Originally Posted by
sparkchaser
Any more information on scheduling a private tour?
I've yet to schedule a private tour for myself, it's too cost prohibitive for me, but I have read a lot about them. To me, I like the idea of booking with a specific person, someone you can research and someone you can ask any and all questions prior to booking with them - versus booking with a company where your guide can be any number of people, and where your experience can be more or less a crapshoot depending on who's assigned to you.
Agnes Crawford of Understanding Rome, mentioned up thread, was first brought to my attention in this NY Times article from August 2011:
Q&A: Spring Break in Italy? Head to RomeHere's her website,
Understanding Rome, and you can see her bio on the homepage at the bottom. You'll also see that she links that NYTimes article and 2 other articles. And if you check out
her blog you can see for yourself the caliber of her expertise.
And here are her
TripAdvisor reviews.
And I follow her on Twitter. Which is a strange voyeuristic experience in a way, because I can see her conversations with other classicists and friends, and it does give you a sense of the person. And the impression I've gotten is she's an extremely knowledgeable, very friendly British woman that is a bona fide expert in her field. If my travel budget were to increase I'd book with her in a heartbeat and I do feel very comfortable recommending her.
is a very large company I've read a great deal about, which also gives private tours. I read about them most recently in this article from the Daily Mail, from October 24th:
Unlocking the secrets of The Vatican on a private tour of Michelangelo's Sistine CeilingHere's their website:
Dark Rome
Here's their TripAdvisor reviews:
Dark Rome Tours & Walks
I first heard of them last fall on Slowtravel, and did some research then - and I was skeptical of them (my user name on ST is Jady):
Dark Rome Tour Company
You'll see I made the same argument that I'd prefer being able to book with an individual versus a huge company - and I also mentioned Agnes Crawford then, as well as suggesting ContextRome.
And here's a more recent thread from Slowtravel, with a postscript from STer/FTer
dingo. He too started out a skeptic but ended up greatly enjoying his experience with the guide he was assigned:
Dark Rome - Skip the Line:VIP Vatican & Private Sistine Tour is another choice, who
dingo also discusses on that thread above. I've read about them in this article from the Guardian, from January '11:
How to have the Vatican all to yourselfContextRome is another option. I've taken several of their group tours over the years and I regard this company extremely highly.
But if it was my money and I wanted a private tour, I still prefer the idea of booking directly with a specific guide, and I'd book with
Agnes Crawford. But that's just my 2¢.