Is walksofitaly.com Legit?

Our tour guide for our early entrance “Pristine Sistine” tour was wonderful, but one of the first factoids she shared with us was that the Vatican had recently suspended the rule that allowed tour groups into the city before the general public. This was when the skip-the-line tour I paid for became an “Oops–All Lines” tour. Despite our early start time at 7:45am, we didn’t even get into the city until after 9:00am, and that time spent in line was silent.I won’t out our guide, but she spilled the beans on Walks of Italy. On the website, the tour is lauded to be “the product of 13 years of constant development and refinement,” when in fact, our guide said, all the tour guides were scrambling to manage the new (dis)organization of admission and passage through the Vatican. The “early access” I paid at least twice as much for, was no more. She suspected it might have something to do with the Jubilee year approaching, and it made me question, if all the guides were aware of the chaos of this change, why hadn’t Walks reached out to notify us?The information our guide provided was fantastic–when you could hear her. Though certainly not her fault, she was small, and not being tall myself, I frequently found myself and my family being separated from her by the tide of bodies that pushed us through the hallways. If we fell too far behind, our radios would cut out, and we’d lose chunks of her tour–not to mention we wouldn’t be able to see the art she was talking about. Guards frequently shouted for people to keep moving, which meant even when our guide had something she wanted to tell us about, she had to do it while moving (often backwards), and the narrative ended when the crush of the crowd dictated. There was no “time and space to give [us] a proper explanation” as promised.Walks says: “you'll enter the Sistine Chapel just as the doors open to groups and ahead of the daytime crowds.” Nope. Instead of “20 minutes of quiet contemplation,” we got possibly five before we were rushed on again, after making ourselves as narrow as possible, tetrised between hundreds of people. The tiny spot a guard pointed to is where you stood regardless of the view.I contacted Walks three times asking only for a partial refund to bring the cost in line with a non “special access” tour. My initial requests were not even cataloged in their system, and when I called a third time I found out nothing had been flagged for a follow-up, even though I had been promised that twice. Are you seeing a pattern here?What I might have previously called out of date information on their website is now definitively a false bill of goods. Save yourself some grief (and a lot of money) and book your tour elsewhere. Walks of Italy are grifters.

Had 2 tours booked with four people. We arrived 5 minutes late to the Coliseum tourthey wuold not help us or accomadate us on the next tour.Very rude to uson top of thatwould not refund us at 100$ a head.Be careful not a trustworthy companyHad to pay another company 80 euros and they accomedated us without a problem.

We booked our tour over a month in advance and paid. Walks cancelled 36 hours before with no explanation and rescheduled us for a day we are not even in Rome 3 days later. I immediately replied to their message both text and email. No response whatsoever. Never responded. Very disappointing as it is impossible to book Colosseum tickets with 1 day notice. We are a group of 5 and this was one of main reasons for our trip to Rome. Bad customer service and no communication. Do not use! Also, still waiting on our refund but not optimistic.

submitted cancelation for three tours almost three months ago and haven't received refund (approx. $750CAN) as of yet. Walks no longer answering my emails and I consider them fraudulent in that they don't honour their cancelation policy. Would never book with them again.

Walks of Italy will not honor their cancellation policy and refund paid tours for which our trip was canceled due to covid. Their website clearly states they will refund. Sent numerous emails and filled out their cancelation form 4 times requesting a refund. I have since disputed the charge with credit card.Update 4/6/2023 - Walks of Italy replied pretending that it refunded my payment. This never occurred. So Walks of Italy is still NOT a trustworthy vendor who does NOT honor its own policy. Buyer beware. NEVER book with Walks of Italy. They will not refund your money though their policy claims they will. Their response is not acceptable and not true. We are almost 3 years into this with no refund. Zero stars.

Booked 2 fully refundable tours with them. Cancelled 3 months ago, and was told I would receive my refund. Now they are refusing a refund, even though they incurred zero expense related to my tour cancelling. They will no longer answer emails. I will be filing a dispute with my credit card company, to which they basically said “go ahead, the fine print says we can keep your money” (which they are wrong). Do not book with this company, who are taking advantage of the COVID situation in order to try to keep our money. Fraudulent and disgusting. Do not book with them.

Did not honour their cancellation policy. I cancelled more than a month in advance of the tour, I was fully entitled to a refund and even though they said that they would provide a refund they have not and have stopped replying to emails. Not trustworthy and fraudulent. I have filed a complaint with the relevant consumer authorities. DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM THEY WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY!

This company will steal your money. They cancelled a tour we had scheduled on 2 times in a row ruining our vacation. They then refused to refund money only willing to issue a gift card. Why would we ever risk ruining a trip a third time in a row? Stay away!

Horrible customer service. Booked well before COVID and their cancellation policy clearly stated a refund would be given if cancelled within 72 hours of scheduled tour. We followed those regulations and they Have refused to honor their own policy!!!!!! They have since adjusted their website to benefit them! Their customer service is awful and I would strongly recommend not using this company ever!

Walks of Italy will not refund your money, even though their cancelation policy says they will. Do not book with them. I booked with viator and they refunded money because of covid even though it wasn't refundable.

We did an unforgettable premium tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum with Walks of Italy. Yanira was the perfect guide. She was an amazing storyteller, witty, funny, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about her subject. Not only that but she was kind and attentive to the needs of each member of the group. We can’t speak highly enough about this tour. It was so well organised and delivered by people who very obviously love what they do. Highly recommended!

We did the Colosseum underground tour. Great guide, and worth the price. My only request is that the guides allow some time periodically, even 10 minutes every now and then so that people can truly absorb the atmosphere and the experience

Booked tour over a month in advance. After finding the complicated meeting point we were told that they did not have our reservation and that it must have been moved. The voucher we received from Viator had a link for the tickets that said we would receive the tickets at the meeting point from guide. Once told our tour must have been moved, I pressed a link to contact tour guide ..here I found a message they had sent me (not an email but in a random “chat”, that they had to move my tour to 5 hours earlier. This was sent 6 days prior..I booked and paid 36 days prior..Still waiting to hear about a refund but worry, after reading other reviews, that we won’t get it. I have all the emails of booking confirmations..

Uncooperative and inhuman tour operator. we booked a tour for 27MAY for Amalfi coast and pompeii from rome for a couple. Unfortunately one person met with an accident a day before tour at rome where got leg fractured so unable to walk at all and it was well informed to Walks of italy customer service team on 26MAY morning. They asked us to send the refund application alongwith hospital document proof thru our booking channel which was sent on 26MAY itself as treatment was done by Govt Hospital rome. However after a week, we got to know that they denied the special claim refund. This tour operator is only about money even if there is a case of accident emergency. Worldwide all good tour operators allow a refund in such special cases. But only an inhuman & only low grade materialistic approach operators behave in such manner. Also to our observance their tour rates are much higher than other operators for same tour. This company shud be avoided for all tours offered by them.

I have previously used this company for a tour of the Colosseum with no problems. I booked again as we intended to travel in October to tour St Peters. Our holiday was cancelled due to a UK travel ban. I had booked specifically as it stated we would get a refund if cancelled 72 hours before. That is not the case. They do not follow their own policy. I politely refused their offer of a voucher and requested my money. They refused. In the end I had to put in a case for a Chargeback with my bank who found in my favour and refunded me.

When I tell friends about this tour I describe it as "Vatican Museum lite". Our guide was knowledgeable and personable however we were so rushed for time that I constantly heard "we have to move on, we only have so much time". After the tour I spent the rest of the day in the museum and 6 hrs the next day. The value of the tour for me was to get a brief overview of the museum so I could concentrate my efforts later. I signed up for this tour based on Amanda Ruggeri's book " The revealed Rome handbook" which I highly recommend.

so disappointed in the tour of Milan . been on a number of walking tours in many cities this was the worst . the first point of interest and the primary reason we got the tour was da vinci s last supper the commentary was adequate if a little predictable we were then taken on foot accross the city arriving an hour and a half later at the duomo in milans main square the commentary along the way was partly inaudable i really only heard about 50% of what was said . in searing heat there was no chance to stop and sit for even the briefest break and some of our party were struggling to cope .milan isnt the most beautiful of places and points of interest were limited and I really felt it was being dragged out . the last supper and the duomo were spectacular the rest really was padding. we stopped outside a pretty cafe circa 1920 for a while no anecdotes or chance to take some shade or refreshment just told to look and to be shown the banking district was just tedious . Two people who were on the tour handed their headsets back and left the tour early . It really was horribly overpriced and to be honest boredom kicked in on times .

We rushed through traffic in a scooter to meeting point for Walk tours night Vatican. Arrive just in time. but tour guide left.We ran up 40 steps cross st to Vatican entry . Went through security tryed to find an English speaking guide.When we did she was rude to us . said her tour was full.find another. we ask if she can call other guides she was No Help.We had to spend another 36E for tickets to get into Vatican. We followed map through galleries. mid way we heard another English speaking guide who only had a small group of 10.I ask her if she was missing us she said yes. Gave us 1 mic to hear her.She was very nice but I had to listen closely as I did not have a mic.Advice night tour less crowded but arrive very early because the giide leaves early.Walk tours would not refund the extra ticket cost .

Our guide for the VIP tour of the colosseum ,Vincenzo was extremely knowledgable and personable He knew everything there was to know about any detail or question that arose during our 3 hours with him His recanting of the historical events that passed to create the places we observed made us feel as if we were walking through time The descriptions and facts were presented in a way that was interesting and engaging I recommend this tour highly

My teenage daughter and I did the VIP tour of the Colosseum including the 3rd tier and underground. This was fantastic, informative and well worth the price. A small group is so much more enjoyable than being moved around like a heard of cattle. We were never crowded. We were given head speakers so we could always hear the guide well. We would definitely recommend this tour. In the evening we did the twilight walking tour with Walks Of Italy as well. Another excellent choice.