There are so many things to see in Rome, many that one can see without a guide, or using a tour book such as Rick's, or an audio tour.Even so,we are planning to have a private guide for a day. We can find a guide, there is lots of info on the Helpline about this. I was wondering if there are certain sites( eg St Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, Borghese, Appian Way/catacombs, Palatine, Forum, others) where a good guide adds a lot - apart from just avoiding lines. The experience of others would be appreciated. Thanks.
Posted by
Freedonia
15069 posts
My suggestion would be to start with Ron in Rome. Yes, he's a guide, but his website has a tremendous amount of information about visiting Rome. He'll customize a tour for you--and probably tell you what sites you could do on your own.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
691 posts
Keith, we spent a day with Ron visiting the
Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill and many
more sights, but we were glad to have him for
those it was so much better than a guidebook!
Ron is moving, but maybe you catch him before
he leaves!
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1449 posts
I didn't have a private guide for a day, but on a RS tour we had Francesca Caruso for a few hours. She, and I think any good guide, really made the Roman history come alive with her enthusiasm and passion for it. Its one thing to walk thru the Colosseum or around Palatine Hill with a guide book in hand, its another to have a guide share with you the history and answer questions. We had a different guide thru the Vatican museum, and again a guide is wonderful at putting things into context and explaining the significance of what you may overlook. I really can't think of anything we saw with guides where I felt "what a waste, no value added".
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
You cannot visit the catacombs without being on one of their tours. The only other site that I would say you might want a guide for is the forum. It's not well signed. For this, I use a downloadable guide from pocketvox.com. It lets me go at my own pace on the day I choose but still gives all that inside information you might not get from a guidebook. I've never been a fan of organized tours as I don't think they are very user friendly but if you do your research you can find a good guide.
Just as an FYI- Ron from Ron in Rome isn't doing guided tours anymore as he's moving from Rome. It's unfortunate because he's a great source of information and gives really great tours.
Donna