Good Day!
My Father and I are going on our first ever Rick Steves Tour The Heart of Italy this coming June 4th-12th. This is our first trip to Italy and to say we are excited is an understatement! We have used the guide books for years in planning our own European adventures but we decided to try a tour for the first leg of our journey and we are adding 9 more days after in Venice and the Dolomites using the Italy RS Guidebook for planning. We are also arriving in Rome June 1st mid morning. From reading various comments on the forums I was wanting some feedback on the pretour activities: My father and I are interested in history, culture, hiking and food (we appreciate art and want to see main things but haven't ever made art a priority...but maybe this trip will change that 🙂 ) and are looking at walking the Appian way, aqueducts, catacombs, maybe Ostia Antica, Jewish ghetto area, guided tour of some sort ..maybe a food or cooking tour..because it looks like these areas weren't covered in the original tour. There is so much! 🙂 Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated on ideas on what could work time wise... But as I was reading in the forum about their experiences there seemed to be common comments from people talking about the crowds or lack of time at the Forum and in the Vatican and Sistine Chapel...makes me wonder should we book an early bird tour to see it without the crowd? I also was trying to find out if on the Heart of Italy tour does it go inside and in the underground of the Colosseum? Or if I am interested in that should we book that during our pretour days? I am just not sure what to expect and am worried about it but also know there is so much to see and don't want to do things twice when trying to experience a variety of stuff. Again, any other recommendations about things to do in our time either pre tour or during our down time during the course of our tour? I have only started researching the different areas so I am not sure what questions we may have for other areas so any advice for other areas where we have free time I will gladly listen. I know we want to hike from town to town on our free day at Cinque Terre but I honestly haven't looked at that so any advice there would be great! Thank you to everyone in advance for your help and sorry if the above questions were too long!!
Posted by
Seattle
200 posts
Excellent choice for your first RST, wonderfully nestled within your generous pre and post tour timeframe for a great taste of Italy, brava! Check out local tour experiences with Walks of Italy, you'll find a great array of choices for your Roman visit. I vote for settling in to your tour hotel and enjoying the ease of no packing/unpacking for a blissful 5 nights. This tour like most RSTs, moves quickly and 2 night stays means you are on the move much of the time. Get thee to Galleria Borghese and per certo, utilize the services of a private guide. I can highly recommend Sonia Tavoletta (soniatavoletta63@gmail.com) and Ilaria Ceccarelli (ilariacecc@gmail.com) and Marta Marsili (martamarsili@hotmail.com). Do your very best to pack smart and light and have a resourceful and open to serendipity attitude with a willingness to accept and celebrate each locale on their terms. Have a great trip and please return to share your travelogue of adventures.
Posted by
Milwaukie, Oregon
1056 posts
Just to answer a couple of your questions about things to do in Rome. Eating Italy offers excellent food tours either in the afternoons or the evenings, depending on the tour. I would personally recommend either the Testaccio or the Trastevere food tours. You’ll get a chance to see the neighborhoods as well as experience some great eating. if you are interested in the Appian way and the aqueduct park and are able to ride bicycles, you could do a bicycle trip with Top Bike, which will take you to both those places as well as the catacombs. The bikes are electric assist and the route is fairly level.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8377 posts
You do go into the Colosseum with a local guide on this tour which is followed by time in the forum with the guide and then there is a short time for lunch before the tour leaves Rome. You won’t go to the underground with the RS tour. I had arranged an underground tour pre-tour but it was cancelled at the last moment. If I am honest, I don’t feel like I missed a lot not seeing the Underground.
If the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel are important to you, I would recommend doing the early tour separately and skipping out on the RS version. Take that time to enjoy another part of Rome.
I think you will enjoy this tour!