My wife, mother-in-law and I used this company. We were running about 3 minutes late, even though…read morethe messaging we received was very clear to be early. My mother-in-law is elderly and getting around with her took more time than expected. Still, we arrived at the staging area and the staff was still very pleasant and accommodating. You can tell they were getting us to hurry because they know the area would be overrun with other tour groups. They really wanted us to have the best time and experience there. And they sat us in a very good spot for the Wednesday audience with the Pope. I would definitely recommend this company.

Great tours! We did the Colosseum and Vatican tour. The Colosseum tour was with Ferdinando and his…read moreknowledge and passion for what he was showing us was obvious. He is definitely highly recommended. He is an archaeologist as well so he had a lot of fascinating things to share with us. We actually ran into him on three separate occasions in Rome by chance and he was great to talk to each time. The Colosseum tour we took also included the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (both even more fascinating than the Colosseum in my opinion). The Vatican tour was with Claudia and she was equally as knowledgeable and fun! She obviously knew the folks she needed to to get around in this massive complex without having to wait for anything. The "no-line" entry most tours get has lines here. She had the hookup to get us even past those lines. The tour starts through the Vatican Museum and it was very crowded at the time we were there. She fought to make room for us to get in front of the masses to get a close look at all the things she wanted us to see. It was great to see her genuinely care about our experience. Just about every other tour group we saw in this places had at least 30 people in them. Both tours we took with Real Rome Tours had less than 10. We all had an equal opportunity to experience these beautiful sights with great knowledgable folks who even stuck around to answer any questions we had. They also give great recommendations on restaurants and other places you need to see while in Rome. Gerard was also a pleasure dealing with while booking our tours. He is well organized and gave us a great alternative when we wanted to do the Colosseum Underground tour that wasn't available. It worked out perfectly for us. I couldn't recommend Real Rome Tours any more.

AMAZING tour experience!…read more We had a private 4-hour golf cart tour (highlights of all major attractions) which allowed us to see so many special places all over the city and from vantage points we would never have found on our own. Plus the golf cart was just fun whipping down random cobblestone streets and through crowds of people. It was a really special experience for us, and our tour guide was superb; very jocular and down to earth. As part of the tour our guide also got us into the pantheon for free and showed us around one of the local churches which had unique graphic illusions (as well as some creepy skulls/skeletons incorporated into the religious artwork). One of my favorite parts of the tour was stopping to check out Giardino degli Aranci (orange grove public square overlooking the city at night). Highly recommended.

We did a Golf cart tour today with 10 People. We had one large golf cart and a smaller golf cart…read more Alessia Biancucci was our guide. Daniel was our second driver. We all had ear pieces so we could all hear her while we were driving no matter which cart we were sitting in. They Both were Fabulous! We were able to request our tour to fit our wants. She showed us outstanding places we didn't even know we needed to see. She had the greatest photo shots for the city. She was funny. They allowed for a stop for Ice coffee, so yummy and gelato. It was very hot out today and the golf cart allowed us to beat the heat and cover more ground than we ever would have otherwise. Would do this again in a heartbeat and would Highly recommend them. All 10 of our family members were very happy!

We booked this tour through Get Your Guide. If you want history this is the best way to do it. We…read morewere in a large group amongst other tour groups so it can be a bit overwhelming getting through shoulder to shoulder throughout the museums. So much history and information. Our tour was 3 hours long but I felt like it should be longer to really take it all in. The sculptures and paintings are so beautifully detailed, especially Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes, The creation of Adam and the Last Judgement. If you stare closely, some images stand out and looks to appear as third dimensional. Just FYI, the rules here are strict to help preserve these intricate artworks. With that being said, you will be asked to cover your shoulders and to not take photos in certain areas.

We were severely disappointed after spending close to US$250 for two tickets for a 2.5-3 Hour…read moreguided tour of the Vatican Museum and entrance to the Sistine Chapel. The tour lasted maybe at most 1 hour and 20 minutes with at least 20 of those minutes standing in front of an outdoor sign explaining the ins and outs of the Sistine Chapel. They never said that 1/2 hour of the tour or more would be spent walking to the Museum, standing in line, going through security. Talk about surprise value. The tour guide spent more time telling us what we were NOT going to see in the museum than allowing us to spend time looking at the things she did show us. "This the map room, lots of maps, keep it moving." She then dumped us of for the Sistine Chapel which was a huge disappointment because there were just way too many people in their to be able to enjoy it. They ask for respectful silence in there by blaring the request over loudspeakers. (This part is on Vatican management and not the company. Nonetheless I will not be booking anything from this company again. If you do choose to, do it in the morning so you have time to go back through and see things the guide did not show you. And dear guides, don't have the gall to ask for tips when you did a horrible job!

Our family of four joined another six people on the Testaccio 15-year anniversary tour and lucked…read moreout with Edma as our guide - not shown on their web site, so don't know how we got her. She was instantly personable, funny, thoughtful, and energetic without being nutty. We had a great first stop that ended up being a restaurant (Masto) we were delighted to return to later in the week and the owner happened to be there and we had a wonderful time with her again, and enjoyed the dinner just as we had the tasting. The stops were great, the walking easy, the food good, and Edma was a fountain of local geography and food culture information. We all felt like we got great value and were happy with the experience!

tour and food was an amazing experience. our tour guide was Toni. she was fun energetic and very…read moreknowledgable about the places and history of the food stops! Highly recommend!

Took two tours from them. One afternoon, I took the Colosseum tour with Paola, the second…read moreafternoon, I took the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica with Michele (Italian for Michael). I started off several months ago researching several tour companies for my Rome trip. Some companies subcontract to other companies and you have to read between the lines or find where they tell you which company will actually be doing the tour and then research them. Kind of exhausting. Somehow I stumbled on What a Life Tours and am super happy I did. I read the reviews and liked what I read so I took a chance and booked with them. They weren't the cheapest but the prices were comparable to the other companies including the bigger companies that subcontracted anyways. I also booked the smaller group tours which included 12 people max. As I learned, What a Life was the company you booked through and also the company you did the tour with. Let's start off with the Colosseum. We met near the metro exit near the Colosseum. The meet spot was well explained and they send you a text through Whatsapp with an actual picture showing you the meet spot the day before. That was nice considering that's an added stressor on your vacation since you don't want to miss the meet-up time and place due to the cost. As far as the tour itself, As Paola said, you have to use "your imagination" because you are touring a historical site that is only a little over 30% intact. She gave us an in-depth tour that later also included the area around the Colosseum such as Palatine Hill where Rome originated. I have a newfound respect for tour guides who are in essence educators. They have to keep teaching even though most of us don't appear engaged when in actuality, we're just awestruck and overstimulated with the sights. Paola did not skip a beat and spoke almost the whole 3 hours. We only had 1 bathroom break halfway through the tour but likely because I saw zero public restrooms at the Colosseum. I loved the tour! Paola took a lot of time explaining things and knew her way around. The second tour was the Vatican. On this occasion, we met at the What a Life Tours company office that was less than a block from one of the Vatican entrances. Took a cab there and that part was easy. Michele was there at the office blending in as a tourist on the couch while we checked in at the office. He has a super great personality and is very personable. You can tell he genuinely loved the art at the Vatican and it shined through when he explained things. This tour was also three hours. I appreciated when he told us about the Vatican etiquette at certain parts of the tour to include where we could take pictures and where we could not (Sistine Chapel). Both Paola and Michele were awesome! Each had different personalities but both were personable, effective, professional and spoke great English. I would definitely take a tour with this company again as long as they continue to use tour guides like Paola and Michele. If you can afford it, I suggest booking the mid-tier tour that includes a smaller tour group.

We booked an early morning Vatican tour with What a Life Tours for our trip to Rome last month, and…read moreit was an A+ way to explore the world's smallest country. We could've visited on our own, as many obviously do, but it was great to have a skilled guide to put all that marble and history in context. We'd already paid to come to Rome and set aside a morning to see Vatican City. The added value we got out of the tour far outweighed the incremental expense. I found the tour on Get Your Guide, where it was highly rated with thousands of reviews, and I liked that it was a small group situation, with a maximum of ten participants. We received strict instructions to arrive before 7:45 at the What a Life office, within walking distance of the Vatican. We checked in and got assigned to our tour group, with an amazing guide named Giulia. She set us up with audio devices that let us hear her through our earphones even when she was just whispering--a cool bit of tech I'd never encountered before, but saw again twice more before leaving Italy. We arrived in time to enter the Vatican Museums right at 8:00, the start of visiting hours. Our tickets allowed us to skip the line, which was nice in mid-November, but no doubt doubly nice during peak season. Giulia was fantastic, so smart and informative and funny. She knew how to corral us, and I got the sense that she could work very easily under much worse conditions. She let us know how lucky we were to see the Vatican on such a quiet morning. There were plenty of people, but the crowd was apparently nothing compared to the crush of summer or early fall. The Vatican is so grand it was almost overwhelming, and it was extremely helpful to have a guide to keep us oriented. She gave us so much insight into what we were seeing, pointing out the highlights and offering a running commentary with a dry wit that was all Giulia. In the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican Museums, she showed my husband where he could find the village his family came from, painted on a 16th-century Fresco. She also prepared us well for the Sistine Chapel, where visitors are not allowed to talk, using down moments to tell us about the chapel and its artwork, with the aid of a well labeled print-out. The tour was three hours long and encompassed the museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. We could've spent several more hours in the museums alone, but we saw a lot, moving at a pretty brisk pace. The tour was very well calibrated. I can't think of a single thing I would have changed. I thought about booking our Colosseum tour through What a Life (would've saved me a review) but saw that the one they offered had very few ratings, compared to the thousands they had for the Vatican. I'm curious what their other tours are like, and have more confidence in the company overall after going on this one. If you're visiting the Vatican, in any case, What a Life Tours is a top notch provider. We saw and learned so much in those three hours, and had a truly wonderful time.

A must do in Rome. Highly recommend the guided tour. There is so much history that unless you…read moreknow it yourself, you'll miss out on a lot of the details and what made the paintings and sculptures so important to what you see today. The Vatican museum and St Peter's is huge. I was not expecting the size of it. The tour took around 4 hours with lots of steps up and down and around. If you have half a day, go see it.

Goooooo book! Just do it! The service is horrible, no one…read morehere likes their job, wait. I'm wrong the security in the room with the mummies like their jobs and the young lady on the upper switching out the listening devices., but it's still worth seeing with your own eyes. The price point is reasonable, it's clean and something you should see with your own eyes.

Alessandro is a fantastic guide! So knowledgeable and fun. I can't recommend him and and this tour…read morecompany enough for a hypogeum tour of the Colosseum.

I wish I could give a lower score than 1. I am. Not sure why the gave such positive reviews. The…read moreliteral only thing we wanted to do in Rome was a tour we booked with this company. I booked it 8 months ago and they changed it to a non acceptable excursion one week before. They claimed that they had no control but not sure why they couldn't have figured it out months ago that they overbooked, maybe I could have figured out another excursion to do but now with one week to find something, of course it is impossible.

What more can I say than that the Vatican Gardens are impressive and among the finest we've visited…read moreanywhere.

The Vatican gardens are another amazing wonder of the VC. They showcase various sculptures,…read morefountains, gifts given to popes and other amazing nooks and crannies with various flora and fauna surrounding it all. We got to view it because we had a tour of the museums that included the gardens. I believe you can only view it by controlled guided tour! Our tour guide took us through describing all the different sculptures and their significance to the Vatican. Many were gifts from heads of state. Others were placed with significance form popes from previous times. There are so many places for the people who live in the Vatican to come and find peace or relax and reflect! There is even a helipad in the back corner so the Pope can hop in and head off to his summer villa. On our tour it was even mentioned that some Popes enjoyed hunting back in the day of different animals that roamed the garden. Awesome...ancient Pope's hunted! Maybe Phil Robinson (aka Duck Dynasty) could come hunt in the garden with uncle Psi and the current Pope! You can get some different perspectives of the different buildings of the vatican from a different vantage point and really appreciate and see a different natural outdoor beauty of the Vatican!

I waited four years to do the Taste of Trionfale and it did not let me down. We tried such a wide…read morebreadth of food it was outstanding and everything was such high quality. The tour was expensive but worth every penny. I especially felt the group size was really appropriate.

As foodies, we had to do a food tour to try and eat as much as we could. This one was done in the…read morePrati neighborhood right outside of the Vatican City by The Roman Food Tour company First stop was for some Roman street food at Trapizzino. Imagine a pizza rolled into a cone and then filled with flavorful toppings. I had the Double Cream which consisted of a blend of Cream and Buffalo Mozzarella in addition to Cantabrico Anchovies. Salty, creamy, and a hint of sweetness from the cream. An explosive flavor combo. Next we stopped at the one and only Bonci Pizzarium. If you watched chef table to see Ann Kim, you might have seen this place. Phenomenal pizza by the slice with creative toppings like purple potatoes or squash with sausage. Next we had some traditional Italian pasta at Osteria Da Fortunata. Some red wine paired with Amatriciana. Well spiced and fresh noodles went down way too easy. We finished with charcuterie and tiramisu at La Nicchia Cafe. Many types of cheeses, bruschetta, balsamic, meats, and olive oils. Rounded out by the best tiramisu I've ever had. ____________

Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes are more massive and emotionally powerful in person than any…read morephotograph can capture. "The Creation of Adam" immediately draws attention, but what becomes even more impressive is the sheer scale of the entire ceiling, where hundreds of figures twist, turn, and float across biblical scenes with minute detail. Then your eyes move toward The Last Judgment behind the altar...darker, more intense. The painting carries a dramatic emotional heaviness that contrasts sharply with the elegance of the ceiling above it. What makes the Sistine Chapel unforgettable it is simultaneously sacred, historic, and deeply moving. Guards periodically remind visitors to remain silent, keep their cameras lowered, and yet the room still buzzes with complete adoration. You leave with a feeling that you walked through one of humanity's greatest masterpieces painted onto a ceiling.

This was incredible to see. However, I do not have any pics because the public is not allowed to…read moresnap photos