.png)
Planning a trip to Rome can be overwhelming!! There are so many sites with rich history, amazing art, and great food it can be hard to pick what to do! We’ve compiled a comprehensive travel guide with resources to help you plan a trip to Rome that will be Worth Your Wallet! Below we have provided information and links that we think will help you make the most of your journey, and take some of the stress out of planning! Let us know below if we were able to help! An important note to remember while planning your trip is that tickets to top attractions sell out fast during peak seasons (like summer) so booking a few months in advance is advised!!!
This is a long post so below we have provided a key for quick access, click the phrase to get taken to that section of the post!
Quick Access To Our Mini Rome Travel Guide:
How to get from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO) to Rome:
The two common ways to get into Rome's city center from the airport, are the Leonardo Express train and taxi/ride-share services. Both methods take about the same amount of time at just 30 minutes!
In Rome, Uber only offers Uber Black and affiliated taxis. Uber allows you to book your taxi through their app, and it works just like a normal ride. When you go to book it will give you a price range, varying between a few euros/dollars. This price range is the minimum and maximum you will pay for the taxi, depending on how long the ride takes.
We opted to book a taxi via the Uber app to get to Rome's city center. The app provides directions to a designated pickup spot on the departure level of the airport, and we were able to find our driver easily. There is plenty of signage in English and Italian leading you to the pickup spot. We even got a €10 off coupon for booking the taxi through Uber. With the coupon, we paid about €45 to get from the airport to our hotel!
The other option to get to Rome's city center is the Leonardo Express train, which can be found by following the many signs throughout the airport. There was constant signage in the terminal leading to the Leonardo Express Train and ticketing stations. An average ticket per person costs about €19 for a direct ride to the Rome Termini Station. You can book tickets for the Leonardo Express here!
We personally found booking a taxi (through Uber) to be easier than taking the train. We got dropped off directly outside of our hotel entrance, instead of having to walk 3.5km from the train station! We only spent €7 more to take the taxi than the train, and it saved us time and energy.
Where to stay:
On our trip to Rome, we stayed at the Cosmopolita Hotel Rome, which is in the Trevi District and close to most of the major sites in the city! Overall we had a good experience with the hotel and enjoyed its proximity to everything we wanted to see while in Rome. You can find our complete review of the Cosmopolita Hotel here!
The Trevi District allowed for easy access to most of Rome’s tourist sites within a few minutes walk! We walked to the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, The Roman Forum, The Pantheon, and many restaurants and shops in under 15 minutes! The neighborhood is close to the city center providing quick and easy access to most attractions! From the Trevi District, it was about a 30-minute (3km) walk to Vatican City and Trastevere.
If you care less about proximity to some of the main attractions in Rome and would like to be closer to delicious food, Trastevere may be the right place to look! Trastevere is known for having amazing local restaurants!
An amazing resource we found online while trying to decide where we wanted to stay was from Untold Italy! They have a full district and neighborhood guide breaking down the best places to stay in the city. You can find Untold Italy's neighborhood guide here on their website!
How to Get Around Rome:
Most attractions in Rome are fairly close together, and it is easy to get around the city on foot. If you have a good route planned it is easy to walk to most of the sites in a day or two.
The longest walk we had was about 40 minutes and 2.5km (1.5 miles) which was from our hotel to St. Peter's Basilica. For longer distances or on hot days, there are plenty of taxis available!
Rome also has a metro system and for €9.30 you can buy a 24-hour pass. There are stations throughout the city, including near the Colosseum, and St Peters Basilica. Full routes and information on how to use the metro can be found here!
Visiting The Colosseum:
The Colosseum is one of the seven wonders of the world, making it a very popular destination! When visiting The Colosseum you must pay if you want to go inside, but there are thousands of tickets online for purchase. Do not let that fool you, they do sell out fast for peak seasons, like summer! For that reason, we recommend booking in advance!
Guided and self-guided tours are available through the Colosseum website! Self-guided tickets purchased from the Colosseum website include entry to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill as well!
Ticket price for the Colosseum (no guide):
Youth under 18: €2
Reduced EU ticket (under 26): €4
Adult: €18
Here is the link to purchase non-guided Colosseum tickets!
Tickets for skip the line and guided tours of the Colosseum:
There are also dozens of other companies that offer guided tours of the Colosseum and you can find them on websites like Viator, Trip Advisor, and GetYourGuide. Some of the tours found on these booking sites will also take you to other sites like Vatican City.
If you are looking for food near the Colosseum or the Roman Forum and are willing to walk a few minutes we recommend Trieste Pizza!
Visiting Vatican City:
When visiting Vatican City there are multiple sites to see! The two most popular are The Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Many tour companies offer guided tours of the Basilica, Sistine Chapel, and Vatican Museums. However, entrance to St. Peter's Basilica is FREE!
Although St Peters Basilica is free, tickets are required for the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. You can find admission tickets for self-guided and guided tours of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums here.
If you want to see the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel with a guide, we suggest booking a tour through the Vatican Museum Website. They offer a guided tour that covers the Vatican Gardens, the Gallery of the Candelabras, the Gallery of the Geographical Maps, the Gallery of the Tapestries (Renaissance art), and the Sistine Chapel!
Full Price: € 20
Reduced (25 and under, over 18 needs student ID): €8
Reservation Fee: €5
Optional Audio Guide: €7 (Italian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Russian)
If you venture to the Vatican on your own, be mindful of people who sell fake/overpriced tickets, tell you that you have to pay to enter the Basilica and pickpocketing!
We saw a few dozen people scattered around the outside of the Basilica doing various scams. They tried to tell us we needed tickets for the Basilica, to sell us fake tickets. There is a fence outside the Basilica grounds and they cannot cross it, but you can! They may try to tell you that you cannot without a ticket but you can for FREE!!
If you are looking for food around the Vatican we recommend: Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale!
Visiting the Trevi Fountain:
The Trevi Fountain is one of the easiest attractions to get to in Rome! It's free and open 24/7 since it is outside. It gets extremely crowded in the late morning through the evening! Early in the morning and late in the evening are (normally) slower times. We went around 8:00 AM and the crowds were not too bad, and came back around 2:00 PM and it was significantly busier!
There was a nice stone seating area down by the fountain, and it was a nice place to enjoy the early morning breeze and sip an espresso. Not to mention all the people-watching we were able to do right there!
There are a bunch of shops and restaurants near the Trevi Fountain. Most of these restaurants were too busy and crowded for our taste! They all seemed to be tourist trap-y with people out front trying to get you to come in!
In this area around the Trevi Fountain, we saw a few scammers hanging around, so stay vigilant and try not to leave any items unattended! A scam we saw a few people fall for while we were visiting was a friendship bracelet scam. A person will come up to you, and maybe ask where you are from, make conversation, and then offer you a friendship bracelet as a “gift.” Once they put the bracelet on you they start to ask for payment. It is best to avoid or dismiss them with a stern “no” before they put the bracelet on. They are pretty easy to spot and steer clear of since they are holding braided bracelets in their hands.
Visiting the Pantheon & Basilica San Lorenzo in Lucina:
When visiting the Pantheon in Rome you must have a ticket if you want to go inside! Two websites offer audio-guided tickets to the Pantheon; one is the Pantheon Roma’s website and the other is the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucia’s Website. Both offer tickets for the same price, although when you book through the Basilica of San Lorenzo you get an included audio-guided visit to the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina!
You can purchase tickets to the Pantheon through either:
Ticket prices below include the price of the official audio guide:
Full Ticket €15.00
Reduced (EU youths from 18 to 25 years old) €13
Ticket up to 17 years old €10.00
FREE entrance on the first Sunday of every month
If you are looking for a quick pick-me-up near the Pantheon we recommend an espresso bar called La Casa del Caffè Tazza d'Oro.
Other Notable Sites to Visit in Rome:
Free Sites:
Piazza di Spagna and Spanish Steps (flowers bloom in late April or early May)
Corte Suprema di Cassazione (supreme court building)
Paid Sites:
Castel Sant'Angelo (first Sunday of every month free)
Art and Museums:
Free:
Villa Borghese (some exhibits are paid, some free)
Paid:
National Gallery of Ancient Art in Barberini Palace: (Palazzo Barberini) (Galleria Corsini) (free first Sunday of every month, reservation recommended)
National Museum of the Middle Ages (Museo Delle Civilta) (free first Sunday of every month)
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (opera house)
Activities to consider while in Rome:
Food Tours:
Italy is known for amazing homemade pasta and pizzas, and no one knows where to find good food better than a local! Taking a food tour is something we enjoy doing when we travel and we have found some amazing gems! Consider going on a tour with Secret Food Tours, or local guide Elizabeth Minchilli!
A tour company we have gone with before and is highly recommended is “Secret Food Tours”. They have a wide variety of locations all over the world where they host small group food tours. A local guide will take you out to a variety of different cafes/restaurants and share local favorites with you. You get to enjoy the food and learn some history and do not have to worry about anything. The guide orders and pays for everyone while you get to enjoy the scenery. We have had very positive experiences with them in the past but did not have time to try their Rome experience. Here is a link to their Rome food tour for those interested! Let us know how it is if you decide to go!!
Another food tour that is offered in Rome is through a local family. Blogger, author, and food tour operator Elizabeth Minchilli is a local Rome expert! She and her daughter Sophie offer day and week-long food tours in Rome and other parts of Italy! If you are interested you can check her website out here!
Elizabeth is also active on TikTok @Elizabeth_Minchilli and has a great page where she showcases some of her favorite places to eat in the city! One of the places we recommend getting espresso from we found on her channel! If you are looking for more food recommendations in the area she is a great local account to follow!
Cooking Classes:
There are a bunch of cooking classes in Rome. Pizza and pasta-making classes are the most popular, and easy to find in the city! We booked a pasta and gelato-making class on our recent trip, and had a great time! You can read our full experience review here!
We booked Holy Pizza, a Super fun Pasta and Gelato cooking class close to the Vatican and it cost us about USD 200 for two adults. During the class, we had drinks (wine, beer, soda, water, limoncello), antipasti, pasta, and gelato, and left with full bellies! We had fun and learned a few new tricks in the kitchen. Here is a link to the class we took with Holy Pizza!
Day trips from Rome:
If you are feeling adventurous and want to venture out from the city center and see a little more of the country, a day trip can be a perfect way to do so! Many tour companies host day trips from Rome to other parts of Italy, and train routes you can take to go on your own!
When planning a day trip there are a few things to consider: do you want to spend more time at sites and navigate yourself, or do you want to kick back and have someone guide you but spend less time at the site? Both ways have their pros and cons, but it is ultimately up to what you want on your vacation! Below are two easy day trips, Pompeii and Villa d’Este, that you can take on your own or with a guide from Rome!
Day Trip Pompeii:
Day-tripping the ancient town of Pompeii is possible from Rome, and you can go on your own via train or take a tour that provides round-trip transportation (normally a bus). Both options have their pros and cons; taking a tour gives you less flexibility and time at Pompeii, but requires less effort in planning and provides transportation, taking the train to the site on your own requires more planning and effort to get there, but allows for more time and flexibility at the site! Both options allow you to see an amazing city frozen in time!
For those who are planning on booking a tour with transportation to Pompeii:
Many tour groups offer tours and transportation to Pompeii from Rome. The average price for this is about $175 per person, depending on the tour company you go out with. We do not have a recommendation for this option since we have not done it, but there are plenty with over 4.5-star reviews on websites like Viator, GetYourGuide, and Tripadvisor!
For those who are going to Pompeii on their own the below information will be helpful!
Ticket prices at Pompeii:
Guided two-hour skip line tour €39
6-hour skip line self-guided tour with map €29
6-hour skip line ticket, partial route €22
There is a train route from the Roma Termini station that can get you close to the ruins with as few as two transfers! The closest train station to the ruins is the Pompei Scavi station. When arriving at the Pompei Scavi station you will be close to the ticket booth for Pompeii. Trenitalia offers this route, and tickets can be found on their website here: search for Roma Termini to Pompei Scavi. Average Ticket Price: €17- €40 per person one way
Day Trip Villa d'Este:
Villa d’Este in Tivoli is a 16th-century villa known for its beautiful grounds, which include an expansive garden and many fountains. The villa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has been for over 20 years! The villa is outside of Rome (about 40-50 minutes) and is easy to get to via train or taxi/Uber.
The average price for an Uber ride/taxi from Rome to the villa is about €40-80 depending on the time of day and exact distance. The villa is also accessible by train! You can access it from Rome leaving from the Roma Termini station and arriving at the Tivoli station. If you book a direct ticket the ride is close to an hour and costs only €3 per person on average! There is a small 15-minute walk (1km) from the Tivoli station to the villa. Tickets for the train from Rome Termini to Tivoli can be found here.
Where to Eat:
Gustería Al 17 Roma: (casual sit down)
Gustaría Al 17 Roma is a small restaurant in the Trastevere neighborhood and offers a variety of foods like pizza, lasagna, and fried snacks. The staff were extremely kind and friendly to us when we were trying to figure out what to order. We started to order in broken Italian and the man behind the counter could tell we were not from Italy. He offered to explain each dish to us but warned us his English was not great. He went into detail about what was in each dish, recommended some things to us to try, and was careful to note any possible dietary restrictions we may have had.
We ordered two of the classic meat lasagna, a suppli (fried rice ball with tomato sauce and a cheesy mozzarella center), and a potato croquette (think fried mashed potato ball). All of the food we had was good and gone in a matter of minutes!! The suppli was our favorite out of all the ones we tried while in Rome!
Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale: (sit down)
We had an amazing meal at Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale! The owner was extremely friendly and the food was worth the wait. The restaurant is near St Peter’s Basilica and can get very busy! The restaurant is extremely small and only holds a few tables. There is no waitlist, if the restaurant is full you have to line up outside of the restaurant. We tried on two occasions to get a table and struggled both times!!
Opening time varies by day of the week but is between 11:30 AM and 11:45 AM. If you want a table for lunch we recommend getting there early! We tried to get a table in the evening on our first attempt around 5:00 PM and the restaurant was full! We tried again the next day and got there a few minutes after they opened, but the restaurant was already full. The owner came out and told us everyone had just sat down, and it would be at least an hour wait. He told us to go take a tour of the Basilica and come back in an hour and he would save us a plate.
We came back a little after an hour to see a line of about six parties in front of the restaurant. We got in the back of the line and waited a few minutes until the owner came out with menus for the first few people in line. He saw us at the back of the line and ushered us forward, he told us jokingly we were late and brought us inside! We waited on two small stools by the counter for a table to open and pre-ordered our food so it would be ready when the table was ready. We tried their meatballs, pesto gnocchi, meat ravioli, and tiramisu. All of the food we ate was delicious! The tiramisu was one of our favorites we had in Rome!
The staff running the restaurant were super pleasant. They loved talking to the guests about where they were from, and spoke multiple languages! Overall we had a great experience there, and if you can get a table we highly recommend trying it! (P.S. They do charge a few Euros for the bread!)
Fiordiluna: (gelato)
Fiordiluna is a small gelateria in the Trastevere neighborhood offering artisanal gelato with a variety of flavors! They are a cash-only restaurant so keep this in mind if you plan to visit! The prices were pretty reasonable, it costs us under €10 for two large cups of gelato which can have up to three flavors! Our favorite flavors were pistachio and Venezuelan chocolate. Find Fiordiluna on Google Maps here!
Triste pizza: (casual sit down)
Triste Pizza is located between the Colosseum and the Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore and made for a great lunch! They serve personal-sized pizzas and a few fried foods like suppli and potato croquettes. It is a casual pizzeria, you order up front and then wait for your name to be called when your order is ready. They have a good amount of seating inside the restaurant and we were able to easily find a spot! The staff were very welcoming and friendly, they explained the menu to us and helped us decide what to order.
We ordered a margarita pizza and one of the specials they had that day which was a spicy pepper pizza. The margarita pizza for a big size was only €7 and the specialized pizza was a few Euros more. Overall, Triste Pizza made for a tasty and inexpensive lunch!
La Casa del Caffè Tazza d'Oro: (espresso bar)
La Casa del Caffe Tazza d’Oro is located seconds away from the Pantheon, and is a small fast-paced espresso bar! We went around midday and there was a line in the cafe of about 10-15 people. Although there were a bunch of people in front of us, the line moved fast! The menu consisted of a variety of espresso/coffee-based drinks and a few bakery items. You order at the front counter and get a receipt that you take to the bar and hand to the barista. They make your order based off of the receipt and you can stand and enjoy your drink at the bar. We were in and out within about ten minutes and paid under €5 for a double shot of espresso! The espresso was strong, and served its purpose as a midday pick-me-up! They do offer outdoor seating on their patio with a server, but the prices are higher!
Scams/things to look out for:
While in Rome there were a few scams we saw frequently, but they were mostly near big tourist areas. They are pretty well known if you travel a lot. We will list out the ones we saw happening, where we saw them, and how to try and avoid falling victim below!
Pickpocketing:
Pickpocketing is something to be alert of when traveling to Rome. We did not encounter any pickpocketing on our trip but we followed a few preventative measures before leaving our hotel every day. We never put anything in our back pockets, especially phones and wallets, as back pockets are the easiest for people to pickpocket from. We did not carry a backpack with us while we walked around, we read before traveling that backpacks can often get cut with knives or scissors to let out the contents of the bag. If you need to carry a bag we recommend getting a slash-proof travel bag. Another option to deter a bag from being unzipped is getting a zipper lock, or simply using a reusable zip-tie to keep the zipper together and harder to quickly open.
Also, never place your phone or wallet on the table, this makes it is easy to grab and run. The main thing to keep in mind is to try and make it as difficult as possible for pickpockets to get to your items. If you have nothing visible they will move on to someone easier. We were fine on our trip by keeping our phones/wallets in our front pockets, and just saying no to and avoiding anyone who approached us. We also had big coats on since it was winter, and this helped to keep our front pockets covered as well.
Friendship Bracelet:
The “friendship bracelet scam” we saw happening by most big sites in the city, but it seemed to be more prevalent near the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. This scam is basically as follows; someone will come up to you and they will be holding multiple knit bracelets and talk to you as if they want to be your friend, they typically ask where you are from, and make light conversation, they then offer you a friendship bracelet and make it seem as if it is free, they then tie it onto you and demand payment.
The bracelet is not free!! When these people come up to you it will be pretty easy to tell them apart from the crowd, they are the only people who are going up to everyone, making conversation, and trying to hand things out. A firm, “No thanks,” and walking away was enough for them to leave us alone and go on to the next group! When people are approaching you in these areas it is also important to be aware of your surroundings, as pick-pocketing is a possibility!
Fake Petition:
In the “fake petition scam,” a singular person or group may approach you with a clipboard and ask you to sign a petition or donate to a charity. Most of these are not legit petitions or charity workers and are distractions for their pickpocketing counterparts. While you are distracted by the person explaining the petition, you may be pickpocketed by someone who is lingering nearby. We saw a few groups trying to do this while we were walking through the city, but again a firm “no,” and not stopping was enough for them to leave us alone.
Fake Paintings:
In busy tourist areas like the Pantheon and near the Colosseum, there are people selling things on the street. One of the items we saw being sold were watercolor "paintings" from people posing as local artists. They have watercolor paints set up where they are sitting and paint overprints of watercolor paintings. We noticed the same paintings all over the city and started to get suspicious that they were fake. We looked it up online, and confirmed that they are fake paintings!
Menus With No Price:
A common scam people face while visiting Rome is getting overcharged at restaurants! Some restaurants in popular areas do not have prices listed on their menus, this allows them to overcharge guests and bring out a ridiculous bill at the end of the meal. To avoid getting overcharged avoid places that do not have pricing on the menu! If you happen to sit at a restaurant like this it is best to just get up and leave!
A final note about scams:
Many of these scams revolve around getting you distracted, leading to an easy pickpocket or you leaving something behind. Any time a person approaches you that you do not know, be suspicious if their behavior seems different than those around you. Sometimes the scam is not what they are directly asking you about, but rather getting you to let down your guard. This is true in Rome and any other major cities you may visit through your travels.
Key phrases in Italian:
Before we went to Rome we practiced some key phrases and basic conversation in Italian for a few months so we could show respect to the culture and residents instead of assuming they speak English. However, most people would speak to us in English right away, so we ended up not using very much of it. We would still recommend learning a few phrases, you never know when it will help!
Hello = Ciao
Goodbye = Arrivederci
Good Morning = Buongiorno
Good Evening = Buonasera
Thank You = Grazie
Please = Per Favore
Many YouTube channels focus on teaching languages for travel, one channel that helped us while we were learning Italian is “The Intrepid Guide.” She offers videos that teach basic phrases you may need or encounter while on vacation in Italy, and has a great video on how to order food in Italian! We found her videos useful when preparing for our trip! She also offers an in-depth cheat sheet of phrases here on her website!
Laws/rules to keep in mind:
While on vacation in Italy there are a few laws/rules to keep in mind so you do not end up paying a fine or having to deal with police.
The purchase/sale of counterfeit goods is illegal and punishable by a fine upwards of €1,000
Tickets to public transit must be validated by a machine before boarding, otherwise, you may be fined
If you plan on driving during your visit you must have an international driver’s license or you may be fined up to €1,400
Summary:
There is so much to see and do in Rome it gets overwhelming! I am sure we even missed a few things in this travel guide! Having an idea of what you want to do before you visit is always a good idea, especially in such a busy tourist destination like Rome. Tickets are booked out far in advance, so make sure you pre-book the activities you want to do! Visiting during the winter months is a good way to avoid some of the congestion, but there is no way to completely avoid it! There is so much art, history, and culture to take in we recommend at least 3-5 days in Rome. If you have time or are looking for a place to eat near St. Peters you should try out Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale! We loved their food, and it was worth the wait to get a table!
We hope this travel guide helps you plan a trip to Rome that is Worth Your Wallet. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions about planning a trip to Rome, or suggestions of things to do on our next visit!
Comments