Small-group Palazzo Vecchio Secret Passages Tour With Lunch Or "Gelato"

The tour got cancelled, and replaced with a much lower quality tour. I paid 121 Euro for the two of us for this tour, and the replacement tour by the museum was only 56 Euro or the two, and Viator is barely giving me any off that diffference back in a refund!

Fabulous fun! If you like secret staircases, opening paintings and walking through them, going places in buildings most people cannot access, then this tour is for you! We loved every minute of it!!

Our tour leader was knowledgeable, friendly and very likable. Highly recommend her and the tour itself - very fascinating to truly get behind the scenes and learn of past history.

Tour was rescheduled for a later time and they would not provide a refund. Very poor communication and disappointing experience.

The tour was fabulous and our guide was amazing! But, there was most definitely no gelato despite it being in the title …

This is a great tour behind the scenes. You also receive a ticket for the museum. Don’t purchase the lunch option if you are going to tour the museum. You won’t have time to get to your lunch time.

This was an interesting way to see behind the scenes at the Palazzo Vecchio. Our guide was informative and friendly. Your tour meets in the ticket office where you check in and get a ticket then meet your guide. After the tour you have plenty of time to visit the museum. Apparently the lunch or gelato are on your own, but I forgot to get the gelato.

The tour was interesting with secret passages and rooms. Guide was very informative. However it was a very short tour and over priced. The secret passage tour lasted less than an hour and we were left to view the museum on our own after that. 45€ for such a short tour is very poor value for money when earlier in my trip I had visited Rome and only paid €66 for a 3hr trip around Colosseum/ Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. In addition instructions as to where to meet weren't clear. Quite disappointed overall with the experience

The guide was awsome. The tour was incredible. I loved the story about the secret escape route that he took. His man cave and everything else. Great tour and highly suggest it to the people who visit the Palazzo Vecchio. Loved that it included tickets for the whole day to visit The Palazzo Vecchio and see Dante’s mask.

The guide and the tour itself were great, but the price of this tour was triple what you would pay if you just go to the palace directly. When we were there there was no line at all, so it would’ve been so much cheaper just to buy the ticket there. Wouldn’t do this tour via a tour company again.

We had no idea where to meet amongst the throng of people. We were there early and contacted them many times until I finally got a response two minutes before the tour started, with no answer to my questions. Viator chat tried to help but they only had info I had, which did not help, so they kindly refunded my money. Very disappointed

Very very disappointed, directions were not explained well, never found tour, paid and saw nothing but very stressed!! There were 3 of us we split because we wanted to make sure we could find it and never did. I want to be reimbursed. Plus some for the stress it created!!!

So we went by the street info to find the location to meet. Ran around for 30 minutes. Had no idea to go into the museum all the way to the back for the ticket office. Maybe a map of the inside of that facility would help. So late to start the tours. They said go to the lion statue they may still be there. So we went outside to the two lions looking for a tour guide not knowing if man, woman etc. asked around. Sat down tried to call and text for person from Viator. No response.go back into museum. Tell us new but different tour staring at 12.meetby the lion. Now they tell us the lion in the building just outside the doors from ticket office. Woman not expecting us luckily I asked if it was her for our new tour. Tour guide then very nice but we were exhausted. Went to lunch location, told could only have gelato? Very frustrating as info with tour says we have a choice of lunch or gelato. Would not do this again!

We were scammed on this one. No communication from the tour company and when we tried to get tix direct from the ticket window showing voucher from Viator there was no record of it.

The secret passages tour was cancelled and the first floor of the museum was closed. Really crap arrangements and communication. You will be better off to simply buy a ticket and an audio for cheaper, the gelato was the worst one I have had!

Amazing Opportunity to visit and experience so much, I don't know why there was no gelato tasting that we paid for or clear instructions in the meeting point but the host was the best you could ask for Julia

Absolutely fantastic. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and it was wonderful to see secret parts of the Medici lives. Highly recommended !

We booked this via the Palazzo Vecchio website - the tours were run by Headout. The tour itself by Daisy was excellent. She was informative, very knowledgeable and engaging. However the tickets were meant to include a three-course Tuscan lunch at a local trattoria, or a gelato tasting at one of the best ice cream stores in town. This was never upheld. We spoke to the ticket office and was directed to contact Headout directly. I have sent an emailed, provided feedback on a different platform plus communicated this via a chat line. We were promised that the meals would either be provided or refunded. It's been nearly 2 days and we have not heard back. Very disappointed.

This tour is fascinating. Well worth the time and money. A wonderful opportunity to see the private Medici rooms before they moved to the Pitti Palace. The secret passageways are very cool. The room where he stored his treasures is really unique and beautiful.

Standing in a room with concealed cupboards and entrance / exit. Also the small size of the stairs / passageways

Intriguing tour with delightful guide. Best gelato at Perche No! Gelato bar. However feel a bit fiddled as you can easily buy tickets at office for €12 each and an ice cream at this shop for €3. So using TripAdvisor cost me £77 for 2 people. Could have got this for a total of €30 that’s very disappointing. Do everything independently it’s much easier than you might think. What a rip off.

5 Our guide was extremely knowledgeable. We were able to see parts of the building that very few people get to see. She was able to articulate the different people who occupied the building. She took us up above the ceiling and we could see all the timbers that were used to hold up the ceiling and all the paintings.

Very cool experience, entering thru a small secret door that has to be opened from the inside, to a world of art, private rooms and passage ways all the way to the roof/ceiling space. Extremely knowledgable guide.

I loved the secret passage way tour, very informative and the guide was extremely knowledgeable. My complaint…where was the free lunch or Gelato???? There wasn’t any!!! But the title clearly states there is

The tour was great, but paid for a lunch, never received it , way over priced, could get into the tour for 17 euros, paid 150 and didn’t even get the lunch,

The personality of the guide, her English was good, the tour topics were chosen well/ information providedwas interesting, it was not dry due to her sense of humour.

There was no record of our booking at Palazzo Vecchio despite clear confirmation It caused stress We were lucky that the lady at Palzzo. vecchio took pity on us and put us with another group

Go see the Palazzo Vecchio and take the secret passages tour! It's incredible! But get your tickets directly from the museum. Much cheaper and our guide was actually museum staff. Never saw anyone from CAF Tour and Travel. No lunch. No gelato. Big, fat expensive scam!

The tour itself was great. The process of finding tickets and where to go was confusing at best. The gelato/lunch never happened nor did they mention it.

Great tour thtough parts of that we did not know existed. Knowledgeable guide with a sense of humour.

Our guide was exceptional She knew everything about the Secret passages and rooms we visited. Her enthusiasm was contagious and I was sad when the tour ended. Discovered so much about the palace - would highly recommend

This tour was the highlight of our short time in Florence. It was an amazing way to see the Palazzo Vecchio- you really get to experience secret passages that gave me DND/ National Treasure mystery vibes, which I love, and these secret passages are not open to the public outside of this tour. It was so fun, and full of great art, architecture, history and surprises. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and easy-going. Another plus was that the free gelato was able to be redeemed later in the afternoon- you do not go as a "group," but are able to take your ticket and get your free gelato that day, when it works for your schedule. We really enjoyed the location of the free gelato- felt like it had a little history of its own.

The Palazzo Vecchio is a fascinating visit. The history here is incredible. The climb to the top was difficult, but worth it. The guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. Where was the gelato?

This was a superb tour. I simply can’t say enough about our wonderful guide Francesca. She was engaging, knowledgable and very passionate about her work, easily the best we’ve ever had. The tour was also very exciting, seeing incredible secret passages (including the roof of the hall of 500) and I couldn’t recommend this more. Francesca, thank you for such a wonderful experience!!

Meeting instructions not good Missed the tour and now no one gets back to Too my money and ran! Tour operator not responding to any emails

Better than expected! The meeting point was not clearly defined (at least for me), I gave feedback on how to make that better - the palazzo is filled with people and very busy to find the right location. Our guide was amazing , and the craftsmanship and architecture we saw was spectacular. The tour is only about 90 minutes, and we didn’t have gelato - we just sort of disbanded in the museum at the end. So if you are after lunch and/or gelato, pass. If you want to see some pretty nifty things built in the 1500’s - please go!

We had a wonderful time with Sarah! Her English was great and very easy to understand. I loved the hidden passage in the map room and the view from the hidden courtyard. Very memorable tour to learn about life in the palace.

Extraordinary tour with an incredible guide. My highest recommendation! A special shoutout as well to the staff at Caf Tours, who went above and beyond to make this a special experience for a last-minute guest.

This was such an absolute mess of a tour. The organizers did not give a specific meeting place so we had to wait in line with everyone else at the information centre (good thing we arrived so early). Then they told us where to meet our guide and she was late and then rude and rushed. We were never told by anyone we had to go and get printouts of our tickets either. Then the guide tried to make my wife check her purse while most people were walking around with huge backpacks without being hassled. When my wife ran to the gift shop to get a bag the guide wanted to start the tour without her. Total mess. The tour itself is very misleading since the secret passages were very underwhelming to say the least and then the guide leaves you at the top of the building to find your own way through the maze with no assistance getting to the lunch portion of the tour. We had to find the place ourselves and they had no idea what lunch voucher for lunch we were talking about so we had to dig out all our paperwork from Viator and have management look it over. Never again.

We really enjoyed this non typical behind the scenes view of Palazzo Vecchio. Our lunch was great, but the restaurant was a bit confused by us turning up. They were very accommodating none the less.

We waited for our tour guide in the wrong spot and didn’t figure it out till after our tour was supposed to begin, despite our mistake, our guide Stephano waited for us! We had the best time seeing the private family quarters of the Medici family and the stories of their lives. I especially loved how he got the kids excited about which picture would open up into a staircase. Thank-you!!!

The tour and the guide was very good. The issue for us is although we were there 30 mins early we almost missed the tour as the instructions were very vague. You had to actually go to the General ticket office to get tickets rather than use the Viator voucher and this was not made clear. We also did not get the gelati - the shop instructed on voucher appeared to no longer exist. I don’t know why they offer it in combination with either lunch or gelati - it should just be the tour.

The directions for the meet up were not complete… had to call to find out who actually did the tour and where to find them. There was no gelato at the end as stated… so sorta silly. Book through the host museum not through viator

Great tour, very interesting. Our guide was wonderful. There was no gelato as part of the tour as someone else had mentioned.

Fantastic tour! This secret passageway tour was recommend by a friend and I’m so glad she suggested it. It was a small group and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. We loved the behind the scenes experience and the gelato was a bonus after completing the tour. We are traveling with an 8-year old… so some tours are tough for him. He loved this one.

This was our first tour of the trip and we couldn’t be more thrilled! I can’t imagine a more special and unique way to see the Palazzo Vecchio. Every turn was a surprise and we truly did get to see all kinds of secret passageways, stairwells and the roof truss system above the main hall. Incredible experience, would recommend to anyone!!!

This was probably my most favorite thing that we did in Florence. I had read Inferno by Dan Brown several years ago and this tour inspired me to re-read it so that I could imagine all the places in the novel! We saw many areas that aren't on the usual tour of the Palazzo and our guide (Sara) was terrific! When we finished, we were able to spend as long as we wanted in the other areas of the museum. That said, the operator really wasn't good. We got up quite early to come to Florence to be on time for the 10:00 am tour, then there was a lot of confusion at the ticket office and we were told we were actually booked for the 11:30 am tour, so were had to hang around for another 1.5 hours. When I looked closely at our vouchers, there were three different times listed. Also, the listing suggested there would be someone from the operator there to meet us, but there wasn't. Just the museum docent (who was terrific as mentioned above). We were able to get the gelato, but they didn't seem to know anything about the voucher either and there was a bit of confusion there also. If you have enough lead time, I would suggest trying to book the tour directly with the Palazzo instead of this middle-man operator. It will be cheaper and there is really no value added for using the operator. We did this about a week before our departure and there were no more tickets left directly through the museum.

Very good. The guide was the most engaging we had of all our tours. They seem to take very small groups because our family couldn't book in with us afterwards. FYI the lunch is separate from the tour and not everyone on the tour attends. The restaurant had great service - carbonara was a little salty (and yes I know because the chef with best carbonara in Rome cooked for me 😉 )

We had a very good, animated guide which made the past come alive. Much better to see the Palazzo this way without missing other parts. The stairs were narrow but not claustrophobic, enough but not tiring. Really worth while The tour I booked had an added gelato afterwards. Some people in the group booked the lunch. It seems that our guide did not know about it and we had to find the venues by ourselves (not difficult). Not a problem but be aware that even though you booked it, it is not part of the tour