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Best Rome Day Trips/off beaten track for fall 2026

My boyfriend and I are planning to travel to Rome this fall. It will be his first trip, and my second.

When I visited in late July/early August 2017, I remember Rome as awesome and history-packed but hot and touristy. We plan to go to the major ancient sites (roman forum/colosseum/pantheon) and the vatican (including the museums), but I would love some recommendations for places that are off the beaten track, and/or some day trips that will allow us to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. For day trips, we would prefer something max 1.5 hours away (one way) from the city.

I have been looking to biking/walking the appian way, castel st angelo, a food tour in the jewish ghetto, tivoli/hadrian's villa, and castel gandolfo, and so if anyone has been to these would love your thoughts.

Posted by
263 posts

I greatly enjoyed walking back from the Catacombs of St Sebastian on the Appian Way late afternoon on a sunny, cold day in February. Unbusy and quiet, and few and far between drivers. Had the very good fortune to be semi-guided since the RST guide for the Best of Rome tour I was on offered to walk back to tour hotel from San Sebastiano with any tour members who wanted to go. Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli is stupendous, an imposing and incredible site of ruins and archaeological remains. Definitely visit if you can, this is a location you will not regret taking the time to bone up on in advance. Massive history, most literally. I've done a couple food tours in Rome, one included market visits in Centro Storico ending in pizza making at a pizzeria and the other was a Trastevere walking food tour. Both times I used small group tour companies Walks of Italy and The Tour Guy. Fun, fantastic, friendly fellow travelers in our groups and such a great way to get more insight into the society and culture you're visiting, along with the delicious food and wine. You should consider a Baths of Caracalla visit as an excellent option of another fascinating ancient Roman ruins complex that is WAY less visited and crowded than the 3 you reference. Here, I'd spring for a private guide to really make your time completely worthwhile and informative; I really appreciate receiving the details, background, scene setting that an expert guide provides.

Posted by
5573 posts

Another vote for Ostia Antica which is easy to visit using local train service. With an early start you can beat the small crowds, have a through visit and be back in Rome by mid afternoon.