Walking in Rome

All the sights are very close. Remember that is all they were doing 2000 years ago -- walking. We always stay in the Termini area and have walked to the Vatican in about 1 hr, 15. Walking is slow in Rome because of crowds, streets, traffic, and you have to allow sometime for being lost. I find a good compass is useful. You also have some hills. And it is hard to walk a straight line between sites.

Rome's bigger than Florence, but I would say that most places are about 30 minutes or less, especially from a central location like Termini. You might want to take the metro from the train station out to the Vatican if you go there, as that's one of the further out locations.

For the Spanish Steps, we took the metro up to that stop, then did Rick's Night walk in reverse from the Steps, past Trevi and the Pantheon, finishing up near Campo di Fiori. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel near the Colosseum, and I would estimate that was a 15-20 minute walk, not counting us stopping along the way and getting lost.

Suzann, since you said you & your husband prefer to walk, I think that's what you will enjoy doing. As far as the time it will take from Termini to Trevi & such, it will depend upon what catches your interest on the way and if you walk too fast you'll miss something!
My husband & I spent 5 days in Rome on the 1st trip. We only took the subway twice & that was at the end of an afternoon because we were tired. Each time we left the hotel we tried to take a different route even if it was only 1 street over, so that we didn't miss anything. We actually stumbled upon some things that we were glad we saw.

I would suggest that you take the subway & bus information with you & start out walking. You may find that side streets are faster or easier to walk than main streets because of traffic. If you get exhausted, pull out your maps & find the quickest transport home. you can then recharge at the hotel before going out for dinner.

Remember, if you're on the subway (which is not too extensive) you're not seeing any of the city. If you're walking & get pooped, stop at a cafe for a coffee or glass of wine and rest your feet.

Have a great trip!

I totally agree with all the posters about Roma being a walker friendly town. Romans are always willing to help out a wayward tourist. Just remember the phrase "mi sono perso"....I think that's how you spell it and it means something close to , "I am lost!" Getting lost is sometimes half the fun. I like to ask for directions while grabbing a gelato! If you get totally worn out you can always jump on either bus number 86 or 90 as they both begin and end at the Termini. Make sure you grab one of Rick's Italiano phrase books, IMO they are invaluable. Enjoy!

Depends where you stay..we walked to everything except St. Peters.

Very walker friendly. We walked lots of places with a couple in our group over 300lbs each, and two 70 year olds. Had no problems, and the longest walk was 15 mins. If you get tired, just grab the bus!

Garmin GPS walking settings work really great. Helped us find our apartment a few times.

We walked from Termini to St. Peter in Chains in about 20 minutes, but we were wandering alongside a transportation strike, so we were taking our time! We found it very interesting.

The Colosseum was just a few minutes from there, then through the Forum, lunch, and on to the Pantheon. We took a bus home (the dreaded pickpocket bus, but we had absolutely no prob).

We had thought about taking a trip to Ostia Antica on our final day in Rome, but decided to just wander instead and had our favorite day in Rome doing just that.

Very walkable, but be sure to give yourself plenty of time because Rome has a way of making you detour!

Google maps and walking directions is a good estimator. We also take a map, figure out the general direction we need to go and head off that way and enjoy the side trips we end up taking, either a small church or an interesting piazza. We find lots of little spots that way. Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona are all within a 5-10 minutes of each other unless you get side tracked. We like to go by the Trevi both in the day time and in the evening, different feel for it with the different lighting.

Walking is easy. Get a map from your hotel and you are set. As others have stated, it's darn amazing how close everything is together. My daughter and I stayed outside of the old city, took the Metro in each morning and walked to every place! the only time we took the Metro - other than to get back to our hotel- was to get to the Vatican. It was just a bit longer of a walk, and we had an Angel tour set up, so we knew we'd be on our feet for 4 hours straight going through the museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peters.

We walked from the Forum to Tivoli to the Capucian (spelling, sorry) Monk church, up to the Spanish Steps and back to the Forum in one day....with shopping along the way, and of course Gelato!

Sit a spell when you get tired in a cafe and people watch, or sit by one of the fountains. Keep in mind, bring your water bottle, you can drink from all the fountains for free, and the water is very good!

i stayed in hotel diana by the termini and walked most everywhere...longest walk was to spanish steps but that was not that bad...trevi fountain and panthenon were all in same time frame...forum is just about a 10-15 minute walk...only time i took subway was to go to vatican but did not take subway back...i always seem to lose weight in europe with all the walking...

I was just there for the first time with my husband. We are around age 30. We also stayed near Termini and used the metro and buses usually at the beginning and end of the day. In between we walked to sites near each other. I'm glad we did have easy access to transportation because all the other walking was enough. We were very tired by the end of each day. We aren't athletes, but we're not out of shape. That said, I was always surprised how close things are which makes walking not too bad.

Suzann, Remember that Rome is not flat. It has a lot of ups and downs. At night, that's not too bad, but on a hot day it can be awful, even on the shady side of the street. Take how well you handle heat into account. Termini Station is uphill from the forum, Piazza Navona, and lots of other places. I remember walking downhill from our hotel near the station to the Trevi Fountain at night (remember to take the route by the Quirinale for great views) and the trek back was LONG. So, don't go by distance alone, take hills and heat into account. This summer we're staying next to the Piazza Navona.

Rome is not flat and you may want to take transit back at the end of the day but I was surprised that most of it is really easy. On my first visit we left my hotel on Via Nazionale intending to take a taxi to the Coliseum. We waited at the taxi stand for several minutes and finally decided to walk. It was a great decision. We took a side street and passed by some anonymous ruins that really brought home to us the wonder of being in a place that had so much history. I always take a taxi to the Vatican, though, so as not to take time away from visiting the museum.

Thank you everyone for your insight, you all convinced me to walk almost everywhere except for the Vatican. We will have a GPS which has walking mode as I tend to get lost easily. I can't wait!!