Rome, how to get the most out of the time?

[BlackEyedFrozenPeas]

We are going to Rome for 4 days. How would you put your days together, as in which sights would you cluster together to make sure you see most of the main attractions, and sample the great food?

Just off the top of my head, having visited recently:
Have a look at the hop on hop off bus route. It stops at all the important tourist attractions. You can see which ones are clustered. Book timed slots via the official websites and consider whether you want a guided tour or to just wander round with a guide book.
The "skip the line" ads are mostly a rip off.
Book all your tickets in advance and print them, as well as having them on your phone. Read the instructions on your tickets really carefully.
We bought a turbo pass, which was handy and efficient to book, but we just didn't have time to get our money's worth. (The price covers a large number of activities). If you buy the turbo pass, you can't book a guided tour unless you pay again.
Be prepared to get up very early!
Do a walking tour of the city on the first day if you can and buy your bus ticket.

The Vatican museums are not the same place as St Peter's. Both places involve queueing and security checks. (We met a couple who bought tickets for the Vatican, then went to St Peter's by mistake and ended up missing their slot for the Vatican).
You must have your passport for security checks and to verify your tickets.
Pick pocketing is a huge problem.
Having said all that, we absolutely loved Rome and will be going back again to visit all the free places we didn't have time to do last time.

Having said all that, the turbo pass was a quick and easy way to book things if you haven't got hours to trawl through individual websites.

You need to book all things in advance. We couldn't get into things as we'd not booked in advance. Great little restaurant called "that's amore" near the Trevi Fountain. Cheap and best pasta ever.

Try and get your head around public transport in advance.

This - the tickets book up very far in advance. It's also quite tricky to determine which are the official websites and which are resellers.

Eat all the ice cream - it's everywhere and mostly amazing. Buses are fine and cheap to use.

We were in Rome last week.

We did

Day 1: colosseum, forum, trevi fountain, pantheon, Spanish steps, Museo crypt di cappuchini

Day 2: Vatican museums and then St Peters and went up the dome

Day 3: Welcome to Rome 4d experience, Piazza Navona and a general wander around before getting our train to Pompei.

If we had known about it we would have done the Welcome to Rome on the first day as it was really informative and helped set context to how Rome rose and fell.

We stayed in Trastevere which was lovely in the evenings with lots of gorgeous resturants to choose from. We walked alot but did use the buses/trams/metro at the end of the day when knackered!!

We booked a guided tour of Vatican and St Peters via the Vatican website. As you exit the Vatican after the Sistine Chapel it's close to the entrance to St Peters. We had a late lunch and then visited the Castello. Colosseum and Forum are next to each other. You can buy a joint ticket. We did one, had lunch nearby, then the other and then walked to the Victor Emmanuel monument and went in the glass lift to the roof. Great views. Another day - started at Spanish Steps, Parthenon, Trevi Fountain, Piazzo Navona. Did an underground tour from there - Piazza is set on the site of an old amphitheatre. Campo di Fiori. If I'd have had more time I would have spent another day on the Villa Borghese and gardens.

Agree with @BrieAndChilli Also you will need to have id with you that matches the name on the tickets.

Book the Vatican for when it opens and make sure you join the queue for pre-purchased tickets. Queues are long so get there early.

We spent one day walking to the sites near the hotel, visited a couple churches, Trevi fountain etc. One day we did the Coliseum and Palantine Hill. And one day we did Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius.
Only time we took public transport was the metro after the Pompeii trip - we had walked to the collection point in the morning but too exhausted to walk back. Cheap and efficient and we ended up at a really nice restaurant right near a tourist area!
Do not go in summer. Unbearably hot and crowded.
We booked everything in advance.

He far in advance do we need to book. We are going late summer.

Great tips, thanks so much.

We’re going this year so I’m appreciating all the tips too. We’re planning a day trip to pompeii and Vesuvius as well.

We are doing that too ClimmingGrey

Don't overdo it.
We went for 6 days but one was for rugby. I can't remember what we did on a daily basis but we saw the colosseum with an tour of the underground. Literally bypassed the queues. Then the forum which can take you as long as you need. We did the pantheon, the trevi fountain. A couple of museums, Nero's palace plus general wandering.

I think it was a good speed. DH wants to go back to see the Vatican but I refuse to go there because of the Roman Catholic Church.

It will be extremely hot and busy in July and so not pleasurable. April or October would be far better months to visit.

But if you have flights booked make sure you are staying somewhere central and if so many sights can be visited at the same time as they are fairly close.

We did Panethon, Trevi, Spanish steps and Piazza Navonna the afternoon we arrived as all were in easy walking distance.

Day two we booked tickets and did Colosseum very early morning slot (no guide) then Roman Forum in the afternoon (it was too hot in April and too much for my DC in one day) we took a taxi there and walked back. Day 3 we did Vatican (taxi there early slot arranged when we got there and walked back it was very full on), Day 4 we took a taxi to the Borghese park (hired one of those bike things which the kids loved) went to Capuchin crypts (which the kids really disliked) saw most of the sights several times at different times of the day as most were within easy walking distance so we saw them several times on our visit. Had a meal in Travestere one night but mainly ate in Rome.

Book in advance (approx 4 to 6 weeks).
Don't try to pack too much in.
Fit the small things around the pre-booked stuff, depending on location.
Buy an old-fashioned guidebook and sit down and PLAN, but do allow time for just wandering, sitting in cafes etc.
Accept that you can't see everything in only 4 days.

We have just got back. I highly recommend trying to get the attic tickets for the colosseum (they come out 30 days before). I think it’s only around 10 tickets available per slot and it was brilliant. An amazing view and so much space to enjoy!
Mercato Trionfale is worth a visit near the Vatican, loads of amazing foods, porcetta sandwiches etc…
Pizza Alice was also recommended for lunches, fabulous pizza by the slice.

I think we went for 3 or 4 days can’t remember now! But I can tell you that I walked past the trevi fountain so many times I wouldn’t make it an official stop. We arrived late afternoon so just had a wander Spanish steps and trevi fountain, booked a tour of the coliseum and forum combined, highly recommend as not much info around the lady was fab! You have to book the pantheon now but didn’t when I first went, i think we did this on the same day as the tour but you didn’t need to book so went in as we went past. We went to the football one evening. Did the Vatican and St Paul’s and got a handy tip from the tour lady to skip the queue to St Paul’s which worked a treat! Also went up to villa borghese which was gorgeous. But I’d allow a day for Vatican and a day for the forum with just adding bits in on your way

Won't book with to get reliable colossuem tickets

Where to book to get colosseum tickets

https://ticketing.colosseo.it/en/ @littlebilliie - the official site. Tickets come out exactly 30 days (to the minute) before the slot you want. It’s worth trying a few days before so you know what you want!

We booked our Colloseum and Vatican tours on Get My Guide, cost a bit more but the guides were excellent and by passed all the queues. We went in September and only booked 2 weeks in advance. We couldnt get any tickets direct with the Colloseum by then
The Vatican tour included St Peters.

We just walked! Honestly, there’s something around every corner. We planned a Vatican Museum visit for one day, and did the guided tour or the Forum and Colosseum. We napped between 4pm - 6pm every day and went back out again in the evenings as it got dark and saw all the same stuff in the evenings, completely different vibe! Most of the sights are relatively bunched together.

Off the main streets you can get really good value food, from lovely people who want to talk to you.

Felt so safe in Rome. Fresh drinking water is available all over the city.

Any tips for things to buy in Rome? Is it worth waiting to go shoe and clothes shopping?