Rome open top bus tour.

This hub is about taking an independent tour of Rome while in the port of Civitavecchia with a cruise ship.

Rome is about 50 miles from Civitavecchia, so we took the train which took about an hour and a quarter, stopping at about 12 stations along the way, and passing through maybe 6 tunnels.I think the cost was 13 euros each return.

I understand there is an express train taking about 40 minutes, but this day was a Sunday and also a Public Holiday, so express trains were scarce.

It is half a mile to the dock gates and highway from where the cruise ships tie up in the port,but we had a free shuttle bus provided by the cruise line.

There is a tourist advice office right next to the drop-off point.

The train station is another half a mile to the right on leaving the dock gates, but there is a very pleasant promenade to walk along before needing to cross over to the train station on your left.

The trains run very fast but quiet, are two decks high, and very comfortable.

Rome is the terminus, so as a stranger you cannot miss your stop.The terminus is massive, sharing a site with the underground system, bus terminus and taxi ranks.

A word of warning: if you have a week bladder, don't feel the need to go for a pee in the terminus, it will cost you .80 euros. I feel this is extorsion and am probably traumatised for life at having to pay this amount.(see proof on the video)

We recorded a video to help all cruise passengers to understand how trouble free and cost effective this trip is, as well as hopefully being useful to all independent travellers to Rome arriving by air or train:

We have trouble walking for anything more than short distances as we are both in our 70s, so we decided to pay 16 euros each for an open top bus tour which leaves from the bus station and takes about an hour or more to complete a full circuit following a printed and illustrated map which is given to all passengers as well as a set of headphones each to follow the running commentary in many languages.

You can hop on or off the bus at any of the 12 scheduled stops which I recommend if you are able bodied and have the time to spare, but we stayed on for the complete circuit as we were on a tight schedule.

You will see from the video that we saw most of the top sights in Rome, and had enough time to record the sights from the top deck in comfort and with a smooth journey throughout.

Viewing is best done in full screen mode. Do this by first double clicking on the picture to watch the video from YouTube.com, then click one of the small squares to the right just under the picture bottom right. I recommend this, as there are a lot of pictures within picture.

All editing of this video, titles, pic in pic and soundtrack was done using Adobe Premiere Elements.

I hope this answers the question asked many times about arranging your own excursions while in Rome. If we can do this, anyone can.

The video may not be the greatest for stability, but please remember that everything was recorded from a moving bus, and the video camera was a cheap pocketcam, the Aiptek A-HD 720P 8 MP CMOS High-Definition Camcorder costing under $100.

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