Poncho

I will be in Rome in about two weeks with my wife and 2 kids(Boy-12/Girl-15). As we will only be there for 2.5 days,I am wondering whether I should hire a private tour guide to give us an overview on the first day and then do a private tour of the Vatican or just do a Hop On/Hop off Bus tour and arrange a regular tour of Vatican? We will be there on a Saturday through Tuesday. I believe the Vatican is closed Sunday. What tour companies are the best and should I arrange it all in advance?

CU

Just back from first visit to Rome. First get on the hop on hop off bus and you will get a good idea of the city and what you want to see.
Sistine chapel is a most. Do not be put off by the Q as it is long but moves fairly fast.
Vatican is open Sundays and well worth a visit.
Tip: You can rent a radio tape that gives you all the information you require. They are cheap and well worth it. Each item to view has a number and you dial in that number to learn the history.
With 2.5 days you will not see everything.
One piece of info I got before I went there was that beside most historical sites there is a Metro stop. Public transport is very cheap.
Try and get your hands on 'DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides 'ROME'by Bramblett &Kennedy
Enjoy wonderful city.

sforza

We spent a wonderful day in Rome with a private tour guide, Suzanne Bono-Lucidi. She's very knowledgable, very engaging, and happy to "customize" a tour for you...and point out things between major attractions that you might have missed. She has a hotmail email account and her email name is "bellasuzi"
We also had the Scala Reale tour of the Vatican, which we would also highly recommend.

rosexmke

Someone in your situation posted a wish list entitled "advice on rome trip", type it in and look at her ideas.