Ostia Antica

We did not visit Ostia Antica on a tour rather stopped by there on our own before checking into our airport hotel and returning our rental car. Use a guide book to tour independently. It is very close to FCO.

Suki- We are leaning towards a tour because there is so much to see and feel like it would be better served if we had someone that knew the ruins and could explain what we were looking at. Definitely don't have to do a guided tour if the consensus is that touring independently is sufficient. Thanks

We used the free audio tour Rick provides in his Audio Europe app, and found that was more than sufficient. If you happen to be particularly scholarly on the topic, maybe not, but for us it was sufficent.

Note: In over twenty years of independent travel we have only hired a guide one time, for the Acropolis in Athens. We do our own studying , and take along Michelin Blue Guides.

Viator has NO guided tour options.

They are just repackaging one of the other options you see. Just like with air travel go direct to the supplier. Viator sells the tour and then sees if it can be delivered resulting in emails shortly before your tour going "too bad, we can't deliver"

We did do this on our own. We bought a book in their gift shop (we also wound up spending about 8 hours there loved it!)

Carol- Was the gift shop in the museum? I only ask because I see the museum is still closed. Thanks

We used only Rick Steves' guide book and it had plenty of information. The same is probably true for other guide books as well. Really don't think a guided tour is necessary for that reason. In addition, touring independently will allow you to ramble about and explore as you wish, without the time constraints of a guided tour.

Thanks for the input guys. I am going to tour independently. I don't see Ostia Antica on the Rick Steves Audio Europe, but I see it is a 36 minute podcast. Is that probably the same? Am I just missing it on Rick's App? I will also look for a guide book as well,

You can find Rick's Ostia Antica walking tour under "Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome)" rather than under plain old "Italy". It's listed as "Rome -- Ostia Antica".

Rick's walking audio tour was fine for our early April visit. It was also free entry on the Sunday we went, the crowd was minimal.
Note that the cafeteria and museum were still closed.

We did Ostia Antica two years ago, just before COVID hit. It is sensational. We stayed in Ostia and took the 10 minute easy train ride. You don't need a tour guide. Use Rick's info. Competes with Pompeii, but without the volcanic eruption! Nice restaurant and bookstore.

We were there just last week, and the museum and restaurant are still closed.

I loved being able to find some shade here and there at Ostia Antica because the sun was still brutal when we visited in early October. We took the better part of a day to make a day trip from Rome and enjoyed our train travel. We used RS's info and didn't need a guide. After a long RS tour it was rather fun discovering on our own.