Rome

Hi and welcome to the forum, Lisa!

Can you stay busy in Rome for 4 days? That's a resounding YES! While how long you may be able to keep yourselves engaged depends personal interests, many of us here who've spent time in the Eternal City have found enough to do for many more days than that, and over multiple trips. The good folks here can offer up suggestions if you can tell us a bit more about yourselves and what you think you'd like to explore there?

And, of course, a good guidebook or two is a great place to start when making a want-to-see list! If there's a downside, it'll be trying not to cram TOO much in for the time that you have versus finding enough to do. :O)

Editing to add: I am hoping that your trip plan is for longer than 4 days away from home? Are you planning to see other parts of Italy or Europe?

There is absolutely enough to do in Rome for 4 days. More days would not be a problem, either!

If you haven't browsed the website yet, there is lots of good planning info available. Here's the page for Rome:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/rome
The AT A GLANCE section might be helpful.

You need a minimum of four nights in Rome if you visit Vatican City. If you add day trips, add an additional night per trip.

I spent 20 days in Rome on a single trip a few years ago, and I have zero interest in ancient ruins. (I do spend a lot of time going to art museums.) Even with that much time, I didn't manage to get to quite a few of the places on my target list.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions. A little more about us and our trip. We are two active retired adults. We will be in Rome during "Rome's birthday," hopefully we will see some celebrations. We would like to do Vatican and Sistine chapel, Catacombs, Colosseum and the Pantheon.

I was wondering if you have any suggestion on taking a train to Naples or Nola, just as a day trip and return to Rome later that night. My family originated from Nola. I would be happy to visit either one.

I REALLY appreciate everyone's comments. Thank you so much.

...taking a train to Naples or Nola, just as a day trip and return to Rome later that night...

Possible, yes. Advisable, no! That will be a very, very long and tiring day.

If you want to go there, plan to spend at least one night. Otherwise, stick to Rome. It has more than enough to keep you busy for four days or even more.

Don't mean to be Debbie Downer, just offering food for thought.

Question, Lisa? How many nights are you staying in Rome? Keep in mind that to have four FULL days of sightseeing, you need 5 nights. If you are arriving from the US, arrival day usually doesn't count for much more than a jet-lagged walkabout to stay awake until bedtime ROME time.

If realistically you only have 4 nights/3 full days + some odd hours on arrival day, you might want to rethink a day trip? That said, you can get to Naples via 'fast' train in just over an hour, no train changes. To Nola looks to be 2 hours, 38 minutes minimum, with 1-2 train changes. Other train journeys to get there will take over 3 hours or longer. I completely understand wanting to visit your family's town of origin; just don't want you to cut Rome short, or spend hours (time that can = money) sitting on trains when you could be sightseeing.

Where are you coming from before Rome, and where are you going next?

We have been to Rome twice for a total of 10 days and still not seen everything we wanted to see.
Many of the sites require that you book them in advance.

The best area, in my opinion, to stay, is in the area near the Pantheon.

Do your research and don't miss the key sites for sure, like the Forum, Coliseum, St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, Trajan's Markets, the Capitoline Museum, (heck, this site will provide a great list:
https://romesite.com/attractions.html

How long will you be in Italy? Perhaps you could add atleast a day or more for Naples/Nola.

Four days, yes. In fact four years would be even better. Rome is crowded, chaotic, lots of graffiti, and people don’t necessarily fall in love with it immediately. I certainly didn’t, my first visit there over 40 years ago as a young student. But it grows on you, now it’s one of my favorite cities in the world. So the more time you have there to slow down a bit rather than rushing around to check off all the amazing sights, the better.

Yes, 4 days is a decent amount of time, however, I’ve been to Rome 8 times and I’ve still not seen everything. Also depends on the time of year and what’s going on in the city.

We would like to do Vatican and Sistine chapel, Catacombs, Colosseum and the Pantheon.

Vatican includes St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums, which include the Sistine Chapel. The best time to visit St. Peter's is first thing in the morning, before there are long lines to go through security, and before the church fills with people (and noise). From there you can walk to the Vatican Museums, where you must have a reservation if you don't want to wait hours for tickets. They house several museums. The main one is in a very big building surrounding a courtyard. There's a one-way route through them, and you will pass through the courtyard where you can have a rest and a meal, either picnic you brought with you or at the outdoor cafe. There are myriad works to see and lots of people looking at them. Most of the interesting things are on the way to the Sistine Chapel. Then there is a long walk through much less interesting parts of the collections to the exit. If you aren't particularly interested in all the treasures of the museums, you may want to book a short (couple hours) tour that includes the Sistine Chapel and then exits to a very short walk to the basilica, without going through security (only tour groups are allowed to use this shortcut).

The Catacombs are outside the city center. There are buses, but to save time (and legs) you may want to take a taxi to the Appian Way. Plan ahead - there are a lot of catacombs and with only 4 days consider just seeing the "top" few so you don't spend the best part of a day there . . . although it's quite pleasant to stroll along the Appian Way on the weekend.

Get tickets for the Colosseum in advance. It's been a while since my last visit there, but tickets also included the Forum, also worth strolling through. Many people have reported that they booked tours and found it an enriched experience.

The last time I was in Rome was in early April 2022 just as it was reopening after Covid. I considered going into the Pantheon, but the line was very long and I'd been before. . . My recommendation - get there when it opens.

You've only listed what are often named as the "top" or "must-see" sights. What are your interests? Let us know and we can give you more recommendations.

One thing I did that I remember especially fondly is a small group food-tasting evening tour that started in Campo de Fiori. If you are interested in good food and drink, take this kind of a tour as soon as you can. You'll get lots of tips from your guide on where to eat (and where not to eat!!) and have a very enjoyable time.

You can now buy an online entry to St. Peter's that includes an audio guide and access to a separate (shorter) security line. That's the way to go now. I agree that it should be less crowded if you go early in the day.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond to my inquiry. Thank you.

This is worthwhile and may be of interest to you. A separate reservation is required:

https://www.basilicasanpietro.va/en/products/the-necropolis

St. Peter’s Basilica also offers climbing up the dome, if you’re interested, for an appreciation of Michaelangelo’s architecture of the building and up-close views of mosaics, finishing with a view over Vatican City and much of Rome, for an extra charge. You can decide once you’re there.

As mentioned, if you want to see the Sistine Chapel and inside St. Peter’s, you’ll need to go thru the Vatican Museums. The “groups only” shortcut exit door, at the far end of the Sistine Chapel, makes the trip to St. Peter’s much, much, much shorter than the long, long, long trip if you don’t have a guide, or see St. Peter’s first, on your own.

Both the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum have official Websites, and release tickets for sale on them on a somewhat irregular schedule. You have to check and see if your dates are available, then be prepared to purchase your tickets the moment they do become available - probably midnight (Italian time) the day the Website says. It seems that third-party tour companies (Viator and the like) have super-fast computers that snatch up lots of the tickets right away, so they can use them for the tour groups that hire them, so you may have to be fast (and lucky) to score your own tickets/affordable tour. The Vatican Museums offer a variety of tour options. Lots of people want to get there first thing, then literally race to the Sistine Chapel, as if it’s an Olympic event. We had a private guide a few years ago, but it was very busy (late September), and we were still in a crush of people much of the time. Rick Steves has suggested that afternoons are less hectic and crowded in the Museums (lots of Popes donated their own art and artifacts, creating more than one “museum”), but then your time at St. Peter’s could be more limited, at the end. Rick Steves’ guidebook includes a good DIY guide for the Museums, but to combine both the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s, a guide (private or group) is almost essential. Make sure yours speaks English, unless your Italian is good.

The Colosseum can be seen individually, or with a pass that includes other Ancient Roman sights. Look at the option(s) that interest you, and depending on how much time you have. There’s also the Underground option, which lets you see some of the inner workings of the Colosseum up-close, where gladiators, animals, their “victims,” and workers putting on the spectacles moved around before their time in the arena. It shows how lots of water was moved, too, to flood the Colosseum for mock naval battles.

Since your family’s from Nola, what if you stayed one night there, or in Naples, with a visit to Nola, with the other nights in Rome? Assuming that you’re flying in and out of Rome (are you?), you could make the Nola/Naples visit either at the beginning or end of your 4 days, so that you’re not breaking the Rome time and lodging in the middle. That still leaves 1 day for Sistene/St. Peter’s, one day for catacombs (I’d suggest seeing the immense Baths of Caracalla ruins on the way to the St. Sebastian catacombs, but you may have other ideas), annd one day for the Colosseum, and the Pantheon in Central Rome.

If you are interested in archeological museums and other sites, Rome has lots, and you’d probably have time to fit some in, if you have the energy and the desire. Art museums? Lots, including g the sublime Borghese Gallery. Note that many sights and attractions can sell out early and/or require a timed reserved ticket, so check them out to avoid disappointment. Some places are closed some days, or have varying hours, so check that out, too.

Eating Europe has food tours - we really enjoyed the Testaccio tour, and gots lots of tips for restaurants and other places.

The holiday could mean that lots of Romans - and Italians - will be off, and helping to fill up attractions. It’ll be an awesome 4 days, however you spend them, but Rome could keep a visitor busy for 4 weeks!