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Rick Steves Audio Tours vs. Guided Tours

Can anyone comment on their experience using the Rick Steves audio tours? We are considering using the audio tours for Venice and Rome rather than hiring a local tour guide.

Posted by
9109 posts

I tried using them in Paris, and I found the whole experience awkward, and distracting. After a while a gave it up and went back to the guidebooks. The guidebooks have the same exact info...without the wires;)

Posted by
606 posts

I found the Rick Steves Pantheon audio tour excellent. I learned a lot, it was the right length. I'm not sure I would have found a guided tour much better.

I found the Colosseum audio tour lacking in info and length. It gives a hit of the place, but surely a guided tour would have been much better.

I was so tired by the time we got into St. Peters that I forgot to listen to the audio tour I'd downloaded! But I'd speculate that it only scratches the surface there.

So I guess my lesson would be, for small sites like Pantheon, RS audio tour is great. For a big site, a guide may be money well spent.

Posted by
23618 posts

In my opinion there is no substitute for hiring a local guide whether private or group. They add so much more information -- most importantly in my opinion -- they answer questions. And, almost as important, you cannot get lost with a guide. The audio tours work fairly well but not much difference than the walking tour in his guide books. I am amazed that someone will spend a thousand dollars or more getting there, a hotel room for a 100 Euro, meals for 50E plus and bulk at spending 20 or 30E for a live guide. We often taking the walking tour first and then a guided tour. The walking tour gives a little background so we know what to expect, and the guided tour will tie it all together in a good package.

Posted by
372 posts

I've just returned from an RS tour which included the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peters. I supplemented our tour guide's appreviated info on the Sistine Chapel with Rick's audio. I found it great - and my fellow tour members were jealous. I also used Rick's audio tour of St Peters when we were turned loose in there without much info from the guide. While listening to Rick's audio, I had no idea a mass was being conducted, and would have missed out on catching a bit of the mass and choral music if one of the tour members hadn't interrupted me. I thought the choral music I was hearing was part of the audio track! I highly recommend the audio tours, they worked really well for me.