Planning time for 3 days. Help with itinerary please?

[Icystars]

Planning Rome, the title should say! We don’t really know where to start and how close things are. We are going to go in April so need to get the holiday booked and then tickets to places but I don’t want to muck up and waste our time there.

We want to do the colosseum and the trevi fountain. Are they close together and can be done in the same day?

what else did you do in the same day?

thanks.

The Trevi fountain isn’t somewhere you’ll spend loads of time, a few pictures and a look, think we were there about 20 minutes, then it’s about 25 mins walk to the colosseum.

The colosseum was brilliant, we booked a private tour including the bottom floor which was 3 hours long. Then did the Vatican tour the same day for another three hours.

Best thing we did though, was a golf cart tour of Rome. Does a mixture of cobbled streets and main roads (kids loved it!) and hits all the main tourist areas. We did this on our first day and then outside of the two tours we had booked, went back to visit different things we had fleetingly seen on the tour. The driver was brilliant, so knowledgable and stopped for brilliant views and good pictures.

Golf cart tour sounds fab. We are taking 13 and 15 year olds too. Did you pre book this before you left? Do you remember who you booked with?

Googlemaps will show you where things are and how easy it is to get between them?

Yes - you can definitely do both in the same day. I think it is better to go to the Trevi Fountain earl before there are hoards of tourists. Make sure you book for the Colosseum (might already be too late to get the tour which includes the underground bit) since it does sell out.

Depending on whether you have young children with you (in which case I wouldn't!) the Vatican, and Vatican Museum and Sistine chapel are beautiful. Again, for the museum and Sistine chapel I would pre-book - the prices are cheaper and you can jump the queue. The security queue for the Vatican can be long - again, getting their early is better. Pre-book if you want to climb the dome - it is worth it for the view but it is a lot of steps

If you have the funds available, the vespa and sidecar tour is brilliant - it was our favourite activity as a family Vespa Sidecar Tour – Enjoy an engaging, adventurous and romantic Vespa Sidecar Tour in Rome!

Our three day itinerary (we love a guided tour) was:

Day One - Vespa tour (am) and St Peter's Basilica tour (pm)
Day Two - Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill and then general wandering (included taking in the Cat Sanctuary at the forum and the church where Tosca is set)
Day Three - Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel and wander round Trastevere

We also did a food tour one evening where I had the best fried fish I have ever eaten but it was fairly expensive - although we made friends who we are still in contact with three years later!

Yes it was this - https://www.viator.com/tours/Rome/Rome-by-Golf-Cart-Private-Tour/d511-7377P1?m=64813&supag=&supca=20929556840&supsc=&supai=&supdv=m&supnt=x&suplp=9045894&supli=&supti=&tsem=true&supci=&supap1=&supap2=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-gbd4UWv4Np4t9G8SsTKCe4y4uc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjcvAyM3khAMVHJeDBx33Nwd4EAAYASAAEgKAA_D_BwE

we booked this, C and Vatican before we left as they get really booked up.

Thank you so much. We are hoping to have the holiday booked by the weekend and then Monday is my day off so will see if we can book a tour of the colosseum on Monday if not too late.

The tour of the Nero’s Golden Palace excavations is excellent. It’s 10 minutes walk from the Colosseum. You book it on the Co-Op Culture website.

We had a 'Romans' day visiting the Coliseum, Pantheon and Forum, a Vatican and St Peter's Day and the final day for the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps etc.

If I had my time again I'd give the Vatican a miss. It was soooo busy that you could barely see a thing and were carried along on a tide of humanity. The Sistine Chapel would be lovely if it wasn't for the attendants keeping you moving and shouting no photo every 2 minutes. Top tip, if it gets too much turn right as you leave the Sistine Chapel (rather than left along the main route) and it brings you into St Peter's without having to queue again. It is officially for tour groups only but I was so desperate that we tagged onto the back of a group and escaped. St Peter's was a quiet haven in comparison.

We stayed in Trastevere which was lovely and much quieter than across the river.

Bear in mind that Rome is a big city and sights can be 40 mins plus apart.

It has a metro system! You don’t have to walk everywhere! We usually plan to cover what’s near each other within reason. Piazza Navona is fantastic. Spanish Steps area is attractive and the Pantheon is made from concrete. Lots to see and do in Rome but make a list of must sees for you and then look at transport routes or go to sights nearish to each other. Lonely Planet is a good guide.

Everything takes much longer than you might think. I dont really know how people do the colleseum, plus the forum, plus palantine hill in one day, we did that over 2 days. You need to build in stops for coffee, lunch, toilets, everything takes ages, takes ages for bills to come, takes ages to queue for toilets (very few loos I found), cafe toilets only seem to have one for the whole cafe/restaurant. Even tourist attractions like Palantine hill, each toilet block had one or two loos in it so huge queues.

It does have a metro but we didnt use it, didnt go anywhere we needed that we couldnt walk to.

We couldnt pre book tickets for the colleseum because the website doesnt work for UK addresses (or most of us anyway) so long queue to book the tickets which of course are not near the actual attraction so lots of going to different bits to get tickets for things.

The colosseum ticket includes palatine hill, you can book extra tours too though you may be too late - book via the official site for best prices, go to the Trevi fountain afterwards. This will be most the day, ideally book the colosseum ticket for early ish

Do the Vatican a different day, also takes most of the day. General sites not requiring entry do in the late afternoon/evening

We went to Rome a few weeks back, it was fabulous.

Day 1 - we did an open top bus tour. This was a really good way to get our bearings, you can buy tickets for these tours all over the place so no need to pre-book.

Day 2 - we had pre-booked a tour of the Colloseum via Get Your Guide. It included the underground area and gladiator arena. Probably the same as a PP, it took about 3 hours as went round Roman Forum/,Palatine Hill too. It was excellent and highly recommend doing that. As the tickets included fast track entry we didn't have to queue at all. It was expensive for a family of 4 but totally worth it.

Day 3 - we booked tickets to the Capuchin crypt which was quirky and really interesting. Just booked direct on their website, there's no need to bother with a guided tour. Then spent the rest of this day going to Trevi fountain, Spanish steps, Pantheon just to see the sites.

Lots of wandering around, stopping for ice cream, coffee etc. Our kids are 8 and 10 so we gave the Vatican a miss as don't think they would have enjoyed that as much.

You'll have an amazing time!!

Bit worried that we won’t be able to get colosseum tickets. Wondering whether to go or not now. Seems silly to go if we can’t see the colosseum?

Most of Rome is walkable or by underground, part of the joy is just turning a corner and finding something unexpected and you can see so much into the evenings like churches(if door is open wander in), Piazza Navona, Trevi fountain and Spanish steps as you wander to find a restaurant. There is a hop on hop off bus if you want to cover more ground. Three days will not be enough to see everything so would suggest you target an area each day
Vatican and St Peters one day (prebook museum time)
Colosseum, Forum, Circus Maximus another (look out for special tours of Golden House, palace buildings, Trajan forum, underground Roman house)
Pantheon, Museums and monuments another - several are included in one pass
Maybe book an evening walking tour
Other sites like Baths of Caracalla , Appian Way, Villa Borghese(prebook gallery entry) and gardens where they used to offer segway hire, Castell Sant' Angelo, Forum Argentina, Tiber you may come across or decide to fit in.

I'm sure you can queue on the day. Buy a combined ticket at the Forum as queue is shorter and head there early.

Went on honeymoon 20 years ago and still not seen inside. I fear I’d burst into flames at the Vatican so we didn’t di that either. Still had a great time.

OP if you pull up Google Maps you can see how far things are from one another by clicking on the Colosseum, then Directions and Trevi Fountain and make sure the distance is set for walking (the little walking icon at the top).

The Colosseum is next to the Forum and that area also includes Trajan's Column, the Temple of Venus and many other things. You could spend an entire day doing all the ancient ruins and the Capitoline museums, although with DC 13 and 15 you might want to give museums a swerve!

Within walking distance are the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. You can also reach the Castel Sant'Angelo by crossing the river. The Vatican (St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums) could be a full day on its own, but again the Vatican Museums (which contain the Sistine Chapel) might not be that enjoyable with teens in tow ...

You'll never see all there is to see in Rome in three days, so do some research and think about what you really want to see and prioritise those things. I think I've been four times and I still haven't seen everything! The Capuchin Crypt is creepy, so should be a hit with teens and make sure you make time for tasting the gelato - always a hit with DC of all ages

You may be too late for guided tours but you’ll still be able to get tickets for the colosseum. As someone else said, go to the ticket office at the Forum just around the corner and get joint tickets there as the queue is shorter. I can’t recommend the Forum enough - download an audio guide to really get the most of it - it’s an incredible place and you get such a brilliant sense of what it would have been like all those years ago.
Trevio fountain is a selfie stop, so good people watching! I can take or leave the Vatican, but seeing St Peter’s is quite nice.
Otherwise you can just wander and literally trip over beautiful architecture around every corner. Enjoy!

Everything is very close together. Be prepared for it to be rammed, especially the fountain. I couldn’t even get close enough to it to get a photo.

We booked and went to Rome for 5 days and did it all in 2

If you go to the park on the Oppian Hill, where Domus Aurea is, there are the remains of some baths and a great view across to the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, and beyond. It is a relatively quiet area and good for an ice cream in dry weather. There were some excavations in progress when we went of the gladiator training school and barracks just behind the Colosseum. We went in April about 10 years ago, immediately after Easter, and it was warm, sunny and not too busy.

We bought tickets outside, similar to museums here. We found that going to the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon were easier to see after dark, less people and not as hot out, a walk to the fountain after a lovely dinner was just perfect.

You can get tickets for the colleseum, why are you thinking you cant?

People have said we may be too late now as they get booked up way in advance?

You can only prebook max 30 days ahead and there are always private tours if you can pay more. Would suggest you buy on site for next day and go early if you cannot reserve via coop culture website