Ancient Ostia Half-Day Trip from Rome

Well...wife and I scheduled this trip for a Sunday instead of doing a full day to Pompeii. We were really looking forward to it. Found it weird that when I booked it showed meeting place for leaving was at the office but then it went on to state pickup at hotel and even asked for address of hotel we were staying in. So, I was wondering how that was going to work so the evening before the morning trip (around 7pm), I called to find out how the pick-up worked and what time we could expect them. I was informed that we would indeed need to Green Line Tours location at Via Giovanni Amendola, 32. This didn't bother me too much as I had expected to have to do this to begin with. So, we got up earlier than we would've liked to make sure we could get the Metro over to the meeting location only to learn that the tour was cancelled due to lack of bookings. While I understand this is a possibility, I was put out that I wasn't called (phone number was requested also during reservation process) and of course, could've been told on Sat evening at 7pm that trip wasn't going to make...surely they'd know by then that there'd be no one else schedule a tour like that at that late hour). I was properly refunded my money (IN CASH) so no problem with that. Just put out that we went to all that effort to get over there in plenty of time to leave and weren't notified of the cancellation. All worked out for the best. We caught our own train out to the ruins, took our time on a great Rick Steves audio guided tour and were even allowed in FREE as one of the Roma Pass locations when we thought we'd only get a discount, since we'd already used our two free places on the pass. Had a GREAT lunch at the cafe on site and made a LOVELY day out of it. I'd recommend you do the same.

We toured on a hot day, and this is a somewhat difficult walking tour simply because you are walking on stones much of the time. We much enjoyed it because our guide Sean made it interesting. This reminds me of Pompeii but is much easier to get to and has more buildings to see. Sean was a wealth of information, providing context for everything we viewed. A good guide always makes an impact on your day.

We took several tours while in Rome (The Colosseum, The Vatican, Villa Borghese) but this was by far the best. The site is fascinating. Our guide was a retired archeologists and history professor who had actually done some of the work restoring the site. He was so knowledgeable and very delightful. I think his name was Georgia but I may be remembering the name incorrectly. We were picked up by the tour company and driven to the site which is about 40 minutes away, and driven back to our hotel afterwards. If you love history, don’t miss this tour.

<p>Well worth half a day. The excavations are very interesting and we were there almost by ourselves the guide spoke perfect English and was more than friendly and helpful. The excavations could fill an entire day but this seem to balance the time available to what you could comfortably see.</p>

<p>This tour is different as it allows you to get out of Rome and see what life was like outside the city. If your not into walking or cannot do extended walking on non flat surface as this is ancient and paths are dirt at times stone. Bring good walking shoes and don't bring shoes your not afraid to get dirty as the dust from the dirt paths was on shoes and pants. Our guide had a degree in architecture and teaching so information was detailed and interesting. At times the information was hard to retain as you are in ruins which had many layers of cultures living on the site. This dates back to before christ AD. Bring a daypack which has your essentials water bottle, wet-ones, towel or cloth for sweat. Weather in June is hot and this day no exception we did sweat so clothing should be light and absorbent and quick dry. Overall would recommend to anyone this tour who doesn't mind architecture and walking as I clocked 4.5 miles with my Nano.</p>

<p>This tour was interesting as it was outside of Rome and gave you a sense of life outside the city in ancient times. This tour is not for someone who has challenges with non flat surfaces as it is ancient and is made up of cobblestone or stones placed to make a path. Shoes should be good walking and not shoes your worried to dirty as it is dusty and at times a dirt path. Our tour guide had a degree in architecture and teaching and was very learnard in Greek and Roman history amongst others. Very informative but a lot of information and at one point overwhelming but if you enjoy architecture and can vision this as a working city then you will enjoy immensely. I would recommend this tour for those who don't mind a half day of walking as I clocked on my Nano 4.5 miles of walking. June was hot and if your smart you will bring a day pack with water and other provision such as wet ones or a towel to wipe the sweat as you will. Overall Viator does great thought out tours and this was what they pride themselves on. I would recommend but know it is walking and can be messy as dust was everywhere on my clothes but for me not a problem.</p>

<p>Fantastic tour, great organisation, saw lots, and the guides were very informative, and enthusiastic,</p>

<p>Great to get out of Rome for a few hours.The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the site and really made you feel as you were living that era. the site is larger than you think and you could easily spend most of the day there. <br/> Well worth a visit</p>

<p>An amazing guide from greenlines georgio old professorlike man with amazing stories bringing back the life of ostia</p>

<p>Although the tour guide was knowledgeable, we were constantly rushed through the tour. Many of us wanted to linger and take photos as it wasn't a tour we would likely go on again. The Neptune mosaic was stunning and well worth the trip to see it.</p>