Hello everyone, Can you please give your opinion on paying for guided tours vs downloading an audio tour from the internet and listening to that instead via iPod, etc.? Cost vs information learned vs time? Main attractions considering tours vs dowloadable audio tour are: Vatican Museum, Colosseum, Forum, and the Louvre. Also, if your choice is audio guides on an iPod please let me know which ones you prefer. I know RS has a great list but have heard some might be outdated (ie Louvre). Lastly, can you bring an iPod/iPhone into all historic sites above? Thank you in advance for your help!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Kristen, If you're travelling with an iPhone, be VERY careful when using the data roaming as the charges can be horrendous! In one recent example, a traveller returned home after a 2.5 week trip to find a bill for $37,000 waiting in her mailbox! Regarding "Tour or Audio Guide", I'd probably lean towards the RS Audio tours (hopefully he's updated his tour of The Louvre). I find it a bit of a nuisance to rent Audio Guides provided at various sites, as one usually has to leave a Driver's License or Passport for "security". Happy travels!
Posted by
Eureka, IL
65 posts
Kristen,
My personal response to this is that if you have anything that is a very special place or interest then do the Guided tour. If it is just something you want to see then do Rick's audio tours. They are very good and informative. You will really enjoy them for the sites. For instance my wife loves art so we hired a guide at the Louvre (200 euro 4 hrs) and I love History so we hired a guide for the Forum and Colloseum (120 euro for 3 hrs). We used audio tours for town walks, Venice Canal cruise, Florence Duomo, and many other places. The thing I love about a local guide is that you can get indepth feedback and ask any questions you might have. I was really wishing I would have had either in Pompeii because the audio guide wasn't out yet and it was a last minute add because of a train strike in Northern Italy we stayed in Rome longer.