Rome

[CowParsleyNettle]

Going for a long weekend in the next few weeks, staying outside of the centre of Rome but planning on spending Saturday/Sunday in Rome.

I don't want to spend ages queuing with millions of tourists so not really fussed about sight seeing, but I'd like recommendations of where to aim for good restaurants, good coffee, good pizza and good gelato.

I also wouldn't mind doing a bit of shopping, is there a Rome equivalent of Oxford Street?

Just trying to get ideas to plot on the map before we go and I don't want to feel like I've wasted our short time there wondering around and missing the best food.

Have a great time. The shopping road you'll be looking for is Via del Corso.

Thank you! I'm very excited, I've never been to Italy before, I love the food and thought the shopping might break up the eating a bit!

There is a "design your own magnum" shop by the Trevi fountain.
Not a particularly Italian experience, but loads of lovely coatings to choose from.

Re ice cream done properly I would suggest you visit "Blue Ice" in Via di S. Agnese or "Il Gelato di San Crispino" at 42 Via della Panetteria.

If you want to see the sights without the crowds do what DP and I did, go out for a wander in the early hours. We were at the Trevi fountain at 2 am and there was no one else in sight bar an armed police officer. It was magical. Didn't bring my camera out with me which I massively regret now as I could have got some amazing pictures.

If nothing else take a hop on hop off bus tour so you cover the key sites. Best advice is to wander down the side streets, pop into the odd church, sit for a leisurely coffee or lunch break and watch.

You can't go to Rome and not see some of the sights. To avoid queues and crowds I would prebook the Colloseum, give the Vatican a miss, visit Palatine Hill and the Pantheon and visit any church you like. Even with prebooking the Vatican the crowds were horrendous, but everywhere else wasn't too bad.

If all I wanted to do was go shopping I would just stay home.

Alfredos for the Fettuccine Alfredo.

It has spoiled my experience of pasta eating as nothing comes near, but oh so worth it.

The best time to see Rome with no queues is in January. But do a Segway tour and if you can get on it, do the scavi tour underneath St Peters.

I'm pregnant so a Segway tour may be out! 🤣

Not just going for the shopping, going for the food and cafe culture and the nice 5* hotel. Mostly going to relax and not frog march round tourist attractions and stand in queues, we'll admire the culture we walk past on the way to the next eatery!

Best advice is to wander down the side streets, pop into the odd church, sit for a leisurely coffee or lunch break and watch.

Sounds perfect!

My best gelato advice is to look for ones where the ice-cream is level with the top of the container (or below), not heaped above it. Apparently, if it's above, it's pumped full of air and not properly artisanal, whatever the signs might claim. I stuck to this rule in Rome recently and only experienced spectacularly good ice-cream. Of course I don't know whether the heaped up sort would have been as good...

'Gelateria frigidarium' had the best ice cream I've ever had. If you google it, it comes up on trip advisor and many other sites.

I would also recommend a visit to the Leonardo Da Vinci museum. We visited by accident as a way of escaping a thunder storm. It turned out to be a highlight of our trip!

I love Rome, including most of the very touristy sites. However, our last visit to the Vatican and Sistine chapel was horrendous as the crowds were such that you were kind of swept along and couldn't actually stop to look at anything. That was in August though.