We will be taking the best of Europe 14 day tour this coming May . We will be arriving in Rome 4 1/2 days before our tour starts. We'd like to experience as much of Italy as we can, but we've never been there so we are at a loss of what cities/areas to try to visit.
Any suggestions/recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
You could visit Naples and the Amalfi Coast.
I would be inclined to spend the time in Rome itself. There is so much to see there! The tour really only spends one full day there, and a couple hours of another.
Do you have your guidebook yet? Sit down with it and a calendar, and see how quickly you can fill up another few days.
Oh, and should you want a side trip, Ostia Antica is well worth the better part of a day, especially if the museum has reopened.
I agree with Jane! We spent 6 days in Rome this past May and could easily have spent 6 more. It may be too late to get tickets to the major attractions, but there is so much to see everywhere you go in Rome. We loved the Eating Italy Taste of Testaccio food tour (so much great food you won’t even need anything more than a snack for dinner) and that’s a neighborhood you won’t see at all on the RS tour. Climb or take the elevator up to St Peter’s dome. Visit the Pantheon using the RS audio tour…..Look at Rick’s book (or chapter) on Rome and take note of all the things the tour won’t cover. I understand the desire to see as much of Italy as possible, but if you try to do that you’ll waste a lot of time in transit. Save the other cities for the next time…. I promise you’ll want to return!
Welcome to the forum!
Another vote for basing in Rome with maybe a day or partial day or two trip. The tour only spends one full day plus an evening walk-about there, and the Eternal City offers a LOT to see. I see that a trip to Ostia Antica was suggested (very good idea!) and you might consider Tivoli/Villa d'Este or Castel Gandolfo as well.
Rome in May promises to be very busy and could be uncomfortably warm so being able to sightsee at less than a dead run would be a plus, IMHO. Spend some time with your guidebook to see what Rome offers that is of interest? What can you tell us about yourselves that might help us make suggestions?
People will tell you not to do this, but I would take a day trip to Pompeii. In Rome, if Basilica San Clemente isn't on your tour, you should go online and get a time to see it.
The reason many of us advise travelers who are not spending quality time on the Amalfi Coast/Sorrento/Naples to day-trip to Ostia Antica versus Pompeii is because it's so much closer to Rome and eats up less time dealing with transport. The bus tours from Rome> Pompeii generally take 3 hours or more, one-way, to get there (and the same back) for a mere 2 hours at the (VAST!) ruins. Some tours also include a drive along part of the coast - which means even more time sitting - and a stop along the way.
We're all different but I figure 7+ hours sitting on a bus as time that could be better spent exploring corners of Rome on foot. You'll also be getting plenty of bus time on your 14-day tour.
Pompeii can be done a bit more efficiently by rail ("fast" train to Naples; battered Circumvesuviana commuter train to the excavation) so ask if this is something you think you'd like to do?
