To Tour or not to Tour in Rome!

We used Angle Tours for the Vatican and were very pleased with them. Since they use English speaking art students, they may not be as polished as some tours but like the student's eagerness. Doubt if discount for more than one since they are pretty reasonable to start.

I think if one can afford a tour guide for the Forums they are doing themselves a great service,,it is NOT just a bunch of ruins if someone explains it to you... so , unless you are already well read ,, I suggest a tour for the Forum.

I think one can get away without a tour for the Colisuem,, but if a combo deal (Coliseum and Forum )is the deal then I would take it.

Tours are never a waste,, I mean, I think you can learn something even on a poor tour, but, as long as they don't RUSH you through the site. On the other hand , if one loves to read, do the research, etc.. then of course you don't NEED a tour.

With the short time you are there, I would definitely use a tour for the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill as well as the Vatican. We used Angel Tours for the Vatican and were well pleased. Wished we had taken a tour of the Forum, etc. instead of walking around on our own. We would have enjoyed it much more with someone to explain everything.

You can get away with rick's podcasts tours of the Forum and Colosseum also there are a couple other sites out there that also have podcasts. We saved lots of money by downloading our own podcasts and not using audio or regular tour guides. I'm not a big one for audio guides anyway, but it really doesn't put things in perspective of what you are seeing. Rick's audio guide of the Uffizi, St. Peter's and Sistine Chapel are very good.

We used Context tours for a tour of the colosseum, forum and palatine hill. We had a tour with just our family of four, but I think their typical small group tour is six or less. We reserved the tour through Context, but just got our tickets at the start of the tour using our Roma Passes. The tour was one of the highlights of our trip.

I went with the Vatican itself for the tour and thought it was excellent.

I didn't do a tour of Palatine/Forum/Colosseum, but I had the combo ticket and Rick's audio guide and it was fine. Once I finished with Palatine/Forum, I was walked into the Colosseum, no waiting in line. Beautious!

We did a tour for the Collisium and roman ruins and it was great. I would recommend doing a tour.

Not sure if I would take the tour of the Vatican,unless you are REALLY interested in art.It is huge,and took us a couple of hours to get through on our own,so I can't imagine how long a tour would take.I would definately opt for the tour of the Colosseum-I was a bit doubtful,thinking they might be trying to scam us,but I really enjoyed it.It cost us an extra 9 euros,and there are people there right at the entrance offering tours.Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the company,but there was an Australian guy offering the tours,and our guide was and Italian guy named George.In the Colosseum,I only saw one sign telling you anything about the Colosseum or the Gladiators,and the history of both,so the tour was very informative,and made seeing the building much more interesting.With the tour we took(in the morning) there was a second part of the tour,included in the price,which took you to Palatine hill.

Buy the Roma Pass at the train station when you arrive. You don't need to stand in line at the colosseum with it and you don't need a reservation for the colosseum. If you haven't already done so, email the Vatican to get into their tour the day you want. Angel tours are fine, but the Vatican direct is less expensive and you also don't have to wait in line. We were amazed. We passed by a line (July) that seemed at least four blocks long and showed our email confirmation to the guard who ushered us right into the museum. We didn't like Rome that much as a city, but would go back in a heartbeat to see the Roman Forum.

Maggie, I am currently ending my stay here in Rome and we used Angel tours. They only offer a discount on the third tour booked. We did the Vatican with Tom and the Heart of Rome tour with Joan. We really enjoyed there enthusiam and knowledge, plus they made the tour interesting and fun by throwing in some little known facts. The Vatican started at 9:30a and lasted until 1:15p (about 45 min was waiting to get through security and walking to the head of the line) I definately recommend the 930 tour because when we went on Monday the line was REALLY long. With skip the line you bypass everything except security. We toured the colosseum ourselves and also the Roman forum, but unless you now a lot about the Forum I would definately get a guide otherwise make sure you have book or something to walk ou through it. The Colosseum you really don't need a guide, but if money is the issue they have tour companies outside the colosseum everyday that come up to you and offer a combo tour of colosseum/forum for 10 euros a person. I saw a lot of people go with them.

I had trouble with the reservations too, so I recommend calling the reservation offices when you get here to make the reservations.

Maggie,
You can buy the Roma card when you arrive in Rome at the airport. Angel Tours were great and yes I'd take the tour of the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill with them too. The Colosseum could be done without a tour but the Forum and Palatine Hill???? I did download the Rick Steve's podcast and that did help me understand the layout and info better. Have a good time. Dana