First time to Rome

If you're asking these sorts of questions you really really should buy the RS book on Rome. You're spending a lot of money to get to/from Rome etc. Go prepared. You'll have a great time. Highly recommend a tour of the Vatican Museum. Money well spent and it leaves you at St. Peters. If you are interested in a Wednesday audience with the Pope surf the web for that as well. Happy travels and remember "A prepared traveler is a happy traveler!" Oh, and don't blow off taking cabs in Rome. They can be a great time saver and in the overall picture are very reasonable. Rome is the one city I use cabs...and I mean a lot. Frequently we cab to some far point and walk back in stages seeing the sites along the way. I find a streetwise laminated map very useful for these ambles back to the hotel (I am seriously directionally impaired). Go to www.streetwisemaps.com for details if interested.

If you are not leaving the city, what would an Euro Rail pass do for you? Where would you use it. You can buy all day public transit passes for Rome and you get a transit pass with the Roma museum card/pass. A rail pass is for train travel not local transit. Probably would be useful for you to get a copy of Steves Italy book or the Rome book. If only going to Rome, the Rome book would be best. Also watch some of his DVDs for Rome.

Phil, As the others have said, a Railpass will not be of much use if you're just going to be staying in Rome. Even if you were venturing out for the occasional day trip, tickets are generally cheap so a Railpass would not be cost effective. If you used any of the premium trains such as the EuroStar Italia you would need to pay separately for reservations, as these aren't covered by a Railpass. If you're planning on using a combination of Metro, Buses and Trams, the B.I.G. (Integrated Daily) ticket is your best bet at a cost of €4. It's good until midnight and you can use it for most modes of transportation. Be sure to validate it on the first use, or you'll risk hefty fines! You might find it very helpful to have a look at This Excellent Website as it provides a lot of good information on Rome (and Italy in general). As the others have suggested, you may also want to pick up a copy of the Rome 2012 Guidebook. Note that this is also available as an E-book in several formats, should you be travelling with an iPod Touch PC or E-Book Reader. Happy travels!

Besides Rick's valuable book you also need to use
http://www.roninrome.com/category/transportation Ron gives you the most practical info on anything Rome. Please not Rome is a very walkable city. Enjoy.

@Marie, "Oh, and don't blow off taking cabs in Rome. They can be a great time saver and in the overall picture are very reasonable. Rome is the one city I use cabs...and I mean a lot." You seem to have better luck with Taxi's in Rome than I do. On my trip last year, I attempted to take a Taxi from Piazza Navona to a restaurant close to the Tiber (can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it wasn't far). The Driver didn't seem to have a clue how to get there, even though I provided him with the exact street address. He briefly checked a Map book, activated the Meter and then started driving. A short distance later, he pulled over and phoned a friend on his Cellphone, but the friend had no idea either. While the call was in progress, the meter was still running! Eventually, he gave up and dropped me back at Piazza Navona and then had the nerve to charge €10 (as I recall) for his feeble and incompetent service! At the time I was very tired and suffering severe back pain, so I didn't think to get the number of his Taxi. I just wanted to get out of there (I won't make that mistake again!). I decided to forget the restaurant I was looking for, and dine at a place I was familiar with just off Piazza Navona. That wasn't entirely a pleasant experience on that occasion either, but that's another story. My travels aren't always completely trouble free, but they're usually interesting! Cheers!

I'm also a supporter of reading RoninRome.com for every detail you need about the city. Everyone uses public transit and taxi's to get around. Learning to drive in Rome is very difficult, as you've got to drive with one hand on the wheel, one hand on the gearshift and one hand on the horn. See Booking.com, Venere.com, AirBnB.com and BBPlanet.com for great, inexpensive places to stay. I'm staying at olivetreehill.com, which is the #1 rated B&B in the Rome area 20 miles away. Trip Advisor is also a great place to read about cities.

I used the HOHO bus to get around in Rome and found it worked well for me. Just stayed on and rode around when I was too tired to walk anymore. Good overview of the city as well.
I also had the clueless taxi driver.... he looked at my hotel reservation and proceeded to take me to the wrong hotel.... when I refused to get out and kept telling him it was not right, he also made a call and finally got me to the hotel (it should not have been difficult...it was a Holiday Inn) The meter continued to run and he charged me $75 despite my protests that he spent lots of time lost. Back to the airport there was a flat fee taxi for $40 which the hotel booked for me.

But why stay 20 miles out of the city. Part of the charm is evenings in Rome. Phil what do you mean by "concentrate on the Vatican City". VC is a significant but a small part of Rome and easily covered in a day or less.

Phil, the public transportation is quite easy to use. Click on these links to read more about the riding buses, using the metro, and the types of bus & metro tickets available. Taking advantage of public transportation options will cut down on your walking tremendously. Currently, with competitive changes being proposed by the new government - and a lack of support by the mayor - the taxi cab drivers of Rome are in a pretty "foul-mood." I too have had my share of adventures with Roman taxis. Your "day trips" around Rome would probably be on Regionale trains, so a Euro Rail pass would be overly expensive as compared to the cost of using these trains - see Riding Trains in Italy for some help. As far as an inexpensive hotel, that may be best determined by your thoughts on inexpensive. There are many incredible hotels and B&B's in the city. The least expensive (as a group) may be near the Roma Termini train station and in the Prati-Vatican Area area. We lived near the Vatican for years and enjoyed that area. Since it's an area you want to focus on, you might look there first as there are many less-expensive options. Click on the area links above for lists of the best-rated accommodations by booking.com and venere.com guests. There's also a link in the bottom of each article that ranks the area by price, which could help you with your budget. If you need more help on your visit to the Vatican Museums, you might read 20 tips on visiting the Vatican.

Like Frank, I'd recommend to first-time visitors to stay in-town and if possible - and your budget allows you - to stay in the centro area. Here, your accommodations may be most convenient to the sites of Rome. Zagarolo is a wonderful little town, and we've been out there often on our motorino, but there's no substitute for stepping out of your hotel on a Rome evening and walking the streets of the city. Rome at Night is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Frequently we walked from our apartment near the Vatican to the centro area for dinner - and then walked home; often after midnight. It was our way of "catching up" on our day. Staying outside of the city, you'll miss the nights in Trastevere or late-evening events and concerts. And after an exhausting day of site-seeing (and there's SO MUCH to see in Rome), it's great not to have to make that commute. When we lived on the Cassia in northwest Rome, I dreaded the ride home every night. Of course it depends on what type of Roman experience you're looking for. I suppose living in downtown Rome and CPH, I've enjoyed becoming an urbanite. Other folks may prefer the quiet of the small town - certainly the pace and noise of Rome can be disconcerting to some. But if you're visiting Rome, I say embrace the city! It won't disappoint. For some suggestions on the best-rated accommodations in the centro area, click on any of these locations: Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, or Trevi Fountain. These links have maps and plenty of photos. Good Luck in your search!

Hey Ron, we are planning a trip to Italy with a focus on the Vatican and other major Catholic sites. We are looking at apartments/homes to rent in the Prati/Vatican Area. Because we are traveling with kids, age 3-19, would this area be safe? Any other advice on which specific areas/streets within the prati/vatican area to focus our lodging search on? Thanks

Kate, the Vatican/Prati area is quite safe. You just have to watch out for traffic issues when crossing the street! For apartments, I suppose I would look from Via Cola Di Rienzo and towards the Lepanto metro Station and on towards Piazza Mazzini. Also from Via Candia towards the Cipro Metro and over towards the Piazza Clodio. Anything in that range is well connected by bus and metro. There are many smaller B&B's closer to the Vatican but I like a little distance from the morning chaos.. and there's no metro (YET) on the south side of the Vatican.

Thanks so much, Ron! I am sure this was the first of many questions from me!