Hop on hop off bus tour in Rome

Judi,

I've used the red Rome Sightseeing Buses and I felt they provided a good overview (and also a way to rest my aching feet). I'm not familiar with the 110 bus so can't offer any comments.

If you decide to try the Rome Sightseeing Bus, I'd suggest taking your own headphones as the cheap ones they provide are junk.

We were in Rome almost 2 years ago and decided to take one of the city tour buses. It had been several years since we had last been in Rome, and we thought that it would be a good way to relax and take in the sights. We enjoyed it and actually were able to shoot some good pics from it. But I agree that the headphones are bad. I could only hear the narrative once in awhile, and my husband wasn't able to hear anything. At least we were able to recognize the sights from our previous trip.

What is the 110 bus? Are you referring to the Archaeology Hop on/off bus. We use it one Sunday and it worked fine. The only program was the frequency of the buses which was around the hour mark. It covered the sites along the Appian Way and some others in that part of Rome. There are other buses for the center part of ancient Rome.

We rode the 110 bus when it was still a city bus about 4 years ago and it was a great view of the sites and a cultural experience. While we were riding a great many people started shouting and pointing on the bus when the driver stopped and kicked a gentleman off. Turns out he was a pickpocket and the locals riding the bus knew it. We were kind of shellshocked until a nice lady explained what was going on. Money belt indeed!

They've drastically cut back on the stops most of the HO/HO buses make. They don't get close to most of the sites but let you off about 10 minutes away. They don't really get great reviews on any of the forums that I visit.

Donna

I rate Romes HOHO buses as just "OK". You might get a sense of the general layout, distances, and see some of the sights, but the main issue is that many of the sights are near the old center, and most not viewable since they are in pedestrian zones, or like St Peters, only from a distance. You could probably get more out of a walking tour, either on your own or a guided one.

Rick's books describe the 110 Open Bus and Archeobus (both open-topped, both operated by the ATAC city bus service, p. 860 in Italy book), but neither description sounds attractive to me, with traffic delays and "next to worthless narration."

You would be better off doing your own walking tour - the RS self-guided ones are good, laid out logically insofar as that's possible.