Top Rome Attractions & Museums - page 2

Wear cool clothing, and bring water. The air conditioning is being repaired. Also you need to respect the rules of the Sistine Chapel - “no photos” means no photos. We had Mario as our tour guide and he was the best!! So knowledgable and was able to answer all our questions. Mario kept us entertained while teaching us the history of the Vatican City.

Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius were bucket list places for our family, so this was a perfect tour for us during our trip to Rome. Check-in and pickup were easy and on time. Our bus guide was Viviana. The bus was comfortable and had USB chargers. The ride to Pompeii is about 3 hours. No bathrooms on the bus so we stopped midway at a shop with coffee, snacks, plenty of toilets, and some interesting souvenirs. Upon arrival at Pompeii, I had to prepare ID for my children, so make sure you bring an ID or passport for them. Our guide at Pompeii was Willy, and he was AWESOME. Easy to understand, the audio guide worked well, and he was SO funny! He had tons of American movie references, which we really appreciated. During parts of the tour that were more "adult," he was cognizant of the younger tour members and gave warnings. He was also very aware of the extreme heat, so he brought us under shade wherever possible. You can tell he's super experienced, and he's a great storyteller. At the end we went into the museum portion. It's a tiny museum but there are some great artifacts inside, plus there's a/c. After Pompeii, we returned to our bus to go to lunch. Everyone was hungry. Unfortunately the restaurant did not have a/c. Other than water, drinks cost extra. Restrooms were available as well as wifi. We each got a pre-ordered appetizer (suppli and some fried dumplings of some sort), plus a rather large individual margarita pizza. Being pre-ordered, it still rather long (in my opinion) to get the food. You also have to share tables with other tour members. Not horrible, just not expected. Dessert was a strange lemon cake that tasted like it was soaked in alcohol (it probably was). After lunch we headed to Mt. Vesuvius, but unfortunately we arrived too early so we couldn't go in right away. We had to wait 20 minutes in an area with very little shade. There's a tiny cafe with some drinks and ice cream, but there's very little seating. Once we were allowed to go in, my younger son and I went up to the first overlook and turned back -- the climb was too steep and the weather too hot for us to go further. My husband and older son made the trek all the way to the top. They reported that the crater was not very impressive, and the view was not much better than at other overlooks. After Vesuvius, we were told we were going to a surprise spot, which was really a tiny limoncello stand. The owner gave a little presentation on how Italian lemons are different from others, and then gave free samples of drinks and chocolates. There were also restrooms here - 2 portapotties - but they were very clean with running water! We did not buy anything and frankly I was quite taken aback that this tour included this stop. The bus ride home was uneventful and we stopped at the same little place as we did on the drive down. Since we were scheduled to arrive around 8pm, we got a little snack at the shop (some mediocre croissants). The rest of the ride back was uneventful but be warned, you are at the mercy of traffic and there seems to be only one highway back. Dropoff was at the same place we were picked up and then we were on our way. Overall, Pompeii was amazing and much bigger than I expected -- it's a whole town. It would have been amazing to spend more time there, especially in cooler weather. We would definitely skip Mt. Vesuvius.

It was spectacular! We learned so many important facts and fascinating things about the history of the Vatican City. Loved every minute!! Our guide was knowledgeable, personable, and delightful. We couldn't have asked for a better guide and experience. We feel very fortunate for this experience.