1st Time to Rome - Celebrating 50th Birthday

Which tour are you planning to buy of the Vatican Museums? It should say what is included.
You can take a day tour to Naples or Florence. It takes about 2 hours more or less to get to both places
You should decide if you want to go to either city yourself on the train and pick up a tour or buy an escorted tour from Rome.

Rome has a lot to see. I went there for my 50th birthday and stayed 8 nights- even then, we didn't see all wanted to see. Day trips I'd consider are Ostia Antica and Orvieto. Florence, Tuscany and the Naples areas all deserve several days each.

That is a VERY heavy Wednesday with both the Vatican and Colosseum/Forum sites. I would do those over the course of two days or it will be hard to appreciate either one (especially the one you do second!!). It looks like Friday would be an option.

With so few days in Rome, I'd be hesitant to use a day for a day trip, but you could do any of those mentioned or Orvieto or Ostia Antica if you really want to. It would just be quite a long day.

Have a great time celebrating your birthday in Rome!

Wednesday is typically the day for the Papal audience in St Peters Square--- there will be 1000s of extra people to contend with. (Just FYI)

The only part of Vatican City open to the public is St Peters and the Vatican Museums. Your tour through the Vatican Museum should end at the Sistine Chapel.

Trying to do the Vatican and Colosseum/Forum in one day looks like a killer schedule. Perhaps doing the Colosseum/Forum on Friday where it looks like the dinner party is the only scheduled event , might make for a better pace

Thursday -- suggest Ostia Antica as your day trip, rather than a dash to Florence or Naples

The first time I visited Rome, we spent a week there and I needed more time to see what I wanted to see.
The second time four days and still want to go back.

When I did the Vatican museum, St. Peter's and Sistine Chapel, it pretty much took an entire day. OF course, we went on the roof, going up the dome.

A good tour of the Forum, Coliseum and Capitoline museum will take the better part of a day. You still should visit the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Trajan's Market, other ancient churches, the Trevi Fountain and more. Suggest allowing more time to Rome.

With the short amount of time you have my suggestion is to stay in Rome. It has more than enough to keep you busy. The only day trip I'd suggest is to Ostia Antica. Easy to get there using public transit and it's a welcome change of pace from Rome itself.

My husband and I went to Rome last summer for 4 days and it was not enough...there's so much to see! I agree with all the other posts that suggest you split your Wednesday tours into two days. We did the Vatican/Sistine Chapel one day and the Colosseum/Forum another day, and both were informative but exhausting.

You also didn't mention what time of year you'll be there. When we were there in August it was HOT. And since both of these tours include time outside, you'll want to take that into consideration. If it were me, I'd schedule these on separate days, both in the morning/early afternoon, and then spend the rest of the day exploring on your own. It's nice to have a mix of planned tours and free time IMO.

Wow, thank you all so very much for the advice and responding to my post!! I am definitely going to take your advice - Vatican museums, St Peter's Basilica and Sistine Chapel on Friday, due to the papal audience in St. Peters square as mentioned (joe); Wednesday tour the Colosseum and Forum and Thursday - visit the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, other sites, etc. as recommended in the post (geovagriffith). And I think we will stay the entire time in Rome with only a few days to try and cover as much as we can, but if we decide to do a day trip, we will do so based on your recommendations (Ostia Antica, Orvieto).

Katieflinn we will be in Rome from 11-15 Jul, I read that it is really hot during July as well.

Again I appreciate the time you took out of your schedule to respond and offer provide some great options for my boyfriend and me!!

Consider some of the rooftop bars for romance. American bar at Hotel Forum beautiful view of ancient ruins, Minerva roof garden bar overlooks Pantheon, bar at top of Rafael hotel overlooks church bell towers, steeples. Enjoy your trip. I echo what others had advised

Ostia Antica is a great day trip, less travel time than others (and cheaper since it's local trains/metro) and it's also not a full day. Go early to avoid the heat, there's little shade. Rick has an audio tour you can download for free.