Hop on hop off bus- Rome and Milan

Jen, hoho buses are not a good choice for Rome. Reviews on them have been lukewarm to terrible for a long time and complaints about them are many, especially service during high season. Those include buses too full to pick up passengers at the stops, dirty vehicles, broken equipments, surly staff.... They also cannot get you to directly to attractions in pedestrian areas, and can get stuck in traffic: it can be faster to walk versus wait for or sit on a traffic-bogged bus.

Rome is a wonderful city to walk, and you'll experience more of it on foot than from behind a window! :O) If necessary, you can use the metro and/or city buses for longer hops and for less $$.

You can see a lot more detail walking in Rome from the Spanish steps to Vatican, stopping off in churches and for gelato breaks along the way. The hop on off in general are good for covering ground on a short stays but can be miserable to sit on in the summer heat.

edit: yes the 64 bus is very convenient to use when you can't walk anymore but it can get crowded and is sometimes referred to as a pickpocket Xpress

Hey Jen,

Rome is a walking museum, but if walking long distances presents some discomfort, how about taking a local bus - #64 or #40 < Express to certain points of interest and walk around from there.

The routes are labeled online so you can plan out your destinations. The bus tickets need to be validated once you get on the bus. They are timed. You can buy single tickets or short-term passes at any tabacchi shop; most gift stores sell tickets. A single is (€) 1.50 - I forget how much a short-term pass costs. Sometimes, a pass is not cost-effective. Depends on your travel excursions/needs for the days.

Oh yes, passes...
These are economical if you intend to use public transit more versus less. Otherwise, a few single-ride BIT tickets tucked in the pocket will do (our method).

The Roma ATAC site is a little temperamental so I'm not sure the page with pass info will come up but give it a shot:

http://www.atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=229

Essentially, these are the passes or tickets you'd be most likely to use:

BIT - INTEGRATED TIME TICKET (€ 1,50)
CIS - INTEGRATED WEEKLY TICKET (€ 24,00)
ROMA 24H HOUR TICKET (€ 7,00)
ROMA 48H HOUR TICKET (€ 12,50)
ROMA 72H HOUR TICKET (€ 18,00)
BIT REGENERATION LIMITED EDITION (€ 14,00 for a 10 BIT ticket pack)

If you organize your sightseeing by area, thus not running from one end of the city to another in a single day, you can economize your steps. :O)

I tried one in Rome a few years ago, waited at several stops and the buses never came! I’ve taken these buses in Dublin, London, and New York City and they’ve been great, but personally I did not have a good experience in Rome.