Does anyone have any suggestions for a very good tour operator for these sites in Rome? I know of Real Rome Tours, but they only offer tours in the morning, and I would like to book a tour sometime in the afternoon. I would prefer a tour operation that is not run by ex-patriots of some outside foreign country. It just wouldn't be right to be led around through Roman ruins by someone who is not Roman, nor Italian.
Posted by
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
206 posts
We had a great tour (forum, colosseum and palatine) through Context. It was four hours and our guide was a woman who was born and raised in Rome (and was a trained archeologist). I don't know if all their guides are natives, but I'm sure you could make a request. Because they did not have any small group tours scheduled at the time we wanted, we ended up with a private tour for just our family of four. Somewhat expensive, but well worth it. We all considered that tour a highlight of our trip (summer 2007).
Posted by
Atlanta, Ga, USA
2023 posts
Context Rome was great. We may have had the same guide as the above poster--her name was Cecelia and she was a native of Rome and her knowledge of the Palatine, Coliseum, and Forum was amazing. On our first trip to Rome we wandered around the ruins aimlessly not understanding very much of what we were seeing. She shared all kinds of interesting information about sights throughout Rome. It was definitely worth the cost. And our group was small--6 or 8 people--and the tour was four hours.
Posted by
Shubenacadie, NS, Canada
40 posts
We had no intention of going around the Colloseum with a tour guide,but I am SO glad we did,it was so interesting.I can't remember the name of the operator,but they were just standing outside the main entrance trying to get you to go with them.You skip the main line up if you go in with them,and it is good value for money,as there is not much information posted in the Colloseum,and I would not have had a clue what I was looking at had it not been for the tour guide.We did not go with the guide for Palatine Hill or Forum,although it was an option at no extra cost with the guide who showed us around the Colloseum.Unless you want to spend HOURS walking around,and are a real history buff,we didn't mind not having a guide for the other 2 sites.