Honeymoon in Rome

I love fashion, also. Because of the cobblestones, I would advise higher wedges instead. I brought a pair of black patent peep toes to wear in the evenings that looked sexy with my black skirt....link below. This brand has a lot of light weight wedges. We stayed 3 different places, and I wore different tops with it. I also brought maxi dresses for the evenings, and those I could wear with flats. I would not advise wearing any type of heels, though, if you plan on strolling a lot after dinner. A little strolling, but not too much. I have to say, I did find that I felt a little too dressed up sometimes.

https://www.chineselaundry.com/shop/wedges/nolita/INBC019XC.html?cgid=wedges&dwvar_INBC019XC_color=BLACK#start=64

One thing to do in Rome is the Travestere Twighlight Tour. Do this at the beginning of your trip, as you'll want to go back to some of the places. It's a wonderful tour of food and libations in Travestere, read the reviews!

We were only there 4 nights, so had to pass on a few things, but I would have loved to seen the Appian Way and the baths.

Wonderful advice, thank you! I have plenty of wedges and chunkier heels rather than stilettos! I will restock my wardrobe of maxi dresses and jumpsuits/playsuits I think.

I will definitely check out that tour too!

Thank you!

Re: "...things to do in the area, aside from the big ones..." you might want to check out Ostia Antica. Easy to get there on public transit, very few tourist, and some think it's better than the ruins in Rome. Google it and see what you think. Naples and Pompeii can be done as a day trip from Rome, but it will be a looong day even with an early morning start. Love long and prosper.

What time of year will you be there? And do you have the Rick Steves Italy guidebook?

Italy for the Gourmet Traveler by Fred Plotkin has every food recommendation for ever corner of Italy. It's even endorsed on the cover by Rick Steves. Fred and Rick overlap nearly zero restaurants, as Fred is looking for a great restaurant and Rick is generally looking for a decent place with a good experience near various areas he recommends for lodging.

I'm not a woman, but if you are at all unsteady on any shoe with a heel on flat pavement, Rome will likely be the death of you. It's a lotta lotta cobblestones. If you want to wear heels, a wedge is the way unless you've worn your heels on asymmetrical cobbles or on a woodland hike.

If you have 9 days ( 8 nights) I would recommend at least one more stop on the trip....1.5 hour train to Naples for ferry 1 hr to Capri for 2 nights if going up to mid October....or 2-3 nights in Florence 1.5 hour train from Rome...

I think day trips with 3 hours plus of traveling while paying for hotel room in Rome is something to consider.... even 2 nights in Naples could give you better day trip potential to Capri and Pompeii or Herculaneum....this cuts 3 hours of trains from Rome to Campania.

What time of year? This will make a big difference.

and yes, cobblestones are hard on the feet...knees..so pack accordingly...

Best wishes on your marriage!

TC- thank you, I will deffo look into Ostia Antica! Yeah, I imagined Pompeii and Naples will be a long day, but we don't mind that too much! We are spreading out our 'day trip' days, so we can still enjoy Rome at a leisurely pace.

Michael- Sorry, I should have said that we are going September 7th. And no, I have yet to purchase the guide book, which is on my lists of To-Dos.

Max- That's brilliant, I will look out for that book, husband to be will love it! He's more of a foodie than I am. I'm pretty good on heels, many UK streets have cobbles too, but not as much as the rest of Europe I imagine. I think I will stick to wedges though, and if I don't end up wearing them, no big deal! Thanks for the advice :)

JJ-nowVoyager- We have 9 nights there, I should have clarified on my OG post. Thank you for all of the advice, although we have already booked (and paid) for the hotel in Rome. We don't mind travelling for that amount of trains tbh, we are going to split the day trips so we don't do them altogether to give us time to rest etc. We go in September, the very beginning. And thank you :)

Rachel, you wrote "Michael- Sorry, I should have said that we are going September 7th. And no, I have yet to purchase the guide book, which is on my lists of To-Dos."

Allow me to encourage you to buy and read the guidebook now. It covers virtually all your questions, including many that it won't occur to you to ask.

Thanks Michael, as I said I will be buying the guidebook, but after paying for the Honeymoon in full (and moving into a new apartment), I need to wait until my next payday, therefore I thought I would ask some questions on here, I always like to get different opinions from others, as there may be some little places not mentioned in guide books :) Plus I am rather excited about my upcoming trip, so didn't want to wait for the guidebook to come!! I thought this forum was open to anyone to ask questions from fellow travellers, and get different hints and tips from all walks of life, my mistake if not :)

Rome is a fabulous choice - they don't call it one of the great cities for nothing. There have been some excellent "Rome" threads on this forum during the last few years, so you'll find all sorts of suggestions for things to do if you spend some time looking through the archives. We got around the city exclusively on foot, which works during the day if you are young and energetic. We really enjoyed our walks along the river and across the bridges, and also the walk up the Gianicolo hill for the view across the city. The fast train is the way to go for day trips to Naples and Florence. Another consideration about heels is that too much walking on the cobblestones can scrape them up. I had to discard the pair I took with me on a more lengthy trip in 2015.

Have a wonderful trip! If you are looking for a 1/2 day trip, I have taken the bus tour just google the company will pop up, to Tivoli for Villa D'Este and Hadrian's Villa...really nice.

Enjoy!

My wife wears stilettos but not in Rome, she usually slings them on when I have a back problem. Don't worry unduly about what to wear (that's easy for me to say, you think, me being so terribly handsome that I don't have to worry about such things). Sure, some North Americans stick out like a sore thumb in their spotless white running shoes, especially when worn with navy shorts and knee high socks. The majority of working people walking the streets look no different than anywhere else.
I love Rome and could spend weeks there with no problem. However, as JJ has suggested, you may want to think about spending nights elsewhere if you must visit Naples or Florence. I'm not a fan of long day trips - if forced to, the only one I would make is the Garden of Ninfa, the centre of the universe. As for Ostia Antica, read up about it. I loved it, my wife had no time for it.

Mary Sue- Thank you, I will have a good search through the forums also. I think we will mostly explore on foot too, we are young and energetic, so walking will be fine for us. I'm hoping it is starting to cool down slightly in September, I'm very fair so sunscreen will be a must! Thank you for your lovely suggestions about walks by the river and the bridges, and we will look into the fast trains for our day trips. In regards to the heels, I wouldn't wear them during the day, just for evenings when we are going for food! I will probably pack a pair of wedges, and if I don't end up wearing them, then no big deal!

JJ- Thank you! Yes we really want to go to Tivoli, I will check out the buses.

Gundersen- Haha, well it's a good job I'm not North American in that case :P I'm hoping that the fashion is similar to what I would wear at home anyway (UK). Garden of Ninfa looks stunning, but I don't think it's open when we are there :( Which is such a shame as I would have loved to have gone. Ostia Antica looks really interesting! When I was little I wanted to be an archaeologist (a pipe dream really) so this will deffo be on our to do list! Thank you for your suggestions!

Rachel,
With regard to "...thought this forum was open to anyone to ask questions...get different hints and tips...my mistake if not :)" you did not make a mistake. It is open to anyone to ask questions. While guidebooks are great resources, they are not always all inclusive of everything so feel free to ask away.

We stayed in Rome for 7 nights and loved it. We enjoyed just picking neighborhoods and wandering around. We took the DK Eyewitness guide to Rome and enjoyed several of their walks. I wouldn't use this book as an only guide, but a good supplement. We got transit passes which allowed us to go most anywhere. Ostia Antica is wonderful.

In Naples, Pizzaria da Michelle (sp) is supposedlty the birthplace of pizza. They only offer 2 choices and it's very informal, but the pizzas are very good and it's a very memorable. We also enjoyed Trattoria da Nanello, which is very lively and has great food. Both of these places give you a sense of the real Naples.

Me again. Do you know about appertivi? In many places, you ger free appetizers with a wine or drink around 5-7 pm. One if our favorite places for this is Est Artigiani del Gusto on Viccolo della Cancelleria near Piazza Navona. They also serve good lunch and dinners. My favorite gelato place is Frigiderium which is nearby on Via del Governo Vecchio. Be sure to download the Italy map onto your tablet or iPhone so you can save/mark places you want to go. Then you can check what's marked when you're in a neighborhood, to see if there's something nearby you've heard of.

There's no problem at all in coming here to ask questions. I just didn't want you to be frustrated once you got the guidebook and saw that many if not most of them were all already in there. I think it's great that you're super excited and are doing research before going. Have a great trip.

Enjoy your trip! Great time to go! I will be right behind you on 9/19! :)