Private Tour Winchester

Michelle was a fantastic guide and host. Very knowledgeable. Highly recommend.

A great way to learn the history of Winchester in a 2 hour walk. Lilian was very good and informative.

My guide Thomas did a great job giving a good overview of Winchester. He was very knowledgeable In History and provided a good feel for the city. I was going to the Cathedral the following day, so he focused on things I was interested in. In particular old churches, pubs, bookstores and other highlights to check out. He even spent little extra time to show me architecture aspects that were interesting! Overall very good experience & very enjoyable.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and explained the British history and the Winchester history we were seeing. I would recommend this tour to anyone going to the first time. We did this first thing in the morning and then explored on our own afterwards and felt comfortable wandering around where our guide had taken us.

We had an absolute wonderful day. Lily is probably the best tour guide we've ever had on any excursion ever. We learned so much about Winchester and its history, and she was very passionate about it.

Michelle was a superb guide. Professional and couteous. Encyclopedic knowlege of the history of Winchester and England. What are great tour! Scotty

Booked for the Anglo-Saxon, King Alfred focus the listing leads on, and expecting Dr Lillian. At 1.30am on the day I was told I’d be met by someone else. The tour gave about five minutes to Alfred before moving on to building prices and local wealth — not what’s advertised, and a group passing nearby were covering exactly the history I’d hoped for. Disappointing in itself. What tipped it was the reaction when I raised it afterwards: defensive and argumentative rather than willing to listen. Wouldn’t book again.

The city and Cathedral have much to offer. Definitely worth the visit. Our guide was sub par. A good guide always enhances the tour, this one did not. He was impatient and seemed focused on finishing and moving on. At one point one of the ladies asked if there were restrooms nearby. He said yes and kept moving. Finally we saw a sign and said can we stop and use restrooms? He rolled his eyes and relented. If this young man wants to improve 1) be patient with your group 2) know your city 3) stop doing things that make your customers uneasy We are on vacation and we want to enjoy it

An enjoyable trip around Winchester with a student guide who was very pleasant. Arrived and finished on time. I would say it was over priced.

Our tour was great. Lillian was an excellent guide.

I did this tour. There is a decent amount to see. It was an easy train ride down from London. I did the tour. The guide was great. The Main Street, the hall, and the church were great.

Very informative and delivered in an interesting way, taken at our pace which was nice and slow, so would totally recommend

Lillian was a great guide. She walked us bravely through Winchester (at in some moments a horrible down pour of rain) with nothing but cheer. noting all the history as well as its more modern quirks. She’s super knowledgeable and very personable. We especially loved being shown the little pockets of monuments and history that would have been easy to miss by ourselves. Thank you for a great morning, it was the perfect start to our day out as newbies to the town.

Our guide James, was very friendly and knowledgeable and we learnt so much about the history of Winchester. Even though it was raining for the majority of the tour it did not dampen our experience.

I learned a lot about Winchester from a real expert. I particularly enjoyed learning more about King Alfred, and exploring some of the byways and back-ways. A great experience.

It was very interesting! My guide was Sam, who is doing his master's degree in history. He was very open to answering my questions about the history of Winchester and overall England - I really appreciated that!

The tour guide, Sam, was very friendly and knowledgeable. We really got a fee for Winchester and ideas for attractions to visit. Plus it was a beautiful day!

Amazing tour of Winchester! Our guide was Sam and he did a great job walking us through Winchester and telling us all about the incredible history of so many ruling groups. Would absolutely do this tour again when visiting Winchester in the future. Do not hesitate and book this tour if you're going to be in Winchester!

We loved our guide, Sam. He knew all kinds of things about Winchester and its history. Winchester is a lovely place, but hearing his stories and explanations added a whole other level to our enjoyment. Highly recommend.

Sam was our guide and was the perfect English gentleman!! We started at the West Wall and learned about the Roman gate and the wall that surrounds the old fortress town. So much to see from the tunnels to the gate to the recent 17th Century buildings. He was so engaging and obviously proud of his town! We were introduced to the Museum of the Green Jacket Regiment, (very famous) and the renown Winchester College. He left us at the start of the Main Street leading back to the train station. This town deserves more time and Sam’s tour is a great way to kick off a super experience!

I really enjoyed the tour. Everything was really well organised, Michelle was very knowledgeable and passionate about local history

Not as described. Tour details state that the tour will be done by Dr. Lillian Gonzales who got her degree in Winchester. The tour guide ended up being a college student--not Dr. Gonzales. An asterick in the description does say that most tours are done by her, but that one of her students may do the tour instead. Very misleading !!! Sam was our guide. He was very monotone, spoke very softly (hard to hear), and not very interesting. This tour does not live up to the many, many other Viator tours we have taken. Super disappointing !

Fantastic tour, covered a range of history and was the perfect length and circuit. Lillian was super knowledgeable and friendly and we could t have asked for a better tour guide

Our tour guide provide us was a constant stream of information and stories about each of the places she took us to! There’s so much depth to the history here.

Exceptional experience! We learned so much from Dr Gonzalez. She really knows her history and weaves it into the current day. Our tour was exactly what we hoped for and frankly exceeded our expectations. Because of her, we will come back. Thank you so much!

An extremely informative tour of Winchester given by Lilian. I was taken to places I would never have found myself - for instance, the house where Jane Austen died. Taking a guide is definitely the best way to discover a new town.

Dr Gonzales really knows her stuff. Historians really have their work cut out in Winchester since so much has been lost. But Dr Gonzales painted a vivid picture. Loved her explanation of the cathedral makeover to a Gothic style by Bishop William of Wykeham

Michele’s a fantastic tour guid. Very pleasant to be with and extremely knowledgeable! Also gave us pointers on what to see beyond the tour. My mom walks slow and she was more than happy to go at our pace Great tour!

Had we NOT booked with Lily we would have missed so much of Winchester entirely. She is very bright, is enthused to share her love and respect for the city, and shared places that we never would have found on our own. We would heartedly suggest booking with her. It made all the difference for us.

Great information, stories, and very personable tour guide Lillian. Tour lasted about 1.5 hours. If it rains you want to wear water proof shoes to avoid puddle soaking.

Lilian was phenomenal from start to finish. A fountain of knowledge. The best guide I have ever had. She gave us so many interesting and detailed explanations of every place. Her in depth knowledge and passion for history stand out straight away. She was attentive and caring and answered every question we asked her. Energetic, charismatic, charming and passionate best describe her guided tours. A real pleasure to have experienced her tour. Highly recommended!!

Our guide Lilly was amazing and passionate ❤️ She has a PHD so she really knew her stuff! I highly recommend this tour ask for Lilly if possible

This was a wonderful private tour! Dr. Lilly Cespedes gave us a fascinating look at Winchester's early history. The weather was horrible, but it did not deter her or us. This tour is well worth going on. I would love to do another tour with her.

Lillian was a great guide: she knew the topic inside and out; was passionate about it and was more than happy to accommodate any requests or questions we had. Its just the sort of person you want to guide you through Winchester.

The guide was quite knowledgeable and interesting about the history and characters of Winchester. She spoke movingly about the Jewish wealthy woman Laoricia.

This was the most wonderful tour! To have the opportunity to tour with just your group…in our case just two people….was priceless. She was so full of knowledge that it was fascinating! I can’t recommend her highly enough. Winchester has such a long wonderful history. Enjoy it on this tour and you will learn while having a great visit.

Unfortunately, we’ve had a really bad experience with this company. I booked a tour in March for when my family was visiting in mid-May. Given how long ago we booked, I messaged the company four days ago to find out whether or not everything was still going ahead. After initially swift responses by the company in March, there was complete radio silence for the last four days. Even with three individual follow ups, I heard nothing back. I called on Friday twice only for it to go to voicemail. I’m currently 36 weeks pregnant with a poorly back so I needed to be certain of plans before doing a two-hour car journey leaving in the early morning the following day. After a few failed attempts to reach them and speaking to Viator, I got a text message that the company hasn’t had any internet and that I’ll receive a confirmation in the evening. At 10pm, I had to follow up to find out if the tour was still going ahead for the next morning. I then received pretty aggressive and unreasonable text messages from the company saying I’ll receive a confirmation “in due course”. At 11pm, they cancelled my tour for the next morning because I dared to ask for some clearer communication and instructions for where and how to meet the tour guide the following morning when I could have been asleep hours ago. Petty, unreasonable and entitled. Given how many other tour operators there are in the country who are great at communicating, have reasonable staff and access to internet (in 2024) - I’d suggest you look elsewhere for booking your tours.

Lili was amazing, she is very well informed and showed us the best spots, she also is very knowledgeable. Highly recommend her tour !

This walking tour was really informative and a great way to see the key areas of the city. Lilly is so knowledgeable and shared loads of interesting historical facts and stories with us - we absolutely loved it!

We met with Lillian on a very rainy day but that didn't dampen her enthusiasm to educate us on the history of Winchester. Her knowledge of British and European history is very impressive and she answered every question, even obscure ones, in great detail; illustrating her passion for history and love of Winchester and the county. Highly recommend this Winchester tour with Lillian.

In depth knowledge of the city and ir’s history and landmarks … jane austin The cathedral king alfred etc

Just brilliant. Lillian was utterly engaging throughout. Immense depth of knowledge- fielded all our ad hoc questions with ease. Truly passionate about the history and community of the area. The tour was fascinating. I highly highly recommend this tour and Lillian’s expertise and general enthusiasm if you’re in the Winchester area.

I treated my daughter to a private tour of Winchester and we had the best time and learned lots too. We easily met our guide who was very knowledgeable and made the whole walk very interesting.

Excellent guided tour. Lille the guide was excellent giving insights to all the history of the city. Thers loads of things we learnt from the trip and would fully recommend it to anyone. Lille knowledge of not just winchester but british history is second to none.

A super tour around Winchester with Lilian who was very knowledgeable. Even though I have been to a Winchester lots of times it was nice to see and hear more of its rich history.

The guide was so sweet, knowledgeable and passionate about history. My husband has some limited mobility and she adapted the tour to the two of us very well, allowing for sitting when needed etc. We saw the while beautiful city and really loved it!

Lilian was a mine of expert information and my son and I learned such lot in a short time. She was even enthusiastic when it rained throughout most of the tour! Highly recommended. Thank you 😊

Lillian is the perfect guide - my husband has difficulty walking long distances and she helped to tailor an already great tour to make it doable and enjoyable for him. She knew places along the way he could sit and rest and there were times i went with her to see a particular detailed ruin by ourselves. It worked out very well. As others have said she is so knowledgeable that we could have talked for hours about the history of the area and it was a wonderful day. She also recommended we go to evensong at the Cathedral which was wonderful. I highly recommend her. Thank you Lillian for a wonderful day in Winchester.

Everything was perfect. Our tour guide was kind, knowledgeable, and caring. It wasn’t a scripted tour, she listened to what was important to my family and tailored it to what interested us. I would have paid for a full day if the opportunity was available and if I knew Winchester was so large we would have stayed the night rather than making it a day trip from London. We will definitely be back!