Fast-track entry at Castel Sant’Angelo

Two thumbs up to Big Red Bus Rome! Before arriving we mapped out routes from our hotel to bus terminal and the stops to many of our anticipated visit sites. Hop-on-Hop-off bus would get us closer than the metro. Our Rome tour group started and ended at the colosseum on day 1. We departed the group and took a 5 minute walk to the nearest Hop-on bus stop, expecting to use our online tickets for our 1st Hop-on ride. All great! However due to a simcard issue we were unable to access our tickets. In a panic moment we saw a red-vested gentleman with the Big Red Bus who had an electronic gismo, used our info, and then provided us a printout of our bus tickets. Talk about saving the day!! We used Hop-on Hop-off Bus for 2 days. The tour information as we drove through Rome was informative (ear buds were provided), each stop was manned with red-clad staff, easy to spot and helpful with lines and info. Best of all our at last hop-on at 5pm of day 2, the staff gentleman checking our tickets chatted with us and found we had not used our free gelato coupons. He pointed out a shop honoring the coupons, only a few minute walk. He was a wonderful, friendly, chatty man and insisted we shouldn't pass up the gelato. We were exhausted from walking all day, but that gelato was fantastic! Refreshed, we enjoyed our stroll back to the bus stop and in mniutes hopped on for our last ride. All the staff we encountered were friendly, most spoke english very well, bus stops were easy to locate, buses came so frequently that we never had to wait more than a few minutes, even if one bus was full, the next was there in 10 minutes. The pictures are some extra sites we saw when walking from hotel to bus terminal!

We really enjoyed the bus. It's the perfect way to see the city during summer if you don't want to walk too much. The only thing we didn't understand was the routes available. On the app there seemed to be two routes the red and the purple, we did the red and wanted to do the purple but when we asked it didn't seem to be available.

Amazing day with my family :) skip the line is so needed in Italy with so much to see. Easy to download app with tickets sent with location so easy makes days out easy

I spent a couple of hours wandering through this fascinating site and enjoying the fabulous views over Rome. Booking in advance meant ignoring the ticket queue and walking straight in as soon as I arrived (even though I was early 😊)

I loved the anticipation built up to the moment of entering the Chappel. Admiring the articrafts from different ancient civilisations felt like walking through history that sparked my imagination. I would definitely return and live the experience again.

We waited in line to enter for those who already had a ticket but much less than those who had not bought, about 20 min max. Thousands of people visiting. A nice memory of many Vatican museums.