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
New Paltz, NY
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
Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA
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
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23460 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
Victoria, BC, Canada
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.