Best places in Rome?

[thebluemoon]

I'm going for a weekend with a friend in a couple of weeks, Saturday to Monday.

Where have you been in Rome that you loved?

Particularly interested in places to eat, galleries and museums - on a moderate budget.

And shopping!

If you are there on first Sunday of the month museums are free.

I loved the student district for eating and atmosphere. I can't remember the name at the mo!

I loved going to the catacombs but may not be your idea of fun. When I went I had an app - Parla's Rome - that had great restaurant suggestions. Was only there long enough to try out a few but they were wonderful - hidden away, not expensive etc.

Loved wandering round Trastavere. I actually chose to stay in that area based on a previous thread on MN where so many people raved about the area.

Thanks Tammy, the Parla's Rome app looks fab!

Grim, do you mean San Lorenzo?

Skow - Trastavere looks amazing too!
Any places in particular there?

Second Trestavere - was recommended to me by a Roman colleague and loved the whole area. Lots of lovely places for amazing pizza, wine etc!

San Pietro in Montorio is a beautiful church. Every inch of the walls is painted. After visiting there we followed the road up the hill, past a magnificent fountain and then walked through the park which gave us fabulous panoramic views over the whole city. Warning - pack some flat shoes. Most of the streets are cobbled and I found it impossible to walk in heels!

Have you been before?

If not then you need to do all the main tourist things. Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, St Peter's Basicalla, Vatican City, Sistine Chapel.

Personally I'd rather see all those things than shop / eat (obviously you still eat out but we never planned an itinerary for that! We just ate where we thought looked nice etc. Didn't have any bad food.)

Enjoy, love Rome. Have been a few times and would always go back.

It may be worth investing in a Roma pass when you are there. It covers transport and gives discounts on attractions such as the colosseum.

Loved Rome - just so much history on view as you are walking around! Agree with pp that you might want to do some of the touristy things. I queued for a long time for the Sistine chapel but my parents booked online for an admission slot so might be worth doing that - I really enjoyed it.

I agree with Crunchmum's list in that those things are unmissable if you haven't been before. We were blown away by them all but particularly the Colosseum and St Peter's Basilica.

Skow - Trastavere looks amazing too! Any places in particular there

To eat - we just wandered round looking at menus and chose places to eat that seemed about the level we wanted to spend and had stuff on the menu that looked good. They weren't spectacular but they were good value and delicious. There are so many restaurants and bars there. We were jetlagged after a flight in from the US and only in Rome for a couple of days so we did a lot of just wandering around cooing :-)

Also behind Trastavere there's Giancolo Hill which you can walk up and you get an amazing view over Rome, especially at sunset.

Baths of Caracella. Don't see it mentioned once but really enjoyed it. The audio tour is actually really interesting and brought it alive.

Enjoy, we went in January and it was lovely, really mild weather and no crowds.

Mentioned much, not once! It's not that unusual haha.

My personal favourite tourist spots are the Coliseum, Pantheon, and the Villa Borghese park.

Ostiense is a nice neighbourhood, quite students/hipster and some nice, inexpensive places to eat.

My personal favourite tourist spots are the Coliseum, Pantheon, and the Villa Borghese park.

Ostiense is a nice neighbourhood, quite students/hipster and some nice, inexpensive places to eat.

Been several times. Eldest studied there for a time at the BSR.

Eat at da enzo in trastevere. As far as I can tell they don’t take reservations so you need to be queueing when they open.

Largo Di torre Argentina is my favourite square with the ruins in the centre , pizzeria Florida take out pizza and the gelateria with the unusual flavours.

The crypto balbi museum just off largo Argentina is really good and compact - less overwhealming than the bigger ones. Pallazo altemps is also small and really good.

The branch of the capitoline in a retired power station out beyond pyramide station is great and quiet. If you can get into the pyramide ( it’s open occasionally ) it’s worth doing.

If you are there when the 1€ entry to the big museums at night is on ( once a month if they still do it) I’d give it a miss. The queues were stupidly huge both times I tried at the capitoline.

For the Vatican pre book a very early slot and pay the skip the line fee ( on the official website not a scam one ) then swam past the queues at 7 am and get to the Sistine chapel before it gets unbearable.

St. Peter’s again go early to be in the queue before it opens.

Both the above can be made very difficult if there are beatifications orbither papal events. Worth trying to find out.

Best thing we did was go to the Trevi fountain in the early hours of the morning. It was all lit up and totally deserted, so so beautiful and we got to really appreciate it with no crowds.

The Pantheon is amazing, the Sistine chapel,was disappointing, try to get to Ostia Antica on the train really interesting and few tourists

bluemoon, would you mind if I ask MNHQ to move this to somewhere where it won't disappear?

Some really good tips, have been once and would love to be able to look at this for future reference.

My favourite was the Forum, and I loved Trastavere too

My advice is to book the main attractions where otherwise you have to queue for ages - so book for a Vatican museum tour to see the Sistine chapel. You can visit St. Peter's before or after your slot. Castell Sant Angelo is nearby. The Colosseum I would book too. It's a great city - something well known round every corner. The BBC2 series Rome Unpacked is worth watching for inspiration and some off the beaten track ideas.

Yes I agree; definitely book tickets and yes Ostia Antica is absolutely amazing but we were in Rome for a week and with only two full days I think you'll struggle to fit it in .