3 Days in Rome / What to see day 3?

No save the Naples area for another trip

Day 3 - Borghese Gallery and Capitoline Museums is suggested but we're debating between that, a day trip to Naples / Pompeii, Ostia Antica, Trastevere, Baths of Caracalla or just strolling around through random Piazza's and churches?

Definitely save Naples and Pompeii for another trip.

Two stellar things to do are Ostia Antica and the Borghese Gallery. (I would not add the Capitoline. That is too many museums for one day.) Go to Ostia in the morning, as early as possible. You should be back in Rome for lunch by 13:00. You might identify a church or two. Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and San Luigi dei Francesi and gorgeous and near the center. (Check hours as they close for la pausa.) Or just do some random strolling, rest up a bit, then go to the Borghese for the 17:00 tour (the last of the day). Then off to a typically Roman dinner at 20:00.

Day 2 - Vatican including the Necropolis Tour, Vatican Museums /
Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica with the climb up the dome.
Walk back across Ponte Sant Angelo bridge. Some sites make it sound
like this won't take a full day?

You may have time left in your day, but you will be tired! Don't plan too much until you've revived yourselves.

Days 1 and 2 are full but doable. Unless you just speed walk past everything,your Day 2 will keep you occupied.

Day 3-- Naples= NO-- Start the day at Ostia Antica and fill in the end with wanderings of whatever strikes your fancy; OR start with the Boghese in the AM and then go to OA for a change of pace.

hi alpho
are you flying an overseas flight? if so be careful about being jetlagged and don't over do when you may be tired and sleepy. your first day has so much going on, you want to see mucho but not be rushed? you will never know how busy march will be, hopefully not, but day 2 you say some sites won't take a full day?? so why be rushed and not enjoy. you may have skip the lines but you will still have to go thru security. what you see as a 3 hour tour may take 5. day 3 stay in rome, relax and people watch, sit at a cafe, have a glass of wine. it's quality not quantity. no to naples.
aloha

Your 3 day plan is very similar to mine, you’re well set up. I like the suggestion of Ostia in the morning, but I think that’s something you can totally play by ear. You may find you can’t quite do all you want, or you may find there’s something you want to explore some more. I think Rome has a reputation of being a crowded, noisy, unpleasant place but I found it very charming to walk around. Make sure you reserve tickets well ahead of time for Borghese and Vatican museums. It’s a real advantage to be able to pick your time and helps manage your day. P.S. - On the Heart of Rome walk be sure to go inside the smaller churches RS mentions, I found this to be a true highlight.

Definitely stay in Rome with your limited time. Your three day line up looks good to me. Vatican Museums can easily be five hours, so yeah figure on a full day. I might tend to advise the Castel S'Antangelo over Capitoline Museums, having been to both. Nothing against the latter, I am just a big fan of the Castel S'Antangelo. Personally I probably spend six or seven hours at the Coliseum/Forum/Palatine Hill over two days on my solo trip nearly two years ago. I like to linger, stop and reflect, really soak it in though, so it might be quicker for you. I find that at a certain point that my brain can't take any more grandeur or great art which slows me down even more. I strongly suggest a break for an hour of bike riding in the Villa Borghese park, bike rental are cheap. Don't over-schedule and make sure and give yourself to discover some things not in the top ten sights.

I agree with princess about Day 1 - that is a lot to do especially if you are arriving from the US.

We just got back from Prague and had every intention of doing the RS walking tour (2-3 hours) on our arrival day but we had such a miserable flight over that we wound up grabbing an early dinner and then going back to the hotel to sleep. You may not have the same experience but I would probably scale back Day 1 and push some of that to Day 3

alphoto4:

I've been to Rome several times and your Day 1 plans are simply too much. You should think hard about what you think to be the most important sites and pare things down by taking a good look at a Rome map and see what is humanly possible. Besides those sites, you're going to want to eat and drink and relax and watch the world go by. That's a big part of being in Rome, in Italy. Right now your schedule looks like something an overly ambitious tour guide hellbent on showing you everything would plan. This is drive-by tourism, where you look at a lot, but don't actually see (and absorb) much.

You could easily spend a full afternoon in Vatican City. It's not just that there's so much to experience, but you're going to have to contend with the crowd around you, which will slow you down considerably. (And that's not necessarily a bad thing.)

I love the Borghese Gallery. Seeing the Bernini masterpieces there is alone worth the trip to Rome. Numerous churches have a wealth of art. For example, right off Piazza Navona is the Church of San Luigi Francesi, which houses in a chapel some marvelous paintings by Caravaggio. You might take a look at the Piazza del Popolo, where you'll find Santa Maria del Popolo, which includes other Caravaggio masterpieces.

An absolute favorite of mine, within walking distance of, say, the Pantheon, is the Galleria Doria Pamphili, which features among other treasures, Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X, which is displayed right next to Bernini's bust of the pope. Every time I go to Rome I go here at least once. It's never overcrowded and often overlooked.

Forget Naples and Pompeii. Save Ostia Antica for another time.

Day 3 will be the things you didn't get accomplished on days 1 and 2. There will be some.

Day 4 and upwards can be done when you return. You will.

I really enjoyed Santa Maria Sophra Minerva and couldn't believe I didn't visit it until my 3rd trip to Rome.