Rome sightseeing tour

A Rome sightseeing tour can be a seat on an open-top bus for $22 or a two-day private programme with transfers for $1,450, and the 75 listings here sit between those numbers in six price bands. Price is the first filter; the second is how you want to move — bus, golf cart, Vespa, Fiat 500, bike or on foot — and whether the commentary comes from a guide beside you or an audio guide.

The open-top hop-on hop-off bus is the most reviewed of the city sightseeing tours here: 13,162 reviews at 4.1, $22. The listing sells a half-day ticket or a 24-, 48- or 72-hour hop-on hop-off ticket, and the route takes in the Vatican, the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia. It is the cheapest way here to learn the layout of the city.

Golf carts are the next step, and the shared ones stay under fifty dollars: $44 for two to two and a half hours with a stop for artisanal gelato, rated 4.8 by 2,857 people, or $66 for the highlights route past the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Colosseum and Piazza del Popolo. The electric cart with a gelato is $83, the evening cart $74, and a private cart for three hours on a route you choose $201.

On two wheels, the Vespa ride is $27 for one to one and a half hours as a passenger behind a driver and guide, rated 5.0 by 1,280 people, with a photography option at the Colosseum; the Vespa sidecar with hotel pickup and a gelato by the Pantheon is $120 for three hours. The vintage or convertible Fiat 500 with a professional photoshoot is $46, the small-group Fiat 500 cabriolet with prosecco $200, and the Ferrari California drive, licensed drivers over 21 only, $424.

On foot, the guided walks also stay under fifty dollars: the small-group moonlight walk through the historic centre to the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon is $33 for two and a half hours, rated 4.9 by 1,299 people, and the sunset walk from Piazza Navona past the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain to the Spanish Steps is $49 for two hours. By bike, a guided two-and-a-half-hour ride past the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Colosseum is $35; three hours on a cruiser or e-bike, $50.

Entry to the big sites is where the second price band earns its place. A 24-hour entry to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with an in-app audio guide is $28; the version with a licensed guide is $55 and, with 92,604 reviews at 4.8, the most reviewed listing on the page. Across the river, the skip-the-line guided visit to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica is $84; St. Peter’s with the Pietà and the Papal Tombs, $22.

Food is its own band. The street food walk through Trastevere and Campo de’ Fiori is $49 for two and a half hours, rated 4.9 by 4,617 people; the pasta and tiramisu class with wine near the Vatican is $27 and, with 8,608 reviews, the most reviewed class here. Underground, the Catacombs of St. Callixtus with a guided visit of the ancient Christian burial ground is $16 for thirty minutes, the Capuchin Crypt and catacombs tour with transfers $55.

The long days are the trips out of the city. Pompeii with an optional Vesuvius visit and lunch is $77 for nine to twelve hours, 5,958 reviews; Positano, the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento is $80 for eleven to twelve. By high-speed train, Pompeii with wine and lunch is $179 and Venice $272; Florence and Pisa in a small group, $321 for twelve hours. Tivoli with Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este is the five-hour one, $299. Give each its own day.