Advice on Rome itinerary

kelly have you also considered adding Ostia Antica for a tour as well? It's about an Hour from Rome via train.

https://www.ostiaantica.beniculturali.it/

Hey Kelly,

I see you have checked out "Dark Rome" tours.

My recommendations below are also very popular and offer many tours and timetables. They can meet your interests and travel schedule. The Roman Guy and WalksofItaly offer smallish groups.

The Roman Guy https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+roman+guy+rome

Sean, one of the leads, narrates most of the videos. Bojan is another guide who narrates a few. The videos are fun to watch and easy to understand - geared towards the newer traveler. These guys have a sense of humor and give a nice peek into Rome and other parts of Italy.

WalksOfItaly https://www.walksofitaly.com/ comes with many very good to excellent reviews also.

Another alternative is https://www.througheternity.com/

Sunday morning - Colosseum? Or should we wait until 4ish? Also
thinking about a tour so I don’t have to hassle with trying to buy
tickets. I could wait to see if I can snag tickets and if not, then
choose a tour. lunch and siesta 5ish - Forum+Palatine Hill and
Capitoline Hill

Kelly, because of the heat in July and lack of shade at the Forum/Palatine, if you are up for booking a 3-hr tour that includes those 2 plus the Colosseum, I'd book one for as early in the morning as is offered. That way you are done and out by lunchtime and then off to the cooler halls of the Capitoline museums during the hottest part of the day. At first glance, Walks of Italy offers one that starts at 8:30 AM. I'd also do the Victor Emmanuel monument lookout on this day as you'd be right THERE if doing the Capitoline Museums.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/roman-colosseum-tours/

Monday 7am Pristine Sistine tour lunch and siesta at hotel 4pm St.
Peter Basilica and Dome climb

The Pristine Sistine tour includes St Peter's - and through the shortcut passage from the Sistine reserved for tours - so I sure wouldn't go BACK later in the day and possibly stand in a hot security queue. I'd do the dome when your Pristine Sistine tour wraps up inside the church and you are RIGHT THERE to access entrance to the thing.. This would also free up afternoon time for other attractions...although I'd question booking another 3.5 hour tour.

Your problem with adding the Dark Rome 3.5 hr tour is that you're not going to want to do it on Monday or Sunday, even if offered those days (I haven't checked.). The Colosseum/Forum/Palatine/Capitoline day is going to be wearing; same with the Vatican + Trastevere day. Saturday is really the only day to which I'd add a tour that long; skip the RS Dolce Vita Stroll and do Victor Emmanuel monument on Sunday, as earlier suggested, if you really want to take this one on.

Thank you for all the great suggestions!

Since you have Friday evening available, this would be the absolutely best time to do the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel.

https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?weblang=en&do

I do recommend that you do the tour, the Museum is so vast that the tour will give you a much better understanding of what you are seeing. If you book the earliest evening entry, you'll have time to go back and explore for a few more hours.

It also frees up one of your days which gives you some latitude to relax a bit and not just rush thru this exciting city.

Hope this helps.

Great advice, as always, from Kathy.

I love that you are planning rest time. Good for you! In Italy, that is called la pausa as siesta is Spanish.

Gerri, I looked at the late night Vatican tickets. I’m a little torn because I think the RS Heart of Rome walk would be a good intro to Rome. My other thought is that we will have done the Archeological museum in Naples earlier on our way from Sorrento to Rome so we maybe too tired to enjoy the Vatican Museum. I think it is a good option so thank you for mentioning it. Not many know it is available.

My family is now really interested in doing the Dark Rome evening tour of Colosseum, Forum etc which starts at 7pm and the the Alone in catacombs with Walk of Italy which starts at 4:30. Obviously not the same day but one of them the same day as Borghese.

Lots of ideas to consider. Thanks everyone!!!

Laurel, thank you for the correct term - la pausa

Will you already have Borghese reservations ? This museum has strict limits on attendance -- you are only allowed in for the two-hour period you have reserved, unless you want to wait around to see if there are any (infrequent) no-shows. Phone ahead.

For mandated advance reservations to Galleria Borghese, make them here:

https://www.tosc.it/tickets.htm?affiliate=T2C&sort_by=event_datum&sort_direction=asc&fun=erdetail&doc=erdetaila&erid=912678

If the site doesn't come up in English, you can change it via the dropdown on the lower right of the page.

Thank you, yes I have the Borghese Gallery website bookmarked. I was following Mona’s thread.

Then you're all set! Great to see that Mona's thread is getting so much traction! :O)

Editing to add:
While there are pluses to the seasonal Friday night openings at the Vatican - a good suggestion from Gerri - you would need to visit the basilica before your appointed entry time to the museums as it is closed during those hours. Sure, you could go BACK another time to see the church but it's just more efficient to try and group all the Vatican sightseeing together, if possible.

We were just there two weeks ago and it was HOT (and we are from Texas). I agree with the person who advised doing the Colosseum in the morning and not 4:00 in the afternoon! You mentioned Dark Rome--they are now City Wonders. We were super happy with the tours we had through them. One of our guides said the Crypts and Catacombs tour is the best one they have--not sure if that's what you are talking about, but it sounds like a winner!

Thank you, Alice. I’ve been wondering what time in the evening it will start cooling off. In Kansas in July, 7pm is still hot. Thank you also for mentioning the crypt and catacomb tour. I hope you had a great trip!

Evening cooling begins when the westerly breeze (ponentina) comes up, usually about 5 or 6 pm. By 7 pm you can wander out again and stick to the shade. By 9 pm it is pleasant enough to eat out of doors.

Another great evening activity are the multimedia “shows” in the ancient area, Viaggio nei Fori

Laurel, thank you, this helps a lot. I do have the multimedia shows on my list as possible options. Thank you for the suggestion.

Having just returned from Rome, I would do the Colosseum and Forum/Palatine Hill in the morning first thing. We used Roman Guy for Colosseum and it included both the Colosseum & Forum/Palantine Hill (3 hour tour). We had a 3pm tour and it was VERY hot! I would opt for first thing in the morning for both of them. The Forum is zero shade and I do well in the heat but it was an awful sweaty mess lol!

We did the Pristine Sistine Tour with Walks for Italy and started at 7:30am and it included St. Peters Basiclica and after the tour ended we did the Dome Climb. We finished around noon - 12:30pm. We ate lunch near the Vatican and from there we took a taxi over to Trevi Fountain and walked around there and saw the Spanish Steps too. Again it was very hot by noon, I wanted to go shower and change before going to Trevi and Spanish Steps but decided it best to keep on seeing the sites and shower before dinner instead.

I loved Trastevere, such an adorable neighborhood! Plus we were trying to save on taxis and tried to combine as much as we can. We stayed near the Pantheon.

Was in Rome last week.

Similar to ownedby3, we did the 3 hour Colosseum/forum/Palantine Hill tour with the Roman Guy(included the lower level) and Pristine Sistine with Walks of Italy. I would recommend both of the tours. Our Vatican tour guide had a PhD in art history and was very interesting. The Colosseum tour guide not as good but very knowledgeable.

I definitely think a Pristine Sistine Tour is worth the money, it was extremely hot in the Vatican! Our tour looped around, so we went thru the galleries and Sistine Chapel twice and it was incredible had crowded it got.

We went to the Capuchin Crypt on our own after visiting the Borghese, was about a 15 minute walk, I think. We stopped along the way to get lunch, there were lots of places to go to included a Hard Rock Cafe. We toured the crypt pretty much by ourselves. I think they have head sets, but we didn't get them. Just a note you have to have knees and shoulders covered in the Capuchin Crypt. They gave us a "jacket" (my daughter made a skirt of hers)

Happy Planning!

Thank you for the suggestions on tours. There are SO MANY from which to choose. I had narrowed it down and your suggestions confirmed my thoughts. I think we will do a similar itinerary with Borghese Gallery and Capuchin Crypt. I appreciate all the suggestions.