train takes you to the church, where you explore on your own and return whenever you like. The so-called "food tasting" is disappointing and feels like a scam. You don’t eat at the local restaurant as implied. Instead, you’re given a voucher for the cheapest sandwich in town (worth about $3) that requires walking 900 meters, and a small ice cream (worth $2) from a separate shop 700 meters away—in the opposite direction. Would not recommend.

The best part was the ride up and you can book that directly in the square. The snack tickets and the map is not worth the rest is not worth the additional cost.

Nothing special, the ride up was nice. The food vouchers were for touristy restaurants that we didn’t use. Better off spending the money and eating good food.

The train was a great way to reach San Luca. The walk up is definitely for the adventurous and fit. The audio narration could not be heard on the drive. It would be best to not offer or have headsets or a QR code to listen on personal devices. The additional cost with the meal vouchers was not worth the cost. San Luca is worth a visit. There is an extra €5 cost to take the stairs the top of the basilica. The views were worth it. An hour is sufficient time for a visit.

We fast tracked onto the little bus, but then you get to the top, the church is beautiful but there is very little else to do, we chose to walk back down the hill. You can buy the ticket directly at the bus for cheaper and a lot of people seemed to walk up and down.

Skip this. You can buy the tickets directly, the experience is the same, and less money. I got a fancy envelope and two coupons to find my way to get a cheap sandwich and a cookie. The tour company walked me over to the train and I was supposed to "skip the line". When the train came it was a "free for all" nothing special for me. The train ride itself up to San Luca was okay, but the train ride down was frightening. It was truly a "crazy train" ride with excessive speed, and the cars whipping around. It was actually a scary experience.

Ride up was refreshing especially after walking all day the day before. Get headphones to listen to an audio commentary of the area. The church is nice to see and read the articles that’s posted. However, the timings to return if you wish to take the shuttle back isn’t as convenient as you think. You either rush to see the church or after 30 minutes or so your done and now you either wait about 1.5 hour for the next shuttle or take a chance the sister shuttle has room for you or if your up for you can walk back to the city centr ( about 5-6 km). Food vouchers are for various cafes/ice cream and diners in the area but you have to go looking for them. They’re not in the square Overall it was a relaxing ride up and nice view.

Not worth the price, the tour narration was sparse with a few historical facts. The church and view was beautiful, but that’s it, nothing else up there Return train was an hour late, you only need an hour to see everything

While I wasn't expecting the world based from the previous reviews, I'm surprised our experience had never been described. This shouldn't even be an offered experience. First, the process to get on the train was not very clear. We went to the meeting location but didn't know who or what we were looking for. None of the surrounding businesses in the piazza knew either. We stood in line at the actual train and the "Sky Express" employees also had no idea where we were supposed to go or how to obtain our tickets. We missed our scheduled train time. We finally found a business that contacted the Viator company for us. Our experience was postponed an hour, after already being there a half hour before our scheduled departure time. We were at the square at 1:30 and didn't catch the train until 3 pm. Beyond aggravating. Bologna Tour did email us about the postponed time, but we weren't on Wifi, so I didn't know (also found out on our last day that Bologna has free open wifi throughput the city center). The train ride up was fine and luckily the holiday hours gave us additional options for leaving. The delay just gave us less time to enjoy San Lucas. We were provided coupons for a few snacks in downtown Bologna. Unfortunately, it was our last day and we were unable to use them all. We left them for the next visitors at our Airbnb. So why do I think this shouldn't be offered, because it's not worth it. The girl met us at the location walked us to the train, exchanged tickets at the train for our receipt and said Caio. The train is 13 euros, you can skip the nonsense and middle man and just get the tickets when you want. What you're paying Viator for is nonsense. You don't need the free food, just walk the streets and try what you want. Save yourself the money and skip this "experience ".

The ride to the cathedral took over an hour due to traffic spent about an hour there. The food vouchers are a joke You have to find the location then stand in line Better to book a fad tour

Not worth the added expense. We could have purchased tickets for the train at the same place everyone else did at 1/3 the price. We had no advantage as someone just handed us our tickets to the train, gave us a map of the city, and gave us a voucher for 10 per cent off at some cafe that was way out of the way for us to even find and two other vouchers for samples at places that were also out of the way. We had to wait in line to board the train just like everyone else. We were not given any priority. Definitely not worth the extra money.

Totally misleading. Raises expectations which are not matched. Better if you separately buy train ticket and that’s it. No food tasting at all. They give you some crappy discount vouchers. Google points are not even correct. Family of 4 split in 2 due to limited spaces. Disappointing. Do not waste your money.

The crew organizing this were on time, professional and friendly. It was enjoyable, but I wouldn’t call it a “food tasting”. They basically gave me a few coupons for places in town. I thought it was a food tasting combined with the ride up the hill.

To be honest, my wife and I just wanted to get to the basilica but didn't fancy the porticoed walk in 30+ degree heat. The noise of the engine drowned out the commentary but that was fine. Slightly misleading reference to food tasting as these turned out to be vouchers but the sandwich, gelato and fridge magnet were gratefully received. Worth it just to avoid landing at San Luca looking like a red, sweaty lump.

Tickets yo san luca are much cheaper than buying through viator Fodd vouchers are a waste of time Very basic food not worth the efforts to hunt Sorry

Save your money and buy tickets directly from vendor in the piazza. Tasting is a voucher for a focaccia and gelato you can buy yourself

This was really nothing more than meeting a guide at the train stop, getting our train tickets and then we got a few coupons to get free tastings of 2 different foods to try on our own. It was fine, but we expected to have the guide with us a little more. The guide basically took off after we got on the train. We had to wait in a long line for the return and that was not expected.

Easy to locate meeting place. Clear cut instructions and information provided by guide. Absolutely worth seeing San Luca Basiica. Stunning views all around!

Punctual, friendly staff, and very knowledgeable. Train ride to San Luca was delightful and east going.

San Luca and the ride up!! Had a great time touring the grounds, church, and some overlook. Take this trip.

The experience consisted of a little motorised train that took us from the city square up the hill to the Basilica. Stunning views when we arrived, and well worth a visit. When we got the train back to the town centre we took the vouchers we were given and exchanged these for some mortadella ham and bread at one place and an jce cream at another. Not exactly what we had expected and definitely not worth the £25 each we had paid! We could simply have paid for the trip to the Basilica and saved ourselves 12 euros a head. Poor value for money - avoid!

Amazing Church and so much better than walking up the hill. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx what's this 100 words for a review...xxxxx x

The train ride was fine, but there very little “tour” information given. It was a nice way to get up the hill to San Luca, but the arrival time was unclear. We arrived at the appointed time and the train was already full. My partner and I were split up on the train and he ended up in a kid seat facing backwards at the end of the train. He is not a small person! San Luca was incredible and we were able to attend mass while visiting.

One of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. Definitely recommended especially if you’re a religious person but it’s not necessary. I didn’t try the food because my mother in law was tired so I can’t review that.

Train and your company contact were late ( more than 30 minutes). Due to bad weather the tour should have been canceled and refunded. Fog was so intense that we couldn’t see San Luca or surroundings. Restaurant was close. Church even closed the observation deck. We had to wait 2 hours for the train to come back and pick us up. Used Viator multiple time and were always very satisfied. Company should have canceled as the weather was really bad and completely useless to take us on a tour with main attraction is a view of Bologna.

Waste of money. This is not a tour It is not a good tasting It’s a ride in a trolley and some vouchers to some food stall. Not worth the time or money. TripAdvisor should not support such businesses

Over rated ride. Ride was really bumpy. Too short a stop over. Probably better to take the city hop on off buses. Will not repeat.

Flexible way to visit San Luca. The ride is fun, kids enjoyed it, and you can go at your own pace in the Sanctuary.

With the pic-nic option you only meet the hosts at the start where you get a little box with a little bit of food (not much) and a beer; from there you go with the train/express up to San Luca along with other people (the train/express can be booked separately). You do not have a personal guide with you during the trip or at the basilica. They do add a small gift with the food box, but would have preferred a more personalised tour.

Very well informed, very friendly people. The train ride with audio was great and well worth the money. The food tasting after was also great highly recommend.

The San Luca Experience Tour and Food Tasting was a nice experience. The stuff were very nice and helpful. The train took us up to Sun Luca and we walked back down to the city center through the beautiful porticos. It should be noted though that the "food tasting" includes a basic slice of pizza and some basic ice cream.

This experience was an exploitation of tourists good will. The first part required us to meet a guide at a different location to the train departure point, where there was no clear meeting point, just a single person holding a piece of paper. Furthermore, it would have been much easier and cheaper to get a ticket direct with the train company. The “guided tour” was nothing to do with this experience, this was all provided by City redbus. This company has simply rebranded it as something different and increased the price. The second part included a local food tasting. This was a complete joke. The tasting included a mediocre Cassini and ice cream from two chain restaurants. Nothing local or authentic about it. Again, the tour offered no discount or special experience. I must urge anyone to avoid this experience.

Ride to church actually costs E12 with return ,very fair. Tour with Food tasting paid E30 , definitely not worth it, would definitely not recommend.

The train trip to San Lucas was good, interesting information during the tripp. Though the food tasting was not worth the money. The tripp including "food taste" was EUR 60 for two, for just a ticket with the train the cost was EUR 23 for two. One tiny bread with mortadella and a small icecream for EUR 37 was shocking. On top of that one had to navigate to one place to get the mortatella and then another 10 minutes walk to the icecream. It felt like beeing scammed paying EUR 60 for something you could get for EUR 23. The extremely expenisve, so called "food tasting", made the impression of the trip a real disaster. I just remember it as "usuary"

The train ride up the mountain was interesting with a good commentary in our chosen language. The palisade up the mountain is the longest in the world at about 5km. The timetable of trips was adequate. The icon of the Madonna was interesting and there were some good views over the local countryside and the city. There was nothing else up there except one restaurant. The cost of the trip via Viatour was expensive, although it does include some tasting experiences in the city. It is cheaper to pay on the day in the square.

The food vouchers were AMAZING and it forced you to walk around the city, which was nice. And the train was lovely!

This was a great way to start our visit to Bologna! The guide met us with our packet of information at the arranged time and made sure we found the train. She answered a few questions, gave us tips on the tasting experience and was on her way. The rest was self-guided, but that was perfect. If you want to climb to the top of the basilica, it costs a few more euro which you pay there. Wonderful experience - recommend!