If you have visited Rome?

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If you have visited Rome could you please help me with a couple of questions about seeing the sights such as the trevi fountain and the coloseeum etc. Do we need to book these in advance? If so where is best to book them.

Thank you in advance :)

As someone has already said the SIstine Chapel is at the end of the Vatican Museum, by the time we actually got to the SIstine Chapel we were ready to scream. a lot of the Vatican Museum is rather forgettable.
We went up to the Vatican area again on a Wednesday and as we rounded a corner there were rows of chair in a roped off area with hordes of very excited people. Suddenly the Pope appeared and even though we weren't in one of the seated groups we were quite close from our little corner, our RC friends were very envious when we showed our video!

Definitely book online in advance, the queues are enormous. That goes for other cities in Italy too.

Expect to spend about an hour in the colosseum and at least a day walking round the Palatine hill with your mouth open.

Biggest tip: the water from Rome's little fountains is drinkable and this will save you a LOT of time and money.

With a few exceptions, if you stick to the rule of never eat at a restaurant on a piazza, you will eat v well. Most restuarants down a side street or alleyway are far better and cheaper than those with the terrace looking over the piazza.

If you like Roman baths, it's worth a walk out to the Baths of Caracalla

https://www.coopculture.it/en/poi/baths-of-caracalla/

Really peaceful place and a lovely place to wander around and imagine the grandness of it when it was in use.

If you have time there is an excellent free course on futurelearn run by uni of Reading which reimagines ancient Rome based on archaeological research.

We joined a free walking tour (you just pay a tip at the end) on our first day there so we got a feel of the place and went back to places where we wanted to enter.
Covered trevi fountain and quite a few other places and learnt a lot.
Really recommend booking one.

I really thought the Trevi fountain was overrated.....its just a very very big fountain squeezed into a very very small square at the junction of a few streets. The "fountain police" blowing their whistles at anyone even trying to touch the water spoiled it for me, far too militant.

Once you've been you will TOTALLY understand the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day".....EVERYTHING is carved from marble. Road signs. Things on roundabouts. Statues is places you can't even see. Everything. Just carved marble things EVERYWHERE.

We went a couple of months ago and used 'Get Your Guide' for pre-booked tickets to Vatican and Colleseum.
Definitely try the Trastevere area for eating out. Loads of little bars and restaurants in a maze of tiny streets, and such good value for money. It's on the other side of the river, but still pretty near everything.

Definitely pee book the coloaium it gets booked up on advancw and it's well worth it. Also pay to queue jump at the Vatican everything else is fine

Thank you all! Very helpful. What am I expected to pay for an adult ticket for the coloseeum? They are coming up at different prices on different sites.

Do the Scavi tour under St Peter's if you can. It's amazing.

Don't bother with it. By the time you get to the Sistine chapel you are too tired to appreciate it. (I didn't think it was that great anyway) and it was January when I went, so empty.

Ostia antica is amazing. And I enjoyed the Square coliseum and the art deco complex,can't remember where it is. But it was built for Mussolini

The Capuchin Crypt is awesome but macabre. Underground chapel filled with skills and bones

Cross post

It looks like there are no coloseeum tickets left on coopculture for the dates we are there :(

If you've never been to Italy before and would like to spend a day doing a trip to a hill town, Orvieto is a very good spot - the cathedral is amazing.

Agree. If you cross the Tibet towards the Castle of Angels at night it's beautiful. Then walk towards the Basillica. Lovely when lit up

Tiber rather
It's a bloody long walk from Tibet

I did not like the Capuchin Crypt at all. It's clearly a very spiritual and meaningful place for the Capuchin order, which is now full of kids and teens gawping at bones while tour guides play up the creepiness.

Book Vatican Museums skip the line tour several weeks in advance (7.30am breakfast tour is good). That also gives you direct access to St Peter's.
Book Colosseum/Forum/Palatine skip the line tickets at least 4 weeks in advance. But self-guided os much better than a guided tour, imo.
Also book Galleria Borghese at least 4 weeks in advance.
You only need to book the Pantheon in advance for weekends & public holidays.
Most other things you can be spontaneous and, as mentioned, fountains, piazza etc are free and accessible.
Wear comfortable shoes - there is a LOT of walking.

Take a copy of the Davinci Code to read!

We used 'get your guide' to book a great value tour of colloseum and forum, book online, free cancellation. I recommend them.

If you book a beat the queue tour of the Sistine chapel it's well worth it. No crowds with breakfast included but a very early start. Expensive but a great treat

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