Rome Tours
 

Hi I am reposting this because I posted accidently in the United States forum. I am getting ready to book some tours in Rome and got great feedback about Context Tours and Scavi Tours. Which selection of tours would you recommend? Scavi has a few selections to choose from. Is the Vatican Gardens worth it in the end of February/beginning of March? There seems to be several Vatican tour variations I can choose from. Which Context tours were in your opinion the best? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Regards, Lisa

We booked a Scavi tour, Context Rome tours of the Vatican, Borghese Gallery and Underground Rome, all were excellent. We also booked with Through Eternity for the Colosseum which was an excellent bargain. We were there in November so the group was small (8) with Through Eternity.

We were in Rome for a week and still had to schedule two days with two tours, something I would strongly suggest not doing.

Whatever tour you use make sure they have all your hotel and contact numbers. We had a problem with one of the tours we booked (not with either of the above companies. Have a great trip. Deborah

Dear Deborah, What did you see on your Scavi tour? The Context tour was on the Vatican? Did it include just some of the Vatican. There is the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Bascilica, Vatican Gardens, am i right?? I should take a tour of the Colosseum, the Borghese Gallery and Underground rome . What else am I missing?

Do you really need a tour to go into a museum?

Borghese requires reservations but otherwise, you can go directly and because of reservations, there's no crazy queues like at the Vatican Museums.

Now tour operators offer "tours" of the Vaticans but as far as I can tell, the main draw would be to avoid the long line.

Yet you pay over double, typically around $50 or 50 euro for this tour.

If you get there around 8:30, about half an hour before it opens, the line isn't that bad. At least that was the case for me back in November.

I'd save the money for tours you otherwise can't do as easily, like maybe some coach to nearby areas so you don't have to figure out the trains or transport once you get off the train in a place like Naples.

If you book a guided Vatican tour through the Vatican musuem (it costs only a little bit more than admission--6Eur?), you don't have to wait in line.

Thanks. Which tours of the Vatican would anyone recommend. There seems to be several combinations. Regards, Lisa

Lisa, yes you can visit the Borghese without a guide but you are limited to two hours with any visit.

I am only being a little melodramatic ;;) when I say I fell in love with Bernini thanks to the tour with Context Rome of the Borghese. Keeping in mind that I prefer French Impressionism and do not care for most Italian art styles. I wanted to see what I was missing because so many rave on about works by Caravaggio and others. Well, I STILL don't enjoy most Italian art but what I discovered on the Borghese tour with Context Rome gave me an appreciation for Bernini which changed the way I viewed his work thereafter, in museums, churches and piazzas, throughout Rome. Guess I am MORE than a little melodramatic ;;)

My husband and I both thought the Vatican with Context was worth the money. Our decisions, our choices may not suit all, but I thought the resulting tour was the best way to spend our time. No time was wasted, not in line waiting to get in, helpful background information was given to us. We toured the Vatican museums, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel.

We had to cut our time a bit short because we had to rush off to our Scavi tour, not a good plan. I spent alot of time deciding on what tour, with who and when.

My least favorite was Underground Rome but again that could be because it was the afternoon after 4 hours of touring the Colosseum with only 1/2 between and NO LUNCH. Pretty grim, right???

Just do a search here of tours for Rome and you will come up with lots of personal preferences. Have a great trip. Deborah

Deborah, Thanks for your insight. What did you see with the Scavi tour? Thanks, Lisa

The Scavi Tour is limited to the excavations (scavi) underneath St. Peters. Reservations are required (although we did see one woman get past the Vatican guards to the office and wrangle a spot due to a no-show). You specify in your request for reservation how many in your party, language needed, etc. The tour lasts about 1.5 hours, a guide walks you through the scavi, including necropolis of pre-Christian Rome (fascinating) to remains of St. Peter, coming up through chapels directly under papal altar in the basilica.

If you're interested in having the Scavi tour, be sure to get your request for a reservation in as soon as you can - it can sometimes take a while (months?) to get the reservation.

KC

Lisa, I would not ever discourage anyone from a Scavi tour but so much of any tour is affected by the tour guide.

Our guide spoke English with such a heavy and nasal accent it was extremely difficult to understand what she was saying 90% of the time.

As a result I was very disappointed by the Scavi tour. The best part of the tour is that it ended by the burial place of Pope Paul II so we got to slip into the line. I certainly hope you have a much better Scavi tour. Deborah

At the Vatican Museum, we took the highlight tour which was either 90 min or 2 hours. The guide had a microphone and we had earphones, so we could hear everything perfectly and ask questions even though there were a lot of people in our group (25?). Even our 11 and 14 year olds found it fascinating!

In contrast to Deborah Ann, our tour guide was perfectly understandable and fascinating. But unless you're really interested in this tour, I wouldn't encourage trying to get a reservation. There are plenty of people who desperately want a ticket for Scavi, so there's no point taking up space from others wanting to have the experience.

KC

KC, I was so looking forward to the Scavi tour because it was so highly regarded. I wonder if I had unreasonable expectations from the many glowing reports I had read on Fodor's. The religious significance was very important to us so I certainly wasn't expecting the problem we encountered. I would guess my experience is in the minority, lucky me ;;) Deborah

Deborah -

Sorry for your bad experience. The Scavi tour was one of the highlights of our trip to Italy last fall. Maybe you could/should try again - if you're lucky enough to go to Rome again?

Ciao,

KC

I think I will definitely look into the Scavi Tour. Deborah, I am with you, I love the French Impressionism the best, but I marvel at the art I have seen in Italy. I am not a Catholic, so I am incredibly ignorant about most of the subject matter in the religious art. I just enjoy looking at it.

I went to Pompeii two years ago and used the English audio guide. I didn't like it at all. I found it dull and I got lost quickly. I think I should have taken a tour with a group. I just visited Venice and took the Secret Tour of the Dodges. It was so informative and I got to see the prison Casanova escaped from! I highly recommend it.

Hi again. My husband just called me (from Turino) and said a coworker did a Vatican Tour with a company called Eternal City Tours. Anyone have any experience with them? Also someone on Trip Advisor raved about a company called Through Eternity, which I think you used, Deborah. Any feedback on those? Thanks, Lisa

We did our Ancient Rome tour with Icon Tours. They were great and very affordable! The tour lasted 1.5 hours longer than quoted, no additional charge. I could have stayed with our guide the rest of the day!

we just returned from a week in Rome yesterday and used ICON Tours for the Vatican and were pleased.

Oldmyst -

We used Through Eternity Tours last September for an "Ancient Rome" (4 hours) and Vatican (4 hours) tours. It was excellent - our tour guide was Andrew (??? - check our trip report at fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?screen_name=knoxvillecouple&f id=2), and he was excellent. I think that Context Rome and Through Eternity probably have the highest ratings of tour companies on Fodors, but I'm sure others are very good as well.

KC

I second that emotion regarding Icon Tours.

They were my heros last summer. They kept my 13 boy, who suffers with extreme ADD, totally captivated. We took their Coliseum and Vatican Tours.

We booked Francesca Caruso for private tours of the Colosseum, the Forum and the Pantheon. I believe she also does the Vatican. She is AMAZING! E-mail her directly at [email protected]. I originally found her through Rick Steves, but several on Fodors website have also used her. She will try to accommodate your sightseeing requests. The Scavi tour is a must-see if you can get reservations. Our tour guide was from the U.S. and was very good.

The scavi tour was the highlight of our stay in Rome. The guide was well-informed, and although she did have an Italian accent, we had no problems understanding her. We didnt get confirmation of our tickets until a week before we were in Rome, so I was ecstatic when the email confirming our reservation came.

We also did a Through Eternity tour of the Vatican, which included the basilica and the museums. Our guide was excellent, definitely knew his stuff and made the tour very enjoyable with his commentary. We loved his sense of humor. We also wore headphones, so the commentary was very clear. Context tours are very highly regarded in this forum and have very good reviews, but they were a little beyond our budget.

We did the Scavi tour and loved it. We also used Context for a Vatican tour and thought they were excellent, we got so much more out of it than just doing it on our own. We took a Colosseum/Forum tour and a general Rome walking tour with Romewalks, and they were very good as well. What we liked about both of those companies is that the groups were small (6 people max), which makes a big difference, as you will always be able to hear your guide. Whoever you use, just check how many people they put in the group. You don't want to be stuck in the back of a group of 20 people, not being able to hear anything or ask questions freely.

Oldmyst...

I'm already looking forward to your trip report! Please post one.

anyone ever hear of discover rome wlaking tours?

oops...discover rome walking tours.

I have posted on several sites since getting home from Rome, but just wanted to let you know I took two Icon tours (Vatican and Forum/Colloseum). Both were very good, especially the Vatican tour. The Vatican tour was only 10 people at 25 euro a person and it lasted 4 hours instead of 2 1/2 as it was supposed to. It was the highlight of our trip to Rome. The Forum/Colloseum was pretty good too with 8 people on the tour, and we were given a 5 euro discount for booking another Icon Tour. I really enjoyed both.

I can't speak for other tour companies. I heard Context was very good, but it was a little too expensive for us. I do wish I had the chance to experience them too.

Borghese - no need for a guide. Get the tour book or audio guide and you'll be just fine.

Scavi - yes the guide does make a difference, but regardless of how poor they are if you are aware of what you are seeing both in terms of Roman history and Catholic history I think you'd find it interesting touring with a mute.

Vatican - no guide is going to be able to show you the entire place...impossible. They'll show you what they like or what they know they can access without the crowds. This is the only one I would consider getting a guide for though.

Dina4, I noticed not many people take the official Vatican guided tour. How did you find it?

Anyone else has any thoughts on why it's not as popular despite being much cheaper? How big is the group for the Guided Tours for Individuals EUR21.50? Do they repeat the same thing in multiple languages?

perth2europe-
Hi!

We really enjoyed our Vatican guided tour. We had a live guide who only spoke English to the group. (I think they offer that at 11am daily) We all had headphones, and she spoke into a microphone that projected to our earphones. So it was "live" and she answered questions. So even though it was a big group (20 people, I think), you could always hear perfectly and move around comfortably. She was very interesting and informative, and we had our kids (11, 14) with us and they really were engaged and got a lot out of it.. It was a 2 hour highlight tour.

I checked my notes, and I had written that you enter at the exit gate at the Vatican Museum, which is a 10-15 min walk from the entrance. You then check in at the guided tour desk.
We called the day before and got in, but we may have been lucky (it was June). Here's the phone # to reserve your spot ahead of time:
06-6988-4466

Have fun!
Dina

Since Icon and Contex get such rave reviews, has anyone used Romewalks and if so, how where they?

Hi Lisa,

I'd love to read your Rome report, but I can't find it. Can you pull it up for us? Glad you had a great time!

Thanks for the compliments. It is called Back From Rome. I will post later when I get home from work. Lisa

lvitaly, we used romewalks for our Colosseum/Forum tour and for the 2 hour twilight walking tour that hits sights like the Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, etc.
We thought they were excellent. The guide for the Colosseum tour was amazing, an archeology PhD and really knew her stuff. Group was only 6 people which was nice.

dina4, do you remember how much the Vatican highlight tour was? And did you call to reserve, or fax a request? I visited their website, and it appears that you fax a request???

Someone above posted it as 21.50 euro. In 2004 it was 19.50.
A great deal as I remember it was maybe 5 or 6 euro more than admission.
We just called that number I posted above. Didn't fax.
Good luck!
Dina

Thanks Almesq !
I am leaning toward them. I Like what they have to offer and i also like the timing as well.

It was our private tour guide who gave us the phone # and told us about the Vatican tour. Later, I noticed Rick Steves also mentions it in his book.

I really don't know why more people don't take advantage of this tour, unless perhaps it's because they don't know about it.

I am just reporting something I discovered yesterday on Trip Advisor. Someone who has only posted 3 times has questioned my integrity, thinking I am a tour company employee talking up Icon Tour which I used twice on my recent trip to Italy. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read it. It just shows you how some companies will do anything to hurt someone else's business. See this link:

http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/S...o.html#3279494

Unbelievable, Lisa

For something different, try a photographic walking tour: http://imaging-in-italy.com/

Disclaimer: Tony's a friend of mine, I did a week-long edition of his course a couple of years ago and loved it. But he doesn't pay me to say nice things about him! ; )

best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

beginningwithi.com