First Day in Rome - Is This Itinerary Possible?

My thoughts are a little different from the others. The walking distance from Piazza del Popolo to Campo dei Fiori via Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona is only a couple of miles. You're proposing taking the afternoon to stroll that distance, having dinner and then walking back (or taking a bus). Provided jet lag doesn't get to you, I think it's very doable. I prefer the restaurants around Campo dei Fiori to the ones around Piazza Navona. The two piazzas are only a short walk apart, so you can check around both areas before deciding.

I would first take the HOHO city bus #110. The base is at Termini station. It will give you an excellent overview of the city highlights. 80 sightseeing destinations with an audio guide. The ticket is good for 24 hours and the route takes 2.5 hours (give or take) Sit on top in front for the best view. You then can take the Metro to the sights that interest you. The Metro is very very easy to utilize.

Frank (Wilmington), I also much prefer the restaurants in the Campo dei Fiori to those in Piazza Navona. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with them, there's a lot of fine restaurants in Piazza Navona. However, my perception was that these seemed to be more "overpriced tourist traps" than those in the Campo dei Fiori.

When I stop to check the Menu boards in Piazza Navona, I'm almost guaranteed to be "pounced on" by a Waiter wearing a fancy white jacket within about a minute, trying to get me to sit down. That didn't happen in the Campo dei Fiori (so far), and I found the prices somewhat more reasonable there as well.

Cheers!

Ben,

That seems a bit "ambitious" for the first day, considering you're coming off an overnight flight and will be suffering jet lag (even a shorter flight from the east coast would affect me significantly).

It's certainly possible to get from FCO to your Hotel in 3-hours, but that may depend on circumstances at the time. For example, if they have problems getting the aircraft door open (which has happened to me), that could add 30-minutes. If you're seated in the back of the plane and among the last to leave, that will add time. If there are several flights arriving at the same time, Passport control and luggage handlers will be busy, and that could add time. If you end up just missing one of the Leonardo Express trains, then you'll have to wait for the next one, and that will add time. There are a LOT of variables, so I wouldn't want to plan anything too precisely for the first day!

That's my take on the situation, but I'll defer to the collective wisdom of the group here on the HelpLine.

Good luck and happy travels!

Thanks Ken.

I agree there are too many variables and it may not work out, but is the walk itself possible in an afternoon?

Oh, and I forgot to mention, thanks to a rather generous wedding gift of flier miles, we will be in Alitalia's "Magnifica" class so we should be at the front of the plane, and will probably get off first. I was also hoping that the more comfortable chairs, ample room, and what not would help with the jet lag issue. I was hoping we could sleep about 6 hours or so and then arrive at Rome at 7:30 as if waking up for the day ha ha.

You don't say where your hotel is located in relation to the Piazza del Popolo?

The bigger problem is that you are on Alitalla. Jet lag is a bit more complicated than just getting 6 hrs of sleep in the plane which you will not get. You have to reset to the bio clock but several hours of walking in the sun will be very beneficial. Keep in mind that many restaurants will not open till around 8 pm so dinner will be late. We find that taking a nap (absolute max of 2 hrs.) around 3 PM as a great aid in adjusting the clock.

It all depends how tired you will feel after the oversea flight.I went to Italy 2 times, 1st time I was tired, I was able to walk for about 5 hours, but after that I had to go to sleep. The 2nd time, I was much better. I walked around Venice for hours, actually after 2 flights NYC-Rome, Rome to Venice.
The distance you want to walk is not long, so it's doable to do it in a day .

Thanks for all the advice everyone! You have all been quite helpful.

Kent, the hotel we are staying at is the Visconti Palace, just across the bridge near Piazza del Popolo.

The overall plan I had was this:

Day One - See all of the sights I already mentioned.

Day Two - Spend about a half day at the Vatican, visiting the Basilica and the Vatican Museums. Grab lunch (maybe a late lunch if we run long). Hop on the Metro, go to the Colosseum area, visit Piazza del Campidoglio, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum.

Day Three - Go to Tivoli, explore Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este, then go back to Rome and go to the Borghese Park and visit Galleria Borghese. I also thought of a day trip to Orvieto instead, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions there?

How does this itinerary sound? I would stay longer if I could, so I'm trying to cram.

That is a very realistic walking tour for your first day. I also have a little different opinion on jet lag. We find the best way to deal with it is to stay on our feet and try to stay out of doors. Then we go to bed early (around 9) and get a good nights sleep. Sometimes we have a hard time sleeping around night 3-but other than that jet lag has not been a problem. I've always thought that going to the hotel and taking a nap would be asking for trouble-the sooner you can have your body working on the time schedule, the better. Somehow we always land about 7:30 am and have had some great first days. We actually did this same walking tour in several hours-it isn't a long distance.

Your plan looks realistic assuming that you are good walkers with comfy shoes. Keep the HOHO bus in mind as a backup if you're feeling wiped out or you may want to spring for a taxi home from dinner if it hits you then.

Just a thought, but if you can get yourself to the Pantheon/ Navona area before lunchtime you can go into San Luigi to see the three wonderful Carrivaggios and of course Santa Maria Sopra Minerva for an early Michelangelo sculpture. Maybe you could flip your route--- take a bus to the Pantheon area and start there working your way back to Piazza del Popolo?

Personally I LOVE Orvieto, but with such a short time I'd advise you to spend all your days in Rome.

We can do that walk on the first day. Part of the fun is taking some time at each of these locations, sit and just watch. Besides, "the remaining hours of the day" don't end at dinner time. We do a lot of walking after dinner. And I'm not talking about a power walk, we stroll and take different routes everytime we go out, so on the way back to the hotel,go down different streets. As we are walking earlier we check out restaurants & have an idea of where we'd like to eat that evening. One of the things we do is find the restaurants on the back streets and not on the major piazza's. Taking a bus, including the hop on hop off, puts me to sleep, maybe the movement. It works well for other people.
If you start to get sleepy in the early afternoon, stop in a cafe & have an espresso, or a panini & glass of wine. Have fun!

maggie, when you say we should spend all our days in Rome, does that exclude Tivoli as well? I mean, would you recommend another full day in Rome itself or the Tivoli + Galleria Borghese idea? I think my wife will really love the Villa d'Este fountains. I will too, but I'm equally interested in Hadrian's Villa.

Dad and I actually walked something quite similar back in November, and we landed at noon and didn't get going again til about 2-2:30! A lot of these sights are really nice after dark, so as long as you aren't overly tired, you can do it without much hassle.

We took the metro from our hotel (Colosseum area) up to Repubblica area (not too far from Popolo) to start with, then walked the rest of the way. We didn't do Campo dei Fiori, but the whole walk + sightseeing + dinner took us until about 10pm. As long as everyone is a good walker, I probably wouldn't bother with the bus, since you'll likely eat up too much time waiting for it.

Mimi - since you like to explore restaurants near but not on the main piazzas, here are a couple of ideas. There are many restaurants on the streets to the west of Piazza Navona. Exit the piazza on the small street next to Tre Scalini and explore. There are also many restaurants on the streets surrounding Campo dei Fiori and adjacent Piazza Farnese.

To answer your question,I believe that route is walkable in the remaining hours. How jet lag effects you is quite variable and everyone has their own ways of coping with it.
some general comments, If you are looking for good food, the piazza Navona is not the place to get it. If the ambiance is what you are after, have a drink or an espresso on the piazza and understand you are paying for the view. Then go down a small side street and you will generally get better food at a small unassuming place.
Also, while the Villa d'Este is very lovely and well worth a trip, with only 3 days I am not sure it is worth it at the expense of shortchanging Rome. Just my 2 cents.

Lisa, what about Orvieto? Is that more worthy of a day trip than Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este? Or are you saying that you don't think anything nearby is worth leaving Rome when you only have three days there?

I am not sure I would leave 3 days in Rome for anything if it was my first visit, but I would pick Orvieto over Villa d'Este because Orvieto is a whole lovely small town to explore, much different from Rome. Civita di Bagnoregio nearby to Orvieto is also a sight to behold and would try to include that.

Hi Ben ~

The only other thing I would suggest, based on comments on this board, you might want to do the Ancient City first and the Vatican second.

I don't know when you will be there (my trip is in June) but if the weather is hot, you may prefer to do the outside sight early. Also, I have read that the lines for the Vatican dwindle in the afternoon. Unless you have already signed up for a tour it may be easier to get in in the afternoon.

My only other advice is to try to keep lunch light and quick. I have found that as long as I keep moving I can power through jet-lag. If I stopped for a nice, leisurely lunch, I would either nod off at the table or have to go back to the hotel for a nap.

Have a great trip!

Ben, I reckon that's an easy stroll. An extra thought though, if it a nice day, is have a quiet snack and time out at the Borghese Gardens. After the extremely long trip from where I live in rural Australia (300km to the airport), getting out and about helps manage the jet lag. I am all in favour of the Italian siesta too, then being revived, I'm ready for more sightseeing. Eat at the Italian hour and you will sleep and sleep. ps I walk everywhere in Rome, or where-ever else, and always return home several kg lighter!!