Anonymous wrote:We’re planning for a late May/early June trip to Italy for about a week and a half.

As I do my research, it seems that tours seem to be really popular. I’m seeing things like golf cart tours of Rome, cooking classes, special Coliseum tours, etc.

We’ve traveled to other countries and don’t recall seeing these. Is it something that most people do when they travel to Italy? If so, why in Italy? Does it really add to the experience that much? I’d prefer not to spend the money but I’d like to learn more first before deciding.

If you are an avid traveler, there is no need. If you are inexperienced and anxious, better off with a tour group.

We used LivItaly for the Colosseum/Forum. It was geared towards kids, but interesting for adults, and was great.

Anonymous wrote:NP. For those who did small or private tours in Rome, would you please post the name of the company you used if you would recommend them? Also looking at this. Thinking about a golf cart tour and an early entry for the Vatican. TIA

NP

We used Context Tours for the Vatican, Colosseum/Forum, as well as a food tour. They were truly worth every penny. They were recommended here on DCUM so I’m paying it forward!

I’ve also mentioned before a company called the Red Bicycle who specializes in e-bike tours of the Appian Way, Roman aqueducts, and other sites on the Roman outskirts. It was a fantastic way to see parts of the city outside the historical center!

Agree with posters who bought tours to get tickets to popular sites. We bought a “tour” to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I tried to book directly but tickets went so fast that I never got them (I tried as soon as possible for each day of our time in Paris). So I bought a tour and it was actually good to have the little intro and the help navigating the security etc. I also bought a skip the line tour of the Louvre. Worth every penny to 1) skip the line and 2) be escorted around to the main items. We continued at the Louvre for a few hours more and it is so big and confusing, I am glad we did the first part as a tour. And again, we learned unexpected things from the tour guide.

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.

I generally hate tours. I’m much more of a visual learner and having to listen to someone explain things is difficult/boring for me. I also like to set my pace, and most tour guides spend too long explaining each thing compared to how long I’d prefer to spend. But at a place like the Colosseum, it’s helpful to have a tour guide to get more of a sense of what you are seeing because there aren’t labels and explanations like you have at a museum. If you have an engaging guide, you get a much better understanding of what you are looking at.
The whole skip the line thing is a scam, though. My extended family had a tour guide but my daughter was sick. She was better later in the week and really wanted to see the Colosseum, which she had missed. We returned and bought regular tickets and my DH explained all the stuff, which he had learned on the tour earlier that week. We had no issue with lines or entry or anything. You could probably find a self-guided tour online.

We didn’t do any tours. Rick Steves was our guide.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like someone is doing all their research on TripAdvisor- that site is useless now. All they do is promote the tours.

OP - join Facebook groups for your destination or add “blog” or “Reddit” to your google search and you’ll get better information

OP. Odd comment as I have not been on Trip Advisor. My research so far has been mostly Facebook groups (several of them) and a couple of blogs. Many, many posts are about tours -- which tours people booked, which tour operators they're using. It was very surprising to me as I hadn't seen that on other groups for different countries.

We do not generally book tours but did go through a tour operator to get tickets to visit the Last Supper in Milan. In theory you can get tickets straight from the museum/church, but they were sold out when I looked. Based on what I saw in the plaza in front of the church, I think most if not all of the tickets go to tour operators. While it was largely a way to get in to see the work, the group was small (both the number of people in a group and the time you have in the rectory are strictly limited) and the guide was very informative.

We also spent half a day with a photographer doing a shooting trip around Florence with Polaroid cameras. The experience was more about how to choose/frame your shots than about the architecture or history we were photographing, but it was a lot of fun.

NP. For those who did small or private tours in Rome, would you please post the name of the company you used if you would recommend them? Also looking at this. Thinking about a golf cart tour and an early entry for the Vatican. TIA

We booked private guides last summer of the Vatican, Pompeii and Colosseum, as well as a walking tour of Rome, Florence and Venice. Each tour would last 2-5 hours, depending on the location. We could go at our own pace with 2 kids on a tour that was focused just for them. It was pricey, but they got so much more out of the sites than if we had just gone on our own or with a large group - we saw the large groups with their headsets and there's no way we ever want to do that.

We don't. Not our style of traveling at all.

Sounds like someone is doing all their research on TripAdvisor- that site is useless now. All they do is promote the tours.

OP - join Facebook groups for your destination or add “blog” or “Reddit” to your google search and you’ll get better information

Anonymous wrote:Just got back from Italy. Our family rarely does tours but several people recommended them for Italy and I'm glad we did them. We did small group or private tours and were able to get into some sites early (the Vatican), view areas of others that aren't available otherwise (Doge's Palace, Vatican, Colosseum), and skip lines nearly everywhere. It helped make the most of our time and the guides were all very knowledgeable. I got a lot more out of the experiences than I would have otherwise.

+1

We only do tours of sites where the tour gets priority access, and we tried to spread it out so we also had time to explore on our own. For the Amalfi coast we did a private boat charter instead of any of the tours and it was a wonderful experience.

yep, at least for the really popular sites, a skip-the-line tour is really worth it if you can afford it. Otherwise the line for tickets and entrance can be llllloooonnnnggggg