Until you see the lines you really do not appreciate the what this service offers. When they talk about lines they are huge with waiting times up to 2 hours. We skipped them! We had had the usual run-in with Italian rail staff being as unhelpful as possible and therefore were late arriving at the meeting point by 10 minutes. The owner of enjoy that ran this tour, rang 3 different guides to find one that had not entered the Vatican. He then personally walked us to the guide that was waiting for us. The guides know their business; it is obvious the guides are speaking about things they have studied. They drew our attention to issues and history and points that no handout will ever cover. Informative and professional are not adequate. The guides speak well with a level of knowledge that only comes from intensive study of a subject that they have enjoyed. A must on your list of tours in Rome. Thankyou for an enjoyable, informative tour.

Our guide was a qualified Archaeologist and knew her subject to a depth that only study and love can achieve. The points she raised and the issues she explained were both interesting and informative and understandable. While both my wife and I are Archaeologist too, we are also teachers and found her delivery and friendliness a welcome addition to an amazing tour. This lady not only knows her subject, but has the personality and warmth that adds that something special to a tour.

Viator does not get their staff from the same place as the Italian Rail. We had difficulties with the Metro ticket machine and arrived 10 minutes late for the tour. the person at the meeting point called 3 different tour guides to get them to wait for us while he walked us 500 metres to the guide. The skip the line really takes on meaning as you walk past lines of people waiting, over 500 metres long! The guide was not only knowlegable and informed, but spoke English well. It was obvious the guide had tertiary studies in this area and was able to share information about a number of topics during the tour that would not make any writen guide. Value for money, informed guides and at a pace that we could keep up during the tour. It really was a tour, not a sprint!

You really need a guide with knowledge when you visit such a museum as this. We scored such a guide, it was obvious the guide had studied this era and was well informed and approachable to explain finer points. You can after the tour go back and look again at the points and issues the guide raised and really absorb the information the guide brought to light.

This is real value for money. You can use this bus and co-ordinate the other guided tours run by this organisation as you taxi service. The driver is a revelation in skill. The bus is comfortable, the commentary accurate and timely. Best of all is the staff on the bus. They are friendly, and helpful. I recommend this as a good starting point as a reference/preview to the other tours you have to take. I would suggest you take the full tour the 1st time and take notes of interesting places you want to visit. Then workout the times the bus arrives at a particular place of interest and use the hop on hop off the bus pass offers. Good value.