Rome is like an open air museum with innumerable things to see and places to visit, but what can you really see in half day or in a full day? We list here some itineraries we suggest for half day tours or a full day tours of Rome, just to give you an idea of what you can cover in the allotted time.

The golf cart tour is not just a driving tour, we will stop at the sites and let you get out to stroll through the squares, tour the inside of the monuments and churches or to toss your coin at the Trevi Fountain. During the tour we'll also take you to a great place for "gelato" and for lunch, if you choose to go on a full-day tour.

The half day tours are four hours, but that’s not really a limit, in case the half day should not be enough time to allow you to see all the things you want to see and a full day would be too much for you, you can extend your tour time by one or more hours and fit into your tour all the places you have in mind to see.

The “Basic Rome” half day tour is obviously the best choice for those who come for the first time because they need to see the major highlights first, the other tours are for those who want to spend another half day touring with us on a different day or the same day combining two half day tours and take a much more satisfactory full day tour of Rome.
For example, if you’re in Rome for the first time and want to see all the major highlights but you have seen the movie or read the book “Angels and Demons” and you’re curious to see the sites you read about in the novel, you can extend your “Basic Rome” half day tour to include the specific sites you read about in the novel or saw in the movie like the Tiber Island, the church of St. Mary of the Victory and Santa Maria del Popolo for example.

Our “Ancient Rome” tour is also for first timers, if you don’t have the time or the energy to spend half day walking through the ruins of the archeological compound of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum but you want to see all those places, we can drive you all around the area and show it to you from the outside. We’ll take you to the Esquiline and the Celian hills and show you the Colosseum from two different angles, we’ll drive up to the Aventine hill and show you the panorama of the ruins of the Imperial Palaces on the Palatine hill and more. These sites can also be included in the “Basic Rome” tour by extending it by one or two hours. Then, if you really want to see everything you can make it a full day tour and include also the Old Appian Way and the Catacombs.

If you have visited all the major highlights of Rome already and you want to spend time sightseeing off the beaten path to discover the masterpieces normally tourists do not see, please let us take you on one of our theme tours like “Baroque Rome” and show you Bernini’s, Borromini’s and their contemporaries fabulous works in out of the way churches or piazzas. Or we can take you on our “Discover Rome” half day tour and show you the “curiosities” of Rome and let you participate to the life of the Eternal City.

Our itineraries below list the major highlights we will show you, other attractions, curiosities and photo ops are not listed because they're never the same for all the tourist since the tourists are never the same!
We can tour the same people around Rome for more consecutive days without repetitions.

This is the tour first timers shouldn't miss. In four hours we'll take you to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps.

You'll tour all the major highlights of Rome, except for the Vatican, in four hours. 

Obviously you cannot spend a whole lot of time in each one of these places and you'll not have the time to go inside the Colosseum, but you'll see them all and, at the end of the tour, you'll have familiarized with Rome's layout and history. Those who want to visit the inside of the Colosseum or the Vatican can be dropped off there at the end of the tour.

As said before we'll mostly be driving through the streets of the old city instead of driving the main streets with all the traffic which will give us the opportunity to show you some interesting out-of-the-way curiosities and you'll see what the other tourists miss! The drive though the streets of old Rome itself will confirm to you that you made the right choice when you decided to tour Rome with us by golf cart!

We want our tours to be exclusive and that's why we are not listing all the out-of-the-way places we'll show you, so please excuse us, but they'll have to be pleasant surprises!

St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel are not part of this tour, but we can drop you of there at the end of our tour and, if you like, we will get you a guide to show through the place.

Baroque Rome tour - a bit out of the way

Rome is undoubtedly a Baroque city. The Baroque style rules in Rome like the Renaissance style rules in Florence. The competition between Bernini and Borromini brought them to create incredible masterpieces in the architecture as well as in the sculpture fields and all the other artists who operated in Rome in that period did their best to prove that they were not of any less, consequently Rome is full of incredible masterpieces, the least important of which would be the main attraction of any other town while many of them go unnoticed in Rome! You feel a great emotion when you walk into the old university of Rome and discover the students' chapel, St. Yves', dominating the renaissance styled courtyard with its baroque ellipses and spirals that hypnotize the visitor. What to say then about the ceiling of the church frescoed by Andrea Pozzo? Some incredible masterpieces are like hidden though really obvious only it happens that if one is not told to look in a particular direction or to enter a certain church he just walks by and miss really spectacular sites.

Naturally during this tour we will not ignore whatever is not designed or sculpted in Baroque style, we will point out and comment all the sites we pass by and in other cases visit them. For example when we take you to the church of St. Maria della Pace we will not refuse to enter it because only the facade is Baroque styled and the interior isn't, and neither we will deny access to the adjacent cloister by Bramante just because it's Renaissance styled!

Ancient Rome - orientation tour

"Ancient Rome" is pretty generic, the whole city is ancient, but normally it's the area of the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and Colosseum, that people refer to as "Ancient Rome" and sure enough they're not going to let drive our cute little golf cart in there. The visit of the above mentioned area is done on foot, possibly with a guide, so what's this tour? Well, we take you all around the area that used to be the center of Rome at the time of the Empire and show such places from outside and plus we take you to see the other ruins in the area and we'll drive also on the Old Appian Way.

We drive to the geographical center of Rome, Piazza Venezia, with the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II (better known as the "Wedding Cake") and then climb the Capitoline Hill to get a bird-eye view of the Roman Forum and the Capitoline square designed by Michelangelo. We will then continue driving towards the Colosseum and the arch of Constantine and stop for a look around before we proceed to the Aventine Hill from there we'll be able to see the view of the Circus Maximus and the ruins of the Imperial Palaces on top of the Palatine Hill. The tour will also include the Theatre of Marcellus, the temples of Hercules and Portumnus, the "Mouth of Truth", the Arch of Janus, the Tiber Island and the ruins of Largo Argentina, the Portico of Octavia... and whatever else we can fit in depending on how quickly we can move around or how much time you want to spend at each place.

For those who would be interested in seeing a great Panorama of Rome, we would like to present the possibility to ride an elevator to the top of the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II and get the most spectacular 360° view of the Eternal City.

Tour of the Jewish Ghetto of Rome

We drive through the streets of old Rome and finally arrive at the Jewish Ghetto.

Venturing through the streets of Rome's Jewish Ghetto is really a pleasant experience, also for those who are not Jewish. The real Ghetto though, was demolished 1888 because considered insalubrious and "against the humanity", meaning that the place was too bad for humans to live there and the original medieval buildings were replaced by new ones in the early 1900's, but the old streets by which we reach the Ghetto still give you a pretty good idea of what the Ghetto of Rome was like. On our way to the Ghetto of Rome, we drive through the quaint narrow streets the Jews walked on their way home tired after a day's work, when were confined in the Ghetto.

Rome, but not really Rome. The Jews have been a constant presence in Rome since the 2nd century B.C. and never really blended in with the rest of the population. The carried on their traditions and it shows, the first thing one notices are the Kosher shops and restaurants.

Not many Jews live in the Ghetto today. but they still go there to go to the Temple, to shop for Kosher food, to meet with their friends and the kids go there everyday to school!

The Ghetto is a lively, pleasant place where to spend sometime and maybe enjoy the food.

The Roman cuisine is world famous and the Jews have their own version of it. Here is where you can taste the famous "Carciofi alla Giudia" artichokes fried "the Jewish way" which are part of the Roman cuisine as well as a Felafel which is not part of the Roman cuisine at all!

We will also wonder onto the Tiber Island and cross the river to drive though the Trastevere area where the Jews lived at the time of the Roman Empire and eventually climb the Aventine Hill where the Jewish Cemetery of Rome used to be and we now have the Rose Garden of Rome. From the Aventine Hill you also get a beautiful view of the Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus and, once there, why not take a look at the famous key hole?

The Synagogue cannot be visited independently from the guided tours scheduled by the institution itself. The golf cart tour can be arranged to permit the visit of the Synagogue and we will plan it so to get there in time for the scheduled tours, but we will need to be advised before we start the golf cart tour.

The Synagogue cannot be visited during the Sabbath and other religious holydays.

Rome off the beaten path

Even if you just take the basic half-day tour of Rome by golf cart you see a lot of things that other tourists don't see, but supposing you have already seen all the places the basic tour takes you to and you decide to go with us on a tour off the beaten path, then you'll really have fun and some unexpected places!

One can spend his whole life in Rome and not see everything, so there's a lot more to see and enjoy than the Sistine Chapel and the Colosseum, let us show you!

We won't just take you for a walk through the market place in Campo de' Fiori, we'll drive through the back streets where you see the artisans at work in their shops: the upholsterer making a couch, the blacksmith putting a new lock on an old door, the carpenter restoring an antique piece of furniture and ...well dressed executives discussing their business while sitting in a sidewalk café! You'll see that Rome is not just a place for tourists, but it's a real city where people live their lives like in any other city. You'll get see Italians living their lives and not just your hotel concierge, your guide and the ticket clerk at the Colosseum. You'll really get to know Rome!

Obviously this is not all you'll see, we'll take you to see some really impressive sites that other tourists don't even know exist! For example, a lot of people walk right by the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and don't even think of taking a look inside ignoring that it's one of the richest churches in Rome and that they can freely walk in and see works of Michelangelo, Bernini etc.. We'll show you a bell tower that swings when the bells toll, a street that's always windy because the wind is waiting for the Devil to come out of the church, a church that was built from the ruins of the Roman Baths, naked women painted on the walls of a church, the narrowest street in Rome, statues that can speak and more!

Tour with us and you'll be pleasantly surprised with what we can show you!

Angels & Demons

The places mentioned in the book are: the Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo and Santa Maria del Popolo; Santa Maria della Vittoria, St. Peter's Square, Tiber River near Tiber Island (which is really called the island of St. Bartholomew, but no one seems remember that), Piazza Navona, the "Passetto" and Castel Sant'Angelo. I don't think we're leaving something out, or are we? Oh yes! The Tomb of Peter, the Sistine Chapel and the Pope's Private Residence. Well, Benny doesn't allow us to bring visitors to his residence any more, it must be because he found some chewed gum stuck on his chair... Then the Vatican Museums - Sistine Chapel - St. Peter's but these need to be done as a separate tour, it takes four hours to see these places.

Here's how the tour goes: we start from Piazza del Popolo and Santa Maria del Popolo church which is where the Chigi Chapel, the one with the "pyramids", is located.

Then we drive to Castel Sant'Angelo, but we'll not enter it otherwise we'd have to make this a full day tour, and we'll also see the "Passetto", the suspended walkway that connects the castle with the Papal Residence. Then we drive to St. Peter's Square to see the "west- ponente" marble mark on the ground. We'll then follow the Tiber River to Tiber Island, we'll stop to take a look and eventually walk on it. Crossing the river again we arrive to Piazza Navona and next to the Pantheon.

Finally we'll visit Santa Maria della Vittoria and see the "Ecstasy of St. Therese".
The sites will not necessarily come in this order, we'll start or end from the one that will be the closest to your hotel. For example, should you be staying at the Hotel De Russie, which is right across from Santa Maria del Popolo it would make more sense to start the tour from there, or end it there, after all we're out for a tour of Rome, and not re-enacting the movie.

Anyway, as we drive from one of these places to the next we'll be passing a lot of other interesting places which will be pointed out to you and, time permitting, we'll stop to take a closer look and a picture.

Finally, everybody loves Italian ice cream and we promise to find the time for you to have a fantastic one!

Fundamental Rome, all the major highlights in one day

The major highlights of the city in one day. Essentially, if you combine two of the half days mentioned above you have a full-day, with the difference that since we'll not need to spend part of the tour's time to drive you back to your hotel and the time saved can be used to see more sites or enjoy a nice dish of "pasta" in an authentic restaurant. How does that sound?

This tour includes all the sites mentioned in the "basic Rome" tour, such as the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Colosseum, but in addition will take you to the Old Appian Way the Catacombs., the Capitol Hill, the Circus Maximus, the Theatre of Marcellus, the Aventine hill, the famous "key-hole", the Baths of Caracalla.

These are the main attractions that you will be visiting but we'll drive by many other attractive locations  as the tour proceeds and they'll all be pointed out and, time permitting we'll stop for a picture and a closer look. Sites that are not well known to the ordinary tourist. In practice, even when the tour is centered on the fundamental sites, since we try to avoid the main streets, we end up showing a lot of things off the beaten track because that's where we drive!

You'll be surprised to see that Rome has a lot more to offer than what is listed in the brochures of the travel agencies or in the websites of our competitors :-) !

By the way, would you believe you can run into a flock of sheep while touring around Rome? You better believe it, because it happens!

Rome by night

Rome is spectacular at night, sites like the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and St. Peter's Basilica are even more incredible at night than during the day. Just imagine climbing the Capitol hill and seeing Michelangelo's designed square in a sort of mystical atmosphere and the panorama of the Roman Forum.

If you are lucky enough to stay in a hotel right in the city center, then you may enjoy strolling the squares and streets and enjoy the unique, ephemeral atmosphere Rome slips into at dusk, but if you want more than that, if you want to extend your range and see the sites than aren't within a walking distance from your hotel, then you need to experience the tour of Rome by night in the golf buggy. Especially if you're not staying in a downtown hotel !

You'll be met at your hotel or at the restaurant where you'll decide to have dinner at and you'll be driven around the city for three hours to see all the incredible attractions of Rome all lit up.

You'll be driving the narrow streets and evocative squares and enjoy the fresh air and the shows of the street artists.

The sites that look best at night are: St. Peter's, Piazza Navona, Colosseum, Pantheon, Piazza Venezia, Pincio, Janicolum, Capitol Hill, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps. But it will be the atmosphere that you'll love.

Tour or Rome from the seaport of Civitavecchia

This is probably the most fun and the least expensive tour of Rome a cruiser can get!

We can take you on a 6-hour tour and show all the major highlights of the city or on a 4-hour tour that will leave you about 2 hours to go shopping or visit the Vatican on your own or with one of our guides.

Obviously we can't drive the golf buggy to the port to meet you, but you can take the train from the port to the city for a moderate price (presently 9 Euros) and meet us in town or let us arrange your round trip transfer by private car or minivan. Please click on the links below for instructions and details from Civitavecchia to Rome by train or private car.

Transfer to Rome by train.

Transfer to Rome by private car or minivan.

Prices for golf cart tours

The train station is quite far from the piers where the cruise ships dock but there is a free shuttle service, provided by the Port Authority, that takes you from your ship right to the port's gate. From where the shuttle drops you off to the train station is a 10-minute walk.

The shuttle bus picks you up from the pier where your ship docks and drops you off by the fortress designed by Michelangelo located within the boundaries of the port, next to a "tourist information" kiosk, just a few steps away from the port's gate .

You don't need to go anywhere to catch the shuttle bus, you just need to wait by your ship's gangplank and it'll come by and stop to pick up the passengers.

The shuttle bus constantly runs between the cruise ships and and Michelangelo's fortress.

Should it not be there when you disembark your ship, you'll just need to wait a few minutes.

When you get off the shuttle walk towards the information kiosk and,  once you reach it, walk to your right to face the port's exit.

Walk across the gate to exit the port and you'll se a "Mc Donald's" restaurant on your left. At this point you should be facing the seaside boulevard.

Walk on the seaside boulevard keeping the beach to your right.

It doesn't really matter which side of the boulevard you walk on but maybe walking on the left hand side would be better, since the train station is on the left hand side of the boulevard.

Walking on the left hand side of the boulevard you'll pass by a church, shops, restaurants and hotels, till you'll arrive to a point, just near the "Hotel De la Ville", where the street sort of splits in two to continue in the same direction but on two different levels. Continuing to walk on the upper level of the street you'll arrive directly to the train station and it'll appear to you as shown in the picture on the right.

Walking on the right hand side of the boulevard you'll pass some shops, a merry-go-round and some sort of a tourist market which really isn't always there.

If you walk on the right side of the boulevard or on the lower level of the street, you'll see a sign pointing to the train station. The sign, black letters in white field, says "stazione ff. ss." (in Italian this means State Railroads Station) and it's placed right at the bottom of the short stairway which you'll have to climb to get to the train station.

Please note that if you'll have walked this far on the right hand side of the boulevard, the sign will be on the other side of the street and you'll  have to walk across the street to climb steps and get to the train station.

Once at the train station you can buy your B.I.R.G. ticket (acronym for  Biglietto Integrato Regionale Giornaliero = Daily Integrated Regional Ticket), such ticket, presently (2011) sold for 9 Euros, not only is valid for the round trip from Civitavecchia, but also to ride the buses and the subway in Rome for the day. Its validity is 24 hours.

Do not forget to validate your ticket at the stamping machine in the lounge before you board the train.

You can buy your ticket from the vending machines if you are familiar with such devices or from the ticket office simply asking for "B.I.R.G. Roma".

You can also check the train schedule and buy your ticket on line clicking on this link: www.trenitalia.com.

You can get off the train at St. Peter's station which is near the Vatican if that where you want to start your tour from or at the main train station called "Termini"  if you want to start touring the city from its center. St. Peter's station is very small and it's a lot easier to meet there rather than the huge and dispersive Termini.

The trains from Civitavecchia stop also at other stations in the city, but San Pietro or Termini are the preferable ones for sightseers.

Prices for golf cart tours

See maps below:

City map of Civitavecchia

Map of the Vatican and the neighborhood of the Stazione San Pietro

City map of Civitavecchia   ( clicking on the image will take you to Google Maps )

Map of the Vatican and the neighborhood of the Stazione San Pietro    ( clicking on the image will take you to Google Maps )

If you you shouldn't feel like having the experience of riding a train in Italy or you just want to be more comfortable and transfer to Rome and back in a nice air-conditioned minivan or car we can offer the round trip transfer service at the following price:

up to 4 people by sedan car, 300 Euros

up to 7 people by minivan, 350 Euros

up to 8 people by minivan, 400 Euros

Once your ship docks in Civitavecchia you'll find the car or minivan, right on the pier where the ship docks, parked as close as possible to the footbridge (gangplank), with your name posted on its windshield.
If parking close to the footbridge (gangplank) shouldn't be possible, the driver will be standing near it posting your name.

Transfer to Rome by train.

Transfer to Rome by private car or minivan.

Prices for golf cart tours

Prices for golf cart tours

Before your tour by golf cart begins, during your golf cart tour or at the end of it you can have the wonderful experience of touring Rome's most beautiful park by Segway for only 8 extra Euros per person!

If you never had the chance of riding a Segway, but you always wanted to, this is your chance!

There are companies that take people on Segway tours of Rome, we think that touring around by golf cart is much better but, when people see Segways riding about, they always seem to be very curious about them and so we decided to offer our clients the opportunity to experience what it's like to ride a Segway in the safest and most beautiful place where one can do that: the park of Villa Borghese. The tour takes half an hour and takes you to the City Panorama, Hydraulic Clock,  the Garden of the Swans, Raphael's Casina, the Hippodrome, The Fountain of the Marine Horses, The Temple of Diane, The Casina Valadier and the Boghese Museum (not inside).

If only some members of the group want to ride the Segways and others don't, it's not a problem! Those who don't want to ride the Segway will tour the Villa in the golf cart and the others can follow on their Segways !

The golf cart tour is not just a driving tour! We will stop at the sites and let you get out of the cart to stroll through the squares,  tour the inside of the monuments and churches or to toss your coin at the Trevi Fountain.

During the tour we'll also take you to a great place for "gelato" and for lunch, if you choose to go on a full-day tour.