ITALY - Best of Europe 2014 - page 913

Trambus 110 seems to be the best. Operated by the ATAC city-bus lines, it offers an
orientation tour on big red double-decker buses with an open-air upper deck. In less than
two hours, you'll have 80 sights pointed out to you (with a next-to-worthless recorded nar-
ration). While you can hop on and off, the service can be erratic (mobbed midday, not ideal
in bad weather), and it can be very slow in heavy traffic. It's best to think of this as a two-
hour quickie orientation with scant information and lots of images. Stops include Ara Pa-
cis, Piazza Cavour, St. Peter's Square, Corso Vittorio Emanuele (for Piazza Navona), Piazza
Venezia, Colosseum, and Via Nazionale. Bus #110 departs every 20 minutes. You can catch
it at any stop, including Termini Station. Buy the ticket as you board (runs daily April-Oct
8:30-20:30, shorter hours off-season, single tour-€12, 48-hour ticket-€18, tel. [phone],
www.trambusopen.com ).
Archeobus is an open-top bus, also operated by ATAC, that runs twice hourly from Ter-
miniStationouttotheancientAppianWay(withstopsattheColosseum,BathsofCaracalla,
San Callisto, San Sebastiano, and the Tomb of Cecilia Metella). This is a handy way to
see the sights down this ancient Roman road, but it can be frustrating for various reas-
ons—sparse narration, sporadic service, and not ideal for hopping on and off (€15, €25
combo-ticket with Trambus 110, ticket valid 48 hours, 1.5-hour loop, daily 9:00-16:30,
less frequent off-season, from Termini Station and Piazza Venezia, tel. [phone],
www.trambusopen.com ). A similar bus laces together all the Christian sights.
Car and Minibus Tours
Autoservizi Monti Concezio, run by gentle, capable, and English-speaking Ezio, offers
private cars or minibuses with driver/guides (car-€40/hour, minibus-€45/hour, 3-hour min-
imum for city sightseeing, long rides outside Rome are more expensive, mobile
335-636-5907 or 349-674-5643, www.tourservicemonti.it , [e-mail] ) .
Miles & Miles Private Tours is a family-run company offering a number of tours
(all explained on their website) in Mercedes minibuses and cars, all with good English-
speaking driver/guides (€60/hour for up to 8 people, 5-hour minimum, Rick Steves readers
booking direct get a discount off any web prices they offer, mobile [phone],
www.milesandmiles.net , [e-mail] , Francesco answers the mobile phone,
while Kimberly—an American—runs their office). They can also provide unguided long-
distance transportation; if traveling with a small group or a family from Rome to Florence
or the Amalfi Coast, consider paying extra to turn the trip into a memorable day tour with
door-to-door service.