any suggestions for tour guides and hotels in rome

[momoforthodoc]

know it's early but i want to get a head start for my 2008 cruise. i haven't been to rome since 1970 when i was very young, the hippies were bathing in the trevi fountain and i didn't care where i stayed. times have changed now that i'm a grown up and i do like my creature comforts. anyone have any good suggestions for two middle aged cruise lovers who want to have a few days of good touring.

jeralyn ;)

[piratesmate123]

Home less than a week and all I want to do is return to La Dolce Vita! We stayed in a great little hotel in Rome - Hotel Golden (see reviews on www.tripadvisor.com). Everything the reviews say is true. You may get a better rate by booking directly with the hotel, not a booking service. We paid 180 Euros per night. Room was pretty large (by Europe standards), nice new bathroom, quiet. On 2nd floor (had to get buzzed into the building and the hotel). It only has 15 rooms and a very small lobby. Kind of a cross between a bed and bkft and a hotel. Helpful staff. Free internet, free breakfast. They will arrange a cab from the airport for 35 Euros (which I recommend after flying all night). Great location - 1 block from the Via Veneto, and about 6 blocks from the Barberini metro station. Across the street from one of the old Roman walls that circled the city - cool! Also close to a few bus stops. A few good places to eat nearby, including Lottie's pastry shop. Not the place to stay if you're looking for a huge fancy lobby (and tiny room with impersonal service.)

 

We went on 3 walking tours with Angel Tours - Rome at night, Colosseum and Forum, Vatican. Price was reasonable (25 or 29 Euros each). Although I prefer independent vacations, the Angel tours staff brought the areas and history to life - much more interesting than just walking by myself and reading a guidebook. We did the Rome at Night tour our first evening - nice way to start our stay. Linda

[Keith1010]

For a tour, something to consider are group tours offered by Rome Walks. The group tours involve around six to ten people. We did two of them and they were outstanding and we thought that each of the tour guides was wonderful. You can also book private tours with them but the group tours were great. We did one of the Vatican Museum and another one of the Colloseum and Ancient City.

 

Their web site is http://www.romewalks.com

 

They have a nice writeup on each tour on the web site and we just e mailed back and forth with them a couple of times before finalizing the tours.

 

Keith

[fmax]

Check out the Rome FAQ - you'll find some recommendations there

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=283936&highlight=faq

 

 

Frances

[agabbymama]

I found a nice little hotel called Gea di Vulcano for 145 EUR for this Oct, since you can't look at '08 yet. Another one is Welcme Residences 95 EUR in the same neighborhood around Termini Station. Both have good TripAdvisor reports.

 

http://www.romashuttleairport.it/homep.html has reasonable fares from the airport to the hotel, at 39 EUR for 2.

 

There is also a hop on/hop off bus I plan to use instead of paying hundreds for a private tour. I also plan to use them in Naples, Pisa and Florence. They all around around 20 EUR.

 

http://www.roma.city-sightseeing.it/eng/index.htm

 

Do your research, it's haf the fun of the trip, at least I think so. Then have a wonderful trip.

[momoforthodoc]

thanks to all of you for your suggestions and advice. this is a great start and i have lots of time to do the research.

any more ideas would be helpful as well. i appreciate having lots of opinions and options :)

jeralyn ;)

[Trixsea]

I just love the Hotel Lancelot. This hotle is located near the Colesseum and is within walking distance to many hightlights. Their site is www.Lancelothotel.com.

[agabbymama]

I just love the Hotel Lancelot. This hotle is located near the Colesseum and is within walking distance to many hightlights. Their site is www.Lancelothotel.com.

 

Looks like a nice hotel, but the rate right now is $228. I'm trying to keep the number down closer to $100-150. And have to watch a Bed and Breakfast as they sometimes don't even have a twin.

[jnickolite]

We just got back from a 12 Day Med. Cruise out of Rome. We stayed for two nights prior and one night after at the Hotel Alamandi. The hotel was very clean and loved the staff. The breakfast everymorning was wonderfull. The motel is only about a block from the vatican. As for tour guides we used Italy Limousine (Josehine was the contact person). We used them in Rome, Naples, and Pisa. They did a great job. The drivers are very knowledgable about their areas and the vans or vehicles are very clean. My dad had an electric scooter and not once did they complain about taking and putting it back in the vehicle. Everything was done with a smile. I could not recommend them enough use them and you can not go wrong.:o

[fmax]

I forgot to mention in my last post - we used http://www.driverinrome.com in both rome and florence/pisa and had excellent service.

 

they also have a B&B which you can check out on their website and I think it's within your price range but i haven't read any reviews on it.

 

 

Frances

[jmb4534]

Hotel Alimandi Viale Vaticano is the BEST. It is directly across the street from the Vaitcan museum. Beautiful CLEAN rooms and bathrooms. Nice rooftop garden to sit and have a glass of wine in the evenings. And the breakfast is great. Made to order omlets and a whole room full of other breakfast goodies. The breakfast is so large you won't need lunch. There is a free ariport shuttle (that's worth 50 Euros). The price in May was 190 Euros for a double. We booked through Venere.com.

 

If you use this hotel you will be very pleased.

[agabbymama]

Hotel Alimandi Viale Vaticano, This hotel looks absolutely fabulous jmb4534, but it's a non-smoking hotel. And unfortunately, I smoke, so that knocks them out of my list.

[cruisemom42]

If you really want to learn a lot, I can highly recommend Context Rome's walking tours. They offer a variety of tours, from the Vatican Museum to ancient Rome to day trips (Pompeii, etc.). They aren't for everyone, but if you are really interested in the art or history of Rome, they are about the best.

 

I notice on their website that they also offer (new this year) a one-day tour of Rome for people arriving by cruise ship who only have the day. Seems like another good option for people on this site.

[HawkeyeCruisr]

We were in Rome at the end of May and stayed at the Adler (hoteladler-roma.com) in the Via Firenze area. I reserved late and the standard rooms (125-130 euros) weren't available so we had a "superior double" for 150 euros. Prices are for Rick Steves 5% discount and pay in cash. Nice hotel with breakfast (no made-to-order items, though); easy walk to the Colosseum (though, in truth, we walked everywhere in Rome). Our room was very nice, though did not have much closet/drawer space if you're looking for anything other than living out of a suitcase for 1 or 2 nights.

 

For tours, I cannot recommend Angels Tours highly enough! We did their Forum/Colosseum tour (scheduled for 2 hours and actually took 3 hours) and learned so much more than we could have doing it ourselves with guide book in hand. On the same day we did their Vatican tour which lasted 4.5 hours. Again, so informative! Check their web site for details and costs (angeltoursrome.com).

 

Nancy

[momoforthodoc]

thanks to all for some great information, i do appreciate it :D

jeralyn ;)

[szdiver]

We used romeinlimo for both Rome and Florence. They were very good and took us places where the tours were, but without hassle. We even had a private guide in the Vatican who knew all sorts of trivia. Very good tour guides. In Florence, our guide took us to a monestery where we bought the local liquour from the monks, a castle hotel in Tuscany, a winery and the hill overlooking Florence, and of course, Florence itself.

[John&Betty]

Hi jeralyn,

 

Claudio Caponera is the owner and operater of Rome Limousine. http://www.limoinrome.com/ He is a gentleman and a true scholar of Rome and all it's history. If you really want to see and learn about Rome he's the guy to use. We went with him in 2003 and will be with him again next April.

 

John & Betty

[momoforthodoc]

thanks for the info john!

vetralla, that link doesn't work, is there another way to contact these people??

appreciate all the suggestions, i have a lot of research to do :rolleyes:

jeralyn ;)

[virgenia]

We second John&Betty's recommendation for Claudio Caponera. We used him in 2005 for full day tour of Rome with pickup at the port and delivery to the hotel. What a source of information he is!! We will be using him again for a Florence full day tour in September.

[grannynanny]

Hi Linda, We have reserations at the Hotel Golden pre-cruise in November for 2 nights. It sounds wonderful, and 3 other couples on our cruise are also booked threr. I would love to hear more about this hotel, and if you have any pictures, would love to see them.

 

My e-mail address is: grannynanny21@bellsouth.net

Thanks,

Nancy

[Rebecca J]

SZ Diver, on the tour with Claudio and the private guide in the Vatican Musesum did you have to wait in a long line to get in or was that expedited. That information would help me make a firm decision. One of our party has health issues and since we are traveling in hot August I am trying to limit wait times. Thanks, Rebecca J

[julieclair]

We just did the Voyager Med cruise the week of June 2nd, and we had a fabulous private driver, Paolo of Montini Auto Servizi, for our day in Rome. This was our first trip to Rome, and we hired him for a 4-hour tour. Paolo grew up in Rome, so he knows all the back streets, and he was able to cram a lot into our 4 hours -- much more than we would have seen on a ship's tour or on our own. Plus he knows SO much -- we just couldn't believe how well he was able to make the ancient sites seem real for us. We highly recommend him, and will use him again whenever we (hopefully!) return to Rome some day.

 

We made our reservations via email with Simonetta, who I guess does the reservations for all the company's drivers. You can reach her at: maurizio.montini@alice.it and/or montiniautoservizi@virgilio.it. They also have a website, but it is not very comprehensive. If you google "Montini Auto Servizi" you should be able to find it.

 

Enjoy your visit to Rome!