Rome - Guide

Everything is almost always feasible on your own and many guidebooks will have self directed walking tours. However, we generally find having a guide to be very helpful in provide additional information and answering question that a guidebook cannot do. A good guide can add a lot to the understanding and enjoyment of what you are seeing.

Some people prefer to go at their own pace rather than follow a guide around, but I'll have to say that, other than the cost, the experience for me is always much better with a guide.

I'll admit that I've also been known to stand near someone else's guide and listen in a while. It always makes me wish I'd taken the whole tour because there's just so much interesting info I'd have missed without the guide.

Claire, we prefer a guided tour, we took a tour of the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel last september and it was very good, they also have tours of St.Peter's. You can book it online http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html
For the Roman Forum we had a private guide for the whole day, and did a lot of other sights too, he was great, www.roninrome.com
You could do it all on your own, but i think it is a lot more fun to listen an enjoy than to read a guidebook.
Bonne chance!

I have recommended this tour company many times on this helpline.

http://www.contexttravel.com/rome/

I took their Palatine/Forum/Colosseum tour this past May and was overwhelmed by the information that was presented. The tour was very long, 4 hours +, but it was given by an archaeologist with a PhD. from Oxford University. They have a myriad of tours to choose from, including The Vatican. Their tours are limited usually to groups of 6 or less. They are a little pricey, but the information that you will get is well worth the price. BRING WATER! We took the tour right after landing in Rome and were terribly jet-lagged, so some of what we were supposed to learn from the tour went right through us. Without the jet-lag, the tour would have been perfect. Hot, but perfect.

The tour given by The Vatican can sometimes be good, other times it is a mad dash for the finish line, The Sistine Chapel. It all depends on WHO is giving the tour.

I prefer a guide over trying to fumble through the guidebook on my own & read it to my husband. We took a tour of the Vatican/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's Basilica with Presto Tours in Sept & we were very pleased with the tour. We also took a tour of the Colosseum, Forum & Palatine Hill with Through Eternity & again the tour & the guide were great! The tour guides from both of these companies made the tours very interesting & were able to answer a lot of questions. I know that using a tour guide does cost more money but I think it is well worth it. That said, if I were only going to do one tour with a guide, it would definitely be the Vatican/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's. The Vatican Museum is enormous & you could get lost there for days. The guide will break it all down for you & show you the major works of art. Our tour guide said that if you spent 15 seconds looking at every piece of art in the Vatican Museums, it would take 3 yrs to see it all...so I was very thankful that I had a tour guide to concentrate my focus on the more important areas. Good luck & enjoy Rome.

We LOVED Ron in Rome. Can't say enough good things about him. He was so knowledgeable and personable and he made the Forum, Colliseum and Palantine Hill very real for us. He also really LISTENED to each member of our group and used the info to personalize a bit of the day for each of us: Via Condotti for my teen-aged daughter, finiding out of the way Caravaggios for me and really explaining ancient architecture and building techniques for my huband. I would recommend booking him early in your stay in Rome. He will also give you helpful hints about city transportation, food, concerts/entertainment for your remaining days in Rome

You can absolutely do it on your own but you will learn so much more and have a better experience by going with a tour company. There's a lot to see and can be overwhelming. We are usually anti-tours and at the last minute decided to book the Vatican tour with a company called Through Eternity and I have to say they were incredible. Our guide was Brandon Greene. TAKE COMFORTABLE SHOES!!!

Ron in Rome! YES!YES!YES!
Rome is the one city I believe is better with a guide.

I think a good guide can add a lot to a tour. Information that you would otherwise not have. With that said you are on their schedule and see what they believe are the most interesting sights. I have been on a number of tours and for the most part they have been positive experiences. I think if you do your homework you will know whether a tour is a good idea or not.