Hi,

Going to Rome and Venice for about a week total in November. I've gotten a lot of great advice and scoured trip reports for more info. Things are firming up nicely but I could use input regarding tours in both cities. We plan on spending time exploring on our own as well as guided tours, so don't want to over-plan . Generally like to do one planned activity a day, and leave the rest of the day loosely structured to visit other sights on our own.

We are considering going on the following tours - each of these are half day (4 hours) or less.

Rome - we have 3 full days
1. Walks Of Italy - Pristine Sistine (Sistine Chapel , St Peters)
2. Walks of Italy - VIP Nighttime Colosseum Tour (includes Underground and Arena)
OR
Walks of Italy - Crypts and Catacombs After Dark
3. Top Bike Rental - City Tour (guided bike tour)
4. ??? We are planning to spend a day in Orvieto. Any recommended tours there?

Venice - we have 2 full days.
1. Walks of Italy - Legendary Venice (St Marks and Doges Palace)

Any guidance on tours or operators besides Walks of Italy? I sent in a request for a Scavi tour and haven't heard back; but will move things around as needed if we get a confirmation .

I would also love to work in a short, quirky tour of some sort (food tour or ghost tour or pop culture or similar - just a break from all the history). Husband does not want to do a food tour, but if you loved one, let me know. I haven't really started looking into those but if you know of one, please share

Thanks!

The only guided walking tours that we have taken is through Context Travel; their guides are very good, very knowledgeable, and the tour size is a maximum of 6 people.

Keep in mind that not only do you have a planned activity each day, but you have a specifically-timed planned activity. We like to keep our schedule more open, so that if we change our minds about what we want to do on a given day, or the weather is bad, then we can change our plans.

You may be able to Google to find short, quirky do-it-yourself tours. I once looked up (but never took myself on) a tour of the various obelisks in Rome (there are more than I realized).

In Venice, we did a chichetti tour with Monica Cesarato--this would be your foodie tour. It was a fun, delicious and informative tour. [email protected].

On Monica's recommendation, we used Stefania for a private Doges Palace and St. Mark's Basilica tour. http://yourguideinvenice.it/en/.
My brother also used her for a walking tour of Venice and was very pleased. Enjoy!

We did the "Pristine Sistine" and it is the only way to go.
Avoid the long lines and enjoy the chapel and St. Peters with a minimum of visitors.

It was worth every penny!

Thank you sssteve - Pristine Sistine it is!

I looked up Monica and contacted her for availability - all of her tours look right up my alley. Thank you for th etip italy2012!

Anyone do a bike tour of Rome??

With only 3 days in Rome, I would not spend 1 going on a daytrip when there's SO much to discover on Rome. I love Orvieto and usually recommend it, but not with your short trip.

Do leave time open for wandering and being amazed by all the layers of Rome!

Skip the bike trip.

Highly recommend Context tours if you have a deep interest in one of the topics