3 Days Trip to Rome - Help Needed

Googlemaps is a really great source and can help you with travel times and grouping sites together.

From your list I would group:

colosseum and forum together

St. Peters, Vatican museums and Castel Sant angelo together

and

pantheon, trevi fountain, spanish steps, piazza Navona, Campo dei fiori and Vittoriano together.

The only restrictions you have is the Vatican museums are closed on Sundays.

This is a pretty full itinerary so I wouldn't plan to add too much more. If any of your three days includes travel days then you might not get to everything on your list.

Use googlemaps to plan out a route. You'll be able to see where the sites are in relation to each other and your hotel and be able to plan out your route. You can use public buses if you choose. Your hotel should be able to help with that.

Pre-purchase your entry tickets to the colosseum/forum and also the Vatican museums using the official websites:

https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=booking

http://www.coopculture.it/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

donna

Dear Donna,

Thank you for the response and the Help.

Is there any suggestion on where to eat during the day to avoid a hole in the pocket and spend decent amount on Dinner. I also read there are generally long ques to get into some of the attractions like Colosseum, Roman Forum etc., is there anyway we could avoid long ques and can you share any update on the days when the museums and attractions are closed?. Any Suggestion on discounts we can avail on tickets of attractions? And would you suggest buying a Metro pass or something for commuting? Lastly any neighborhood we can visit to avoid tourist and get the feel of locals ?

regards,
Mohit

I have been experimenting with a website I found called visitacity.com. You pick a city, input how many days you are there and can pick from a few different preset itineraries. They show you on a map where sights are and the travel/walking time between each. You can add/delete sights and change times/durations, the order of sights, add breaks, restaurants, walking tours, your hotel, etc. after putting your arrival date in, it lets you know what sights are open or close early on the days you are there. It also lets you know which sights you should/need to pre-order tickets for.
We are going in February and I have been playing around with this website for the past week. After you finish your itinerary, it can be downloaded to a free app. You then have it to use off-line.

The Rick Steves guide book for Rome list restaurants in various price rangers near all the major attractions. You should be able to use that to find lunches that will not be too expensive. But the best lunches in Rome will be off the beaten path, away from the tourist areas, and cater to the local office workers and shop girls. Look for places that have daily lunch specials listed in Italian. The guide book will offer enough information for "food translation".

You guys woill love Katie Parla's site... http://katieparla.com/
She has a list of ' where to eat in August" for example, which you can view and print..
http://katieparla.com/where-to-eat-in-rome-in-august/
She is delightful and has just written an authentic Italian cookbook. Met her this spring when she was on a book tour and she has all sorts of things going on. Hope this helps, as well as Rick's guidebook which we also use.

I highly recommend that you go to the top of the Victor Emmanual Monument. The view is amazing from there.

The Tourist Information office has several locations (Terminal 3 at the airport, in Termini station, and others) and should have the latest news: http://www.turismoroma.it/?lang=en.

Just a vote for the Hop-ON Hop-Off bus. They give a great overview of Rome and you will at least see most of the sights. We take one the first day in most majpor cities- dont get off - just ride the loop once and then maybe get off the second time.Also would recommend a tour of Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel and of the Coliseum. Many have been recommended on this siste. i used the Pristine Sistine Tour - highly recommend it.

The HO/HO buses in Rome are not a good idea. They cannot get close to most of the sites due to pedestrian zones and they are often overcrowded with people waiting an hour or more to find empty seats. I suggest either public buses or walking to get around.

Mohit, I gave you links to the two sites that will have the long lines. You can buy entry tickets or book tours of the colosseum or Vatican museums. These tickets or tours will allow you to bypass the very long ticket lines that these two sites have.

The Vatican museums are closed on Sundays (except the last of the month when they are free and even more crowded). Some state run museums are closed on Mondays.

For discounts, anyone under 18 will get into state sites for free with proof of age, carry your passport.

Just buy metro/bus tickets as needed. Rome is very compact and it's very easy to walk the city.

donna

I must respectfully throw my vote in with Donna to avoid the Hohos in Rome for all the reasons she has listed plus complaints about dirty buses, broken equipment and more: they've seen negative to so-so reviews for a long time now.

As much as possible, Rome is a delight to experience on foot with just the occasional hop into the metro or public buses. Even the city buses sometimes can't get you from point A to B as efficiently as your own feet as they're too big to sneak through the shortcuts, and can get caught up in slow, heavy traffic.

During the day, sandwich and pizza-by-the-slice shops - their offerings are often displayed in the window - are quick, inexpensive options. Then again, gelato is often lunch for us if we have anything at all! :O)

For the Colosseum and Vatican, you may want to reserve tickets in advance with a tour group such as Walks of Italy, Dark Rome, or Viator. This will allow you to skip the long lines waiting to purchase tickets. This will save you time so you can make the most of your trip. Enjoy!

Rick Steves has audio tours for all the places you will be visiting. I also purchased his guide book of Italy. There is a map in front of the book. I also cut out the pages about Rome and stapled them together. This is easier than carrying a whole book.

Currently in Rome for the first time. I am so grateful that I booked a guide for 3 private tours and 3 group tours. I'm using Ciao Italy tours but there are others. My travel agent booked these cheaper than the list prices here. I would not want to waste time during a precious 3 day trip figuring out where to go and how to get there. Rome is intense. No waiting in line or confusion of location for me. Rick 's guide has a rankof what is the most important to see and other helpful data.. I used that to plan. Best of luck and bring cash.

I found a place that comes highly recommended. trattoriacacioepepeprati.com
Try the Cacio e Pepe. It is highly recommended.

Didn't have a chance to read carefully through all the replies, but you'll want to be sure to have some sort of skip-the-line ticket or tour booked for the Colosseum and Vatican, otherwise you could waste a bunch of time in lines. A Vatican tour will also help get you through the giant museum/church in three hours or so (if you were trying to do it on your own, I'd imagine it would be very difficult to know where to start, since it is huge, and you'd end up with a more inefficient visit). Avoiding the hottest part of the day when you visit the Forum would be best, as it gets REALLY hot there and there isn't much shade. If you check out the Rick Steves guidebook and Audioguides, he has walking tours that lay out a plan for seeing many of the sights you mention (for example, he has a "Heart of Rome" walking tour that you can follow along with in his book). Other than that, I'd just check the map and see which places are geographically near each other. We did the Colosseum one day, the Forum/Palatine Hill another day, the Vatican another day (Spanish Steps were on the way back to our hotel. You mention St. Peter's Basilica and Castel St. Angelo which are also near the Vatican Museums), then all of the quicker stops (Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Il Vittoriano, etc) on the last day. We went to Piazza Navona for dinner at night...it is a lively place to be at night. I personally wouldn't recommend grouping the big sights (e.g. Forum and Vatican) together in one single day, as they can be pretty draining in the heat/crowds.

In terms of where to dine economically, there is a VERY economical (fresh take-out pasta) option near the Spanish Steps called Pastificio if you are looking for something very casual. There is a tiramisu place nearby called Pompi as well. In Piazza Navona, we went to Da Francesco...not mind-blowing, but a solid option. Your hotel should also have some good recommendations.