r/RomeTravel

Greetings everyone,

We are a family from Greece (2 adults and 1 child, 7 years old) travelling to Rome from 07/06 (early noon) to 14/06 (late afternoon).

I have compiled a list of attractions, landmarks and activities we would be interested in seeing/doing in Rome:

1. Colosseum
2. Roman Forum, Palatine Hill & Imperial Forums
3. Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel
4. St. Peter’s Basilica
5. Pantheon
6. Trevi Fountain
7. Piazza Navona
8. Spanish Steps
9. Castel Sant’Angelo
10. Palazzo Colonna
11. Vittoriano & Piazza Venezia
12. Trastevere & Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere
13. Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore)
14. Trinità dei Monti
15. Temple of Hadrian
16. Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola
17. Basilica of Saint Mary of Minerva (Santa Maria sopra Minerva)
18. Church of Saint Louis of the French (San Luigi dei Francesi)
19. Largo di Torre Argentina
20. Basilica of Saint Sabina (Santa Sabina all’Aventino)
21. Church of St. Charles at the Four Fountains (San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane)
22. Piazza del Popolo
23. Villa Borghese & Galleria Borghese
24. Bioparco (Rome Zoo)
25. Explora Children’s Museum
26. Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill)
27. Galleria Sciarra
28. Boat at the Temple of Aesculapius (Villa Borghese Lake)
29. Quirinal Palace
30. Tiber Island

We will be staying in Prati, Rome for the entire period and are also considering a day trip to Tivoli. We will use public transportation, feet and occassionaly taxis for moving around.

We have already secured tickets for the Vatican Museums and expect to book Colosseum tickets in the coming weeks.

I have the following questions:

1. Are all the above attractions realistically doable (and not tiring) along with a day trip to Tivoli? If not, which ones would you recommend skipping?
2. I understand that several of these attractions require tickets and may involve queues. Should we consider skipping any of them in favor of more free time? If so, which ones?
3. Are there any other free attractions or landmarks in central Rome that you would recommend adding to our itinerary?
4. Is Bioparco worth the visit given the time needed to spend there?
5. Which of the above landmarks should we see early in the morning (08:00-08:30 am) to avoid big crowds?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Hi all, wondering if anyone has any recommendations of areas where I can find cheap football shirts in particular a Lazio shirt. Shirts absolutely don't have to be real just ideally cheap.

Just sharing in case it helps anyone. I was on an 9:30am flight on ITA.

6:32: Dropped off at FCO Terminal 1

6:43: Finished checking in/dropping off bags at the ITA counter

7:00: Through security. One of the x-ray machines was down and I heard a woman complaining that she'd been waiting for 30 minutes but they had opened up another x-ray machine while I was in line so the delay didn't really impact me.

You walk for a while through the shops and duty free, before you get the Gate E area, where you have an additional passport scan and handprint, but there was zero line when I was there. No passport stamp.

After that there are more shops and restaurants for the Gate E flights - both Italian (like Caffe Kimbo) and non-Italian (like Ajisen Ramen). I had more than enough time to get breakfast and not feel like I was in a rush.

Hi everyone, I will be in Rome for 3 days with my wife and two kids ages five and eight from July 6-8. We’ve already booked a half-day tour of the Roman Forum and Colosseum, as well as a day trip to Pompeii (big day for the kids, but they’re obsessed with it). I’m wondering about an activity or destination for our third remaining day. We’re happy to just take it easy with the kids, but if anyone has any suggestions for something active in and around the city that young kids might enjoy, even something out of the ordinary, that would be great! Our kids love the outdoors and are surprisingly durable despite the heat!

I booked this hotel to be close to downtown, but now I read that the area is not safe. I am a single female - will I be safe after dark? I have already booked late show tickets.

Hi!

Has anyone ever done a private tour of the Vatican? I'll be in Italy this summer and would love to get a private tour for my boyfriend's birthday. However, everything I look at seems like it's "semi-private" or "small group." Any advice?

8/6/26 for 4 people

Will be visiting Rome in the fall as a solo traveler (from the US). First time in Rome. For those that have experienced it, what is it like dining solo in Rome? I can't imagine ordering multiple courses (seems like a lot of food!) but I know that's how it's done in Rome.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: this is about the tour company's guide not being allowed entrance, but saying we can still enter with their tickets. However the language is very vague and results vary.

And I don't mean hard to get tickets like the Underground or Attic. We had Arena, Forum, and Palatine Hill guided tour tickets for tomorrow, 5/18 at 8:45am through Viator/Show Me Italy. A week ago they changed it to 11 which wasn't great for our schedule but we'd manage.

Then, with less than 24hrs notice, we received what is basically a cancellation email without saying so.

According to the tour company's email and some Internet research, the Colosseum has started enforcing the rule that only **approved** third party tour companies can enter the Colosseum.

Show Me Italy assured us that we can still enter. However they go on to say:

"Please note that access inside the Colosseum is not guaranteed. You may still try to enter; however, entry depends entirely on the current regulations and staff discretion on site."

I think this is a shady way of telling us "if you show up and get in line you have the chance to buy tickets for entry." So basically they have no tickets for us. They only offered us a 30% refund because they are "still able to provide a tour of the forum," but in my googling I saw other people say this was not true and both the guide and tour group members were not allowed entry at all.

People have been posting about this since a week ago, but our tour company conveniently waited until under 24hrs to notify us so that we couldn't get a full refund through Viator.

The tour company has not responded to me. I used Viator's live chat and got "sorry it's too late to cancel." I then called Viator's phone #: +1 702-648-5873 and after a few minutes she fully refunded us.

I know third party booking for the Colosseum is risky. I have been trying to get tickets through the official website since April. I managed to get last minute tickets for a different day that doesn't conflict with all of our other non refundable tickets but it's not at a great time. And no tour guide. I'm so annoyed that they didn't tell us yesterday so I could have had a chance to try this morning to get tickets for our ideal original time tomorrow.

Here is official list of approved third party tour companies:

https://colosseo.it/en/2026/01/list-of-accredited-partners-january-2026

Just as the title says, my wife got mildly sick when we where there last week. She needed some cold medication. We usually bring our own, but we did not pack any cold medicine. Just tylenol and motrin. Anyway, we bought some at the Termini pharmacy. My wife’s not the type to check prices. She usually just grabs and pay. So when we got to the hotel, I checked my banking app for some reason and saw a $50 pending charge. I looked at the receipt and saw that a 12 pack of antihitamines, a 12 pack of cold meds, and a nasal spray was 45€!!! WTF? Apparently pharmacies can set their own prices for OTC meds. Dont be like us and pack your own if you dont like paying crazy amounts for OTC meds.

Planning a trip with my parents (60 yr & 1 with bad knee) first time to Europe. After reading many feeds, I have narrowed it down to Prati, Trastevere, or city center but I am having a hard time deciding which area to stay. All seem to have local cafes and restaurants near by. We are going last two weeks of August.

Would appreciate any advice to help me decide which area would be best traveling with aging parents - thanks

Hello, everyone. Happy travels.

I've booked an apartment for a few days in the Summer through one of the famous global booking sites. I've had good prior experience with the site, and no issues.

There are no structural issues with the apartment offered. The property listed appears in the Rome registry as a tourist rental property. The price of the lodging is not a blindingly, temptingly good deal, but a regular offering. We can cancel our reservation in a few weeks without charges.

My only red flag is that since booking, we have not heard of the renter. In my experience, once you make the reservation with this site, you get an email from the person leasing the property. It's been three days since I booked.

Am I fretting unnecessarily?

Hello everyone!

My wife and I are taking our first trip to Europe this October and are spending 5 days in Rome over our anniversary.

I’ve honestly been getting pretty overwhelmed with the sheer volume of things to do here and was hoping to get some advice on where to focus our energy being first timers.

We both love history which is why we chose Rome, and are big foodies too.

I know it’s pretty open ended, but if you were traveling back to Rome for the first time, what would you do?

Also, what’s the best way to travel around the city? I’ve seen some conflicting info about the simplest way. Is the Tap & Go something we should get signed up for?
We’re staying in a hotel about 1km north of the colosseum.

I went to the Vatican Museum on a Friday and I knew the lines for visitors without timed entry tickets would start early so we showed up at 6AM. Here’s the numbers breakdown for people in line.

Without time entry tickets
6:00am 20 people
6:20am 55 people
6:40am 120 people
7:00am 150 people
7:20am 200 people
7:40am 300 people

With time entry tickets
7:30am 50+ people

The line moved slowly in groups once the museum opened and we got in past security in about 15 minutes. Only paid the €20 entrance fee instead of paying scalpers €90 for the timed entry tickets where the lines were already quite long in the morning.

We walked straight through the museum directly to the Sistine chapel and enjoyed walking around with only about 20 other people. Then went back to the start of the museum and went through again taking our time. By the time we got back to the Sistine chapel about 4 hours later, there were about 1000 people inside with basically no seating and an extremely slow line towards the exit. Even entering the chapel took 20 minutes with lines going far into the museum.

Hope this helps anyone looking to visit the Vatican museum this summer. I’m sure the ljnes will only get longer as mid May is just the start of the busy season

I went to the Vatican Museum on a Friday and I knew the lines for visitors without timed entry tickets would start early so we showed up at 6AM. Here’s the numbers breakdown for people in line.

Without time entry tickets
6:00am 20 people
6:20am 55 people
6:40am 120 people
7:00am 150 people
7:20am 200 people
7:40am 300 people

With time entry tickets
7:30am 50+ people

The line moved slowly in groups once the museum opened and we got in past security in about 15 minutes. Only paid the €20 entrance fee instead of paying scalpers €90 for the timed entry tickets where the lines were already quite long in the morning.

We walked straight through the museum directly to the Sistine chapel and enjoyed walking around with only about 20 other people. Then went back to the start of the museum and went through again taking our time. By the time we got back to the Sistine chapel about 4 hours later, there were about 1000 people inside with basically no seating and an extremely slow line towards the exit. Even entering the chapel took 20 minutes with lines going far into the museum.

Hope this helps anyone looking to visit the Vatican museum this summer. I’m sure the lines will only get longer as mid May is just the start of the busy season

Looking at apartments in Monti or Trastevere to stay for 5 nights in mid-June with 8yr old and 14 yr old. Will Trastevere just be too loud?

We're def not interested in club nightlife. Just a comfortable place that's very walkable to the big sites and has great places to eat and maybe isn't a total tourist trap.

Hi all, title says it; I'm looking for some underrated places and/or hidden gems to eat at in Rome. I'll be visiting this August and was hoping to find some good spots. While we can always look and stroll around ourselves, if you guys know any great recommendations, then that would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance.