Can I ask for advice on Rome?

[TurningAmerican]

I know it's not AIBU but we go in three weeks, have organised nothing so really need the traffic of AIBU!

Basically we go beginning of May for 4 days - what shouldn't we miss whilst there and does anyone have any tips about tickets/where to eat etc?

Things we definately want to do are the coliseum, Vatican and sisteen chapel, maybe the catacombs?

Any advice much appreciated!

Do a Segway tour. Italy segways are good. Don't bother with the Vatican museum. And I must admit I was underwhelmed by the Sistine chapel.
The Scavi tour under St. Peter's is amazing.

I’m just back from Rome! My advise would be to pick what you really want to do and don’t try and fit too much in. Rome is a busy city and you’ll spend a lot of time walking/travelling and standing in queues!

We got a week pass for the metro/bus and it worked well.

Most of the major sites are close together so you can do them over a course of a couple of days.

I didn’t enjoy the Vatican, they let so many people in you have to keep walking and don’t really get the chance to stop. Sistine chapel was ruined by guards in megaphones shouting at people to keep walking/be quiet/not take photos.

To avoid the Colesseum queues buy your ticket at the Palentine hill entrance and walk explore that at the roman forum. Then the ticket also gets you into the colesseum, ignore all the tougs and go straight to the middle queue under the yellow information sign, we did this and got straight in.

Hope this helps!

Catacombs are worth doing. And have a day out to Ostia Antica. On the train from pyramid station .

My only advice is that they have books which have a picture of the ruin, plus a plastic sheet that lays over it with what it would have looked like. We had great fun trying to line up the plastic with the ruin in real life.

That's if you have DC with you. Might be a little boring for 45 year olds

Ignore all the touts, they are everywhere, don't even look at them! If you're going to the Vatican museums and St. Peter's go as early as you can in the morning, it gets really busy and as pp said you kind of have to keep moving. It is amazing though, so worth a visit. The trevi fountain is beautiful too, the Altare Della Patria is worth a visit too

Ignore all the touts, they are everywhere, don't even look at them! If you're going to the Vatican museums and St. Peter's go as early as you can in the morning, it gets really busy and as pp said you kind of have to keep moving. It is amazing though, so worth a visit. The trevi fountain is beautiful too, the Altare Della Patria is worth a visit too

the best tip i can give you is watch your purse and your OHs wallet, on the tube you are crowded because its busy and the pickpockets are good so dont keep wallets in outside IE jeans pockets , dont keep your purse in a backpack as the carry craft knives and slash the bottom of handbags and packs to get to your purse, just be extra vigilant, we were fine till we came to go back to the airport and the pickpockets got my OH as we got on the tube , luckily they didnt target me so i was able to find a cashpoint to pay the bus back to the airport,

You'll have an amazing time - I would agree with the other poster though and skip the Vatican unless it's a big priority for you. Have fun!

Go to Vatican first thing in the morning. It gets insanely busy and you do really just get herded around by the sheer weight of people behind you. And yes the guards just shout “silencio!” In he Sistine chapel which makes it the opposite of silencio! Beautiful place to go that isn’t so busy is the Museo Borghesi which has some incredible Bernini statues and is in the middle of a lovely large park. Don’t go to the Coloseum/forum in the middle of the day if you aren’t good with heat as there is no shade. The roads are terrifying to cross! But it’s amazing sitting outside bars and cafes at midnight seeing roman people stopping off for a coffee and pizza as if it’s midday, such a great place for sitting with a drink and people watching!

We're just back as well!
We took DS8 and DD6 so we planned to do one thing each day and that worked really well for us. Lots of places are walkable; we stayed near the Trevi and were able to see a great deal on foot.
Most places have audio guides for children which kept them engaged.
We used Rick Steves guides www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy
We bought our Vatican and coliseum tickets online and queue jumped.

If you're going to the churches and the Vatican make sure you dress appropriately. You won't get in otherwise

The Borghese Gardens are lovely for a picnic

We loved The Forum (where caesar was murdered) - the ruins of the centre of ancient Rome, really easy to imagine. Plus you get sights like six nuns packed into a fiat 500, taking a corner on two wheels while singing their heads off. Well, we did.

Also, don't miss Tivoli gardens - it's a day trip out of Rome but worth it. We loved it. Amazing fountains. If you have DC, there's a fountain that plays tricks on you, and that you can operate to make it play tricks on other people. My DC loved that. There's a fountain organ that plays music when the water presses on the tubes. It's stunning.

I used Dark Rome to pre-book when I went and they were really good as transport is all included and easy. The Crypts and Catacombs Tour was my favourite - absolutely fascinating in the Cappuchin Monastery: darkrome.com/rome-tours/rome-catacombs-tours

Also did this which was pretty good too: darkrome.com/rome-tours/colosseum-and-roman-forum-tour

If you do the Vatican, book a tour that skips the line as the line is always HUGE. We didn't bother going in but we had a nice chat with a security guard who had visited our home town and showed us his gun.

If anyone approaches you with selfie sticks, RUN

Closed shoes! Someone gave me that advice and I ignored it as my sandles are so comfortable. After I get it back from a day wandering the colosseum and palatine hill, my feet were so dirty I didn’t think they’d ever be clean again.
And I hope this guy has been removed from the palatine

If you're only going for 4 days you don't want to spend the whole time queuing. Rome is a beautiful city just to wander around, you can walk into any church and have a look, remember to cover you shoulders with a wrap or something if you have a strappy top on.

Trastevere is beautiful on the other side of the river, good bars and restaurants there and is bustling in the evenings in a less touristy way than the centre. there is also a church there worth visiting called Santa Maria.

I also liked Castel Sant Angelo, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona. If you want to escape the city for a bit the park above Piazza del Popolo is lovely for a wander I can't remember what it's called though, there is also an art gallery in the park which is worth a look.

Trevi fountain of course, and Piazza di Fiori.

Can you tell I love Rome 😀. I would much rather wander round and do as much of that as possible than queue for the Vatican.

If you end up doing the Vatican do NOT miss going to Bonci for pizza - www.bonci.it

I nearly wept with pizza-based joy

The queues at St Peters and the Vatican are like nothing else I’ve experienced in my life. As other posters have said, get to both early and if possible avoid them at a weekend.

If your kids are old enough I recommend the crime museum.

What part of Rome are you staying in?

I love Rome - have been four times. The trevi fountain at night is beautiful, drink lemoncello opposite the pantheon, dance at night on the Spanish steps, spend your days at the colloseum, the forum and Piazza di Fiori.
Watch your bag, Rome is the only place I was nearly pickpocketed.
I was walking along a side street and I noticed an older woman - a stall holder - nodding in my direction - I thought it odd but she quickly looked away. There was a young girl nearby - about 16 I guess - and it must have been that she was indicating me to the girl as the next thing the girl had her hand in my bag which was over my shoulder but it had a drawstring top and she couldn’t get my purse out.
I snatched my bag away and the girl ran over to the older woman - they must have been Rome’s answer to Fagin and the Artful Dodger.
Enjoy! I bloody love Rome.

Wear comfy shoes with a thick or padded sole! The streets are mostlt cobbled and you will probably do a lot of walking.

If you're there over a weekend, try to book in for the Domus Aurea tour, a guided look around the archaelogical site of Nero's palace - it's across the road from the Colosseum but only open Sat/Sun. It has a brilliant virtual reality element.

We also went on a food tour of Trastevere (bit on the pricey side but good fun and a nice way to see a different area of the city), and did a lot of general strolling around drinking coffees. We also spent a loooooot of time queuing for the Vatican museum and then being hustled round at high speed in the middle of thousands of very bored European teenagers on school trips. It was like being in a tube of toothpaste.

The official site for tickets is coopculture.it . You can also prebook a time for the Vatican museum/Sistine chapel, skip the queue and go straight up to first floor, if you can go first thing or late you may find it less heaving. If you want to go into the Villa Borghese museum prebook as the sell out day tickets early and you can't even use the toilet without an entry ticket. Baths of Caracalla are worth a trip out but there are plenty of ancient sits and walls visible as you stroll around. The area by the Trajan baths and Nero's Golden House is a nice quiet(er) park just above the Colosseum with good views.

If you are there on the first Sunday many archaeological sites are free entrance.

Stay in a hotel with a pool.
After a day queuing and walking it’s just bliss to have an evening swim.

Agree get all tickets beforehand. Don’t be shy of just people watching, but be careful not to sit in a cafe as the price of the coffee/ gelato depends where you sit.

Get coffee and gelato to take away. Plonk yourself down in the shade on some old ruin, and watch the world go by!

I wore sandals from Clark’s unstructured range, see image. They were fantastic, soft leather lined, and so light and comfy I walked and walked and had no discomfort or pain, and as the soles are thick (but light) I didn’t get dusty feet.

May is a lovely time for Rome. You’ll have a great time.

Clark’s unstructured, called UnVoshell

Make sure you take three things.
A bottle of water, a hat and a selfie stick. Because you’ll be constantly pestered by people trying to sell one or other of them to you.