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[quote=Anonymous]I agree with PP that it's a real shame that Tripadvisor has just turned into a tour promoter.  I think most of the bloggers also get kickbacks.

I think it's totally worth it for the Vatican, both because they will share interesting info and point you to the major sites, and also because you can get skip-the-line access.

For the Colosseum, you do have to get tickets early enough.  We failed to do so, so couldn't get in -- they were sold out for the whole week.  My research had indicated that if you got there first thing in the morning, you'd be fine, but that was apparently outdated info.

We just used a podcast or book type thing for Palatine hill but I think a really good guide would have been helpful.

I wouldn't do one for just walking around Rome, as it takes the fun out of just exploring and happening onto things -- which is really easy in Rome and the biggest part of Rome's charm -- you turn the corner and there's some amazing piazza with a gelato shop and some random Roman ruins in the corner.  We did have a Rick Steve's walking tour that we downloaded, but we could stop it and start it as needed, e.g., flip it on when we got to the Pantheon.  I recommend doing something like that so you can just pull up info for places that you stop.  You can also just wikipedia ... I had another tour I had downloaded from itunes, and it was terribly light on actual info, so I ended up just wikipedia-ing the different places, and that was really helpful for giving the history and the highlights (e.g., that's a Caravagaggio in the side chapel, or if you look off to the side there is a famous relic with a funny story).  I would skim the wiki entry, and then point out the interesting bits to the kids.

The catacombs require you use to use their guides, as they don't want people getting lost down there or damaging the remains, so you really don't need to hire a guide for that.  We took a taxi out and an uber back, but there is a company that rents bikes so you can ride out there.[/quote]

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