Hello,
i have a upcoming tour to Rome for 7 days. I have not planned much, apart from an apartment near the colosseum. Request for information on what all to see, transport passes and where to advance purchase of museum/Vatican tickets. Do we book all skip the line tours with guides ?
We all love history and arts.
Thanks in anticipation.
First, Get the Rick Steves' Guidebook for Rome to plan your adventure.
Then , Buy the Rome City pass for transport.
Sights to see and Places to go:
Roman Forum, Ostia Antica, Colosseum, The Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain, Castle Saint Angelo, Palatine Hill, Trastevere, Altar of the Fatherland, St. Peter’s Basilica, Tivoli, and Orvieto.
Since you love history and art, visit Borghese Gallery and Museum, Ostia Antica, and Tivoli
book tickets in advance for Borghese.
Neighborhood with good restaurants:
Trastevere
Local tour guides in Rome:
Rome--7 days with wife and 10 yr old daughter who loves walking.
Rome is "the" city for that. I always like to say, "Rome in itself is a walking museum." Almost every attraction is within a 10-15 minutes walk of each other. It's always good to look at a map of the city centre & plan in "real time" - geographically - the distance or closeness. Of course this is so you're not backtracking or going in circles. (A rookie mistake, lol)
"If" you ever want or need to take a bus or metro, BIT are sold at Tabacchi shops (T), mini markets, a lot of gift shops. A single ticket is 1,50€ - after validation, good for 100 minutes of ride including a transfer. The metro is the same price but after validation, is for one ride only.
If you're going to the Vatican City, it's walkable; a decent morning walk. Go very early especially in the "now" peak season.
I always like to suggest watching https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/lazio.html
The cams are strategically placed so you can get a bird's eye view of each Piazza and/or attraction.
Read each attraction's policies regarding bags, etc. Changes have been made to some regarding schedules, policies, etc.
*The Borghese Gallery does not allow any bags - even a mini purse. Need to check them. I would not. It may be 'ok' to wear a money belt concealed under your clothes to secure money, cards, PP, etc.
*The Vatican & St. Peter's (most of the Churches), require women & men to cover their shoulders & knees - no sleeveless tops, no revealing tops, no shorts above the knees. There are no exceptions with the guards. Your wife & daughter can bring a light Pashmina or similar to cover shoulders or wear as a skirt.
They will allow small to medium sized bags (totes, purses, backpacks) - around 14" is safe. The bags are put on the belt to be scanned. Water bottles (no food) were allowed but had to be put into the person's own bag.
If the bags are too stuffed or deemed too big by the guards, you'll need to check them. You want to avoid this - because, if you're going to St. Peter's directly after The Vatican/Sistine Chapel tours, going back to retrieve your bag(s) will impede your visit to St. Peter's. You would then have to retrieve your bag(s), go back out & around to the security line at St. Peter's.
When in The Vatican or on a guided tour, you are simply led out of The Sistine & left off at the terrace entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. No security check at that point.
On its own, St. Peter's Basilica is free to enter after a security check by the guards.
*The Pantheon is an active Church so policies apply. The Piazza della Rotonda is beautiful & lively.
For some tips & fun viewing, I always suggest to peeps, The Roman Guy - They give good tips, some valuable information, and they are fun to watch. Scroll through some of their videos of Rome's attractions & its neighborhoods to help plan your 7-day trip.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRomanGuyTours
For The Colosseo - https://www.coopculture.it/en/it/colosseo-e-shop.cfm
For The Vaticano - Scroll through to see what meets your interests http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/visitatori-singoli.html#lnav_explore
For The Borghese - http://galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it/en/visita/visit-the-galleria-borghese
For the above three, tickets can be very hard to secure. Sometimes, if you book a tour (make sure it's an official one), you can get a valuable history & arts lesson. You do not need to buy "skip the lines tickets" some rogue vendors may be selling. They won't really help you get in faster.
If you want to invest in a guided tour, check out The Romany Guy, Walks of Italy, Dark Rome, and Eternity Tours.
The Roman Guy & Walks of Italy get very good reviews. I think they offer a discount for multiple bookings.
Agree with the previous poster except for transport. Three of the major metro stations are closed indefinitely for repair. Buses are very crowded and there are pickpockets. Taxis are abundant and cheap-you can get across town for 10 Euros. For three of you when you need to go beyond your walking distance look for a taxi stand (big sign TAXI). You cannot flag them down. There are two stands next to the coliseum. Within walking distance of your apartment is the Church of St. Peter in Chains https://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/sanpietroinvincoli.htm. This is not St. Peter’s Basillica at the Vatican. But it has the chains that held St. Peter and a fabulous Michelangelo sculpture of Moses. Also the Basilica of San Clemente is also close to your apartment http://www.basilicasanclemente.com/eng/. The underground tour will take you back 1000s of years, don’t miss it. The Palazo Valentini https://www.palazzovalentini.it/domus-romane/index-en.html is not well known but was a highlight of our recent trip. The Roman ruins are underneath a walkable glass floor and the tour is lit and narrated. Check for times for English tours and book ahead or be there on time. Right near Trajan’s column also walkable from your flat, but a bit further. For great food near you try Naumachia https://www.naumachiaroma.com/en-gb/home. We dined there 4 times a few weeks ago, it was that good and close to where you are staying, so a welcome reprieve after a busy day. For the Coliseum and Vatican-whatever guide you book go very, very early. The crowds are brutal otherwise.
Yes, Alan, that's true about a lot of the metro stops. I briefly mentioned the BIT price as an example. It appears the OP and family prefer walking a lot.
Thanks for the reminder!
You can check out the "Itinerary' section for some ideas
To all of you, for the great advice that you have shared with me, Grazie Mille.
buon viaggio!
Regarding transport, I'll agree with the others who've found Rome much more enjoyable to walk than to take ANY form of transport. The historic center is also more compact that one might expect. If you break your sightseeing down by area - so that you're not running from one end of the city to the other multiple times a day - you should find getting around on foot to be half the fun.
We've only needed the metro/urban trains a couple of times, for longer hops, and didn't have any issues with them. The previous comment about 3 of the metro stations being closed indefinitely is likely in regard to Line A Repubblica, Barberini and Spagna, and Spagna has recently opened again so the metro trains don't stop at just the other two. Pickpockets? The same precautions one would take on public transit are the same as one should take anywhere at all in Rome. Anyway, as your family loves to walk - and good for you! - you shouldn't need transport passes. Just buy some individual BIT tickets and tuck them away for when you need them. The ATAC website is annoyingly buggy but with any luck this link will come up to the page about tickets/passes: click in each type for info on price and how to use them:
(EDIT: it's coming up in Italian: Click on the Italian flag in the upper right to change to English, then click on "Tickets and Passes" in the menu bar below the page header. Darn buggy thing!)
https://www.atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=229
A couple more things to see not far from the Colosseum...
I'm not a Catholic, and eye relics with skepticism but I LOVE Italian churches for the art and architecture. They are also wonderful sightseeing bargains as the majority are free, and some are so old that they were built upon or within earlier Roman basilicas or other structures. Not far from you will be:
San Giovanni in Laterano: this, and not St Pete's, is officially the Pope's basilica as Bishop of Rome (the man wears multiple hats). It has a long history and a very old baptistry so is well worth a pop in:
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/708
Santa Sabina: a very old, very important lady up on the Aventine. Along with a look at her, you also get a nice view of Rome from the orange garden next door, and Circus Maximus and the backside of the Palatine on your way up the hill.
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/669
Teatro Marcello and Portico d'Ottavia:
This is a fascinating area of ruins near the Jewish Ghetto that you walk through for free and has signage to tell you what you're looking at. Just as interesting to me were the flats here with ancient Rome right on these citizen's doorsteps! I'll just include the TripAdvisor review page so you can see some snaps; a few are of some of the signage.
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/teatro-marcello
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1049
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187791-d245856-Reviews-Via_Portico_d_Ottavia-Rome_Lazio.html
And as long as you're exploring about Ancient Rome, scoot up the street from Portico d'Ottavia to Area sacra di Largo Argentina. This was once a part of the Theatre of Pompey complex/Campus Martinus, and the curia here and not the one in the Roman Forum is where Caesar - you know, that "Et Tu, Brute?" guy? - was said to have been assassinated. The senate has been meeting here temporarily whilst some work was being done on the Forum structure. You can look down into the scavi from the surrounding sidewalks, and there was explanatory signage. This is also a fave with feline fans
https://www.thelocal.it/20190220/rome-largo-di-torre-argentina-open-to-the-public
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1040
This is just a start!
If you find yourself in or near San Giovanni metro station (not far from Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano) , take a look at what they found when they were excavating for it - a farm and lots of implements, ceramics, irrigation equipment and plant material. They turned a section of the station into a display and it is really interesting, and free. It might give your daughter a good sense that there is so much under her feet. And why building anything in Rome takes ages.
The Domus Aurea was also very interesting, Nero's buried Golden Palace. There is a virtual reality component that gave the experience of the palace that was really interesting and worthwhile. It is only open on Saturday and Sunday, so get your tickets online as soon as you can through the coopculture site.
