Uffizi Gallery tour with optional Vasari Corridor, guide included: review

The Vasari Corridor arcade along the Arno reflected in the river by the Ponte Vecchio

My verdict: the only listing here where your guide walks the corridor with you and points things out, and the best-rated of the six on a fair number of reviews. It is also expensive, non-refundable once you choose the corridor, and it starts at the operator’s office rather than at the Uffizi. If having your guide beside you in the corridor matters to you, this is the one. Check that the option you select includes the corridor.

4.9★★★★★53 reviewsfrom €155

GuideAbout 2 hours in the Uffizi

Group10 people at most

CorridorOptional: check your option includes it

In the corridorThe guide walks with you, no detailed explanations

Meeting pointThe operator’s office, Via Cavour

CancellationNon-refundable with the corridor

Official ticket firstUffizi plus corridor costs €47 on the museum’s own site. The options below sell a guide for the paintings, or a slot when the official ones are gone.

Compare all six

What the guide does in the corridor

The listing words it carefully: “the guide is not permitted to provide detailed explanations but will accompany you”. So your guide stays with you through the corridor and points things out, where on the other tours the guide leaves you at the door. The listing allows about 30 minutes for that part; the museum puts the whole walk at about 45. Inside, everyone walks in a museum group of 25 with two staff, who escort the group and do not give guided tours. Groups stay together, nobody may linger, and the walk runs one way, from the Uffizi to the Boboli Gardens, with no way back into the gallery. A guide at your side does not change that.

Judith, from the United States, had Sandra as her guide and calls the corridor “a true privilege”. If that is the experience you want, company and a few pointers on the way rather than a lecture, this is the only product that offers it. What guides can and cannot do inside.

Check the corridor is in your option

The listing calls the corridor optional, and I cannot tell you from the listing whether the from-price of €155 includes it. Diana, from the United States, thought it did and had to buy it separately. Check the option name and price at checkout, and read the confirmation before the day. The three guided tours and their options.

Starting from the office

The tour meets at the operator’s office in Via Cavour, not at the Uffizi. Jay, from the United States, liked his guide a great deal and still points out that the start means a 30-minute walk to the Uffizi through crowded streets. Add that to your morning, and wear shoes for it.

Against the official ticket

The museum’s own Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket is €47 booked ahead on tickets.uffizi.it (€43 on the day), and it already includes the gallery. The Uffizi alone is €29, so the corridor’s share is €18. This tour starts at €155, €108 more. For that you get two hours with a guide in the Uffizi in a group of ten at most, and the guide’s company in the corridor. The first part is the one I would pay for anywhere. The second is unique to this listing, and whether it is worth the difference over the €79 small-group tour is a question of how much the corridor company means to you. The prices side by side.

Before you bookWith the corridor option the booking is non-refundable. Official tickets are named and cannot be refunded either, so book once your dates are fixed. Backpacks, rucksacks, suitcases and large umbrellas are not allowed in the corridor, and anything you leave in the Uffizi cloakroom has to be collected by walking back round by road, over the Ponte Vecchio, once you are out in Boboli. Travel light and keep your coat with you.

What works

The only guide who walks the corridor with you
4.9 from 53 reviews, the best of the six on a fair sample
Ten people at most

Worth knowing

Non-refundable with the corridor
Starts at an office about 30 minutes’ walk from the Uffizi
The corridor is optional: check it is in your option
Still no detailed explanations inside

Who it suits

Visitors who want a guide for the Uffizi and would like that guide with them in the corridor too, and whose dates are fixed. If commentary inside is what you are after, nobody sells it; if company is, this is the tour.

Check dates for the escorted tour

Four of the six options listed here cancel free up to 24 hours ahead; the ticket-and-app option and the escorted tour are non-refundable. Official Uffizi tickets are named and cannot be refunded either.

Other options to consider

Max 9 peopleCorridor costs extra

Frequently asked questions

Does the guide explain the Vasari Corridor on this tour?

The guide walks with you and points things out, but the listing says detailed explanations are not permitted. It is the only product here where the guide comes into the corridor at all. The guide rule.

Is the corridor included in the €155 price?

The listing calls it optional and one reviewer had to buy it separately. Check the option at checkout. Which prices include the corridor.

Where does the escorted tour start?

At the operator’s office in Via Cavour. One reviewer describes a 30-minute walk from there to the Uffizi through crowded streets.

Can I cancel the escorted tour?

Not with the corridor option: the listing says it is non-refundable.