u/Educational-Let-2717

Hello everyone,

Recently I have been in Rome long term, and that was a quite stressful but beautiful experience. So, I came as a traveler but decided to stay there for some more period of time. Rome is amazing city but in same time can be extremely chaotic and confusing both for people who come to live here long-term or for people who just travel, so I decided to share my advices with people here in hope that it will make life easier for at least someone reading this.

If you show up thinking you can just “figure it out”, You can, but you’ll waste time, stand in dumb lines, overpay, and stare at 2,000-year-old things pretending you know what they are.

So, this are few things I genuinely find useful:

1. Use apps, but do not rely on just one:
   1. Regarding transportation I found out that google maps often for some reason get you confused, do not produce most accurate routes etc, so for this use Moovit app
   2. For Rome's rich historical sights, I would definitely recommend Cicero app . Useful when walking around monuments, churches, fountains, ruins, and actually understanding what you’re looking at. I thought I needed a tour guide. Turns out I needed Cicero. It basically became my pocket audio tour guide, especially for random places where I was standing there like, “wait, what is this?”
   3. Uber for taxi services, much cheaper and reliable then roman taxi service
   4. Trenitalia for trains, if you have plans to visit other places around Rome or even further
   5. Too Good To Go if you want cheap food and do not mind surprises ...
   6. Since English is not main language in Italy, for translations I would always recommend some ai, like chatgpt gemini etc by your preferences.
2. Buy more popular attraction tickets online!!!!
   1. It is extremely useful when it comes to skipping the lines and long queues, prices are somewhat similar but its worth it 100%
   2. For Vatican museums if you can, go late or very early, during mid day, it will be unbearable
3. Best times to visit popular spots:
   1. Trevi, Spanish steps- Very early in the morning, or if you are a night bird, go after midnight.
   2. Pantheon- early in the morning or before closing time, make sure to get your tickets online
   3. Colloseum - As for the previous attractions
4. Churches are underrated
   1. Some of the best things I saw were random churches I almost walked past. Many are free, quiet, and full of incredible art. This is where Cicero was weirdly useful too because I stopped doing the classic tourist thing of walking in, staring at the ceiling, whispering “wow,” and leaving with no idea what I saw.
5. WEAR REAL SHOES
   1. You will beg for help if you find yourself walking around in Rome in some flat , not comfy shoes or sandals. Cobblestone is not your friend!
6. Carry water especially during spring/summer
   1. You can buy it normally, but also, you can always find Nasoni all around the Rome, trust me, water from them is something else
7. Don't enter every restaurant you see
   1. Okay, this is topic for another post, but be careful about places you eat, often times it may happen that you fall into touristic trap and you will actually get dish which will defo not satisfy your needs at the time. Choose wisely, Google Maps or even some AI can come in very handy regarding that, and always look for reviews.
8. Pay transportation ticketsssss
   1. Very important thing for travelers, make sure to pay for bus/train/metro tickets, because you can get caught by control and if they catch you without ticket, police will arrive and you will be fined with 50-100 euros on the spot.
9. Learn what you are looking at
   1. This is probably my biggest lesson. For a long time I was just wandering around, admiring monuments but knowing almost nothing about them, and after if someone from family asks me about such stuff I feel bad about my self that I can't say anything. It becomes 10x better after you know history about such places and for that reason I suggest Cicero app, it did save me from pretending I understood every monument. Rome hits different when someone explains the story behind what you’re seeing.

Hope this helps, Rome is beautiful but do not treat it as a check list. It can offer a lot!