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A Vespa tour Florence with Walkabout costs from €130 per person and lasts six hours. It includes an automatic Vespa, a helmet, fuel, third-party insurance, a riding tutorial, a guide leading the group and a stop for prosciutto, cheese and Chianti at a country estate. Hotel pickup isn't included, and you have to bring your driving licence.
Below is how those six hours are organised, which departure to pick, and who the tour isn't suited to.
What's Included in the Price
The tour page lists three inclusions. The first is the scooter and helmet rental. The Vespas are automatic, so there's no clutch and no gear lever, and the tour leader fits a helmet on each guest at the garage before the instructions start.
The second is the food and wine tasting at the estate: Tuscan prosciutto and cheese with a glass of Chianti. A vegetarian option is available.
The third is third-party insurance and fuel. If you've ever rented a scooter abroad, you'll know these are the costs that usually get added at the counter. On this tour they're part of the price.
The guide rides at the front for the whole day and chooses the route, the speed and the stops. On the narrow country lanes outside the city, where it's easy to take the wrong fork, you just follow.
Free cancellation is available up to 24 hours before departure. If rain is forecast, check the day before, while you can still cancel or move to another date at no cost.
Where Does the Day Start?
The meeting point is in Piazza Stazione, right by the taxi stand at Santa Maria Novella train station, across from the outside McDonald's. Your guide will be holding a Walkabout Tours sign.
If you're arriving in Florence by plane on the day, the T2 tram from the airport ends at Unità, a couple of minutes' walk from the station. That makes the 1pm departure doable for a morning flight, as long as it lands on time and you leave yourself a margin.
From there you walk to the garage, choose a Vespa and get your helmet fitted. Then come the basic instructions and the safety briefing, and the group only sets off once everyone is feeling a bit more confident. A reviewer who rode in September mentioned the garage was well equipped with Fiats as well as Vespas, and that each rider was given a short riding assessment for safety before leaving.
If you've never ridden a scooter, our guide to a Vespa tour Florence for beginners goes through the tutorial and the automatic controls in more detail.
How the Six Hours Are Spent
The first part of the ride is slow. You follow the guide along the riverside and up a tree-lined avenue to a well-known viewpoint, with the skyline of Florence in front of you. There's time for photos here, Vespa included. Next comes a short visit inside one of the oldest churches in the area.
The first half is ridden slow and steady on purpose. In the second half the guide takes the group onto more challenging roads, away from the crowds and the city traffic: narrow lanes between castles and villas, through ancient olive groves and around vineyards, on backroads that see few visitors. That's why this stretch comes later, after the tutorial and the easier ride out of town. If you'd like to picture the countryside around Florence before you book, our article on the best Vespa routes in Tuscany describes the hills these rides head into.
Then the estate stop, and the ride back to the garage.
One practical note on food. The tour page describes the estate stop as a tasting, so it's not a full sit-down lunch. On the morning departure you'll be back in town in the early afternoon, and many trattorias in Florence are still serving lunch until around half past two or three.
Choosing a Departure Time for Your Vespa Tour Florence
There are two departures a day, at 8:20am and 1:00pm. The route, the inclusions and the price are the same. The morning tour finishes at around 2:20pm, the afternoon one at around 7pm.
In June, July and August the difference is mostly about heat. Florence sits in a basin surrounded by hills, and summer afternoons in the city regularly go above 30°C. You get some air on a Vespa while moving, much less when the group stops in traffic on the way out of town. That's why in summer we'd lean towards the 8:20am start, which also leaves the evening free.
The 1pm departure suits anyone who has a museum booking in the morning or arrives in Florence that day. If you're staying in the Oltrarno, around Santo Spirito for example, allow about twenty minutes on foot to the station for either slot.
Spring and autumn are easier. In April, May, late September and October, daytime temperatures in Florence usually sit around the low twenties, and both slots are comfortable. Pick the one that fits the rest of your day. Bring a light jacket anyway, because it feels cooler on the hills than in town.
Late in the year, check the sunset. Once the clocks go back at the end of October, the sun sets in Florence at around five, and in December a little earlier. An afternoon ride ending around seven would come back in the dark, so in winter, if the afternoon slot is running, the morning is the better choice.
Who Shouldn't Book It?
You need a valid car driving licence, and you need to bring it with you. A motorbike licence isn't required. All participants must be 18 or over, and the tour isn't open to pregnant women. Previous scooter experience is recommended. Wear closed shoes and clothes you can sit astride a scooter in, because sandals and short skirts make the day harder than it needs to be.
It's also not the right tour if you're not comfortable on two wheels at all. For that case Walkabout runs a self-drive tour in a vintage Fiat 500 or an automatic Topolino electric car. It's also six hours and from €130, with a stop at the church of San Miniato al Monte and a Tuscan lunch, so you get the hills around Florence with four wheels under you.
On food, vegetarians are catered for, but gluten-free and other special diets can't be accommodated. If you're coeliac, it's best to plan your meals around the tour.
Shared Tour or Private Tour
The €130 price is for the shared tour, where you ride in a line behind the guide with other travellers and the pace is set for the group.
Walkabout also runs a private Vespa tour, from €520. The difference is that the pacing adjusts to you: you can stay longer at a viewpoint that catches your eye or move on early from one that doesn't. Our article on private Vespa tours in Tuscany explains how it works.
The shared tour has a 4.5 rating from 620 reviews. Recent ones mention guides by name, Mirela, Elena and Antonio, praising their knowledge of the area, their sense of humour and the way they handle the instruction at the start.
The Tuscany Vespa Tour from Florence leaves from Piazza Stazione at 8:20am and 1:00pm, and you can check availability for your dates on the tour page.
