Seeing Rome sites without reserved tickets / admission

I did the same thing last year. The only thing I regret is missing the Borghese Gallery, which requires a reservation. Except for St. Peter's you can pretty much go in any church when you like, once you've checkled when it's open. Wandering around Trastevere and other interesting neighborhoods can be done on your schedule. Same with street markets. I was able to walk right into the Pantheon, though it was very crowded.

There are lots of half-day and full-day trips you can do on your own: Ostia Antica, the Appian Way, Tivoli, the Castelli Romani, Orvieto (though this is worth at least one night), just for a start.

We are staying in Trastevere so we are looking forward to spending the evenings there.

Rome has a wonderful bus tour with a double decker bus and audio guide. You can not only use that as a re-introduction to the city but as your transportation as it is a jump on jump off route. I would do the entire tour first time through and then decide what you want to go back and see and spend more time there using the bus as your ground transportation.

In 2013 and 2014 I was in Rome in June and I had no advanced tickets. Both times I walked right into the Vatican Museum with no wait. Of course as I approached St Peter's on my way to the Vatican I was approached repeatedly by people selling tours telling me there was a two hour wait to get into the Vatican. I just kept walking along the Vatican walls as i saw no lines. Sure enough I walked right into the Vatican museum. Then I committed the sin of exiting the Sistine Chapel through the door to the right which brings you right into St Peter's without the lines. I can't exactly remember what time of day this was, but I would guess one was late morning and the other was early afternoon.

The Vatican was still shoulder to shoulder people though. So i did not escape that.

I also managed the same thing with the Uffizi. Walked by, saw no line, so decided today I visit the Uffizi.

Was i lucky?

The only two sites that will have lines will be the Vatican museums and the colosseum. All other sites may have one or two people in line in front of you but it will be nothing like the other two sites. You can easily book entry tickets to the colosseum online at their official site. These tickets are NOT time nor date specific so you can use them at any time. The Vatican museums tickets are time and date specific so if you don't want to be held to a schedule you'll not want to pre-purchase these. The Borghese gallery is another location where you must pre-purchase a time slot. this is because they only allow 200 people in for every two hour time slot and those slots fill up quickly.

Basically, impromptu sites to see are everything with the exception of the Vatican museums, Colosseum, Borghese gallery and any site that requires a tour in order to visit, such as the Palazzo Valentini. All others you can just walk up and get your ticket or enter if it's a free site.

As far as tours go, the HO/HO buses in Rome are a waste of time and money. Most tourist sites are in pedestrian zones so the buses must drop you off several blocks away. They cannot drive close to most sites so you would be better off taking public transportation and saving the extra money for great food. There are only a few sites that can only be visited while on a tour. If you wish to visit these sites you should book these tours early as they tend to sell out. You don't need to take tours in order to bypass any lines. If you book entry tickets to either the Vatican museums or the colosseum online it gives you the right to bypass the lines.

Donna

Donna

I'll respectfully disagree with the suggestion for the hoho buses in Rome: for every good experience reported there have been double the amount of no-so-good. Common complaints are rude staff, dirty buses, broken equipment, hold-ups in heavy traffic, and buses too often too full to take on passengers at the stops. It's easier - and quicker - to cover ground on foot, whenever possible, with the occasional hop on public transit.

I'll ditto the recommendation for churches: there are oodles of them; most are interesting, gorgeous or both, and quickly accessed with the exception of St Pete's and maybe the Pantheon during peak hours. We can make some recommendations if desired?

Take a spin around the Jewish Ghetto and ruins of Portico d'Ottavia:

http://www.turismoroma.it/quartieri/ghetto-circomassimo?lang=en

This is an interesting area with ancient Rome at the the very doorsteps of Medieval residential flats. There is signage in English to tell you want you're looking at, and it's free for a stroll-through.

Additionally, have you ever walked any of the Appia Antica?

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. It's good to know that there will be plenty of things to see in Rome that does not require an advance reservation or waiting endlessly in lines. With the suggestions here I think we will have more than enough to see and after the long plane ride I think we will be happy to do some walking.

We were staying near the Colosseum in Rome in April -- line for tickets was longer than we wanted to wait, so we crossed the street to Forum entrance and got tickets quickly, wandered through the Forum. Came back the next day and used the second day of the combo ticket to get into the shorter ticket-holder line for Colosseum.

You need to buy tickets In advance for the Borhese gallery.