Rome Skyline by Bert Kaufmann, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Rome
Three cities on the same ground — imperial, papal and modern — where you cross two thousand years on the way to lunch.
Rome
A working modern capital built on top of, around and out of an ancient one, in which the ruins are not in a park but at the end of ordinary streets.
Explore Rome on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
Beyond the temples
The ancient city, a sovereign state full of art, and the streets between them.
Ancient Rome
- The Colosseum — the Flavian Amphitheatre, opened in AD 80 and still the largest amphitheatre ever built. Tickets are timed and combined with the Forum and Palatine, and they sell out well ahead in season.
- The Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill are the civic centre and the imperial residences of the ancient city. They are ruins rather than buildings, and they reward a guide or an audio guide more than almost anything else in Italy.
- The Pantheon is the one ancient building that survives whole, because it never stopped being used — a temple that became a church, with the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world and an open oculus that rains onto the floor.
- The Appian Way and the catacombs south of the centre are the quiet half of ancient Rome, and a good third day for anyone who liked the first.
The Vatican
- The Vatican Museums end at the Sistine Chapel, and the route to it is long — miles of galleries that most visitors walk faster than they should. Entry is timed, it sells out, and the museums have their own closing days, so the day is built around what is open rather than the reverse.
- St Peter’s Basilica is free to enter and separate from the museums, with its own security queue. The dome climb is the best view in Rome and involves a genuinely narrow final staircase.
- A dress code applies in the basilica and the chapel: shoulders and knees covered, for everyone. It is enforced at the door, and being turned away costs the morning.
The city between
- The Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona with Bernini’s Four Rivers fountain are all within a walk of one another, and all are best early or late rather than at midday.
- Trastevere, across the river, is the evening: narrow lanes, ivy, and the neighbourhood Romans eat in. Campo de’ Fiori holds a morning market and a very different crowd after dark.
- The Borghese Gallery holds the Bernini sculptures that justify the whole Baroque, in a villa in a park. Entry is by timed slot in strictly limited numbers and must be booked well in advance — it is the single most common thing travellers discover too late.
- Castel Sant’Angelo, Hadrian’s tomb turned fortress turned papal refuge, sits on the river between the two halves of the city and makes a good hinge between them.
Three days in Rome
Ancient Rome
The Colosseum on a booked slot, then the Forum and the Palatine with a guide, which is what turns a field of stones into a city. The Capitoline and the view over the Forum in the late afternoon.
The Vatican
The Museums early on a timed entry, through to the Sistine Chapel, then St Peter’s and the dome climb if the legs allow. Castel Sant’Angelo and the river on the way back.
The centre on foot
The Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Trevi and the Spanish Steps as a single unhurried walk, the Borghese in the afternoon on its booked slot, and Trastevere for the evening.
Tivoli, or more Rome
Out to the Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa, or the Appian Way and the catacombs — the quiet ancient day most itineraries never reach.
Arriving & getting around
Two airports, a small metro, and a centre that is genuinely walkable.
Arriving
- Fiumicino (FCO) takes most long-haul arrivals including the direct services from India, with a train into the centre; Ciampino (CIA) is smaller and mostly low-cost European.
- Roma Termini is the rail hub, with high-speed lines to Florence, Venice, Milan and Naples. Rome is very often the first or last stop of an Italian itinerary for that reason.
- Indian passport holders need a Schengen visa. Requirements and appointment availability change through the year, so it is arranged as part of the booking and started early.
Around the city
- Walk. The historic centre is compact and the walk between two sights is usually the better half of the day. Cobbles are hard on thin soles, so bring shoes you would walk a city in.
- The metro is small for a capital — the ancient city underneath makes tunnelling slow — but it covers the long hops, including between the Colosseum and the Vatican side. Buses and trams fill the rest.
- A hire car is an active liability: the centre is a restricted traffic zone monitored by camera, and parking is scarce. Nothing in the city needs one.
Booking ahead
- The Colosseum, the Vatican Museums and the Borghese Gallery all use timed entry and all sell out, the Borghese furthest ahead. These three fix the shape of a Roman itinerary and everything else is arranged around them.
- Several major sites have their own closing days, and they do not coincide. Which day you do what is decided by that rather than by preference.
Rome in practice
Four things that decide whether Rome feels generous or exhausting.
All three are timed entry and all three sell out, the Borghese earliest and in the smallest numbers. Fix these before anything else in the trip; the rest of Rome can be decided each morning.
Warm rather than punishing, with long light for the evening walks the city is best at. July and August are genuinely hot and the archaeological sites have almost no shade; August also empties the city of Romans.
The most common regret is a schedule that put the Vatican and the Colosseum on the same day. Two big things in one day is one too many here, and the walk between neighbourhoods is what people actually remember.
Rome is safe to walk. The realistic risk is pickpocketing on crowded buses and metro lines, at Termini and in the crush at the Trevi. A zipped bag worn in front deals with nearly all of it.
How to be a good guest
A capital, a pilgrimage site and a very local city all at once.
Manners
- Greet on entering a shop or bar — buongiorno, buonasera — as you would in any Italian city. It changes the tone of the exchange.
- Covered shoulders and knees are required in churches, not only in the Vatican. A light scarf in the day bag solves it for the whole trip.
Eating
- Roman cooking is specific and worth seeking out rather than generic Italian: cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana, artichokes in the spring, and the fried starters that precede all of it.
- Meal times are late by Indian standards for lunch and later for dinner, and kitchens close between them. A coffee standing at the bar costs less than the same coffee at a table, which is normal and not a scam.
- Vegetarian travellers do well here — the pasta canon, the vegetable starters and pizza bianco are all naturally meat-free — but ask about anchovy and guanciale, which appear where they are not expected. Tell your specialist and it is built into the bookings.
What to bring back
- Food halls and the Testaccio market rather than the souvenir stalls near the monuments: pasta, olive oil, cheese and coffee travel well and cost a fraction of the same thing at the Trevi.
Insider tips
Small things that change a Roman trip.
Before you go
- Start the Schengen visa early — it is the most common reason a European itinerary moves its dates.
- Book the Borghese the moment the dates are fixed. It is the one that is genuinely gone weeks ahead.
- Pack a scarf or light layer for church dress codes, and shoes for cobbles rather than for sightseeing photographs.
On the ground
- Drink from the nasoni — the cast-iron street fountains run continuously with cold drinking water, and in summer they are the difference between a good day and a headache.
- Eat away from the monuments. Two streets back from any major sight the food improves and the price halves.
- See the Trevi and the Spanish Steps early in the morning. The same places at midday are a different and much worse experience.
Out of the city
Lazio wraps around Rome, and the best of it is a regional train from a station you are already using.
Related to Rome
Journeys that include Rome — each one visits the city as part of its itinerary.
Common questions
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