We took the Walks of Italy Caesars Palace tour last June, which included the Colosseum, Forum, and houses of Augustus and Livia. Since childhood I've had a keen interest in Augustus and his times so it was a real treat for me to see domestic spaces where he entertained and worked. The wall frescoes are in an amazing state of preservation. Regarding the tour, it was packed full of info and of high quality. One caveat: I felt a little rushed as we went through the Forum; I actually wanted something more in-depth there. If you're a 'big fan' like I am and you take the Walks of Italy Caesars Palace tour you might want to book another more in-depth tour of the Forum; seems like we were at the forum maybe 30-40 minutes as a gross estimate and I just wanted more, although frankly my husband had probably had enough there. BTW on a sunny June morning I think there were perhaps 16-20 of us on the tour, but with the headsets it was easy to hear and the group size was not awkward. As Rick mentions in his guidebook, there is a great view of the main forum from the Capitaline museum in a lower level that connects the two halves of the building. BTW another cool Augustus-era monument in Rome is the Ara Pacis. The 'Altar of Peace' has large reliefs of Augustus and his family, his BFF Agrippa, and other personalities of this era. Since the carvings were done during their lifetimes it's pretty cool to think they may have looked like this, e.g. depiction of Tiberius as a child. My husband and I also went to Trajan's Market. It's relatively quiet compared to the other sites we visited so was a nice contrast to places like the Vatican which were a bit of a crush mid-June. The museum within the market concentrates on economy and trade, so it's a perspective that you don't get very often. Just to be clear, Ara Pacis, Capitoline Museum and Trajan's Market are not on the Caesar's Palace tour. You are very close to the latter two if you want to thread together a day with sights in the Forum area. We took a cab to Ara Pacis from the Forum area as it is a bit far; it was inexpensive and saved our legs for more sights.
