Ancient Ostia Half-Day Trip from Rome

Rome, Italy

Follow the sea road to Imperial Rome's historic port at Ostia on a half-day morning tour. It takes only 30 minutes to reach Ostia Antica, at the mouth of the Tiber river, and you'll have plenty of time to explore the wonderfully preserved ruins. The ruins are convenient, compact and shady, and provide a tantalizing glimpse into daily life in ancient Rome.

Ostia was Rome's flourishing trade and business center, until the port was abandoned following the Barbarian invasions. The archaeological excavations undertaken at the beginning of the 14th century have brought the ancient city back to life. During your walk through the ruins your guide will provide enlightening insights into the cultural and social life of this historic settlement.

Your visit to Ostia Antica (ancient Ostia) starts at Via delle Tombe, which leads you to the Porta Romana, one of the city's three gates. This is the beginning of the Decumanus Maximus, the main thoroughfare that crosses the city from north-east to south-west.

You will then arrive at the Terme di Nettuno, where you can admire the beautiful black and white mosaics representing Neptune and Amphitrite, the theatre built by Agrippa, and the Forum which formed the center of the city. Here you will discover the main public buildings, Il Capitolium, the temple of Rome and Augustus, the Basilica and the large thermal baths.

Near the Forum square you will also find the House of Diana and the Thermopolium, an ancient Roman bar with a marble counter and a fresco depicting the fruit and foodstuffs that were sold there. At the end of Via dei Dipinti, a museum displays some of the ancient sculptures unearthed at Ostia.

USD $70.22

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Arthur O	November 2011
Good

Review by: Kathryn L	October 2011
Fantastic trip. Short drive outside the city. Guide very knowledgeable. Would have loved to spent more time there.

Review by: Tina Eva-Maria L	October 2011
This is the trip to take if you want to know something about everyday roman life.

Review by: Richard F	October 2011
Loved our tour of Ostia. The ruins are amazing to see what was accomplished centuries ago without the huge machines used nowadays. Our guide Gorgio? was very knowledgeable and pointed out many things we would not have noticed without him. For instance, we did not know that Ostia translated to "Mouth"

Review by: Jacqueline S	October 2011
Ostia is a very interesting place but we felt the tour was rushed: no time for museum (advertised on website) or for buying guidebooks.

Review by: Genan U	October 2011
It was very easy to book this tour. The small group size was perfect., and the pace was comfortable. The tour guide was excellent. She was very knowledgeable, and managed her several languages well. Ostia is a great alternative to the congestion of Rome, I highly recommend this tour.

Review by: Amanda	September 2011
This was excellent. A lot of walkign and the guide obviously felt constrained by the time allowed but he was hugely knowledgeable and enthusiatic about his subject. He even gave us a running commentary on what we were passing in the main streets in Rome as we left the city centre.

Review by: Leland I	September 2011
Seeing how and where the people lived in ancient Roman times was the best experience we had on our vacation. Our expert tour guide not only talked with us about the city, but had pictures of what the ruins we were viewing would have looked like at that time. Excellent tour.

Review by: Sheena Y	September 2011
Thought the Ostia site was well worth the visit although felt more time would have been better. Our Guide was knowledgeable but my son and I found him very boring. I think it would have been good for the guide to advise on what there was to see and then give people some time to look around on their own afterwards,

Review by: EDWIN L	September 2011
This was a relaxing tour of Ostia -- and it provided a good contrast to Pompeii. Our guide was knowledgeable and good at answering questions. Just be sure to confirm that the tour will operate, for when we checked a day before we had booked, they said they needed at least 4 more people or it would be cancelled. They got the 4 and more during the day, and called our hotel to confirm the tour would operate and to leave pickup times. Good service, but disconcerting to find that a tour we thought was all confirmed was initially pending.

Review by: Brian H	September 2011
An enjoyable tour, the guide was knowledgeable and friendly and the site was fascinating. It was a pity we were not brought to the site souvenir shop, lack of time, we were told. Also the toilets were grubby Port-a-loos.

Review by: rocketanne	September 2011
Excellent. Staff worked around the general strike with ease. We had a retired professor of archeology as a guide who really knew his stuff and were not burdened with sales pitches or useless side trips. Not near long enough to see everything though. For history buffs this deserves a full day .

Review by: marcia.code	August 2011
The guide was pleasant and very knowledgeable. The site was larger than we had expected so we appreciated having a tour of the highlights.

Review by: Bruce M	July 2011
Although Ostia is a fascinating place to visit, our guide's English wasn't very good and so I'm not sure if she didn't have much to explain or just didn't say much because of her limited English. In addition, the seats on the minibus on which we travelled the one-hour ride from Rome were packed tighter than the seats on a plane.

Review by: Robert H	July 2011
Our guide was knowledgeable and kept the group on track and organized. The tour route was logical and I feel we got to see most everything of significance. It was a very enjoyable experience.

Review by: Peter M	June 2011
We were picked up from our hotel punctually which was a good start. On the tour at the ruins the guide was very informative. What i didn't realise was that the way out was not the same as the way in, I would have liked at least 15 minutes free time to explore a little more, overall I enjoyed the tour.

Review by: Hazel R	June 2011
This was a very good trip and the guide was also excellent. It could have been improved a little with maybe an extra 45 minutes or so to visit the bookshop,cafe or to just explore a little more but I still think it was very good and would recommend it to others.

Review by: Sandy	June 2011
The morning tour in Ostia was a nice excursion outside of Rome. The tour guide was knowledgeable and the tour was well paced. For people that has seen Pompeii, this site offers something different.

Review by: Vicki W	May 2011
This was a pleasant surprise, lots of historical information and a very nice day out.

Review by: xlinyer	May 2011
Sophia, our guide, was a little difficult to understand, but we managed. This tour was interesting. The toilets at the entrance were gross; wait until you get to the shop.

Review by: Kenneth H	May 2011
Ostia is a must see but the tour was to short and the tour guide was quoting from Rick Steves. I plan on going back but will do it without the tour.

Review by: RJ M	May 2011
We have submitted a strongly worded complaint about this tour asking for the return of most of our money and may raise the point with Trip Advisor. The tour guide was incompetent. Her spoken English was difficult to understand. Her knowledge was inadequate. She conducted the tour badly. We would not recommend a tour with this guide to anyone else. Viator knows which tour provider it used on 12th April.

Review by: Ellen P	April 2011
Terrible guide. Nobody could hear or understand her and she was really rushing everyone along unnecessarily.

Review by: David Z	October 2010
This was our last tour of the week and our guide, Angela was excellent and very informative. The ruins were just as much fun to walk through as those in Pompeii. We would highly recommend this tour.

Review by: THOMAS G	October 2010
we enjoyed the tour. our tour guide was very thorough in his explanations. we will recommend to others.

Review by: Ina F	October 2010
Probably the best tour I took while in Rome (except for the Vatican Museum one). The guide was very informative and gave me a lot of the history and archeaology info. I was seekding. If you're an ancient history buff like me, you'll love this. Highly recommended.

Review by: Pauline B	October 2010
Our guide was excellent and she made the visit really interesting.

Review by: Dawn H	October 2010
I was really looking forward to this tour and was a bit disappointed. The tour guide didn't seem to have much enthusiasm or knowledge of the site.

Review by: Bruce M	September 2010
A great tour outside of Rome.Our guide was fantastic.

Review by: Christine M	September 2010
The bus was nice enough for this tour but it took off late from the start time. The tour had many different languages on the tour so it seemed that you got a lot less commentary because the guide was always translating into other languages. For not having much content, not having much time to explore Ostia ( the bus took about an hour each way to get there, so you are only actually in the town for about a hour hour an half max), and not having the best guide, I only give this tour 2 stars.

Review by: Rosemary H, United Kingdom	May 2010
Another fantastic tour again our guide was fab

Review by: Hubert C, United States of America	May 2010
Ancient Ostia is a must see it provides another view than Pompeii to ancient cities. The Tour Guide had expert knowledge of Ostia's and Roman history. She answered all questions and made the tour fun and informative, The half day tour worked well as for duration with enough walking for many people. I will take the tour again on next trip to Rome

Review by: fabio r, United States of America	May 2010
excellant

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	March 2010
I loved this trip. Had done it 2 years earlier also and was impressed. This place I felt was better than Pompeii. I must admit though that the guide we had on the first trip was better, he showed us more things. This trip is a must do.

Review by: Mary K, United States of America	November 2009
Excellent guide, very informative and enthusiastic. Ostia ruins were great.

Review by: Ingrid Y, United States of America	October 2009
Comfortably small group with an excellent guide.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	October 2009
Fascinating. The guide was very knowledgeable.

Review by: Julie Ann G, Australia	September 2009
Very well preserved ruins, and a great guide!

Review by: Anonymous, United Kingdom	September 2009
Enjoyable and interesting tour. Excellent tour guide.

Review by: Jennifer P, United States of America	May 2009
This tour takes you out of the city and brings you back into time. It's beautiful, and the tour guide was awesome. She really knew her history.

Review by: Robert H, United States of America	October 2008
We had a great time. The guide was very informative during the ride to Ostia, pointing out various points of interest along the way. While at the site, he hit the most interesting areas with explanations of what the area was like during Roman times and what the various buildings were used for. A great trip with a very friendly guide.

Review by: Robert L, United States of America	June 2008
The tour was everything that I anticipated, and our guide was excellent, personal, and informative.

Review by: James E, United States of America	June 2008
This was a wonderful opportunity to connect to ancient Rome off the beaten track. Our tour guide did a fantastic job bringing the past to life. A highlight was the sarcophagus in the museum that had only been unearthed two weeks before and looked brand new even though it was close to 2000 years old. Our guide made sure we saw it.

Review by: Jeanne U, United States of America	May 2008
The tour left promptly. We never felt rushed and the transportation was very comfortable. Our tour guide was very fluent in several languages, and was extremely knowledgeable not only about the ruins but history in general. He had a wonderful sense of humor and his enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone in the group. The ruins were both beautiful and fascinating and, although they were not on the scale of Pompeii, they were very definitely worth seeing. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We have taken many tours in many countries, including Italy, and this one rates as one of the best.

Review by: James F, United States of America	April 2008
Tour guide was great and tried to accommodate my inability to walk as much as I would have liked. He knew his stuff!

Review by: Carol P, United States of America	November 2007
The site, tour and guide were wonderful. You can see a Roman town without so many tourists. I will definitely spend time here on my next trip.

Review by: Julie S, United Kingdom	September 2006
The staff are lovely and so helpful. This tour was brilliant. The guide was wonderful, full of information and extremely easy to understand. We all enjoyed this one.

Review by: A. R. W, United States of America	August 2006
Guide was very friendly & knowledgeable.