Weekend in Rome 2/3 days - May what to do?

[MushroomQueen]

So I’m hoping to Rome with some girlfriends as it’s 3 of us turning 40 this year. I’ve never been to Italy, love history and culture and Italian food. Can anyone give me top tips of what to miss and not to miss.

thank you.

I've never been, so I'm sorry if this is not relevant to you, but check the flight times. We planned on going for 3 days for my husband's 40th, but the only flights from our airport were afternoon out and morning return so we would only actually have 1 day.

OMG I ADORE Rome. There is far too much to see and do. It’s AMAZING. In no particular order these are what spring to mind; The Pantheon - incredible! You can’t miss the Colosseum. The Sistine chapel, St Peter’s Bascilica, the Trevi fountain- go first thing or last thing a night. Walk everywhere. Sit outside and have pizza and watch the world go by. Gelato- and lots of it. Dive down the side streets and follow the locals for food x

Theres too much to do for 3 days and as another poster says, it wont be a full 3 days anyway, so concentrate on food, side streets, fashion. Ideally you dont want things that are going take time to do the justice so I wouldnt bother with the big things, but certainly a wander around St Peters Square, Hadrians castle, the Pantheon generally doesnt take too long.

You can wander at leisure and stumble upon ruins left right and centre. The walk up to the Colosseum is great, past the forum and then out the other side to Constantines Arch

Trastavere for food

I have now done two 2 night trips to Rome. First one wasn’t a great flight time home so was really only there for 1.5 days. Second time much better and was more like 2.5 days.
However had a fabulous time both times. You won’t see everything but you will see some things and will get a taste of what there is to see.

Stay central. Liked this place and location a lot. Close to Rossini’s and Trastevere for delicious food. Walkable to the Colloseum, Vatican, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain.

I love Trastevere, amazing place to stay, eat and walk around. Tickets for the colosseum go on sale exactly 30 days before. Standard tickets are easy to get, underground tickets are almost impossible but worth it if you can. Make sure you only buy from the site directly. Many sites look similar but charge 3x or 5x as much.

trevi fountain now charges €2 to get close and throw a coin in.

the joy of Rome is in walking around and seeing the history and architecture everywhere and mixed with modern life. I love Rome.

It’s hard to say what to recommend when you’re there for just two or three days - I think just a small number of sights would be best and the rest of the time eating out, exploring and walking around soaking up that wonderful atmosphere - stay as central as you can). I’d do St Peter’s Basilica, Villa Borghese and the Colosseum, leaving other sights to another time. It’s a beautiful city - enjoy.

A hidden treasure is the church of San Clemente, it has an underground temple to the Persian god Mithras - you need to book in advance for that, also for the Pantheon. Agree with PP, the Roman forum is amazing. The forum Boarium is not well known and is free/not enclosed so you can just wander about, it’s only a couple of temples but it’s lovely and also quiet, and it’s opposite a church which has the bocca Di verita (mouth of truth) as well. I wouldn’t bother going into the Colosseum, you can see lots from the outside and the queues are massive. St Peter’s square is good if you can get there early in the morning but some of it needs booking in advance as well. The Vatican museums are great but absolutely heaving and they funnel you around so it literally takes an hour to leave.

DD and I went last Easter. We stayed in Trastevere which was great location wise as you can walk to all the main attractions over the river and there’s loads of restaurants for the evening.
You must eat your body weight in pizza, it’s divine!
Everything is fab so just choose which sites you fancy: we went to the Colosseum and Vatican. You just come across loads of history just walking around, wear comfy shoes, the cobbles are hard on the feet.

DD and I were there in September. We did one of the bus tours which was a good way to orient ourselves. Neither of us have any patience for queuing so we admired places from outside and our two days revolved very much around food and many aperol spritzes. DD did a lot of her research on TikTok and found us great restaurants and the best gelato I have ever tasted.

Also FYI to go into most of the churches (including the Pantheon and Vatican museums) you need to have your shoulders and knees covered.

If you want to do the Vatican which you should it’s amazing, book a tour as it’s better when you understand what’s what on the way round and you can queue hop which saves time as the queues can be MASSIVE!! Eat in Travestere which is gorgeous and not as full of tourists as elsewhere x

I have been to Rome 9 or 10 times and still haven't seen everything I want to see. I agree you can only scratch the surface, but do try to make it to St Peter's and the Forum /Colostrum (for the latter, book online at least 6 weeks in advance).
There is a new €2 system to access the Trevi Fountain ,& you also need to pay for the Pantheon, but well worth it.
Wander around Piazza Navona, also Spanish Steps, if you have time.

Thank you so much everyone lots to digest/ very excited to get planning