Would you mind posting how much these guides charge for their service per day? We have been staying in Rome this week and enjoying Rome without any specific schedule or direction, so maybe it might be nice to have a guide for a day or two. Pronto per favore we're leaving in a few days.

We had an amazing guide in Rome -Claudio Caponera – cell – 3491014697
Email is [email protected] and www.limoinrome.com
He made Rome come alive with his stories and having lived in Rome his entire life, had many stories. We saw more in a day with him than we could have have hoped for. He had a van, drives safely and our kids took his tour a few years later and also said it was a highlight of their trip. He arranged for a private tour of the Vatican for us with a young girl who had a history/archelogical degree and it was amazing.

Has anyone used Miles & Miles tour company?

www.toursofrome.it

Dax, we paid 50E per hour for Francesca on the three occasions we have booked her services. Worth every penny.

Italy Novice - just curious of reviews of your tours now that you are back...

I recommend not booking ahead. I found excellent tours in Rome just by showing up at places and joining. They were a tiny fraction of cost of the fancy-shmancy tours to advertise online.

Imhornet

Where do you go when you "show up"? How do you know when there will be tours?

We just walked around outside the place we wanted to go. There were plenty of guides starting up new groups all the time. At the Colosseum, we showed up mid morning. The tour guide even threw in a free tour of the Forum with a fellow guide. Both were excellent, entertaining and very professional guides. We actually hadn't intended to take a tour, but the price far less than online prices led us to expect, so we decided "why not?"

At the Vatican museum, you want to get there early as possible, mainly to avoid the crowds.

ttt

I wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed both of our guides Sarah and Valeria with Italy Hotline Private and Custom Tours in July. Sarah did everything I could have hoped for in a guide: eased us through the entry with reserved tickets, spent a lot of time establishing the context for the Vatican, focusing us on the highlights, adding a personal touch, anticipating bathroom needs and water fountains (it was hot!). My husband was a docent at the Los Angeles County Art Museum and we were worried that the tour would not be sophisticated enough for us—wrong. I would love to have another tour with Sarah.
Valeria was also excellent for many of the same reasons. Her enthusiasm for the Borghese was infectious. She showed us how to view the Apollo and Daphne by rotating around starting with a rear view that completely blew my mind.
We will use their services again when we return to Rome and we found out they offer tours all over Italy. A warning though- anyone traveling to Rome- watch out for the rip-off cab drivers they were the one negative aspect of our entire stay in Rome. Have your guide teach you how to make sure they are not ripping you off. We learned but it was stressful.

bookmarking

bookmarking

I think the score on a tour guide is really a personal thing that depends on many factors. Assuming that a licensed guide knows the things he describes, because he did a hard test for obtaining the license, he must be nice, and that is really very personal. Someone wants him a bit funny. Someone needs notions, someone else doesn't want to get bored.
I think, if you book a guide by internet, first you have to be sure it is a professional one. They own a numered license. This is a guarantee about the deep knowledge of sites.

Marilee12 - "We had an amazing guide in Rome" -Claudio Caponera – cell – 3491014697 Email is [email protected] and www.limoinrome.com

We had several friends and they also had friends that used Claudio for their tour of Rome and all said he was the very best. They went in 2009.

Does anybody know of a walking tour for the Forum/Coliseum that starts in the early afternoon? We will be jet-lagged from arriving the day before and will probably want to sleep late on our first full day in Rome.

All the ones I have found all start at 9:30AM - and those will not work.

Thanks in advance
Steve

italynovice,

Would you mind giving your opinion of the 3 tours you took? DH and I are booking now for May and are considering the evening tour with Walks of Italy as well as private tours with Daniella, Sonia or a few other guides mentioned on these forums.

Sorry, I never remembered to look back at this site. We had a lovely time in Rome, and loved our apartment through Sleep in Italy, Rondanini. We did the Walks of Italy tour with Jason the first evening at around 6 p.m. This worked out great because it was inexpensive, gave us a great initial overview of Rome, and kept us awake, as we had just flown into Rome that morning, so that we could get acclimated to the time schedule there. Many places we went back to during the next several days, and things stuck better after having that initial overview. It was a pleasant walking tour, though a group tour, and Jason was very entertaining. We used Sonia Tavoletta for our ancient Rome tour (we chose 5 hours, which allowed the Colloseum, palatine hill, Roman Forum, and even walks to the Jewish Ghetto, Trasteverde, and Pantheon. (I may be mis-spelling things for the sake of responding quickly) Sonia was very knowlegable, and we all learned alot. I would definitely use her again. She is Italian with a total command of the English language, and was also very helpful with restaurant reservations, etc. We used Daniella Hunt for the Vatican tour the following day, taking a 4 hour tour (three of us). She was not as refined as Sonia, not quite as knowlegable in tiny details, but made it come to life, and we also learned alot. It was worlds better than when I have visited on my own with a tourbook. All in all, we feel like the extra money spent on these tours was well worth it. Please respond back if you have any additional questions.

Hi italynovice - do you recall offhand the charges for the tours you mention?

italynovice - thanks your for your comments on the tours :)

I don't remember how much the Walks of Italy tour ([email protected]) was, either 15 or 20 Euros per person. It was a group tour of about 15 or twenty people. Sonia ([email protected]) was 50 euros per hour. Daniella Hunt ([email protected]) was 65 euros per hour. The first was a great bargain for the money. The other two were expensive, but we split it three ways, and the individual attention make everything come to life, and really resulted in a fascinating history lesson. The time flew by, but I learned so much more about the events/politics/way of life that fit in with what we were seeing. We could ask questions and focus on things we were more interested in. I highly recommend a private or semi-private tour for ancient Rome and the Vatican, but the introductory walking tour of the highlights of Rome was perfect for day one.