Rome Walking Tours

[paulbjr]

Cruise Critic has been SO helpful in preparing for our cruise that I want to try once more:

 

Many people have posted recommendations for private tours and/or tours that involve a limo or other transportation.

 

NEXT WEEK on Thursday (arriving from the US in the AM) and Friday we want to see some of Rome before our cruise leaves on Saturday. I know that we can't do it all but want to see:

 

 

• St. Peters, Sistine Chapel,
  
• Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill,
  
• Parthenon.
  

I have an apartment for two nights near Campo di Fiori so everything is accessible.

 

QUESTION: Can you recommend companies that provide walking tours of the above sites?

 

Paul

[euro cruiser]

Are you looking for standarized walking tours or personal ones that can be customized for you?

 

Also, is there a reason you want one or two tours to cover several stops, vs. specific tours at each site? You will be located right in the heart of the city and could easily walk to any of these places, where you could get an on-site tour. The Pantheon (which I assume you meant, since the Parthenon is in Greece) is a little more difficult, althought there are a few on-site tours.

[paulbjr]

Yes, of course the Pantheon. Thanks. I can use hte Rick Steves audio guide for that. I have his audio for the other sites but you can't ask an audio questions.

 

Yes, I'd like to find a group tour for St. Peters and the ancient sights.

 

By the way, Rick Steves recommends the Roma Pass. Is that overkill for what I want to see?

 

Steves lists several walking tour companies but then gives a cryptic remark about receiving complaints about "some" of them. That's why I am asking for recommendations.

[paulbjr]

Are you looking for standarized walking tours or personal ones that can be customized for you?

 

Standardized is fine this time.

[paulbjr]

You will be located right in the heart of the city and could easily walk to any of these places, where you could get an on-site tour.

 

Are the on-site tours OK? That would make our time much more flexible;

 

From what I have read, there seem to be limited times for on-site tours of St. Peters. 14:15 each day, I think. (???)

[euro cruiser]

Context offers good tours, one like this one for St. Peter's if you like in depth experiences: http://www.contexttravel.com/city/rome/walking-tour-details/st-peters-symposium

 

I think you can do just fine by patching together individual tours like the one above and mixing them with ones offered on-site.

[rmurray847]

Cruise Critic has been SO helpful in preparing for our cruise that I want to try once more:

 

Many people have posted recommendations for private tours and/or tours that involve a limo or other transportation.

 

NEXT WEEK on Thursday (arriving from the US in the AM) and Friday we want to see some of Rome before our cruise leaves on Saturday. I know that we can't do it all but want to see:

 

 

• St. Peters, Sistine Chapel,
  
• Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill,
  
• Parthenon.
  

I have an apartment for two nights near Campo di Fiori so everything is accessible.

 

QUESTION: Can you recommend companies that provide walking tours of the above sites?

 

Paul

 

You have almost the exact amount of time my wife and I had last year! You can EASILY do the things you mention. I can't weigh in on guides, as we let Rick Steves' MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE PORTS book be our guide. Overall, this was fine. Make sure you have a good map of the historic area of Rome. Our hotel gave us one from a tear-off pad that ended up being more useful than the Streetwise Map I had brought in advance.

 

We arrived at our hotel at 11 am. Rather than succumbing to the lure of sleep after our flight, we headed out on foot. In 15 minutes, we are at Piazza Navonna. Then we walked to the Pantheon (and had lunch nearby). Then we walked down to the Colisseum. We elected to only view the Forum from the street, but certainly would have had time to swing through. We spent an hour at the Colisseum. (We were there in November, and there was virtually no line for tickets.) Then we strolled back "up" and saw the church of St. Peter in Chains (Michaelangelo's Moses is there...takes a 10 minute walk from Colisseum.) On the way to the Trevi Fountain, we took a brief diversion to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. I HIGHLY recommend this. It takes maybe 20 minutes to view, but it's quite stunning. Then the Trevi, and then a stroll back to our hotel. We were back around 6 pm. So we accomplished a huge swath of the city in 7 hours, and all at a leisurely pace. Taking time to enjoy the ambiance and the side streets.

 

The next morning, we walked to the Vatican Museum (about 25 minute walk) and had our pre-purchased tickets. (YOU MUST DO THIS. It saves SO, SO much time.) We really took our time there, and also at St. Peters, but we were still back at our hotel around 3 pm. On a whim, we had our concierge call to see if we could get into the Villa Borghese Museum (if you like the sculptures of Bernini and other late-Renaissance art, it's fabulous). We were able to get tickets for the last entrance of the day (and snagged the last couple available...next time we'll plan in advance). This was the only time we took a cab, because we were short on time. We spent a few hours at this gorgeous museum, where you can get within inches of the art (but no photos allowed). Then we strolled back to the hotel, swinging by the Spanish Steps on the way. We were back in our rooms by 9pm.

 

The next morning, we simply wandered around, poking our heads into interesting stores and doing some shopping. No plan and no sites. Just enjoying the atmosphere. Then, around 11, we had a driver take us to the port.

 

Naturally, we didn't see every possible tourist thing there is to see...but wow, we thought we did really well for less than two days. And none of it at breakneck speed. It was actually quite relaxing.

[Susan-M]

 

By the way, Rick Steves recommends the Roma Pass. Is that overkill for what I want to see?

 

 

I don't think you would get your money's worth out of it since you only have one site on your list that is covered by the pass ... and I'm not sure you'll have time to fit more in. (We used it for the Borghese Gallery and Colosseum during a 3 day stay, and for public transit.)

 

It sounds like you have a copy of Rick Steves' Rome guidebook, which has some good walking tours in it. For a 2 day stay, I would suggest trying to book a guided tour of the Vatican, and use RS's book and audio tours for the rest of your touring. His audio tours of the Pantheon, Colosseum and Forum are very good.

[Annie Morehead]

@rmurray-- what hotel did you stay at in Rome?

[rmurray847]

@rmurray-- what hotel did you stay at in Rome?

We stayed at the Hotel Cicerone, in the Prati district. It's not right by any of the sites, but it split the difference pretty well between the Vatican (in one direction) and the sites on the other side of the River (we took Ponte Cavour mostly). It's a fairly big, frankly somewhat American-seeming hotel...the advantages being a GREAT breakfast buffet (included) and pretty big rooms (for Europe.) Excellent concierge service.

[pete_coach]

Free is good :)

We had been to Rome a couple times and did it mostly on our own (except for into the Vatican and Colosseum). We then discovered the walking tours. We did the free walking tour a couple and had a great time. (free is relative, they expect and deserve a tip) The questions asked by others and the stories the guides told gave a new insight into the City.

After the tour a group of us headed to a restaurant with the guide and had a fantastic evening.

http://www.newromefreetour.com/nrft/Homepage.html

http://www.romefreewalkingtour.com/?gclid=CO-4yo-Kt7ACFQoDQAoduHEx5w