Have been given a two day window and plan to see the Coliseum, Imperial Forum, & Pantheon on one day and The Sistine Capel & the Vatican Museum on 2nd day. Would we be well advised to hire a private guide to get the most of out this limited time? We are English speakers.
Any suggestions as where to find a good one?
"Keep on traveling"
Paul
This gal has been on a few Rick Steves episodes, as well as RS Monday night travel. She grew up in Rome, one of her parents was either American or British, that is to say she speaks perfect English. She was our local guide during our RS Rome tour. She guided us thru San Clemente, the coliseum and forum. Highly Recommend. https://francescacaruso.com.
If you go to Francesca's website, she also recommends other guides.
We’re in Rome now and have had two tours with Francesca, Coliseum and Ostia Antica, she’s great!
We had two tours, Vatican Museum and Borghese Gallery, with Ilaria Ceccarelli and she is really good too. Her contact information is on Francesca’s website.
All depends on how you travel and how in depth a knowledge you require. Our first trip to Rome was also for two days only, not sure if we'd ever make it back. On one of the days we took a tour, including a lunch, and it was pretty rubbishy (none of those mentioned above, more of a K-mart Special kind of tour).
We returned to Rome since and did it all on our own. I find that most people skip through the Imperial Forum, and are not as interested in or impressed by ruins as they thought they may have been. The Pantheon does not take long. The Colosseum is a top notch visit and should include the underground.
Don't know what time of year you are going but try for an early entry at the Vatican. I'm no holy roller but I found the Scavi tour to be interesting and very much worth it (booked in advance, you have to provide passport information etc).
I have done all that you mentioned without a tour guide. I simply did my own research prior to visiting them.
There is a wonderful book about the building of St. Peter's Basilica. It is called "The Basilica," and it took over a century and a half with three different architects to complete the amazing structure.
Francesca recommended Sonia Tavoletta when she was unavailable. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her at the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica. Several other forum members have used her as well. If you put her name in the “search” bar there will be reviews and comments. She was very communicative and even emailed picture of herself and our meeting spot so we wouldn’t be stumbling around trying to find her.
If the tour guide option does not work out for you, I have another recommendation in that is avoid the long lines of the Vatican museum, and simply go to Saint peters. The church is magnificent, the lines are much more manageable. Yes, it is a different experience, but something to consider.
If you don’t find a guide definitely, you must must must buy your tickets early, in advance, for the Vatican museum (this may be true, even when using a guide ). strongly suggest you do some research and determine exactly what you want to see in the Vatican museum to make your trip worthwhile. Otherwise you may find yourself staring at Pottery that you are not interested in and missing the room of Pope carriages (which is light hearted but quite interesting to many people). Enjoy your wonderful trip.
If you don’t end up getting a private guide, we love the audios on the free Rick Steves Audio Europe.
He has a great one of the Vatican and Sistine chapel. And other great walking tours of places in Rome.
