Tonya and I are going to visit Rome after our cruise in May (TAP). We are looking for a private guided tour of the Vatican and other areas of Rome. We want to make the most of a quick 3 day visit.

Any and all recommendations are greatly appreciated.

John:

We used a company called Scala Reale; now known as context rome. Here is the link to their site.

They have a series of walking tours given by art and architecture experts. We took four tours. Ancient Rome, Vatican, nighttime tour of central rome, and Villa Borghese. All tours are limited to six people. The Villa Borghese tour was booked as a private tour but we ended up inviting some folks from our Vatican tour to join us. All were absolutely fantastic. I see that they now have many more options for tours.

We strongly recommend them; especially for the Vatican. Also recommend you set up a tour directly with the Vatican to see the tombs underneath St. Peter's.

Wow, thanks Marc. Great options to consider. With only 3 days, we want to make the most of it without feeling too programmed. 1 tour per day will still give us plenty of time to "get lost" in the city which we love to do.

Like George Harrison said "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there". Sometimes that's the best way to explore a city.

John, we only had three days. We arrived around 9am and had the Ancient Rome (4 hours) scheduled for that afternoon. That evening we had the Piazaa Navona, Tivoli, and rest of evening tour (3 hours). Next morning we had introductory tour (2 hours, which we skipped) followed by Vatican tour (4 hours). Third day we had the St Peter's mausoleum tour (2 hours) followed in late afternoon by Villa Borghese (2 hours). Next day we flew to Venice to join Voyager. As the tours were no longer than four hours, we did have some time to explore on our own and to rest.

Since we get in around noon on the 1st day, we're looking at just the 2 hour orientation. Day 2 we'll want to do Ancient Rome in the morning and wander the rest of the day. Day 3 will be the 4 hour Vatican tour followed by possibly the Italian Wine Walk (nice way to end our brief visit!). Day 4 we fly home early.

We'd like to do the underground Rome, but it's not offered on the days we are there. I'll either inquire about a private tour or find another avenue to see that.

Thanks again for the advice.

Marc,
We just booked Context Rome for a Vatican tour in May after our Voyager cruise. The website is very informative. Thanks for the recommendation. We are looking forward to it.
Merril

We'll let you know how our tour goes in a few weeks. We booked the Vatican and the Ancient Rome tours. Thanks again for the recommendation Marc.

Merril and John, when you meet your guide(s), ask if they have a recommended guide for Venice. We have three days there next year. I am also trying to figure out how to do a day trip to San Marino from Venice, too.

thanks,

Hi Marc,

When we cruised VOF, we toured Venice with Walks Inside Venice and were very pleased. Request Roberta. She was terrific.

www.walksinsidevenice.com

Denise, thanks for the link. I hope Roberta is still there as you had a different impression of your other guide; if I remember correctly.

I am also thinking of trying to fit in a day trip to San Marino; need to see if it is even feasible.

While in Rome a couple of weeks ago on B2B I contacted
www.limoinrome.com
email: claudio@limoinrome,com

Fantastic tour, we had Claudio. Joanna also used them, their driver was Luigi, and we all toured together. Claudio recommended doing certain sites at certain times (i.e, St Peters and Basilica first thing in the morning and that was right on, very little crowds, short wait getting thru security). Great tour, and they were happy to tailor things to our needs and wishes.

We had a wonderful day with Luigi - touring together was great fun. Luigi knows his "stuff" and we were able to get very close to all sites. I think we left about 7:45 and returned about 4:30 and it was a perfect day - yes, St Peters early was great idea we were in and out with no hassle - his van was very comfortable for 7 - Joanna

Totally agree with limoinrone. Our driver was Carlo and was wonderful - he also arranged for a guide at the Vatican which was great.