Advice needed for Rome in 4 days
 

My husband and I are visiting Rome for 4 days in April 2006.
We are planning a guided tour of the Vatican with "Context Tours" but we are questioning if it necessary to book any other day tours of the city. Would it be beneficial to do a general tour of ancient Rome or do most recommend "walking aimlessly" to enjoy the sites? Also, I am assuming that most places have on-site tours anyway (i.e. the colosseum). Given our time restraints I would be interested in any thoughts re: getting the most of our time without feeling too structured in our schedule.
Thanks.

The Context Rome tour that I took a few years ago of the Forum and Colosseum was one of my best sightseeing experiences ever.

Since it's your first time in Rome, read a lot of guide books before you go. Get a good map of Rome and plot what you want to do. For first time visitors, Rick Steves books are good to take. He walks you through various sites and has a walking tour you can follow in his book. For many of the sites you can rent a recorded tour.

When you have history overload, just wander the back streets. You will find the best restaurants there and it will give you a much better feeling of the true Rome and the people.

On our first trip I was disappointed with the English "tour" that you could get at the Colosseum. Either read up or consider a tour of the Colosseum as well.

One of the prettiest streets in Rome is via Margutta. It is off via del Babuino, the street between the Spanish Steps and Pz.del Popolo. It is the street where some scenes from Roman Holiday were filmed and also boasts Picasso and Fellini as former residents. Even old Henry James gives it a mention. It is a famous street and a change from the Monuments and Museums!

5alive, I agree with you. I've taken a couple of *official* tours in Rome, including the Colosseum tour. And I have also overheard them at the sites.

The tourguides have no passion for the sites and seem to follow a memorized script.
It's *like* they are gov't employees who just take the job because there is an opening for a better paying job, like moving from the ticket booth to tourguide.

And asking a question about another accurate historical version of 'who, what or where' is usually dismissed with a "No". They seem to only know the official 'party line'.

LittleBella, I would highly recommend doing a tour of ancient Rome esp the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine. And 'ContextRome' would be my choice.

I haven't tried the Roman Forum audioguide in a few years but out of curiosity tried the Colosseum audioguide last March. Neither one was very good or interesting esp when compared to the audioguides at say the Vatican, Ostia Antica, Pompeii, etc.
Regards, Walter