Rome

Go to the places your tour does not do. ( that are of interest to you)

Ostia Antica makes a pleasant fascinating and unhurried destination and lets you be back to Rome for dinner and an evening walk

Since we have no idea where your tour is going, hard to make recommendations other than the usual must see. You first day or so will be most lost to jet lag so do a lot of walking in the sun if you can. Avoid inside activities. If it is Sunday, hit the Appian Way. You can rent bikes there.

Is your tour a RS tour? If it is you should receive a letter along with lots of other information that list the sites that the tour will not visit. I got one for our RS Rome Tour beginning May 13.

Though it's been 24 years since I visited Rome with my sister, two things stand out.

We took a church tour. It was worth it, both in terms of spirituality and architecture. The churches of Rome are stunning. Look in your guidebook. There must be a church tour listed, given that the city holds 900 churches.

Also, an in-depth tour of the Roman Forum is worth it. I loved poking through the 2,000-year-old residences on the Hill of Palatine. Palatine became the root for the word "palace" in English. Again, look in your guidebook.

Wow, there are too many places to list. It would help to know what your specific interests are and the composition of your family - older parents? tots? teens? You mention bikes, how are you at hills?

Since we have no idea where your tour is going, hard to make
recommendations other than the usual must see.

I think this is key if you're going to be touring Rome with a group after your "free" days. From previous posts, it doesn't look like you're taking an RS tour but I could be wrong. More information about your tour and its itinerary, your family members and their interests would be helpful.

Agree with Kathy. Also would say that Rome is the one place where the knee-jerk reaction is to run like hell and see everything--especially in 3 days--but the best thing to do is to lay back and enjoy the Roman vibe. Research the area around your hotel for nearby attractions so your travel time is less. Also, when you get there, scope out a nice outdoor cafe for people-watching--they're all over.

And make your mantra 'la dolce far niente', which loosely translated is 'the essence of doing nothing and enjoying it'.

If you're not going on a RS tour, please let us know which Rome sights your tour will "visit" and which you will "see." Many non-RS tours list sights you'll "see," which can mean you'll just drive by and won't actually stop to visit. Some of those "see" sights may be well worth visiting during your extra 3 days.

I just returned from Italy and included a few days in Rome. Although new to the travel forum, I think two pieces of advice would be helpful. As far as bikes, I think the Appian Way would be good. I actually saw bike tours in downtown Rome, and I just think that would be incredibly difficult and dangerous with the traffic. Often the ones with bikes were just walking them through crowds. The other thing was that I never realized how long the lines would be to enter attractions without a group tour. Many places like the Vatican had extremely long lines, but we were able to skip them and enter faster with the tours.