Hello! After some business in Tuscany, my husband and I are visiting Rome for the first time. We’ll be there for a week in early November.
I need some advice about what to book in advance (I know the Scavi tour should be requested now for November). What other bookings should I plan and how far in advance?
Thank you for the advice. Grazie!
All of these sights call for pre-purchased tickets:
Vatican Museums. Online tickets sell out, and the ticket-buying line tends to be long and slow. Expect to be part of a mob. Many folks Iike to buy tickets for the first entry time, which may allow some less-crowded time at the beginning of your visit.
St. Paul's [St. Peter's, of course] with audio guide; that gets you into the shorter/faster security line. There are commercial tours combining the Museums and St. Paul's [St. Peter's], but regular tickets purchased from the Vatican are a lot cheaper.
Borghese Gallery. The gallery limits the number of tickets sold for each 2-hour time block. It's popular and always sold out, but not grossly overcrowded like the Vatican Museums.
Domus Aurea. This is an active archaeological site open Fri-Sun only (I think). Very limited ticket availability; I believe it always sells out.
Colosseum. There are some special tickets that are extremely difficult to get. You can use the Search function here to read about recent experiences.
San Clemente. It doesn't sell out very early, but as of 2023 tickets had to be purchased online; there was no ticket counter at the church.
Not having been to Rome in November (normally a slower month, but it will still be Holy Year), I have no idea how early tickets need to be purchased, except that I don't think you need to worry about San Clemente yet. In general, the earliest time slots tend to sell out first, though I think some folks are a bit reluctant to commit to the 8 AM tickets for the Vatican Museums. It helps that you have a week in Rome, providing some schedule flexibility.
...St. Paul's with audio guide; that gets you into the shorter/faster
security line
I think you meant St. Peter's? Brain burp? :O)
I was just coming back to fix that! I make that sort of mistake often enough that I should just write "the big church".
Thank you both very much! I’ll dig in and figure out where to book the reservations and start looking. We are three months out so there’s likely plenty of time……
I have found the Romewise site and YouTube videos really helpful. She breaks down all the options for the Vatican, the cathedral, and the colosseum and even talks about tour options if you are looking for one of those.
Recently I saw a video describing the different Colosseum ticket options that I found helpful (basically she said the article and underground are nice but you still see a lot and don't be disappointed if you are unable to get those hard to get tickets).
We leave in a month. We have only booked the Vatican so far. This week I will do the Colosseum and some of our train travel.
@Mom of Boys- thank you! I’ll check out the Romewise website for sure. Enjoy your trip!
