Travel Tip Tuesday: Saving €uros in Italy Series, Tours and Excursions
Posted on: Sep 22, 2009
You booked your flight, you reserved your hotel and your Italian vacation is just around the corner. Now it is time to get serious. You wouldn’t just head to the Eternal City-or any other city in the Bel Paese without some Italy excursions up your sleeve would you?
Nooo, you wouldn’t.
I, on the other hand, did.
I bought my first Italy guide book three days in to my first trip, back in 2000. Mamma mia … have I come a long way!
And so has the world we travel in.
Today’s travelers have more Italy excursions and tour choices than ever before. In sticking with our Saving €uros in Italy Series, here are three places to find cheap-or free!-audio tours for Italy.
Photo: ItalyGuides.It
1. Italy Guides
Italy Guides deliver *free* audio downloads written by art historians for major attractions throughout Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa and Naples.
The complete guide to the Vatican Museums sells for $9.99 and is available as an exclusive iPhone App and includes interactive maps, over two hours of audio and 150 photos.
2. Rick Steves
The King of European Travel is now offering 12 free audio tours for Italy hot spots, Rome, Florence and Venice. Each audio files comes complete with a pdf map and can be downloaded to your MP3 or copied to a CD.
3. LoDingo
You know, like “load n’ go,” offers eight pages of Italy audio guides that range from FREE downloads to $24.95 and includes cities outside of the Big Three, such as Parma, Pescara and Padova.
Have you ever used an audio file like these for your tours or excursions? If so, which ones do you recommend?
Let’s see what Robin is recommending for us today.
Until next time … Buon Viaggio!
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I’ve never used an audio guide, except those hired at the beginning of some art galleries, these look interesting.
I really like the sound of the iphone app,but I need to buy the phone first. It is on the list though.
Oh, I hear you. It is on my wish list, too!
Travelingsuep´s last blog ..Monday Artday: Sailor
We used Rick Steves’ audio guides on our ipods for the Pantheon, Sistine Chapel, and Roman Forum. The last one was kind of confusing–a lot of backtracking and if you aren’t familiar with what you’re looking at, it’s easy to get completely disoriented.
The others were pretty good, especially if you can snag a seat along the wall of the Sistine Chapel and sit while you listen. He has some corny jokes but as long as the audioguide is free, I can live with that.
I am so glad to hear you liked them (and that the Forum one isn’t so great!) Thanks for letting us know.
[...] Want to download some audio guides for various attractions in Italy before you go? Cherrye has listed three that are free or cheap. [...]
[...] Travel Tip Tuesday: Saving €uros in Italy Series, Tours and Excursions [...]
Excellent highlight! To be honest, Rick Steve’s podcasts are fantastic. I just used them myself in Rome and couldn’t believe what I learned.
Best part – it was free!!
I have heard they are fabulous! I plan to use them on my next trip to the Eternal City!