What must we see/do in Rome?

[timefortea79]

We're off to Rome in a couple of weeks for the first time. Does anyone have any recommendations of things we must see and do? Any hidden gems people want to pass on?!

I would book the underground tour of the Colosseum. You get to enter without queuing ( and the queue is massive). You see the bit underground where the slaves and animals would be raised to the stage and the highest tier. Neither of these areas is available with normal entry tickets. Book up to 3 weeks ahead with copculture. Other tours are availed but they are just selling on the official one. The official tour costs E12 and the price of entry E9.
It's also cooler underground and much more interesting when you get a description of what you are looking at.

I would say the Sistine chapel but it takes a bit of time to get in and through - you can see it virtually with no crowds here.

Pantheon is worth a visit - 2,000 years old! Lots of cafés around.

A coin in the trevi fountain is supposed to mean you will get to go back!

Piazza Navona. Beautiful. St Peter's and the Vatican. The Forum. Trajan's Column. Just buy a small guide book and take your choice. Several great churches and more "local" areas to explore on the opposite side of the River.

My favourite place in Rome when I visited was the Protestant cemetary. Keats and Shelley are there amd it is like an oasis of calm and tranquility in the busy hot city.

I do really like Keats though so that may have skewed my recommendation a bit.

We're thinking of taking a 5yo and 2yo in October. We went years ago and enjoyed it, what things would be good with the children?

Thinking of giving the Sistine chapel a miss but colosseum would be popular with DS (loves the Romans after a trip to Bath).