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Tour guide recommendations for Rome

I'm looking for a tour guide or company for Rome. Recommendations?

Posted by
15807 posts

Just a start:
https://www.walksofitaly.com
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy
https://www.contexttravel.com/cities/rome

Other folks will likely have additional suggestions. Some of the attractions have their own tour services, and some folks self tour with a guidebook and/or map and audio guides. You weren't specific about WHEN you'll be in Rome, WHAT you want to see there, WHO you're traveling with (if any), and how much TIME you'll have but do keep in mind that it wasn't built in a day, and can't be seen in one. :O)

Editing to add: Silly me, there is also this fine option!
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/rome

Posted by
2 posts

We will be there 7/8-7/10, just 3 days. We want to see typical Roman sights-Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Palantine Hill, etc. Skipping the Vatican for when we come back at the end of the trip.

Posted by
2186 posts

We used Sonia Tavoletta in 2019 for our tour of the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica. She was excellent at guiding us through and gauging her audience. She gave very specific instructions all the way the through the ticketing and meeting up process. She can tailor a tour to your interests. Francesca Caruso works almost full-time for RS, but she is excellent and you can listen to her in the RS Rome videos.

Posted by
26 posts

These were listed at the top reply to this post. Has anyone used any of these and would your recommend?
I plan to book with a private tour for one site but due to budget will need to do something a little less expensive, these looked like more affordable options, curious to hear if others have had any experience on any of these?
Also if in Rome for 3 days only would you suggest doing a tour that sees 2 or more sites then in one day?
Just a start:
https://www.walksofitaly.com
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy
https://www.contexttravel.com/cities/rome

Posted by
99 posts

We’ve used walks of Italy and the Roman guy both were excellent

Posted by
66 posts

We used Context Travel for the Vatican and the Colisseum, Forum and Palatine Hill and were pleased with both experiences. This was in 2018, in a small group of eight. We also used Guidaly for a privately guided visit to the Borghese.

Posted by
128 posts

My son (when he was in his 20's) had a fascination with underground Rome. He used Roman Guy and Context to arrange private tours to the places he wanted to go. He loved both companies. He also used some other places, but those are the two I remember him talking about.

I have used Context multiple times over the years, for small group and then for private tours with my sister. I also used the Roman Guy for a private tour, on my son's recommendation. If you are into Catholic Rome, The Catholic Traveler https://thecatholictraveler.com/ is great. Sophie Minchilli http://www.sophieminchilli.com/food-tours/ does wonderful food tours in neighborhoods she knows well. Katie Parla https://katieparla.com/walking-tours/ has tours into the Jewish Getto (and others) if you are interested in that. RomeWise https://www.romewise.com/ is not a tour guide but has several ideas on how to do a short visit to Rome.

My recommendation is to book early as you can. Rome is in full swing right now and I hear that many guides are booked heavily. Rome went from "almost no one here" two weeks ago to full blown "everyone is here." I don't think it will slow down after the Easter/spring break either!

Posted by
265 posts

I will throw in a vote for Through Eternity Tours. We used these folks two weeks ago, the early tours of the Vatican/Sistine and Colosso were excellent. The Guides (Thomas and Gracelyn) both commented on how wonderful it was to be doing tours again after two years of basically nothing!

Our 12 person max tours actually had six and then four. Small groups for sure. In the Sistine chapel there were only enough people to "mostly" fill the bench around the room and no hurry to leave.