My husband and I will be in Rome late October and want to know what it’s like to ride bikes down the Appian way. We are both avid bike riders so we are comfortable on bikes. Thank you
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7229 posts
There are several threads there that answer the OPs question about bike riding on Appian Way. Searching the forum can be very helpful and is always a good place to start: https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Appian+way&utf8=✓
Posted by
Kansas City
36 posts
My wife and I rode it about 7 years ago. It is like you might expect from a 2,700 year old road. The fascinating part to me was seeing the ruts in the road from the Roman Empire as they hauled their equipment and booty all around their empire. Lots of grottos along the road and impressive homes. It was lightly traveled when we went, we stopped at a catacombs and toured that. If you are frequent cyclists it won't be too much of a challenge. I did a quick search of rental places and they are spread out. Riding in the city proper is not for the faint hearted but once you go through the walls things are much calmer.
We also took a tour on bikes out to a park where the aqueducts still stand.
Posted by
Hampshire, UK
407 posts
Has been asked before, but definitely not the most commonly asked question. As a keen cyclist who has done this - I started at the Caecilia Metella mausoleum (about 3 miles from the start) and close to where the ancient cobbles start. I highly recommend it , BUT is is very difficult cycling - and after a short while I gave up on the cobbles and rode alongside. Sunday is best as the road is closed to motor traffic.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7994 posts
We rented bikes in October 23, 2021 from the cafe Rick Steves mentions in his book. The bikes weren’t well suited to the rough road. It wasn’t merely cobbles or the occasional rut, but irregularly placed big rocks in some stretches. There was a ton of pedestrians on the road that afternoon, not sharing the road, which was not conducive to a comfortable, care-free ride, on top of the nasty road surface. Sporadic singletrack off of either side was sometimes present, and would then suddenly not be there, so was not a reliable alternative to the road itself.
It was all more of an ordeal than a pleasant experience.