We are off the Rome at the end of Easter and are now looking at what we need to get planned in advance. The tourist sites are pretty obvious, I think, but what is the best way to see them? I've had a look on Trip Advisor and a guided, beat the queue, walking tour for the Vatican was £149 each! Seems v steep.
We will have three full days there, Fri/Sat/Sun, but getting in at noon on the Friday.
I do recall a similar thread recently but my google powers found one from six years ago only.
The best thing we did in Rome was the walking food tour. It took us away from main tourist area, really interesting guide and loads of great food. We went with Easting Europe and have used them in several cities, a first rate tour.
Pre book the colosseum, go early so you have time to go to the Forum afterwards.
We really enjoyed the Borghese villa art gallery with a guide.
St Peter's basilica was very impressive. The Vatican museum was a bit of a drag tbh. By the time we got to the Sistine chapel I had 'painted ceiling fatigue'!
And as above you will just go round a corner and stumble across stuff.
Visit the Pantheon. It’s been a long time since I went to Rome, and that building is the one I remember most clearly.
Theres a hop on/off bus tour that does a 48hour ticket - pretty good way to get around the city hitting the 'hot spots'. I got tickets for the colloseum on the day by booking an hour ahead on the website, although that was december.
Dont do the vatican (if thats on the radar) on a sunday morning. Duh!
Vatican museum is nuts, sooo much to see, get there early and factor in a day
in fact theres so much to see across the city
That does sound like a lot for the Vatican, I went in 2018 okay some year ago, but it was €60 for me and my partner for a guided tour in September, it was busy as a hell but I loved it.
Your ticket for the Collesium should also get you into the Paletine Hill as well so remember it's for both.
We did have trouble with public toilets as in there aren't many so we ended up in McDonald's a few times just for the loo (which you have you have to pay for).
The underground is super cheap an real easy to use, but tbh we walked almost everywhere. The Borghese Gallery is a must as well.
The Vatican is free every last Sunday of the month. Expect a 2 hr cue though and go very early.
Usual stuff - Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain and Colusseam is good. The food tour is excellent as is walking of the main drag to find a little coffee shop or lunch spot with local food. Please don’t offend anyone by asking for spaghetti with your meatballs. If you’re getting a taxi from the airport close your eyes and keep your fingers crossed, the driving in Rome is appalling. Take good comfortable walking shoes.
There are also the Borgese Gardens to explore - you can hire bikes (remember to take your passport for identification). If you do it in the evening, you get to see spectacular sunsets over Rome.
Very safe and walkable
Vatican bit opulent
Sistene chapel amazing
Coliseum and Roman forum excellent to learn about
Piazza novonna,Spanish steps,trevi and pantheon quite close together easy to navigate
Porta potense Sunday flea market huge
Never had a bad meal there ,lovely people
There was a useful thread on here on what to see/do in Rome sometime last summer. A quick search should reveal. It had loads of good tips.
I’ve been several times and would endorse lots of the suggestions above, especially from ihn and voodoo.
A few suggestions from me would be:
- book tickets to St Peter’s and colosseum in advance: they are the 2 key sites.You don’t need to pay for a guide, just read the guide book/use the audio guides.
- Rent bikes and ride around, it’s good fun and lets you see more different places than walking.
- Catacombs, The Forum and The Pantheon are all fascinating and worth a visit.
- Don’t get hung up about booking the best restaurant, all the ones we enjoyed the most we had just stumbled on by strolling around the back streets, all the food is good.
- You will see a few places for gelato/sandwiches/lunch with massive queues. They are not the best places to eat, they just have big queues because some influencer put it on their blog and they have gone viral, so loads of people suddenly think spending an hour in a queue is an essential part of their holiday experience. (Rant over)
And I’d repeat the previous comment about don’t over think it. You could spend 2 weeks there and not nearly see it all, so in 3 days you will be tripping over fascinating things to see and wanting to come back again.
