JoshP

I've read several threads about Scala Reale tours in Rome.....I will be in Rome in July for 3 nights and was thinking of taking a tour. Does anyone have recommendations on their own experience? Which of the SR tours have people taken and enjoyed? Thank you.<BR><BR>Josh

eliztrav

We took the orientation hike (which comes with signing on for a tour) and the Vatican tour. Loved both. If we'd been in Rome longer, we would also have taken the Antica tour for the Colosseum and forum areas. Although I haven't done it, a friend took an evening tour - of fountains, I think, - and thought it gave a nice &amp; relaxing intro and made him more comfortable with navingating Rome at night on his own.

twin1chrissssy

We just returned from Italy last night. <BR>While we were in Rome for 4 days we used Scala Reale for the Antica Roma and the Vatican. If you take the time and money to travel half way around the world to see famous art and ruins and don't use a tour like SR you are wasting both your time and money.<BR>We had Darius for Antica Roma and he was excellent. We walked around the ruins a few days before our tour w/ SR and we didn't have a clue as to what we were looking at even with a fancy guide book. Darius made sense of the entire complex I learned a great deal about the history of Roma.<BR>As far as the Vatican, I ditto my comments above about time and money. We were lucky to have gotten Liz as our tour guide. I would request her. She was a fountain of knowledge. You will never look at art the same, she explains the theories, techniques, and overall bios of the artists. I can't say enough good things about Scala Reale.

JoshP

OK.......it seems as though both of you liked the SR tours......i am definitely going to investigate. How does SR work? Do you have to pay just to sign up, and then pay more for each tour? Is the Roma Antica a top choice (in your opinion)? The introduction walks sounded good too. Thanks.

wandl02

Sign up early for the SR tours. I tried to sign up about two weeks ago for an early May tour and they couldn't offer the Antica tour and the Vatican tour was at a really inconvienent time. I had to settle for a tour provided by our tour company instead. But I've heard great things about SR.<BR><BR>I was also a little disheartened by the fact that I had to take the Orientation Stroll, or pay for it anyway, when I wanted to get the more in depth Antica tour instead.<BR><BR>Enjoy your trip.

eliztrav

You pay a fee (about $50) to join &amp; that is good for a year. When you join, you automatically get to choose one of the two orientation tours. And, you are eligible then to sign on for any of the other tours, each of which has a cost which appears to be based upon the length of the tour. Their web site at scalareale.org will explain all this. And, you can e-mail them with your specific questions. We found them to be a good operation with personalized service. I'd use them again.

china_cat

We took the Antica tour and the Vatican tour back in 1999. In fact, I think I might be one of the earliest posters to talk about SR on this website. The two tours were the highlight of our trip. I particularly recommend the Antica tour because the sites just make so much more sense when you have someone to describe it.<BR><BR>

Nikki

wandl02, if you don't want to settle for a tour offered by your tour company, I would recommend walking tours given through Enjoy Rome. Our tour two weeks ago of ancient Rome was conducted by a young Roman woman studying for her phD in classical archeology at the University of Rome. She was charming and incredibly well informed with excellent English skills and a good sense of humor. We enjoyed the tour so much that we signed up for the Vatican tour later in the week, which was also excellent. <BR><BR>Scheduling was much more flexible than Scala Reale, the tour is offered every day, I think, and we didn't have to sign up until we were in Rome. Prices are far lower than Scala Reale, but groups are larger. I didn't find the groups so large as to be a problem, though.

elaine

With Scala Reale, if you search here on it you will find much praise based on personal experience.<BR>The Forum-Colosseum tour was outstanding. The Orientation Hike (included with membership) was great.<BR>The tour that included the Pantheon and other sites (I think it is called the Colonna tour) was only ok, because those places that were included were, except for the Pantheon itself, less compelling and can just as easily be researched and arranged on one's own imo.<BR>I failed to use them for the Vatican, will next time but some family members of mine did, and said it was the best SR tour of all.

gomarciago

I, too, tried to sign up for eary May tour with SR a week ago and was told they were all booked up.

AKNIC

Josh:<BR>Another vote for the Scale Reale tours in Rome. We did not use this group on our first trip and found out how much we missed during our second trip to Rome. Our guide was extremely knowledgable and we were with another couple from our state (Texas) and thoroughly enjoyed both the Orientation Tour and the full tour that we took the next day. If we are lucky enough to return to Italy, we will book this company before we do anything else.<BR>Our guide even recommended a great restaurant that we would have never have known about. Have a great trip.<BR>Kay

JoshP

Nikki: which tour did you go on with Enjoy Rome? They seem much more reasonable than Scala Reale in terms of money. Has anyone else used this company (Enjoy Rome)?

nutney

Josh,<BR>I will be in Rome April 23-26th and I have scheduled two tours through Enjoy Rome. I am doing the Vatican tour and the night tour of ancient Rome. I plan to post trip reports upon my return, so I will let you know what I think about the tours. So far, everything I have heard about Enjoy Rome's tours has been good, and the lower rates than Scala Reale were definitely a factor in making my decision. The tours are 20 euro each, which I think is very reasonable!

JoshP

Looking forward to your report Nutney. They have several tours that interested me, including the Ancient Rome tour, Vatican tour, Bike tour, and night tour. Hope you have a great trip!

Mara

Hi Josh<BR>I took the Enjoy Rome Ancient Rome and Trastevere Tours when I was there the end of January. Possibly because of the season one tour had six people and the other five. I felt the tours covered a great deal and the leaders were extremely knowledgeable. I also was a little averse to the SR prices. I was more used to London Walks which I think is still 5 GBP and Paris Walks which is 10 Euro. So Enjoy Rome seemed a little high compared to those and SR IMHO much too high. But as many people say, they get exceptional reviews but Enjoy Rome was fine for me. Have a great visit,<BR>Mara

Nikki

Josh, I took the Ancient Rome tour and the Vatican tour. I also took the shuttle bus to Pompeii, which was transportation only. Unlike the tour buses to Pompeii, the shuttle bus went directly to Pompeii with no superfluous stops, gave us three and a half hours there, and came directly back to Rome by 6:00 PM. <BR><BR>I was extremely satisfied with all three services.

britishchippy

Josh,<BR><BR>I went to Rome in February and used both Scala Reale and Roman Odyssey tours. Both companies are very good. My husband and I were so impressed with Roman Odyssey's tour of the Colosseum and Forum, that we ended up also taking their night tour and also saw the Vatican with them. Their website is www.romanodyssey.com and I strongly recommend that you check them out. I think the price was about 20 euros per tour, and worth every penny.

Cicerone

I have taken both Enjoy Rome and Scale Reale tours. IMHO, the guides for Scale Reale were superior to those of Enjoy Rome. They are really worth the extra money, esp in places like the Forum and the Vatican Museums. They are well-read, well-informed and generally have a post-graduate degree in their subject.<BR><BR>In addition, the guide who did one of our Enjoy Rome nightwalks changed the itinerary during the walk from the printed itinerary on their website. We were supposed to go to Campo Fiori at the end of the night walk, but our guide decided during the tour that she didn't want to go there and went to Piazza Navona instead. As we had already seen the Piazza earlier in the day by ourselves, this was a waste of our time to us. More importantly, we had made dinner reservations in the Campo Fiore area specifically because the tour was supposed to end there. It was very inconvenient to have to run from Piazza Navona to make our dinner reservations, and we ended up having to leave the tour early. The guide did not apologize or offer any explanation.<BR>