Italy - Rome tour guide

While touring the Colosseum last month with my wife, we noticed a small tour group with Rich Brunn, a vivacious and energetic American guide who made the history of the place come alive. We were fortunate to be able to book him for a morning tour of Ostia Antica. He walked us through the fascinating ruins for three hours, answering any and all questions and displaying a depth of understanding you can't possibly get from a guide book. It was the highlight of our one-week visit to Rome.

His website is here: http://www.rome-day-tours.com/

Here's someone else's review:

http://www.queensnotebook.com/2010/07/when-in-rome-rich-brunn-must-have-tour-guide/

And some tripadvisor comments:

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Search?q=%22rich+brunn%22&sub-search=SEARCH&geo=187791&returnTo=http%253A__2F____2F__www__2E__tripadvisor __2E__ie__2F__Travel__2D__g187791__2D__s1__2F__Rom e%253AItaly%253AInside__2E__html

Thanks for sharing tusflyer!

I agree that having a good guide, especially for sites like Ostia Antica and the Palatine and Forum, makes all the difference. I'm glad you had such a nice experience. (As for me I've used ContextRome several times).

I just glanced at his site but can find no mention of rates. When websites do this I don't think it serves them well, IMO. When I'm surfing around on my own and find similar sites without stating their fees clearly upfront, I move on from that site immediately.

But since you've recommended him I can ask you, what did you pay for your 3 hour tour of Ostia Antica? Was it a private tour? If not, how many others were in your group?

Thanks for sharing tusflyer!

I just glanced at his site but can find no mention of rates.

But since you've recommended him I can ask you, what did you pay for your 3 hour tour of Ostia Antica? Was it a private tour? If not, how many others were in your group?

I second the above. I have a family of 5 going later this week and would love to find out how much it will cost for a tour such as this. A response sooner rather than later would be great. Thanks in advance.

It was just my wife and me. He charged EUR 50 per hour for the private tour. He said he charges less if you're part of a larger group. We paid EUR 150 for just over 3 hours at the site. During the half-hour train ride, he also delivered an interesting preview with lots of pictures on his Ipad, which prepared us well.

We had Ostia almost entirely to ourselves. It was a Tuesday morning, and there were very few visitors.

Have a wonderful time!