Overwhelmed by Rome

Nancy, one thing you may want to consider, depending on timing, is flying round trip in/out of Rome. If you do this, I would arrive in Rome maybe 1 day early (to combat jetlag and Murphy's Law), then add 2-3 days at the END of the trip. Generally I'm not a fan of backtracking, but by the end of your tour, you will be feeling a lot more familiar with Italy and probably have a better time in Rome.

As the others have said, the biggies are the Colosseum/Forum, and the Vatican. The Capitoline Hill overlooks the Forum, so ancient Rome might be the area to explore on your free afternoon. Vatican Museums & St. Peters should probably go on their own day, separate from everything else.

If you will spend 3 days in Rome on your own apart from the tour and are interested in the Colosseum/Forum and Borghese Gallery, look into getting the Roma Pass which gives you 2 free admissions to certain sites, plus an unlimited 3-day bus/metro pass.

Rome is a very walkable and manageable city. For what you mentioned, I would put high on the list of "other" St. Peters and the Vatican Museum, the Forum area and the Coloseum, and if you are an art lover, maybe the Borghese Museum, but you will need reservations. Each of these require maybe a morning or afternoon to do well. Aside from that, many sights can be done on walks (the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.) and cost nothing. I also highly suggest that as you wander, if you see a church, step inside, you will find many hidden treasures.

While Paul's recommendations are excellent, there is something to be said for a free afternoon devoted to wonderless walking and poking heads into small corners -- an afternoon coffee, a street market a non-descriptive church etc. One of great pleasures is just wondering the streets. Rome is so intense that you need some downtime just to absorb it all.

Here is how I would organize that amount of time in Rome (keep in mind you may need to switch day order depending on what days of the week you are there):

Day 1: Major Sights in/near Ancient/Classical Rome:
- Colosseum
- Roman Forum
- Palatine Hill
- Capitol Hill
- Capitoline Museums
- St. Peter in Chains Basilica – go inside, Michelangelo’s “Moses” is housed here
Lunch Suggestion: Restaurant on corner of "Via dei Fori Imperial" and "Via Cavour" - 3 minute walk from the Colosseum (sit outside, you can see the Roman Forum from your table). Order a pizza, it will be an adventure.
If you see all that and still have energy and daylight - do the ‘Heart of Rome’ stuff next:
- Pantheon
- Trevi Fountain
If your energy is holding up pretty well, consider going to the Piazza Navona or Piazza Venezia for a late dinner. Afterwards, just hang out in the square, get some gelato Tartufo. My favorite flavor is stracciatella.

Day 2: Start day in the Pantheon ‘Heart of Rome’ Neighborhood. Move into the ‘North Rome area.
- Borghese Gallery / North Rome, northeast of Spanish Steps ½ mile
- The ‘Shopping Triangle’ is the Rodeo Drive of Rome; near the Spanish Steps.
- Spanish Steps
Evening:
- Dolce Vita stroll from Piazza del Popolo to Spanish Steps

Day #3: Vatican City Day. Plan to be in line for the Vatican Museum NO LATER THAN 7:30am!! Lines can be very long.
- Vatican Museum Tour. The end of the tour is the Sistine Chapel – an absolute MUST SEE, even if the line is 4+ hours long.
- St. Peter’s Basilica Tour, nice walking guide for what you will see while you walk around in there.
- Open-air produce market 3 blocks in front of Vatican Musuem entry

Open Afternoon:
National Museum of Rome Near Train Station
More time strolling in ancient Rome: Forum / Colosseum area
Go back to a favorite thing, or sit at an outdoor cafe in one of the squares and let it soak in....

Nancy,

You've received lots of great ideas so far. My suggestion would be to have a look at the Rome or Italy Guidebooks and decide what you most want to see. The "usual" highlights are the Colosseum, Pantheon, Borghese Gallery, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.

I'm assuming you'll be staying at Casa san Guiseppe in Trastevere (I've also taken the South Italy tour). That's within walking distance of some of the sights such as the Pantheon or the Campo dei Fiori (as I recall).

Two possibilities you might consider would be to arrive a day or two earlier than planned, or return to Rome after the tour ends in Naples (it's an easy trip). Arriving early would not only provide you with some extra time to see Rome, but also some extra time to get over jet lag.

Buon Viaggio!

Nancy -

I have no suggestion except to put your plans perhaps in perspective. Have been to every major European city/destination at least once - Rome is number ONE amongst them all including Paris, London, Prague, Budapest, etc. etc. Have been to Rome perhaps ten times; I have absolutely NOT seen it all. Therefore, my "advice" is simply to look at a good tour book and see the major sights, it is, in a sentence, a great place to visit - you will enjoy yourself immensely. Sorry I was of no real help.

Rome is truly a wonderfully walkable city (however do be aware of the uneven cobblestones is places). Except for the catacombs and Appian Way, almost everything is within walking distance from Trastavere. I'd strongly suggest giving yourself the 2-3 days to give yourself the "sense of the city" you want. Go online and get reservations for the Vatican Museum. That way you avoid the line or even having to stand in line. And remember this, all the walking you will do will prepare your waistline for gelato!

I'm going to go with a slightly different suggestion.

First, getting there at least a day early is a good idea to help combat jet lag.

Since this is your first time in Rome here are my two suggestions:

1) If you want to see Rome prior to your tour, then get there 3 days early and buy a 48 hour pass on the hop-on, hop -off bus. This will give you a great orientation of Rome, a guided tour, and it stops near all of the major attractions. You can get on and off as often as you like during those 48 hours.

2)You can wait until the tour is over to do Rome. By then, you'll be much more used to Italy and may not need the bus. But it's still an option.

Of course, as most of the previous posters have mentioned, Rome is not difficult to get around on your own as long as you have a good guidebook.

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful replies! I have several (probably too many) guide books for Rome and Italy and maybe that was why I was feeling so overwhelmed. You've given me a wonderful framework to build on and I actually think I'll be able to take advantage of almost all of your suggestions (especially the ones for gelato!). I thought that the idea of returning to Rome at the end of the tour was an excellent one, but we want to spend some time around Naples before heading down to Sicily for another RS tour so that won't work this time. I think my main concern was that the city is too large to be walkable. I'm feeling much more comfortable about that now. Many thanks to all of you! Nancy

We were in Rome last summer for a week and took one day to tour with Ron in Rome. It was THE best day of the entire week. We made up our own schedule of things we wanted to see and we never felt rushed or overwhelmed. He was very knowledgeable and taught us how to use the bus system (we had passes). We had time to eat gelato, have that wonderful frozen coffee drink that I can't remember the name of, plus time for a sit down lunch. (on top of everything we saw) It was the best thing we did in Rome and it is still the one day our sons talk about the most. We were with him from 9 to about 5 ish. Even if we had only a few days, I would have still used him. The day after we were not shy to use the buses and felt more comfortable in the city.

Take in the city in small chunks instead of trying to see everything in one day. Play it by ear. Try to get a little lost, but not TOO lost.

Pick one guide book, I used RS Rome, and take the information from there. One place I loved above all was Palentine Hill, and not too many people mention it, but it is fantastic and the Roman Forum too. The coloseum, is nice, but not so exciting, IMO. Rome is so easy to get around in, take a map from the hotel, all the hot spots are pointed out and as others have said in prior posts, step into the small churches around each corner, they hold a lot of suprises! Walking is my prefered method to get around Rome. And it doesnt cost anything, but calories, leaving more room for gelato and pasta! I think it would be pretty darn hard to have a bad time in Rome. Been there twice and still have places to see and things to do.