By Train
Ostia Antica: Half-Day Tour to Rome’s Secret, Well-Preserved Ruins
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At just 30 minutes by train, you'll get an unparalleled look into daily life in Ancient Rome and still have time for more sightseeing back in the city center in the afternoon, enriched by the experience.
As the working harbor for the most influential city of its time, this exceptional archaeological area shows how Roman civilization was built, functioned and prospered under the Caesars.
See what daily life was like for people that came from Rome and the far reaches of the Empire. You will be amazed at how nature and physics were used to create modern-day comforts like the heated Baths of Neptune.
On this half day Ostia Antica tour from Rome you will see and enjoy intriguing tales on everything you have come to love about the Romans of antiquity in a beautiful natural setting away from the traffic and noise in the city center. Your expert City Wonders guide will bring history to life before your very eyes as you stand where its ancient inhabitants stood, so don't be surprised if you hear echoes of the past!
At Ancient Rome's port city you will travel across millennia into a detailed photograph of what life was like in the Roman Empire from the 4th century BC until the town was slowly abandoned. Leave modernity behind as you trace the grooves of chariot wheels on the original road leading into the settlement, which once had a population of some 50,000 people, mostly stout sailors, dock workers and wealthy merchants from all over the Mediterranean.
Ostia Antica was the main point of entry for all the goods that came into Rome from the Empire, and was the city's bread basket for grain coming in to feed the capital's huge population. This trade created opulent wealth, the signs of which are clearly evident today.
Listen as your guide provides a captivating account as you marvel at its amphitheater, impressive temples, insula apartment blocks and the Forum of Corporations, where everything under the sun was bought and sold.
Additional highlights of the Ostia Antica tour include the extensive baths complex, with its thermodynamic systems still largely intact, and an almost perfect example of what dining out was like 2,000 years ago.
The site is also home to some of the finest Roman mosaics that survive in their original positions, crowned by the world-famous image of Neptune driving his chariot of seahorses. The grounds also feature examples of period statuary and you can hunt for the elusive Ostia lighthouse, which archaeologists still haven't found.
Ready to plunge into ruins that rival those in Pompeii and Herculaneum? With our masterful guide and carefully planned itinerary, your journey back to Rome will feel more like time travel after this fun and informative tour.
Children under the age of 18 might be requested to show their ID card at the entrance of the site, so please bring it with you on the tour.
On tours cancelled more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure time, we are happy to offer our customers a full refund. For tours cancelled less than 72 hours before scheduled departure time, we are unable to offer refunds. Instead we suggest that customers reschedule their tour for another time more convenient for them.
Changes made to bookings within the 72 hour window will be subject to rebooking fees to cover the cost of tickets purchased, transport, guide rescheduling, headsets and administration.
We strongly advise against arriving at the meeting point without a booking as we cannot guarantee that there will be space left on the tour. Our guides are unable to accept payment for tours so any bookings made on the spot will still need to be processed over the phone with payment by credit card.
A City Wonders tour is the product of meticulous research, detailed planning, and a passion for providing customers with travel experiences they will cherish forever.
With City Wonders it's not just facts, our passionate guides tell you the stories that bring the sights to life.
