Rome inquiries

Hi Jodie -
Yes, I absolutely recommend pre-purchasing Colosseum tickets at ANY time of the year. As possibly Rome's most-visited site - along with the Vatican - lines can be long in any month. The official website for tickets is here:

http://www.coopculture.it/en/the-colosseum.cfm

I haven't done the underground tour but I'm sure you'll get some advice from members who have,

No, the Sistine is not free: its part of the Vatican Museums so requires tickets for entry. You can pre-order those here, and I recommend it to avoid the possibility of long queues there:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

The Basilica of St Peter's is free but requires going through security check line. As far as your luggage, I'd ask if your hotel would store it for you until you depart for the train station. The luggage check at Termini is safe but there is a fee, and most hotels routinely offer luggage storage for their guests for free.

Hi Jodie,

I just read in the RS Italy 2015 book that it is best to buy a combo ticket for the colosseum, 12 Euro, and Forum at the Tabacco shop in the Colosseum Metro station, or at the the far end of the Forum. The Vatican is free but I bought a unguided tour online for the Sistine Chapel way before we left home. You basically meet up with a tour that just lets you in. But you can get a guided tour also. You will never get in unless you camp out half the night. Even the Vatican I suggest getting there early because I am sure security will be extensive now. I don't know about leaving your things at the train, Rome has a very large station and I am sure they must have lockers. Rick Steves always suggests doing that. Restaurants are hard to suggest because they are forever changing, but I suggest small family run restaurants that you see on the neighborhood side streets. Don't bother with the Fixed Price ones that advertise outside, they are very touristy and expensive. If you purchase the new 2015 Italy book he makes restaurant suggestion and has all the info on the questions you ask. I just bought it because we are going in May and it is all in there.

You have to go thru the Vatican to get to the Sistine chapel, and you must pay to enter the Vatican except on the last Sunday of the month (which is a bad idea due to the hordes of people who show up).

Most hotels offer free baggage storage if you arrive before your room is ready or if you have a delay in leaving after you vacate your room. I have not used left luggage at this train station, but I imagine there is a charge. You wont need locks, as there are no lockers involved, more like you hand someone your bags and they give you a claim ticket. There is often a long line, so you'll need extra time to drop off and collect. It should be secure enough.

oh okay, what does it mean to meet up with a tour?
if we don't purchase a tour it will take longer to get into the Sistine Chapel?

With the purchase of an advanced ticket do we still have to wait on the line to get in? (some museums lets you skip the line with advance tickets )

You can leave your luggage at Roma Termini, for a fee, I've done this often. Note opening/closing hours (including lunch). I don't think there are lockers. There could be a line, so allow plenty of time. If your hotel is conveniently located, you can probably leave your luggage there until you need to go to the station.

Saint Peter's Basilica is free; the Vatican Museums are not. The line for the Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel) can be very long. Book an appointment time through the Vatican Museums website. Show up at the entrance (can be a long walk from the bus or metro) before your appointment time - if you are late, you may lose your spot and have to join the regular line. You will not have to "camp out half the night".

There's a restaurant near the Vatican called Isola della Pizza (much more than pizza on the menu). They have a website if you want to look at that. Another place I like is Cul de Sac on Via del Governo Vecchio.

I've never had to "camp out half the night".

The last time I went to visit the Vatican Museums I chose to go on an off day after lunch and, without reservations I walked right in. 2 minutes in the security line and we were in. Yes, even on a Tuesday afternoon, there were crowds, but manageable. I tend to find that the time of day really does make a difference.

Following up:

there is a left luggage service (fee) on the lower level of Termini but no lockers: those were removed quite some time ago for security reasons. The service is safe, and people use it all the time. One caution may be that, what with new restrictions on bag sizes for the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine, visitors with larger bags/backpacks are bring sent to Termini to check them so it may be much busier than usual. That's another reason for seeing if your hotel might store them.

Judy, just so you don't get yourself into difficulties, do take note that no, the Vatican Museums/Sistine is not free. I'm not sure what sort of "unguided tour" you purchased unless it was simply the standard, reserved-time admittance tickets sold on the Vatican's website? This allows you to skip the ticket line but you will pass through a security check, and will not "join a tour" unless you've purchased something I'm unfamiliar with?

"The Vatican" is mini-city of multiple properties, and visitors are not allowed to see much beyond the museums (tickets/reservation) basilica (free), scavi (tour/tickets/reservations) and gardens (tour/tickets/reservation). At the museums themselves, the Sistine is at the very farthest end, and it's a long walk from the entrance. Both the museums and basilica have always had security checks and I don't expect much has changed there.

While lines can be long at the museums (especially in high and shoulder seasons), no one has to camp out all NIGHT to get in!

Every "general admission" ticket for the Colosseum, Palatine and Forum is a combo ticket which includes all three. We bought ours at the Palatine ticket kiosk but many travelers like to do that online before their trip.

The Vatican museums are not free. You can buy tickets online that will allow you to bypass the lines or you can book a guided tour that allows you to bypass the lines.

What Judy is talking about is there are some "tour" companies that charge you more for tickets but they don't give you a tour. They have "place holders" in line and you join the place holder closest to the entrance so you don't have to wait in the hours long lines that happen in the morning. The lines can be a few hours long but no one has ever camped out half the night to get into the museums.

You can book tickets or a tour of the Vatican museums here:

http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?weblang=en&do

The only way to get to the Sistine chapel is to go through the Vatican museums. The basilica is free but you'll need to go through a security line for that as well.

This is the official website for booking the underground colosseum tour:

http://www.coopculture.it/en/ticket.cfm?office=Colosseo%2C%20Sotterranei%20e%20Terzo%20Ordine&id=0&evento=6

You will need to book the tour and tickets. Your entry ticket will also get you into the forum and palatine hill. Only you can decide if the underground tour is something that will interest you.

As for luggage storage, I would first ask the hotel to hold them for you. Most will without a fee. There is a left luggage facility at the termini. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to pick up your luggage. Many people have reported it taking them the better part of an hour to get their bags back.

Donna

You have plenty of advice on the Vatican visit. As to dependable restaurants under €30 per person: Alfredo & Ada, Antica Taverna near Piazza Navona, La Pratolina in Prati (pizza, reserve 2 or 3 days in advance), Li Rioni near the Colosseo, La Campana near Piazza del Popolo, Brancaleone near Via Veneto and Galleria Borghese. I know many more peripheral. Please PM me if you are interested in any that might be a bit of a trek, maybe an hour on public trans.

Ah. Donna, I actually knew about "queue holders" but didn't figure that most people went that route when reservations were just as easily made through the Vatican site.

I'd also read the same about the process of checking/retrieving luggage at Termini taking considerable time! The coopculture site is warning visitors to Pompeii and others of the sites near Napoli with new bag restrictions that they expect checking facilities to be overwhelmed so not to bring larger items AT ALL if possible: leave them at the hotel, on the tour bus, etc. I think it might be wise to apply this same advice for visitors to the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine.

For the colosseum they are warning people to arrive "at least" 30 minutes early for any tours. I would probably arrive at least 45 minutes early until they get the baggage situation sorted. I would also not attempt to enter with any bags larger than the sizes they're recommending for Pompeii and go smaller than that if I could. There's no sense in tempting fate.

I hope they get this all sorted before the summer. If it's taking this long now in the off season I can't imagine what it will be like in the summer. I can certainly see tempers flaring over the "new rules". Let's hope it doesn't get out of hand.

On the brighter side, I heard from a few people who visited within the last few days and they have confirmed that smaller bags are being allowed inside. They have also said that most people are okay with the new rules and that the security checks are not taking that long.

donna

thank you so much for all this information it is SO HELPFUL!

so we are going to do a tour with the Colosseum in the morning and will not go with any big bags and will book the tour and admission ticket ahead of time.

With the vatican:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

that site gives admission to the vatican and the sistine chapel.
Does anyone Highly recommend the tours for the sistine chapel?
or would you recommend Rick Steve Audio Guide?

I just am wondering.... i feel like we are doing a lot of tours and wonder if we can look at the sistine chapel without tour?

Even if you take a tour of the Sistine Chapel, all the information will be given before you enter, unless your group has headphones, and even then I think guides are not permitted to give a talk - someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that, I've only been there alone or with small group tours (less than seven people).

Even if using headphones the guides are not allowed to talk inside the chapel. The explanations of the artwork are usually done in the courtyard before getting to the chapel.

I find the tours of the museums to be very good. They give you enough information to keep you interested but not so much that it is overload. The official tour only lasts for two hours but if you have a lot of other tours booked already you may want to skip the Vatican museums tour and just use an audioguide or good guide book.

Donna

Alternatively, if you go to the Palantine Hill first and buy your ticket, tour the Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum, then wander over to the Coliseum you can skip the line with your ticket. The line is always much shorter at the Palatine Hill. Only once have I experienced any lengthly wait at the Palatine Hill and that was because they were having a staff meeting and did not open the gates for an hour.

Bring food, or plan to eat something between the Palantine/Forum and the Coliseum.

Just backing up Donna's post about the Sistine: no, guides are not allowed to talk in the chapel (actually, no one is supposed to talk, although they have trouble enforcing that) so if you want narration, use an audiogide or just a good guidebook.

And to clarify the below from your previous post?

"...that site gives admission to the vatican and the sistine chapel."

Again, the Vatican is essentially a tiny, tiny independent state within the country of Italy/city of Rome. The "admission" you're seeing is for the Vatican Museums and not for the enclave as a whole as most of the walled state is inaccessible to visitors. The Sistine is in the museums. No "admission" ticket is needed for the basilica. Just wanted to make that clear for other members using this post for their research: there's sometimes a little confusion out there about exactly what a visit to "The Vatican" entails.

One advantage of booking a combo tour to the museums AND basilica is that tours are allowed to access the basilica from a back stairway from the Sistine which - dependent on the whim of guards on duty on any given day - is largely closed to independent visitors. This can save a long walk from museum to basilica entrance, and standing in another security-check queue. The only caution I'd offer for one of these would be to only take on the tour what you've allowed to carry, and not to check items at the start of your tour at the museums.

Good to know that, so far, the left-luggage facility at Termini hasn't been overrun! My concern is more for the high/shoulder season crowds than during the off season.

You don't need to book the tour that includes the basilica in order to use the bypass door. Booking the tour that is just of the museums and chapel allows you to re-enter the museums to see rooms not included on the tour, if you wish, and then use the bypass door into the basilica. Also, if you plan to take the tour that includes the basilica be sure to dress properly according to Vatican guidelines or you will be denied entry. The 3 hour tour which includes the basilica fills up quickly so if you want to take that tour you should book it as soon as you can.

Donna

thank you so much, this has helped us plan our trip in Rome and the Vatican City.
You all are so amazing, thanks for your time and energy!