Ortigia: Syracuse's Ancient Town Center Private Walking Tour

We only had half day in ortigia so that tour was good fit for us you get good orientation of the island that is small but full of history.

Tomasso was informative with a charming and warm personality. And he guided us to a splendid restaurant frequented by locals.

Excellent private tour. Our guide Eva was super, very friendly, gave interesting local knowledge and facts about the sites and culture of Ortigia. Exactly the right amount of information without overloading us but open to all questions. The interaction we had with Sebastiano at the Hermes office when booking the tour directly with them was also excellent and reassuring. All questions were answered, recommendations given and no pressure to purchase. Received an email from them a couple of days before the tour as a reminder and to introduce our guide for the tour. All round super experience and would definitely use them again without hesitation. Recommend Hermes 100%.

Anne-Marie, provided a fact fiiled 2 1/2 hour walk around this fascinating place. Because she had lived locally, she was able to give us a historical and a lived experience. We were very happy and have no hesitation in recommending this walk

Eva is a lovely guide and knows a lot to share about the history the city and Sicilian culture. The tour company was very responsive and move the timing due to my travel timing issues. I would recommend

Great tour. Covering all the basics and providing a great overview of the area. Guide knowledgeable and friendly

A lovely tour of Ortygia with Eva. She was very patient with our two young and energetic children. I would highly recommend her for anyone wanting to learn and experience the history and beauty of this Siracusa gem.

Our guide was very thorough in her knowledge and provided us a wealth of information. There are many hidden treasures that we wouldn't have found without her guidance.

I was surprised to find that we had this tour all to ourselves with no other guests which was nice. Our guide was very knowledgeable and ianswered all our questions very professionally. One thing though is that the first stop we made we were there for at least 20 minutes which I personally found to be very long in one place and wanted to move on but my husband found her talk informative. The tour focused mainly on important archeological sites and architecture and our guide, who has a degree in archeology, was well informed.

Eva was an excellent guide. She was full of information and stories that made our tour. Great guide!

This short walking tour is excellent! It provided a good overview of how history shaped the city of Siracusa (as well as Sicily). Very interesting and engaging. Our guide was Eva Maier, who was amazing! I highly recommend this tour to anyone who spends time in Siracusa! You can easily fit this into your itinerary!

Highly recommend this tour. It was very informative and interesting. The tour enabled us to understand & appreciate this beautiful city

Eva , the guide was personable and extremely knowledgeable. Although much was covered, she asked if there was anything specific we wanted to see.

We really enjoyed this tour and our tour guide - Ava - was wonderful. She gave us lots and lots of facts about what we were seeing. She spoke English well and it was easy to understand her. She has a lovely personality and we so enjoyed working with her. The tour content was amazing and we are so glad we had this time to learn about Ortigia and all the amazing things there. Thank you to Miss Ava!!

Excellent walking guide. Nicolette was so knowledgable. Would recommend. The cathedral is so interesting with lots of history.

This was a wonderful thing to do to start off our stay in Ortigia. Our guide was brilliant and we were given plenty of information. Would definitely recommend to do this tour

Ava was a delightful leader. Very knowledgeable and considerate! We learned a lot about Ortigia whither her.

Ava was an excellent, Persian and considerate guide. We did not have a lot of time to spend but the two hours with Ava taught us a lot about the area. I would recommend this to anyone because of the area and can’t devote and excessive amount of time. This is a great way to see part of this world and get a lot of history and culture.

The city has much to offer in terms of history and beauty and our guide was very knowledgeable on the city's buildings and people

Our guide Eva gave us very useful and interesting information on the history and actual life in Syracusa. We were only 3 people, so it was a bit a personalised tour and we could adapt the tour a bit according to our preferences. I would surely recommand it !

Excellent - guide was lovely. We were a very mixed party of ten, two in wheel chairs. Tour was informative, interesting and appropriately paced. Highly recommend

We took a walking tour of Ortygia, led by Eva. She was terrific, her English really good and she tailored the tour to our interests flawlessly. She was very interesting and we saw many older buildings and Eva gave them context. Greeks came, then Romans built upon the Greek temples, then Arabs, then Christians......so much of what's left is on top. 2 plus hours gave us a good feel for the island across from Siracusa

Our tour with Eva was very informative and gave us a wonderful overview of the amazing history of Syracusa. This was our first stop on our trip and it really set the tone for the rest of our stay in Sicily. Highly recommend!

Oreste, a trained archeologist, was a great tour guide for a 2+ hour tour of central Catania. We were pleasantly surprised that Catania had so much to offer and Oreste did an excellent job of uncovering both major attractions as well as hidden gems.

Over 2 thousand years ago Siracusa was the second largest city in Greece. second only to athens. There are magnificent Greek ruins throuout the City. The best food I have eaten in all of Italy has been in Ortigia. I realize that's a matter of opinion, but I have traveled to Italy over 30 times since 1962. P.S.Im Sicilian. One the best hotels in Ortigia is Hotel Posta. It is my home away from home when I am in Ortigia.

Spent 2 hours walking and exploring Ortygia learning a lot about its history and information about what its like to live there today. Very enjoyable.

Valeria was an excellent guide. She was extremely knowledgeable about Syracuse, Ortygia and Sicily. Her passion for history was evident. And we were able to see in detail by walking that any other form o f transportation. We would highly recommend both Valeria and the walking tour over

Took the 1.5 hour walking tour with Eva yesterday. She is very knowledgeable and passionate. It was a great introduction to Ortigia’s long, storied history. Highly recommend tour and guide.

Our tour guide was Eva, she was amazing! I learned more than I ever thought I would about Ortigia. She was very knowledgeable about how the city has grown and evolved over time. Her passion for the city really shows. The tour gives a great overview of both the popular places and some of the slower areas. It both starts and ends just inside the city at the Temple of Apollo. Eva gave us time to ask questions and take pictures as we walked through the historic city. She pointed out some of the amazing small things we might have just walked past. I would recommend this tour to friends as it gives a great feel for the city.

I had very good time . WE went to Sicily for my uncle wedding and it was amazing . The tour was great

<p>This was a very interesting tour- our guide, Carmine, was very nice and knowledgeable and showed us the most interesting parts of the city, including a very old Mikveh ritual bath that we never would have seen otherwise.<br/> Highly recommended!</p>

<p>Eva was our tour guide in Ortygia. She is very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about Ortygia's history. Her passion and love of this beautiful and historic island made our stay there that much more enjoyable. We highly recommend this tour!</p>

<p>Our guide was excellent and we couldn't have asked for more from her. She spent a lot of time with us walking around Ortygia and the markets and he English was excellent.</p>

<p>Eva guided our tour of both the archaeological park and downtown Ortigia. She was outstanding. We absolutely and whole-heartedly recommend her! It was a wonderful experience for us. Eva is so knowledgeable, very kind, easy to talk to. She had an answer for every question. Thank you!!</p>

<p>If history is your thing, you'll enjoy this stroll through the gorgeous island of Ortygia or Ortigia, which is brimming with beautiful sites, churches, restaurants and narrow streets. Don't miss Saint Lucy's bone stored in a chapel inside the cathedral it'll cost an extra 2 Euros, but the stunning inside of the cathedral is worth it or Caravaggio's masterpiece painting The Burial Of Saint Lucy in the neighboring church of Santa Lucia alla Badia. Our guide was a lovely German woman who has resided in Syracuse for the past 40 years, and she was full of knowledge. We got her to expand on the hilarious mythology of the Fonte Aretusa simply by asking some questions so don't be afraid to ask the guides to go into more depth. They love talking about this stuff.</p>

We participated as a family in a private walking tour of the historic center of Syracuse with Gaetano, a truly knowledgeable and engaging guide. He knew how to combine historical, artistic and cultural information with anecdotes, curiosities and attention to small details, managing to interest even the youngest of our daughters, 9 years old. The two hours of the visit flew by despite the heat, Gaetano always had the thoughtfulness to choose shaded spots for the explanations, accompanying us on a real walk... through space and time. Absolutely recommended!

Very much learned. Guided tour was in German (better Austrian 😊), the guide went to great lengths. 4h will do.

The visit was very interesting, my 9 year old son was attentive all the time and when it ended he exclaimed: these two hours passed really quickly! This for me is the testimony of the skill of the guide and the beauty of the places we visited! Thanks to Sebastiano and Hermes!

Ortigia is wonderful! I recommend everyone, as I did, to immediately take a guided tour with the aspects and then enjoy it with awareness!

We had a private tour of Ortigia with Patricia. It was a super good visit. Patricia showed us the beautiful old town and explained everything super well. We were very happy with the private tour.

We spent a pleasant morning walking through Ortigia and listening to the voice and explanations of Sebastiano who was able to entertain us and immediately caught our attention. Very competent and prepared, it was really delicious to be guided through the alleys and discover the wonders of Syracuse. Absolutely one of the best tours ever done in my life.

Mysterious orgy, very interesting and full of unpublished anecdotes. The guide Sebastiano is very knowledgeable and held us in a pleasant way making himself noticed things of our own neighborhood that we did not know

Over two hours of visit in the beautiful Ortigia, led by Mr. Sebastiano. Great competence and clarity. Particularly welcome some goodies that make the visit non-trivial. Highly recommended!

Our guide was perfect, no complaints. But it’s still very expensive for a 2-hour visit that doesn’t even include entrance to the cathedral. In addition, I thought I had booked a visit in French since the site where I made the reservation was in French, but good surprise, the visit is in English! Next time, I buy a good Michelin, Routard or other guide and do the tour for myself.

A must-see and remarkable visit to this magnificent city where Romanesque palaces are built in small alleys or by the sea.A pleasant walk in an exceptional environment, a stop at Place DUOMO is essential.

Thanks to Sebastiano's professionalism and availability we spent some wonderful hours in a breathtaking setting, enriched by the notes and curiosities of the guide. I recommend this tour to everyone to fully appreciate the magic of Ortigia

It is beautiful, the already rich buildings are clean. the city tour is superb for its architecture and the quiet of its streets

Nice city to stay for a day. A boat trip is also definitely worth it. Furthermore beautiful old town with nice streets, shops and pleins.Impressive what is still standing.

Our guide was Sebastiano, competent, very helpful and engaging. Being just me and my girlfriend we could fully enjoy all the things this beautiful island offers. Recommended tour!!