Any recommendations for tours in Rome?

[etherealcaitiff]

I'll be on a 8 night Greek Isles cruise next month that leaves from Italy, and I want to spend some time in Rome after the cruise. I was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with any particular tour groups. I'm specifically looking for the Vatican mostly, but would consider a guide for Pantheon and Coliseum as well.

 

[hrhdhd]

I did a Forum and Colosseum tour with The Roman Guy. https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome

He also offers Vatican tours, but I didn't take one of those.

You shouldn't need a guide for the Pantheon. They have a headset thing that you can rent for information about the art and tombs in there, but there's not really enough for a tour.

 

[brentm77]

I'll be on a 8 night Greek Isles cruise next month that leaves from Italy, and I want to spend some time in Rome after the cruise. I was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with any particular tour groups. I'm specifically looking for the Vatican mostly, but would consider a guide for Pantheon and Coliseum as well.

Roman Tour Guide is one of the main companies. I would say their tour guides were great, but we had a couple of hiccups. When we moved a tour date, they messed it up and then we were stuck at the coliseum for a couple of hours before they could fit us into the next tour. Their "early entry" top the Vatican wasn't exactly what was promised either - we were far from one of the first groups in - but things were pretty messed up post pandemic, so it may not have been their fault. We paid for a private half-day tour of Rome with them that was excellent. It included a driver and a tour guide and we got to see main highlights besides the Vatican, Coliseum, and Forum, including a few surprises that we wouldn't have thought of.

I probably wouldn't pay for a tour of the Pantheon. It's easy to get into and Rick Steve's has a great audio tour (free on his app). It isn't very big and frankly, the audio tour had more information than our tour guide gave us on the half-day tour that stopped there.

I would be sure to look at do-it-yourself tour options. Tours that get you to the front of the line to get it, but then set you free. I wish we had done that in the Vatican so we could have focused more on what we wanted to see and taken more time. Same at the Coliseum, because we actually spent more time in certain areas than we waned to spend in the heat and the tour guide was just sort of rambling. While overall the tours were good, I know there are some better companies out there that others will post here.

I recommend getting the Rick Steve's app and listening to some of the places you will go before you actually go, even if you will have a tour there. It would be a great setup to know what you were seeing ahead of time and would make the experience more understandable and some places where the tour guide leaves gaps. I also highly recommend Bart Ehrman's "The Triumph of Christianity" before visiting Rome. It sounds weird, but it was as much of a history of the religion and culture of Rome than anything, and really enriched my experience there.

 

[etherealcaitiff]

Roman Tour Guide is one of the main companies. I would say their tour guides were great, but we had a couple of hiccups. When we moved a tour date, they messed it up and then we were stuck at the coliseum for a couple of hours before they could fit us into the next tour. Their "early entry" top the Vatican wasn't exactly what was promised either - we were far from one of the first groups in - but things were pretty messed up post pandemic, so it may not have been their fault. We paid for a private half-day tour of Rome with them that was excellent. It included a driver and a tour guide and we got to see main highlights besides the Vatican, Coliseum, and Forum, including a few surprises that we wouldn't have thought of.

I probably wouldn't pay for a tour of the Pantheon. It's easy to get into and Rick Steve's has a great audio tour (free on his app). It isn't very big and frankly, the audio tour had more information than our tour guide gave us on the half-day tour that stopped there.

I would be sure to look at do-it-yourself tour options. Tours that get you to the front of the line to get it, but then set you free. I wish we had done that in the Vatican so we could have focused more on what we wanted to see and taken more time. Same at the Coliseum, because we actually spent more time in certain areas than we waned to spend in the heat and the tour guide was just sort of rambling. While overall the tours were good, I know there are some better companies out there that others will post here.

I recommend getting the Rick Steve's app and listening to some of the places you will go before you actually go, even if you will have a tour there. It would be a great setup to know what you were seeing ahead of time and would make the experience more understandable and some places where the tour guide leaves gaps. I also highly recommend Bart Ehrman's "The Triumph of Christianity" before visiting Rome. It sounds weird, but it was as much of a history of the religion and culture of Rome than anything, and really enriched my experience there.

Amazing advice, thank you. Typically we don't use tour guides and are more apt to just do everything ourselves like you suggested, so I may just do that. I'm looking into buying front of the line passes for the Vatican and possibly the Coliseum, it's just hard to determine which agencies are actually reputable.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I used Viator. My only regret was the speed we went at while this was my once in a lifetime experience. I always used drop the rope options and small group.

 

[anricat]

We used Walks Inside Rome in 2018 after our Med cruise for their Underground Colosseum tour and it was fantastic. This was actually our second time in Rome and they were superior to the other tour we did the prior time we were in Rome. I would definitely recommend them again without hesitation. I've heard great things about Rome In Limo as well.

I caution against tour middle-man companies like Viator or Trip Advisor (good for research purposes only). They're just basically taking a cut of money that could be going directly to a local tour company. Plus, once, when we had trouble with a tour company (who basically took our money and did not provide us with the tour we were promised) they sided with the tour operator citing the fourth paragraph of the second page of the operators Terms and Conditions that said that they could change the tour (which was a little bonkers).

There are also some sites that work well to explore on our own. For example, you can do something like Castel Sant’Angelo on your own (highly underrated hidden gem).

Check the Med cruise trip report link in my signature if you want to see more of my report on our time in Rome, including taking the train to Rome after debarking the ship in Civi.

 

[soniam]

If you are looking for a good guide book, I have always loved and used Rick Steve's. Lots of good advice for Rome, including how to get tickets and guides/tours. I like the ebook/Kindle versions so that I can view them on my phone instead of having to carry the book or my Kindle around.

 

[CruiseGoon]

You don't need a guide for the Pantheon, unless you want a guide for the history lesson and the knowledge they may have to share. If you feel like doing a walking tour on your own, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain can all be done on your own and easily walked in less than half a day. Just be cautious with your pockets and bags. Pickpockets are everywhere and will expertly use crowded areas. Another family on our cruise last year had a phone stolen from one of their kids while they were at the Trevi Fountain.

 

[Drbutters56]

Joe Bananas

 

[mousefan73]

I found in Rome many sites offer English speaking guides/ tours you can book directly. Benefit of anpackage tour isnthey then tickets though.

My concern is that money these tours might start too late in the day during the heat. My only suggestion is that you get there right when things open to avoid standing in the heat too long. Even if you have tickets you are gonna be waiting to get through security.

 

[flipflop]

The underground tour of the colosseum is amazing. We did alone and are taking our kids for the first time before a cruise this summer. I booked it through the tour guy. Not all the tickets let you go underneath so make sure it includes the underground. Agree with everyone else - you don't need a tour of the pantheon. We booked a front of the line private vatican tour through viator. You can find that tour through a lot of different vendors. We also booked an evening food tour in travestere through Eating Europe.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We used Rome In Limo for our 3 stops in Italy. They were fabulous. They picked us up at the dock usually at 8am and asked us what we wanted to see. Since it was a private tour, we could spend as much or as little time in each area as we liked without ever need to wait around for others. I personally prefer a guide vs. self touring to learn more about the history of what we're seeing. During the drive from Civitavecchia into Rome, we learned a lot about typical Italian life, people and government. We paid extra for another private guide to take us through the Vatican & Sistine Chapel.
It was money well spent. On our drive back to the ship, we passed the tour buses that DCL uses. Once we experienced a private guide, we'll never go back to bus tours.
https://www.romeinlimo.com/

 

[bwmjam]

Ditto, get an underground tour of the Colosseum. We booked though Viator and did an early entry tour of the Vatican and it was amazing. Didn't have the place to ourselves but low crowds.

Our favorite tour was the Food and Wine Tour of Rome. It took 2-3 hours and you walk around the city and try different local foods and wine. Everything was really good, the group was around 20 of us (all-American tourists.) I would highly recommend this in any city honestly. It's the one we talk about most.

 

[lorimay]

We just got home yesterday from Rome, we were on the 13 night Transatlantic then flew to Rome after for 5 days.
We booked everything through Viator.
Colosseum/Roman Forum was very good.
We did Pompeii one day, two hour bus ride each way was a lot, but totally worth it. Really, really interesting to see.
We did a Trastaverde evening food tour, good food amazing guide.
The Vatican, omgosh the Vatican I was so looking forward to it and loved what I saw BUT it was so crowded and chaotic, I was really overwhelmed by all the people there. I expected more reverence to be shown, but it was crazy.
From the beginning of the tour you are told no talking or pictures inside of the Sistine Chapel, people didn't care talking & snapping pictures, very disrespectful. Inside St. Peter's Basilica there really were no rules given about talking.
It was so loud. One chapel area had the blessed sacrament out and
just a curtained off area around it if you wanted to go in and pray, but I'm sure you could hear the noise, so no peaceful time in there.
I loved going there, but was surprised at how it was run. I feel sorry for the employees, its total chaos all day.
The tour guide said she has never seen so many tourists in Rome like this in May.