Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este Half-Day Trip from Rome

Rome, Italy

Explore Italy's rich history at Emperor Hadrian's Villa and the remarkable Villa d'Este garden on a half-day tour from Rome. You'll take a relaxing four-hour excursion to Tivoli and travel through the beautiful countryside surrounding the busy capital.

Your first stop is the evocative ruins of the famous villa built by Emperor Hadrian (Villa Adriana in Italian). The villa was built in the 2nd century A.D. by Hadrian to remind him of the monuments he'd admired during his travels in Greece and Egypt. The villa is now in ruins, and can only hint at its original grandeur and beauty, but the landscaped pools and grottoes have influenced subsequent garden design over the centuries.

Your journey into the past continues to the magnificent Villa d'Este at Tivoli, one of the most beautiful residences of the late Renaissance. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a masterpiece of Italian architecture and especially garden design, inspired by Hadrian' Villa. You'll discover how Villa d'Este's countless fountains create a graceful symphony of carved stone, shade, sunlight and water as you take a walk around the villa's magnificent formal gardens.

USD $77.89

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Donna M	April 2012
What a delightful and beautiful afternoon we spent at Villa d'Este! It is beautiful beyond belief.

Review by: Anita13	April 2012
The trip was excellent. Hadrian's Villa was totally amazing. We are so glad we went.

Review by: Candice W	April 2012
Beautiful but too fast to view it all. Besides, the Viator's voucher said on time for the tour and the local agency had another time for it! Luckly we called to confirm in the morning 8am, and was informed it was 9am, not 3pm as the voucher had.

Review by: Sue B	April 2012
Excellent day , both well worth the visit .My only comment would be that each place warrants a whole day .

Review by: Dominic P	March 2012
all was very nice,

Review by: Karina	March 2012
Very informative. Was a great tour of ancient Rome!

Review by: Gary W	March 2012
Great tour and great tour guides offering it in multiple languages. They also provided info on the route out and back and pointed out a lot of interesting parts of Rome and the outskirts on the way. I wished I had some more time at Hardrian's Villa to explore more so will have to do that on my next visit.

Review by: Robert H	March 2012
No facilities or restrooms at site. 1/4 mile walk uphill on dirt trail through olive grove.

Review by: duff	February 2012
I went on this tour excited for Hadrian Villa..My wife and I loved the beautiful gardens at the Villa D'este. These were the nicest water gardens I have ever seen in my life.

Review by: Ben E	January 2012
Disappointed in the tour. The Villa d'Este was a pleasant surprise, however the tour was basically just a bus ride and admission, as there was not enough time to be 'toured' by the guide. We were only at Hadrian's Villa for an hour, so we had to leave the group to see as much as my wife wanted to see (the group only saw 4 different places in the complex - we saw 8). This was largely due to the fact that she (impressively) translated everything into 5 different languages - however, this did not leave much time for explaining many things!

Review by: Marzie D	January 2012
It was a wonderful place. I really enjoy the trip.

Review by: Kathryn S	January 2012
We loved the visit and the guide was very helpful with her knowledge of the history. The only shortcoming is we wish this tour was a day long visit to see both areas in more depth. We would have been happy to spend the entire morning at Villa d'Este, break for lunch together, then spend the afternoon at Villa Adriano. We felt very rushed trying to keep on the half day schedule.

Review by: Edwin L	December 2011
Well worth it. Interesting way to spend a morning outside of Rome. The guide was good. The fountains at Villa d'Este were amazing and worth seeing.

Review by: Acampo	December 2011
excellent guides

Review by: Robert B	December 2011
A very good trip and very worthwhile. The guide was excellent and spoke excellent English, so all the info given out was very comprehensive. One downside: We had a pick up from our hotel which was essential. Unfortunately we were dumped a long way from our hotel at the end of the trip. As my wife had a sore foot, we had a bit of trouble getting back.

Review by: Neil B	December 2011
The gardens in the Villa d'Este (shown in the photo) were very pretty, but the villa was not as interesting. The tour of Hadrian's Villa was mostly of ruins, so also not as interesting for the children.

Review by: catherine m	December 2011
it was a lovely day out. We would have liked more time at the Villa d'est as there was so much to see that we didn't have time to explore. We seem to waste time walking to and from the bus. The guide had good English and was friendly.

Review by: Richard Lee A	November 2011
Great guide. Definantly worth seeing the different styles of buildungs

Review by: Maryse D	November 2011
We enjoyed the tour, it was great, our guide was lovely. The only thing we like to point out that you should also offer full day tours so you could spend more time at Hadrian's villa (now you see only a small part) and you should also have more time at villa d'Este; Anyway the tour is really worthwhile.

Review by: James B	November 2011
Not enough time at either place, and a bit pricey.

Review by: marvin	November 2011
The places visited were great...but the tour was supposed to be in English and there were two French speakers in the group..and the extra translation cut the area toured by half to re-translate to French. The tour also left one hour earlier than on the ticket..and we had to be hunted down at our hotel. Hadrians was not so good due to the above.. Villa D-este was great. I would not recommend this tour to a friend.t

Review by: Marie O	November 2011
Very enjoyable tour, enhanced by the caring and considerate guide.

Review by: demaro	November 2011
Beautiful!!!! Oh, I had seen the fountains 40 years ago and they are still going! It was so refreshing to go back.

Review by: Christine Z	November 2011
Overall the trip was great, especially the Villa D'este portion. The only drawback was that there was not enough time to spend at Hadrian's Villa. That could be due to the time constraint of a half day. The guide was excellent .

Review by: Timmac	November 2011
Excellent tour of must visit sites

Review by: Ann L	November 2011
What a glorious surprise. This trip was worth the entire Rome venture. Hadrian's villa was interesting, but WOW the Villa d'este was unbelieveable.

Review by: Kim L	November 2011
Great tour, if you would like to get out of Rome for the day. Lots of history and the gardens are amazing... Just wish it was a full day tour, rather than a half day tour.

Review by: Robert M	November 2011
Excellent. Good guide. Very enjoyable

Review by: Christine S	November 2011
This tour was very disappointing. We saw very little of Hadrian's Villa (but there didn't seem a lot to see). The Villa d'Este was very interesting and would have enjoyed more time to see the garden and actual villa. The tour was probably worth doing just to see the d'Este gardens. The tour guide was not knowledgeable at all.

Review by: Glenn E	October 2011
This half day tour could easily have been a full day tour - so much to see and appreciate. We enjoyed seeing both the Villa d'Este in Tivoli and Hadrian's Villa. A good tour to do.

Review by: Robert M	October 2011
A great way to see two "not to be missed" parts of a visit to Rome

Review by: Laurence G	October 2011
The guide and visits were great.

Review by: Frank L	October 2011
a very enjoyable excursion,well worth doing, could have spent a half day exploring Hadrians Villa.

Review by: Margaret C	October 2011
Tour guide was very informative but some people were annoyed that there was no warning that they had to walk up a steep hill on a very warm day to reach the Villa. We had a hotel pickup but there was no hotel drop off at the end of the tour. We opted to be dropped near the Trevi Fountain which was close to our hotel but the drop off point was nowhere near the Trevi. It was dark and we were just told to "walk in that direction" and it took a considerable time to reach our hotel.

Review by: Chua J	October 2011
We thoroughly enjoyed our 5 hours trip and thought this is the best tour we had join in Europe thus far! The lady guide, Catelina (spelling?) was fluent in at least four languages - English, Spanish, French and Italian. She had allocated just enough time for us to visit both villas - Hadrian's first and Villa d' Este second. But this had resulted in long waits for tickets for the latter villa, don't know if it would be better the other way round since Hadrian's seemed to attract much lesser tourists???

Review by: Jose H, United States of America	July 2010
Excellent tour.

Review by: Madelaine C, United Kingdom	June 2010
The tour was excellent, guide was knowlegable spoke very good english, time of tour meant we had not enough time to do justice to both sites.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	May 2010
Superb, wonderful tour. I would recommend this to anyone. Got to see the countryside on the way to the site and the beautiful town of Tivoli. The ancient ruins are set in a wonderful site with 500 year old olive trees. So much well preserved antiquity with great guide info. The Villa d'Este - wonderful - marvelous. Don't miss this tour.

Review by: Lori M, United States of America	March 2010
Great tour guide! He knew what he was talking about and was a really nice guide.

Review by: Indi G, Australia	March 2010
This was fantastic, we could have done with more time at both Villas especially Villa d'Este which was beautiful!

Review by: Anonymous, United Kingdom	January 2010
No crowds and perfect weather. Excellent guide and organisation.

Review by: Peta B, Australia	November 2009
This tour was fantastic and very interesting. We were so glad we did it. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. There is a lot of walking once you get to Tivoli and then Hadrian's Villa where the first ten minutes is all up hill, but it is worth it. One last thing we were suppose to be in an air-conditioned coach, however, due to the small group we weren't, thankfully it was a cool day.

Review by: Damien M, Ireland	November 2009
this place was even spectacular in the rain going back to see it again when the sun is shining

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	November 2009
We thought that the tour was well worth the time and effort.

Review by: Jan Leslie M, United States of America	November 2009
The guides, one who spoke English and French, one who spoke Spanish and Italian, were terrific. Unfortunately, it was a miserable rainy day, but they made it possible for anyone who wished to stay at the Villa d'Este for an extra hour could do so while anyone else could go on to Hadrian's Villa, which offers no haven from the elements. It was a very kind gesture. My guide Franco ... can't even remember was a really good guide, informative, humorous, flexible. While I'm not overly fond of "bus" tours, this was perhaps the only one I've been on that was satisfying.

Review by: CHARLES P, United States of America	November 2009
Think the fellows name was Nico, he was very informative.

Review by: Joyce C, United States of America	November 2009
More beautiful than I imagined. I am glad that I did not miss this trip. Our guide was great.

Review by: Eugenie W, United States of America	October 2009
Excellent tour. Guide was wonderful.

Review by: Susan M, United States of America	October 2009
Great guide! The guide on this tour did an excellent job. She was very friendly.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	October 2009
A very special place! Well worth the trip. The tour experience was without flaw.