Tivoli Day Trip from Rome: Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este

This is an amazing day trip, well worth the price, excellent value. We were lucky to have Giuseppe (Joe) as our guide. He is a Tivoli native and knows all the ins and outs. He was organized, punctual, informative, helpful, entertaining. Villa d'Este is simply astonishing! (Hadrian's Villa was also an excellent visit, though shorter, but as an ancient site, consists of historical ruins.) Villa d'Este was built centuries later, using what had originally existed at Hadrian's Villa. It is an awesome site! Fountains, multi-tiered, gardens galore. Even on a very rainy day, our group had a wonderful time. The bus took only about 40 minutes from Rome to get there (though traffic was albeit lighter than usual as it was a Sunday). We also had lunch at a wonderful local restaurant, renowned for their cannelloni, which lived up to its reputation. A delightful respite from the rain and good fellowship.

This tour is the best of both worlds - an archaeological site and what I like to call the "Versailles of Italy." The gardens were amazing, and the entire tour is a really good walk. Burn the calories in order to have a great dinner!

We had a great day trip with a very informative and patient guide named Guiseppe.He was a lot of fun and we would highly recommend him for this trip.

Tivoli is a beautiful small town. The tour guide knew her stuff and was very well organised. We got about 2 hours to explore the small town during lunch.

Had heard that these gardens and fountains should be seen if in Rome. Glad we toured both villas. Great to get out of Rome and be somewhere where there were not a lot of people. Beautiful fountains, and the tour guide was informative and very knowledgeable. Would recommend to other travelers.

This was our fifth trip to Rome, so we were looking for some new adventures. We have used Viator in the past and were always pleased beyond expectation! For this excursion, we met at a Metro stop near our hotel. A very comfortable coach bus took us on a nice journey that was less than an hour. But the delightful part of this trip was the guide that led us through the sights. On your own, the Villas would be interesting. With Larissa, our guide, history came to life! She helped us to imagine what the inhabitants of the Villas experienced. She is a treasure trove of amazing information, which she shares with grace and enthusiasm! Clearly, helping us to learn is her passion. We cannot express how grateful we are to Larissa for sharing her love of history and all of her expertise with us. If possible, ask which tour she is doing. It is worth waiting for!

Both gardens were beautiful. The fountains were simply breathtaking. So glad I chose this tour, highly recommend

Would recommend to anyone! Very interesting, so much information about the history and ancient culture. Helps to understand better what is going on today, when you can see that the same exactly things happened thousand years ago! Guide was superb!

We chose this full day tour to visit two World Heritage sights, Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli and the Villa D'Este. These are undoubtedly major attractions and the tour attempts to visit both in a one day tour. We chose the Saturday tour, which was a good idea as the light weekend traffic meant that we arrived early at Hadrian's villa. Our guide took us round the main areas of the site where we spent about an hour. We had 10 minutes of free time so really could not explore the site. Our guide was good at showing us the few remaining pieces of marble and of other decoration which had not been looted, and we definitely saw the main sites - but I do not know whether we saw everything. I would have liked more about the history of the place and less about the olive oil we would be able to buy in Tivoli. We then drove to Tivoli and stopped for lunch. We wandered the streets a little and then had a nice lunch. You could choose whether you went to the restaurant recommended by the guide or to do your own thing. We did our own thing. The Villa D'Este was spectacular. You were guided round the gardens and given free time to explore further - we went quickly round the gardens and then explored the villa itself. It was a bit of a rush - but we saw almost everything. In summary - it was a good tour and we saw a lot, but I wanted more time at Hadrian's villa. A brave attempt but not wholly satisfactory.

Our tour guide, Alfredo, was one of the best guides we have had in quite a while. The only complaint I have about the trip was the allocation of time between the 2 sites. We were given 20 minutes to wander around the Canope at Hadrian's villa. That time would have been better spent to allow us more time at Villa D'Este.

The last time I visited Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este was 44 years ago. I found both places quite changed. There were many more people at each site, now, although neither place seemed crowded; Hadrian’s Villa was greatly expanded (as I recall, we drove right up to it); and Villa d’ Este was no longer the overgrown, slightly decaying place I visited so many years ago. What made this a trip memorable was our extremely intelligent and informative guide, Alfredo. Alfredo kept us all on track, was extremely professional, and provided a wealth of information, without ever being pedantic. All guides should be Alfredo.. I should also mention that the bus was comfortable with working a/c and that the audio equipment was in good working order. It was a long day (seven hours, total) but the trip was planned to allow for some down time for participants - a decent length of time of lunch, as well as a 45 minute period toward the end to relax and wonder the lovely gardens of Villa d’ Este.

My family and I had a wonderful day at Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. Our guide, Guiseppe, was very informative and friendly. We were fortunate to be able to see and hear the Villa d"Este water organ play at 2:30 p.m. Our lunch in the town of Tivoli was delicious!

The initial pickup point on Via Cavour is a little obscure and with our non-English speaking taxi driver and his non-Italian speaking riders (us), we were a bit concerned over arriving on time. All worked out though. Our tour guide Larissa was excellent. Her background as an archeologist really added a lot to our time at Hadrian's Villa. The ruins are very extensive, but she gave us the information to properly envision the Villa as it was thousands of years ago. The recommended lunch spot in Villa d'Este was very nice and we really enjoyed the traditional italian food. The gardens and fountains at Villa d'Este were spectacular. The tour and commentary as we explored a good portion was very interesting. We also had a good amount of time for self-exploration. Transportation to and from the city went well. Would highly recommend this tour!

The description for the meeting place is misleading and quotes an incorrect station but ended up finding the right place Loved Hadrians Villa and Villa d'Este in Tivoli but would have preferred a short lunch break to allow for more time to explore the wonderful gardens - really came to see the fountains not to have an hour or so for lunch and see Tivoli really not much at Tivoli apart from the gardens. The tour guide was excellent with the history etc but would have liked the option to get into the gardens when first arrived and them allow people to decide if they want to see All the gardens and then have a quick look around Tivoli

We had a perfect day. Our guide Joseph was wonderful. He was very funny and knowledgeable.The whole day was perfect. I highly recommend thus tour.

This Tivoli Day Trip to see Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este is a must! Joseph Giuseppe was a wonderful guide - he was adept at speaking about the two villas as well as his hometown of Tivoli, providing many anecdotes and stories that kept everyone's attention while providing recommendations for things to see on our own. Each stop was a mix of guided tour and personal time, meaning you got all the history and group questions while also feeling like you could explore. All in all, highly recommended!

This was a wonderful tour! The waterfalls and gardens were beautiful and definitely worth it. My favorite tour in Rome.

Great day in Tivoli. Our local guide Gussippe was so smart . He knew everything historically and culturally. He was easy to understand, patient and charming. He totally related to our 11 year old as well as the other kids on tour and included them in conversation. His lunch and shopping suggestions were too notch. The food was great and the host was so friendly as her husband and staff quickly without rushing got us feed and out with plenty of unstructured time before resuming the tour. Great day ,I would take this tour again and highly recommend.