Public transport in Roma

ATAC is the transport company. Here is info on their passes. You might also benefit from a bus app on your smart phone for trip planning and arrival times.

Oops! Here’s the link. https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes

Thanks for the link. I cannot seem to find which ticket I can buy for both bus and metro for 3 days. The site is rather confusing.
Any suggestions on a particular ticket or pass? I can then search that by name.

Best way to get between the tourist spots is walking especially if your hotel is in the central area. The metro is good for longer distances, for instance if you are staying out by the Vatican and want to get to the Colosseum. The system is not that extensive compared with London or Paris. Rome is well served by buses and suggest you read Rick Steves chapter on traveling by bus in his guidebook, particularly about validation of tickets/passes.

Good point about the Rick Steves book. In the meantime, I found this, which seems okay: https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes/roma72h.

I do see that the metro is less comprehensive than the ones in Paris and London. I wonder if it is as clean and well-run. :)

Try this page of the ATAC website:
https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes

There is a 72-hour pass available. Do be aware that you can't use a pass to get to/from the airports.
https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes/roma72h
(editing to add: oops, I see you've already found it)

I'll agree with the others that when all possible, the best way to explore the historic center is on foot! We've only felt the need to use public transit a couple of times, and didn't at all on one of our visits. Sean, the metro in Rome is very similar to the Paris Metro and London tube. I don't know as I'd call ANY of them particularly clean but they can be useful. Rome's metro, however, skirts a pretty significant area of the historic center. There's this little issue of multi thousands of years of antiquity buried underground. :O)

I've been to Rome many times and never used a bus and only used the metro to the Colosseum station as I think there are few metro exits as spectacular as that one. Personally I think it's the best introduction to the Colosseum, exiting from the station to be faced with it in all its majestic glory.

For the vast majority of the time I always walk, it's a fairly compact city and there's so much to take in as you walk that it's a shame to miss it by taking transport. Most of the major sights can be reached within walking distance from one another. On those occasions where the distance is a bit too long then take the metro and buy an individual ticket, they're relatively inexpensive.

Rome has the worst public transportation of any major city I have visited. I understand it has gotten worse in the past 5 years since we left (live there for 5 years). Walk when possible, take a (relatively) cheap taxi when it is not possible.

Thanks everyone. Well, I am not going to buy any tickets or passes in advance, but will show up and buy them as-needed.

You can get online or locally a couple of 100 minutes tickets and keep them in your wallet. Then you can use them when /if you are sick of walking. Otherwise you'll have invested 1.5 per ticket € in souvenirs.

You can't find which ATAC ticket is for buses and which for metros because ATAC runs both (plus trams); they take for granted that, even if they offered it, nobody would buy a ticket that could be used on buses but not on metros. Or on metros but not on buses to make the last mile.

All tickets and passes include Unlimited transfers between all means of transport in any direction during the period of validity, may it be 100 minutes or 72h. Be aware that during the 100 minutes you can enter the metro system only once.

Great info, thanks. Good to know that all tickets work both on the metro and the buses. Cheers.

Like Laurel, I lived in Rome for a few years. Due to my work taking me all over town until I bought a motorino I rode the bus or metro almost EVERY day. There's no doubt that the transit system in Rome is not "as polished" as other cities I've lived in (Madrid, Vienna, Copenhagen, and The Hague/Amsterdam). But, because I traveled across town daily, I knew all the routes and would jump on and off buses, cobbling together my ride home. It's not perfect, but there are some bus routes I grew to rely on heavily. The 81, 87, and particularly the 492 were my buses of choice... so locals will know I lived in Prati.

I was back in Rome earlier this year visiting friends - who were on the opposite side of town where I stayed - and again found myself in familiar territory: hanging on for dear life on the 492 bus as the wanna-be F1 driver bounced us along the cobblestones. I found the buses no better, or no worse (which I guess in a statement in itself!).

The one advantage I had this time was the multiple Phone Apps I was "testing." Although they were all inconsistent at times - probably because the bus product is still inconsistent - I liked Probus Rome better than the others I used. And if you're looking for tickets, head for a ticketing machine - where you can purchase your tickets in English. You'll find them in all metro stations. (Just know they only give change for up to 20E notes... so don't try to break that 50E bill!).

love that 492 - my favourite bus. It goes so many places in such a great order. All the way from Tiburtina to Termini to Argentina, passes by both Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navona and winds up at the Vatican, with a stop right outside the Museums of the Vatican. What's not to like?

Yes... and the 492 stopped directly in front of my apartment on Via Candia (One of the Vatican stops)!

Thank you @RnR for the tip re: Probus Rome. I'm adding it to my list for our November trip.

As a follow-up, we walked everywhere except to the Vatican. The metro just is smaller than I expected. I think it's fair to say they can't expand it because, if they tried, they would unearth some history that stopped them from going further with the project. ;)

We did use the metro once, and it was easy, like light rail everywhere, really. Go get a ticket, it's inexpensive, and then follow the signs to go the right way to your destination. And, after I used the ticket dispenser in Italian, my daughter pointed out I could have chosen English. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, walking worked, but I wouldn't hesitate to use the metro in Rome again.

Thanks for your update!