Hello Traveling Friends,
We are only in Rome for 2 nights prior to heading to Lake Garda. We are training it from Rome Termini, so ideally want to stay closer, possibly walking distance to the terminal. What would be the best area to stay? We are wine/food enthusiasts, work in the Oregon wine industry. One day will be dedicated to the must sees and one will be more casual. What should we avoid and what must we see. First time in Rome!
Cheers,
Matt
Hi Matt,
There’s so much to do & see in Rome that your question for this very short time is similar to me asking you to teach me about wine in one day. : )
Here’s Rick Steve’s advice to get you started:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/rome-itinerary
Matt,
We just returned from Sorrento,and the Amalfi Coast and spent our last two nights in Rome at Hotel Windrose located at Via Gaeta 39. The property is a five minute walk from Termini Station . It was very clean,had a delicious 9 euro breakfast buffet,and was directly across the street from a wonderful restaurant, La Famiglia.
Pay very close attention to all belongings while in the station. notorious for pickpockets. With two days I'd suggest a hop on hop off bus tour, take the first loop in it's entirety, then hop off where you want during the second loop. The buses are located in front of Termini. Some on here look down their noses at this type of touring but it will give you a great overview of Rome. Be sure to sit up top
Happy travels,,
Wendy
Hello from a fellow Oregonian and wine lover. There are plenty of suggested hotels near Termini in the RS guidebook for Italy and a quick forum search will also give plenty of ideas (https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=hotel+rome+termini&utf8=%E2%9C%93) I stayed at Hotel Sonya many moons ago (with a RS tour) and it was perfectly adequate and close to the station. Some other tours have stayed at Hotel Aberdeen.
How much time do you actually have in Rome? Is one of your two nights your arrival day? Likely that will be a lost day to jet lag and travel if you're flying from PDX. If you have restaurants you really want to visit, I wouldn't book them on the arrival night in case of travel drama. Jean has given you a good starting point to try and make a "must see" list - worst case scenario, put all your options in a jar, pick a couple and plan a future return trip. Good luck!
Haha! Yes, indeed.
Is Monti a good location to stay? We would like to see all the major must sees, but understand it’s a short period of time. The Sistine Chapel, Vatican museums and colosseum are essential stops, I believe it will be a Thursday, for a full day of sightseeing. I would also like 1 memorable/romantic dinner, please advise favorite restaurants and why they were your favorite :-).
As far as the major sightseeing spots. Is there a pass that lets us skip lines, and gets us into most spots? Or will I have to pre-book each stop individually?
Thank you in advance for any expertise sent my way!
Cheers,
Matt
Many of the "must see's", (which are subjective,) require advance- purchase timed entries. So you need to do some research and define what that means to you.
You don't say when you're traveling.
Have a great trip!
CL,
Great point! We do arrive in the early am, but of course we will be beat. Hoping to check-in to our spot, maybe take a nap then have some time to just peruse the city on our own, no plans. Next day would be sightseeing, planned things. I guess it’s truly just 1 full day especially if we can’t rise above the jet lag :-).
Matt
Pat,
We are there in April, Wednesday & Thursday, leave Friday.
Matt
I guess I would love to hear your favorite stops while in Rome, whether touristy or the opposite. We just want a memorable, fun, lovely day in Rome. Excited to trek, drink, eat and be merry!
Matt
Monti is a nice area. The smaller streets can be quite picturesque. The Colosseum would be walkable from Monti, though more so from some parts of Monti than others. You'd want to hop on the Metro to get over near the Vatican, so it would be a plus to be near one of the Metro stations on a short visit like this. Cavour and Termini are the most convenient stops for Monti hotels. If you board at Cavour, you'll have to transfer at Termini to get to the Ottaviano stop for the Vatican area. It's a fair walk from Ottaviano to the Vatican Museums, and I don't remember immediately seeing signage pointing to the Museums when I emerged at street level. Having an electronic map will help, because you can watch your blue dot to be sure you've guess the right way to walk.
Online tickets to both the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums sell out in advance, often way, way in advance. You will not have time to stand in ticket lines and pray.
We love to dine at Armando al Pantheon, a trattoria. Book in advance on their website.
If you are able to include an evening food tour it would be a wonderful addition to a short stay in Rome!
Perhaps do a review of the posts here under Italy, do a Search for Rome here, and review Trip Reports already posted, and you will have a wealth of personal recommendations. This is a weekly topic.
Have a great time!
When choosing lodging be sure to find a place that will hold your luggage on your morning of arrival so you can get out and explore. This is usually no problem with hotels. Also to maximize your time, taxis from official stands aren’t too expensive to get you back and forth if your energy wanes or you aren’t near a metro. We went from the Coliseum or Borghese Gallery to our Trastevere neighborhood a few times and it was quick and affordable in 2019.
OP,
We are doing Rick Steves Best of Europe tour in April 2024. You might peruse the itinerary for that tour and look at the description for Rome. It’s two days of touring, highlights include Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s. We have been to both of these and they are so worth it. You might consider doing a special Vatican tour (allows you access with small group versus shuffling through a huge crowd). Someone in our 2017 tour group did this, there are usually about 25 or 30 per group, but on his day there were only 15. He took a selfie and showed us the EMPTY Sistine Chapel and he was grinning ear to ear. I’m not sure which tour he used but it’s a private tour and if we hadn’t seen it already, I’d try to book that.
We got to see inside the Colosseum as well—as interesting as it can be, this is what Rick Steve’s’ tour dept. now says-maybe take in this info and decide if it works with your plan, perhaps?
Due to overcrowding, long wait times, and unreliable availability for group reservations, this tour does not include a visit inside the Colosseum. For more
information, please see our Colosseum Info. We recommend booking tickets one month prior to the visit date.
Here is the
colosseum info
Because time is short for you in Rome, I would book in advance if you are set on doing your favorite things, when recommended.
The Pantheon was a must see for me, not terribly crowded and so special.
Rome will blow you away. Beware pickpockets on the bus! They hop on also. The bus to St. Peter’s is notorious for it.
I loved the Trevi fountain and walking the piazzas at night.
The Pieta is my very favorite sculpture. The David (in Florence) is well worth it too….that’s another story…
We fell in love with Rome, and it exhausted us like nowhere else. It’s just so…..intensely fascinating and so old. You will walk on stones the Romans trod over two centuries ago….
There are wonders everywhere. Just me, I would not bother with the Colosseum if it meant missing St. Peter’s. But we went with the tour group and didn’t have to wait hours and hours to get in. Have fun in a truly incredible city!
Check out Rick's guidebook for hotels near Termini. Your library will have a copy. We like the Aberdeen, but it's not in Monti.
Our favorite restaurant last year was Terme di Diocleziano, just east of Monti, south of Termini, Via del Viminale 3. The building is actually part of the old Diocletian's Baths, and there's a lovely roof garden. When we were there last May, we chose to eat outside, in front of the restaurant.
The location is great, the food is very good, the staff are all friendly and helpful. Here's an excerpt from a trip report I posted:
Our first evening in Rome, we ate at the nearby Terme di Diocleziano. Viminale 3A. There was outside seating, and we had no trouble getting seated even without reservations. The food was good. I had pasta cacio e pepe, and Stan had some very good veal. House wine, coffee, and complimentary meloncello, which could become habit-forming. Stan also had a chocolate mousse that he said was very good. This is another place to which we returned; in fact, we made reservations for our final meal before the Rick Steves South Italy tour began. That evening Stan had grilled calamari, and I had fritti misti, a mixed fried seafood platter. We stayed late and enjoyed more wine and coffee, celebrating our last night in our favorite Rome neighborhood. The waiters remembered us, and went out of their way to see we had a good time.
I don't know if other people would consider it "romantic," but for us it was, sharing food and laughter in a pleasant environment in ROME!
hey hey oregon
wow, only 2 days, with one of those being arrival day and the other for sightseeing, especially the Vatican/sistine chapel/colosseum. not even counting jet lag/in a fog the next day which is REAL!
check-in to hotels are 2-4pm, many people have not woke up or out the door to enjoy, then the “maids” need to clean rooms. rent the room day before, explain to front desk you are arriving early next morning so you will have your room when you arrive. I wouldn’t be taking a nap right after arrival, stay up, walk around, until you can’t go no more, nothing special. you can’t always get what you want and hope for, savor your time and enjoy.
you are traveling at a busy time, Easter and spring breaks, really read up about seeing colosseum & vatican, take a private tour. the colosseum has made changes, toooooooooooo many people wanting the same thing as you, what’s important to you: hours waiting in line for 3 musts, can’t see some art, being shoved around like a herd of cattle or paying the price for private tour ??? happened several years ago, was absolutely CRAZY, left to see another church with priest standing outside, asked him if I could have a picture with him, my friend took it, he blessed me and kissed my forehead. he was my pope for the 5 days there, made limoncello outta lemons.
buy train tickets early for better prices, we pack up a lunch for couple hours ride, always have a corkscrew with you, get either sandwiches/cheese/baguette/salami & plastic glasses or ask dining car on train, to enjoy the ride, never early morning departure (have breakfast) to get to destination at check in hours
take a food tour, learning history, local food, wines and have fun. streaty.com or eatingeurope.com
you will enjoy lake garda, total opposite of rome. enjoy the diversity.
aloha
You might consider hiring a private guide or booking a guided/organized tour for your one whirlwind day, instead of trying to do it all on your own jetlagged in a very busy city (the scooters, crowds, and pickpockets are no joke even when you're not tired). There are suggestions for both in this forum and also the guidebooks. It's a cost/benefit analysis worth doing now before you make a lot of plans.
Also, I noticed you mention in another post you're going to Lake Garda to run a marathon. Hopefully you know how/when jetlag hits you so you can factor that in to your race prep along with the impact of your busy single day in Rome and the very long train ride from Rome to Lake Garda (8 hours??). If you're running for fun and not glory, then definitely have an extra glass of wine and a nap on the train :)
To All,
Thanks for all of your help. Had a fun day doing research! We are opting for a casual arrival day, no bookings besides maybe a dinner reservation, stroll the city, see how long we can roll on fumes. Booked an air b&b in Trastevere, Rome in one day tour on 2nd day and a nice dinner at Spirito Di Vino. First 5 days fully booked, now what to do the last 6 days after Lake Garda??
CL, the train ride is a high speed 4 hour trip! We will be loungin for sure. 2 days in lake Garda before the half marathon begins. The run day/night is already planned to be an evening massage after a long bath.
Matt
